Encoding after ripping

[mkvfanclub]

So I think we all agree that MakeMKV does a fantastic job at ripping the files to MKV format.

But what to do with the files after that?

I need to compress them obviously. I want good quality but I don't want the files to be any bigger than 500mb for a 30 minute TV episode or 1.5GB for a 90 minute movie.

I was under the impression that HandBrake is very popular but when I use HandBrake to convert MKV to MP4, the files come out as very grainy when compared to AVI. AVI seems to be a lot smoother (lower quality but smoother) whereas MP4 with HandBrake seems to be grainy.

With HandBrake, I usually just go with the default preset of 720p/30. Do you think I should be going into HandBrake settings and enabling the Denoise filter? I guess I would use NLMeans but what preset and tuning should I use?

I realise that in an ideal world, I would analyse every MKV before deciding what settings to use in HandBrake but the reality is I have a ton of MKVs to encode and I simply don't have enough time to do that. So I'm really looking for settings that I can apply to every file.

I have tried other encoders in the past. I used to use WinX DVD but last time I tried it, the deinterlace filter was dreadful and high motion scenes were full of ghosting. HandBrake seems to handle the high motion scenes much better but like I said, HandBrake produces a very grainy MP4.

In fact, the interlace issue seems to be present in lots of other encoders such as Movavi.

I tried DVDFab but the interface is dreadful. Some say DVDShrink is good but I haven't tried that yet.

I have thought about other codecs (it doesn't have to be MP4) but I want something that's quite popular and works with DaVinci Resolve.

I don't need hardware encoding (even though I have a 2080) because software encoding produces smaller filesizes.

Any advice?

[mkfelidae]

I use handbrake for encoding to a final format that I like. I personally prefer using H.265 as the video codec, but most prefer H.264, the container format that you choose doesn't matter (MP4 / MKV) what matters is what is the encode speed (in the video tab near the middle) the default is very fast (which means potato) I will lower that to slow. This means that for my computer (A dual hexa-core X5670 xeon box @ 2.93Ghz) it take about 46 minutes for every hour of DVD rips that I am transcoding and for Blu-rays it can take almost 130 minutes for every hour of video being transcoded. If you are going to use handbrake you are more than welcome to try using hardware-assisted transcoding, (look it up on the Handbrake forum if you want) but my personal preference is to use CPU transcoding, it is not nearly as time-efficient but you get a better consistency on the final output, and it usually comes out on a smaller file size too. If you use your own custome setup in handbrake, save it as a preference, also pay attention to what audio tracks you are passing-through and which ones you are transcoding. I prefer to passthrough the highest audio format available (usually some kind of 7.1 or 7.2, but on DVD's almost always AC3-5.1) as well as transcoding that same track into AAC Stereo for my phone to use. You can experiment with a test encode too. just select one chapter in the middle of a movie that you have ripped and only encode that first. Then play it back and determine if that quality suits you, once you find a quality you like, save that as a preset and feed the whole library into it.

This wasn't meant to be me pontificating but it seems to have turned out that way.

Bottom line, Turn the video encode speed down; pick a video/audio codec pair that works well for the devices you will be watching this on; experiment until you are satisfied with the quality/compression.

Hope this helps