MKV -> MP4 conversion apps with APIs or command line inter.

[dfurrow]

I'm a programmer and I process a lot of DVDs into MP4s to watch on my home server. I've been using MakeMKV for years to rip the DVD and then HandBrake to encode it to an MP4. I always keep the MKV as my backup in case I want to re-process it in the future. Over time I've developed Windows batch and Powershell utilities to automate most of the grunt work but my latest effort has been to develop a Java GUI app that has lots of bells and whistles and even sends me an email when a job is done.

My problem using Java is not using MakeMKV, its command line interface works fine, my problem is the interface with HandBrake and I'm wondering if there are better alternatives. When using the ProcessBuilder and Process Java classes to build and execute a HandBrake process I get various problems/errors when using certain command line options (like trying to specify my own preset and preset file). Using a Windows batch or Powershell script works fine so my kludge has been to build a Windows batch script and then execute it from the Java app. Which works but is not as clean as I'd like it.

So, my question for the group is if anyone has advice/suggestions about other conversion apps that have a good API or command line interface?

[Woodstock]

ffmpeg is often the target of command line assistance.

Not sure it's easier or better than the handbrake CLI, though.