HandBrake

HandBrake is a powerful, yet easy to use video encoder for Linux.

Links

• Handbrake -- Video Encoding Speed
• Handbrake -- Performance

Tips

Encode a DVD title

• Click Source.
• Select DVD to encode, and select folder VIDEO_TS (don't open it), and click OK.

Benchmarks

• Movie: Bad Teacher

• All Audio.
• All Subtitles.

Version	PC	CPU	Freq	S/C/T	Encoder	Preset	Level	Quality	Encoding speed	Video bitrate	track0 (video) size	Comment
Xenial	zacxl0005	i5-4300U	1.90GHz	1/2/4	H.264	veryfast	4.0	20 (RF)	135.4 fps	983.24 kb/s	658 MB	No decomb
Zesty	zacxl0005	i5-4300U	1.90GHz	1/2/4	H.264	fast	3.1	20 (RF)	50.4 fps	1174.29 kb/s	786 MB	Fast
Zesty	kraken	X5650	2.67GHz	2/6/6	H.264	fast	3.1	20 (RF)	163.9 fps	1151.50 kb/s	771 MB	Fast
Zesty	kraken	X5650	2.67GHz	2/6/12	H.264	fast	3.1	20 (RF)	177.9 fps	1151.50 kb/s	771 MB	Fast
Zesty	kraken	X5650	2.67GHz	2/6/12	H.264	veryfast	4.0	22 (RF)	332.8 fps	654.67 kb/s	438 MB	Very fast, No decomb
Zesty	kraken	X5650	2.67GHz	2/6/12	H.264	veryfast	4.0	22 (RF)	351.0 fps	660.70 kb/s	442 MB	Very fast
Zesty	kraken	X5650	2.67GHz	2/6/12	H.264	veryfast	4.0	20 (RF)	332.9 fps	952.46 kb/s	637 MB	Legacy normal (No decomb default)
Zesty	kraken	X5650	2.67GHz	2/6/12	H.265	fast	auto	20 (RF)	41.8 fps	706.52 kb/s	473 MB	Legacy normal (No decomb default)

• S/C/T: Socket(s), Core per Socket, Thred per Socket.

Best settings for DVD

Notes

Notes:

• Asking google (handbrake best settings for dvd, etc).

• H265 doesn't seem to bring lot of advantage over H264, because H265 is mainly for highres video, which DVD isn't. H265 is much much slower however.

• Performance: https://handbrake.fr/docs/en/1.3.0/technical/performance.html

Handbrake presets:

• HQ 576p25 Surround: H.264, RF:18, Peak Framerate, Constant Quality, Preset slow, Tune none, Profile high, Level 3.1.
• SuperHQ 576p25 Surround: H.264, RF:16, Peak Framerate, Constant Quality, Preset veryslow, Tune none, Profile high, Level 3.1, more settings ref=5:bframes=5.

Using:

• Starting from HQ 576p25.
• Set Tune to film.
• Set Filters, Deblock, to Light (and tune medium); denoise filter to HQDN3D, preset medium. Interlace detection to Default, Deinterlace to Decomb.
• Audio, select all language, in auto passthrough.
• Subtitles, all subtitles, no burn in.
• Bench: Bad Teacher, x264, denoise, deblock, decomb: 96.99 / 95.70 fps, 2357MB, 1672kbps. But strange artefacts in generic (around statue, also around the text in generic).
• Bench: Bad Teacher, x264, decomb, RF 18, slow: 81.93 fps, 2511 MB, 1881 kbps. Better output, but bigger and slower.
• Bench: Bad Teacher, x264, decomb, denoise medium, RF 18, slow: 97.36 fps, 2206MB, 1445kbps, pretty much same quality as "decomb", but smaller and faster...
• Bench: Bad Teacher, x264, decomb, denoise light , RF 18, slow: 93.07 fps, 2266MB, 1536kbps.
• Bench: Bad Teacher, x264, decomb, denoise light , lapsharplightfilm, RF 18, slow: 83.07 fps, 2394MB, 1726kbps.
• Bench: Bad Teacher, x264, decomb, denoise light , RF 20, slow: 108.46 fps, 1954MB, 1070kbps.
• Bench: Bad Teacher, x264, decomb, denoise medium, RF 16, slow: 86.15 fps, 2629MB, 2077kbps.
• Bench: Bad Teacher, x264, decomb, denoise medium, RF 18, slower: 64.24 fps, 2213MB, 1456kbps,
• Bench: Bad Teacher, x264, decomb, denoise medium, 2-pass CBR 1800: 90.83+95.99 fps, 2443MB, 1800kbps,
• Bench: Bad Teacher, x264, decomb, denoise medium, 2-pass CBR 1800 turbo 1st pass: 252.61+97.87 fps, 2442MB, 1800kbps,
• Bench: Bad Teacher, x265, decomb, denoise light , RF 20, slow: 23.62 fps, 1743MB, 754kbps.
• Bench: Bad Teacher, x265, decomb, denoise light , RF 20, medium: 42.97 fps, 1688MB, 672kbps.
• Bench Final Cut, decomb, denois light, RF 18, slow, audio AAC 192: 73.59fps, 2238MB, 3103kbps. Audio very soft.
• Bench Final Cut, decomb, denois medium, RF 18, slow, audio AC3 passthrough 192: 78.35fps, 2001MB, 2734kbps.
• Bench Final Cut, decomb, denois medium, RF 20, slow, audio AC3 passthrough 192, dimension 720x576, ratio 1.66:1: 89.06fps, 1418MB, 1821kbps.

Template to try:

• DVD x264
• DVD x264, RF 19.
• DVD x264, RF 18.
• DVD x264 + AAC conversion (BUG ? When selecting AAC, it seems the gain is set to -20DB in Track List although it shows 0 in the Track selection, make sure to correct it)
• DVD x265
• DVD x265, RF 19.

Issues:

• DVD 'Thor the Dark World' - HB picked the wrong main title. Must check that the picked title is correct.
• When selected AAC conversion, there is gain -20db although it show 0db. Make sure it is set to 0db.

Things to try:

• https://forums.plex.tv/t/dvd-rip-quality-on-plex-roku-ultra/172481/12
• Don't use Constant Quality, but a given bitrate, like 1800-2200.
• Check that 720*576 is played ok (no need to go to 1024x576 as said in link above).
• Transcode all audio to AAC (so that to get direct play). Use Stereo only. Use Dynamic Range. Use

Subtitles

• Which subtitle choose?

• All of them, but assuming they can be displayed correctly.

• Subtitle seems to be "VOBSUB".
• Make a test on Plex on Shield.
• Make a test on Plex on Chrome.
• Make a test with VLC.
• Make a test with mplayer.

Audio

• Which audio track to choose?

• VO + French
• Should we take Dutch if available?

• Which codec to use?

• Ideally passthrough is best, but if AC3, it cannot directplay on Shield TV, which is a bit annoying.
• If transcoding to AAC, audio is very soft. Should we use dynamic range? Should we normalize loudness?
• AAC is greatly superior to AC3. AAC is transparent for 5.1ch at 320kb, for 2.0ch at 128kb.

• If transcoding,

• make sure there is no negative audio gain (note there is a bug in HB that by default set the gain to -20db). Better leave the gain at 0db.
• select same mixdown as source.

Video - aspect ratio

Note:

• 16:9 = 1.77:1 = 1024 x 576 = 1920 x 1080 (assuming square pixels).
• 16.7:9 = 1.85:1 = 1024 x 552.
• 4:3 = 12:9 = 1.33:1 = 1024 x 768 = 1920 x 1440 (assuming square pixels).

• Pixel Aspect Ratio (PAR)

• This is the pixel ratio to use when displaying an image.
• 1:1 means the stored image assume square pixels.
• 64:45 is the pixel ratio to use to change a 720x576 image into a 16:9 image 1024x576 (we have 720 / 45 * 64 = 1024)

• 720x576 is an image with ratio 5:4 assuming square pixel, but it becomes 16:9 assuming pixel ratio 64:45.
• To be displayed on a monitor with square pixels, then the 720x576 image must be stretched to 1024x576 image to preserved the final image ratio 16:9.

• With 720x576 image,

• a 16:15 PAR gives an image aspect ratio of 4:3.
• a 64:45 PAR gives an image aspect ratio of 16:9.

• Which aspect ratio?

• DVD PAL is always 720x576, but handbrake automatically crops to remove black edges.
• So resulting image cannot simply be panned to fit say 1920x1080 (16:9) display. The best fit must respect the desired aspect ratio.
• In addition, some DVD does not document the aspect ratio correctly.

• Ask Google to get correct a/r (final cut dvd aspect ratio, bad teacher dvd aspect ratio).

• For handbrake, we have to define:

• Storage geometry, the size of the encoded image, which is the size of the source after cropping.
• Display geometry, the size of the image to be displayed on screen, which is the size of the source after cropping.

• Examples

• DVD Final Cut, 1998

• Internet lookup: release ratio is 1.66:1.
• This seems like a bad DVD rip. Viewing the DVD shows an image ratio of 4:3.
• HB detects an issue with PAR: Video PAR 16:15 (ie. 4:3 image) != conainer PAR 64:45 (ie. 16:9 image). It defaults back to 16:9
• HB detects image as 720x576 with 12/14/14/10 autocrop, ie. 694x552, image 16:9, PAR 64:45.
• To correct the image ratio, we remove all crop (to keep the bar / pillar, which seem to be intended), and set the display geometry to 956 x 576.

• DVD Bad Teacher, 2011

• Internet look-up: movie aspect ration is 1.85:1.
• HB detects image as 720x576 with 12/12/0/0 autocrop, ie. 720x552, image 16:9 PAR 64:45.
• HB sets encode size at 720x552, and display size at 1024x552, with standard PAR 64:45, which gives the correct ratio 16.7:1, aka 1.85:1.

Plex Tests

Media:

• x264 with AC3
• x264 with AC3 with VOBSUB subtitles
• x264 with AAC
• x264 with AAC with VOBSUB subtitles
• x265
• x265 with VOBSUB subtitles

Plex Server:

• Only trying ShieldTV

Plex Player:

• Plex in Chrome.
• Plex Add On in Kodi on ShieldTV.
• Plex APp on ShieldTV.

Things to check:

• Quality
• Directplay or transcoding?
• If transcoding, video or audio, or both?
• Delay to start playing.

Things to try:

• Plex Web -> Quality -> Uncheck 'Use Recommended settings', and make sure 'Maximum' is selected.

General Issues on Plex App:

• Stop movie, More, playback settings, select subtitle, e.g. french. More, play version, pick any, play or resume. Subtitle are not showing. Stop movie. More, play version, etc, now it works. Or the same flow, but picking Resume / Play from Start instead of More.
• 32s delay when direct stream (see issue https://forums.plex.tv/t/nvidia-shield-tv-pro-2019-very-slow-plex-app-since-8-2-1-firmware/656558/14)

• No such delay when playing Interstellar 1080p H264 + AAC stereo (MP4 container).
• Similar symptoms: https://forums.plex.tv/t/shield-tv-beta-20-to-30-second-delay-when-playing-media/655246, but doesn't explain the difference of delays.

• Bad video AR when disabling HDMI passthrough (likely due to bad transcoding.)

Results:

• Bad Teacher - H264 / AC3 5.1 (plex version: 480p, 2Mbps)

• Plex on Chrome (Debian Buster): transcode AV (quality loss), showing 1Mbps on server.

• ... but we can set the quality in the player: settings -> quality -> original! When doing so: Direct V (pixel same), transcode A, with 2Mbps showing on server.
• Changing subtitles when playing: no delay.

• Plex App on ShieldTV: Direct AV, 32s delay to start playing / resuming.

But with HDMI audio passthrough disabled: Direct V / Transcode A. Transcode reason: AC-3 audio is not supported by the device. Also video AR changed to 4:3 although Display Mode is still Letterbox. But only 8s to start playing!!! Audio also softer because AAC likely.

• Plex Kodi on ShieldTV: '.

• same + VOBSUB

• Plex on Chrome (Debian Buster): transcode AV (quality loss).
• Plex App on ShieldTV: Direct AV, 32s delay to start playing / resuming.

But with HDMI audio passthrough disabled: Transcode V / Transcode A. Transcode reason: AC-3 audio is not supported by the device. Video AR is normal. But only 8s to start playing!!! Audio also softer because AAC likely.

... tried a second time with HDMI audio disabled: Direct V / Transcode A. 8s to start playing. Video AR is again 4:3. So it seems Direct V loses the video AR, while Transcode V keeps AR.

• Plex Kodi on ShieldTV: '.

• Bad Teacher - H264 / AAC 5.1 (plex version: 480p, 1.8Mbps)

• Plex on Chrome (Debian Buster): Direct AV (pixel same).
• Plex App on ShieldTV: Direct AV, 32s delay to start playing / resuming. Audio is softer than AC3

same with HDMI audio passthrough disabled.

• Plex Kodi on ShieldTV: '.

• same + VOBSUB

• Plex on Chrome (Debian Buster): Direct Audio, Transcode Video (slight quality loss), showing 2Mbps on server, client says 'Convert (Maximum), 1.8Mbps'.
• Plex App on ShieldTV: Direct AV, 32s delay to play from start.

same with HDMI audio passthrough disabled.

• Plex Kodi on ShieldTV: '.

• Bad Teacher - HEVC / AC3 5.1 (plex version: 480p, 1.6Mbps)

• Plex on Chrome (Debian Buster): Transcode AV (slight quality loss), showing 3 Mbps on server.
• Plex App on ShieldTV: Direct AV. Video AR ok. Startup 32s.

But with HDMI audio passthrough disabled: Direct V / Transcode A. Bad video AR 4:3. Startup only 8s.

• Plex Kodi on ShieldTV: '.

• same + VOBSUB

• Plex on Chrome (Debian Buster): Transcode AV (slight quality loss), showing 3 Mbps on server, client says 'Convert (Maximum), 1.6Mbps'.
• Plex App on ShieldTV: Direct AV. Video AR ok. Startup 32s.

But with HDMI audio passthrough disabled: Direct V / Transcode A. Bad video AR 4:3. Startup only 8s.

• Plex Kodi on ShieldTV: '.

• Brave H264 / AC3 5.1 (SD, 2.6Mbps )

• Plex App on ShieldTV: DirectAV. Same with VOBSUB.

• Brave H264 / AAC 5.1 (SD, 1.9Mbps )

• Plex App on ShieldTV: DirectAV. Same with VOBSUB.

• Brave HEVC / AAC 5.1 (SD, 1.6Mbps )

• Plex App on ShieldTV: DirectAV. Same with VOBSUB.

Plex Tests - other videos

THese are test results with videos not produced by HandBrake:

• Interstellar - .MP4 - H264 / AAC stereo

• Plex App on SHield: Direct AV, 8s delay only. Also with External SRT.