Tips for 1080p BD rips with Handbrake + AnyDVD HD?

[CZroe]

OK, my notebook (M11x r3) requires an external optical drive which has been nothing but trouble. When a rip can take hours something almost always happens before I can finish, like the drive gets disconnected or tugged or dropped and I have to start the rip all over. Also, sometimes I forget to check "Large file size" in Handbrake, the result is unplayable, and I end up wasting hours (have to start all over). I think the best thing would be to get the content off the disc as quickly as possible and then process that rip into a smaller files size. What is the fastest way to get the main content off the disc where the bottleneck would be the maximum disc/drive transfer speed and not processing/encoding?

What I'm usually trying to do is make something suitable for streaming to various media devices and watching in Full HD. In the past I often ripped in HD with huge file sizes and transcoded to SD for phones and such with limited storage, but I recently got a 1080p Galaxy Note 3 and want to carry some 1080p content (especially with my MHL adapter). The current 7GB+ per 1080p movie is not going to cut it: I have a 64GB microSD card and 32GB internal memory and I can fill it all right up with surprisingly few movies or TV shows.

Long story short: I'd like to know how to get reasonable file sizes for feature-length 1080p movies (preferably under 4GB for FAT32). Should I even be using Handbrake? Two-pass encoding? What? I'm sure my files are a lot bigger than they need to be.

 

[vi edit]

Rip to mkv first with makemkv and then let handbrake run on the locally stored mkv file.

 

[Aharami]

Rip to mkv first with makemkv and then let handbrake run on the locally stored mkv file.

this

 

[vi edit]

I also wouldn't get caught up in the resolution. Focus more on quality IMHO. On a phone that is absolutely wasted space. I'm encoding most of my stuff on the "Apple TV 2" setting in Handbrake with a video setting of around 18. I find that on a 46" 1080p TV played over the Apple TV the quality looks pretty damn good. Those file sizes end up being around 2-3 gig for a 90 minute movie.

If it looks good on a 46" 1080p display, it's going to look more than good on a 6" one or whatever crappy hotel TV you end up shooting it across to.

 

[CZroe]

Thanks. Does MakeMKV let me exclude the stuff I don't want before the rip (save even more time)?

I also wouldn't get caught up in the resolution. Focus more on quality IMHO. On a phone that is absolutely wasted space. I'm encoding most of my stuff on the "Apple TV 2" setting in Handbrake with a video setting of around 18. I find that on a 46" 1080p TV played over the Apple TV the quality looks pretty damn good. Those file sizes end up being around 2-3 gig for a 90 minute movie.

I agree, but the phone will often connect to my TV via HDMI and the same files will get used elsewhere.

If it looks good on a 46" 1080p display, it's going to look more than good on a 6" one or whatever crappy hotel TV you end up shooting it across to.

I want the same file to look good when outputting to a 65" too.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[vi edit]

Does MakeMKV let me exclude the stuff I don't want before the rip (save even more time)?

Yes, you just select the main content and go with that. It's not an *incredibly* intuitive program the first couple times. The encryption on some of the disks (Disney is the worst) can really throw it for a loop and you'll get like 26 different titles. May take a few times to get the hang of it. A lot of movies are pretty straight foward.

Toss in the disk, let it read. It takes 5 minutes for it to process and spit out the contents. You'll have half a dozen 1-2 gig files, those are extra features, menus, ect. And then one big file of around 26 gig or so that is the main movie. Select that, let it run (takes about 45 minutes on my i5 rig) and then it will kick out a 15 or so gig mkv file.

Run that through handbrake as usual.

 

[CZroe]

Well, I took my normal profile 7.86GB Little Shop of Horrors MKV made with Handbrake defaults at Normal profile and tried a few tests:
Re-encoding to High Profile dropped it to 6.11GB.
Dropping to a Pro Logic II mixdown audio track dropped it to 5.94GB.
2-pass encoding dropped it to 884MB and made it crap quality. I did not use Turbo Pass or specify an average bitrate.

I went back to the source file and reapplied all previous changes between each encode so the effects are cumulative and not multi-generational.

I know 2-pass encodes are supposed to be higher quality with smaller file sizes but Handbrake turns this into a Average Bitrate setting guessing-game. How do the pros and pirates do it?

Because I don't know how much audio and subtitle streams will add, I can't easily use the running time to calculate the average video bitrate I need for a 4GB file. There really should be a "Target File Size" setting.

Now I'm doing another constant quality encode at RF22 as opposed to the default of 20. Edit: 4.28GB. Haven't checked on the quality (had to go to work).

 

[Kneedragger]

Rip to mkv first with makemkv and then let handbrake run on the locally stored mkv file.

I agree.

 

[vi edit]

I still think you should consider dropping the resolution while keeping the overall quality higher. I'm using the basic Apple TV 2 setting in handbrake and it kicks out files that are around 1200 x 600 or so in resolution. Typical video sizes are 3.5 gig for a 90 minute movie.

Watching those through my Apple TV on a 60" 1080p television looks excellent.

Don't get caught up in the resolution as much. Focus on getting more data in a smaller size and let the tv upscale if needed. I'm doing mainly animated movies for my kids and you would be *very* hard up to tell the difference from the original blu-ray disk.

 

[smitbret]

The ripping tips are good here, although, if you have AnyDVD HD, there are more sure methods. Keep in mind they are more complicated and make a difference just a tiny percentage of the time. 99% of the time, you'll be fine with MakeMKV.

As far as encoding, I agree, you are wasting your time doing 1080p encodes for any mobile device and really for any tablet, either.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/09/1080p-charted-viewing-distance-to-screen-size/

You would really have to stick your nose on your Note 3 to see a difference.

I would recommend 1280x720 instead.

For BR Rips:
Framerate - Same as Source and Constant (some TV/device combinations struggle with variable framerate and 23.97fps)

I typically run an average bitrate of 2000-2500 for 720p rips and leave the Fast 2-Pass option on. 2000 for slow movies, 2500 for action.

If encode speed is important, though, you may just want to use an RF of 18 instead.

Set up your Audio how you like it, but unless you are going to be playing back on a home theater system, there is little use for anything but 2-channel .aac with Dolby Pro Logic II at 160kb/s. I will often set a 2nd audio track with the AC3 or DTS pass-thru though, but keep in mind it will add size to your files.

Here's how my <Advanced> tab looks.

I just encoded a BR Rip to 1080p of R.I.P.D. last night and it took about 8 hours with these settings (RF 18) on my FX6100 but it looks great and is about 5.2GB. Keep in mind I kept the DTS audio track as well as the 2 channel .aac conversion which adds half a GB or more. Had I gone to 720P it would probably be 3.5GB or so.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

For smaller file size, run the encode as slowly as you can afford. For my blu-ray encodes the Very Fast preset is about 2.5 times the size of the Very Slow. Sure it takes 4-5 times longer, but personally my PC can spare that and it's worth it in end file size especially on a storage-restricted form factor.

 

[Legios]

How would this approach work for TV show DVD's? Ripping an entire season would help negate the need to carry the bundles on trips.

 

[vi edit]

How would this approach work for TV show DVD's? Ripping an entire season would help negate the need to carry the bundles on trips.

No different really, except the process is little more invovled. Instead of it being one large flat file for a 90 minute movie, a season disk is going to have 3-6 different chapters(episodes) on the disk that will have to be selected and ripped. I've always ripped them as 1 file to 1 episode and then encoded.

What's nice with handbrake is that you can rip a bunch of files with Make MKV and then setup profiles in handbreak and queue them to process in succession overnight/while you are at work.

 

[Legios]

Thanks, I believe I am ripping currently with MakeMKV then will see what I have gotten.

 

[CZroe]

The ripping tips are good here, although, if you have AnyDVD HD, there are more sure methods. Keep in mind they are more complicated and make a difference just a tiny percentage of the time. 99% of the time, you'll be fine with MakeMKV.

I do. I bought the whole SlySoft suite back in 2008. I was surprised to see MakeMKV tell me to disable it. So they've figured out how to strip BD protections too?! I stopped following back when Doom9 stopped updating years ago, but I thought only a select few knew how to do this.

So, having AnyDVD HD : What better options does this make available to me?

As far as encoding, I agree, you are wasting your time doing 1080p encodes for any mobile device and really for any tablet, either.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/09/1080p-charted-viewing-distance-to-screen-size/

You would really have to stick your nose on your Note 3 to see a difference.

I would recommend 1280x720 instead.

Well, that's just it: It isn't just for the mobile device. I used MHL HDMI output to a 65" TV as an example, but the truth is that I hate having to go back to the original disc to start ripping all over when I could have made a more suitable file in the first place and used that as the source for any smaller files as needed.

My goal is to find settings where my first rip will be around 4GB for a typical feature-length full 1080p movie. It isn't even so much the "file size is too big for a mobile device" that concerns me. Basically, it also gives me the benefit of being able to move it around on FAT32 or throw it on a single-layer DVD-R if I needed to share without re-encoding and I will always still have that option too.

For BR Rips:
Framerate - Same as Source and Constant (some TV/device combinations struggle with variable framerate and 23.97fps)

I typically run an average bitrate of 2000-2500 for 720p rips and leave the Fast 2-Pass option on. 2000 for slow movies, 2500 for action.

If encode speed is important, though, you may just want to use an RF of 18 instead.

Thanks. Encode speed definitely isn't so important to me, provided I get a good rip I can work with the first time.

Set up your Audio how you like it, but unless you are going to be playing back on a home theater system, there is little use for anything but 2-channel .aac with Dolby Pro Logic II at 160kb/s. I will often set a 2nd audio track with the AC3 or DTS pass-thru though, but keep in mind it will add size to your files.

Yep, and this has been a source of one of my biggest hang-ups. Is there a simple way to have the pass-through track as a separate file in case I want to include it optionally (without re-encoding)?

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

I do. I bought the whole SlySoft suite back in 2008. I was surprised to see MakeMKV tell me to disable it. So they've figured out how to strip BD protections too?! I stopped following back when Doom9 stopped updating years ago, but I thought only a select few knew how to do this.

So, having AnyDVD HD : What better options does this make available to me?


Well, that's just it: It isn't just for the mobile device. I used MHL HDMI output to a 65" TV as an example, but the truth is that I hate having to go back to the original disc to start ripping all over when I could have made a more suitable file in the first place and used that as the source for any smaller files as needed.

My goal is to find settings where my first rip will be around 4GB for a typical feature-length full 1080p movie. It isn't even so much the "file size is too big for a mobile device" that concerns me. Basically, it also gives me the benefit of being able to move it around on FAT32 or throw it on a single-layer DVD-R if I needed to share without re-encoding and I will always still have that option too.


Thanks. Encode speed definitely isn't so important to me, provided I get a good rip I can work with the first time.


Yep, and this has been a source of one of my biggest hang-ups. Is there a simple way to have the pass-through track as a separate file in case I want to include it optionally (without re-encoding)?

I don't know what MakeMKV has in this area, but with AnyDVD HD Handbrake will support running the encode directly from the Blu-ray, which might be easier and quicker than pulling the file into an mkv first.

 

[smitbret]

I do. I bought the whole SlySoft suite back in 2008. I was surprised to see MakeMKV tell me to disable it. So they've figured out how to strip BD protections too?! I stopped following back when Doom9 stopped updating years ago, but I thought only a select few knew how to do this.

So, having AnyDVD HD : What better options does this make available to me?


Well, that's just it: It isn't just for the mobile device. I used MHL HDMI output to a 65" TV as an example, but the truth is that I hate having to go back to the original disc to start ripping all over when I could have made a more suitable file in the first place and used that as the source for any smaller files as needed.

My goal is to find settings where my first rip will be around 4GB for a typical feature-length full 1080p movie. It isn't even so much the "file size is too big for a mobile device" that concerns me. Basically, it also gives me the benefit of being able to move it around on FAT32 or throw it on a single-layer DVD-R if I needed to share without re-encoding and I will always still have that option too.


Thanks. Encode speed definitely isn't so important to me, provided I get a good rip I can work with the first time.

Yep, and this has been a source of one of my biggest hang-ups. Is there a simple way to have the pass-through track as a separate file in case I want to include it optionally (without re-encoding)?

OK, so, it sounds like you want the highest quality 1080p that will come in under 4GB and the length of time it takes to make the encode isn't that important, right? Unfortunately, I don't know of any way to store the DTS audio stream as a separate file and still be able to playback. Your work around could be to keep each movie in its own folder with the DTS/DTS-HD/DTS-MA pulled out as a separate stream and then remux as necessary. Once the rip and video encode are done, remuxing is a 2 minute process and might just be an inconvenience you'll have to deal with.

Your issue is 1080p under 4GB. You can make some very good 1080p encodes but no matter what you do, there's just no making up for size and there will be compromises in video quality. You could adjust your reference frames to 5, 6 or even more but you'll get ever diminishing returns at the expense of speed and really I have never noticed any use for going over 5 if anything beyond 4.

MakeMKV seems to pull the DTS core file or downconvert the DTS-HD/DTS-MA stream to DTS. Since you already have AnyDVD HD, follow this guide to pull everything you want out of the BR including those HD Audio streams. You'll end up with an .m2ts file which will actually be playable on just about everything but is hardly the most efficient use of storage space:

http://www.dvd-guides.com/guides/blu-ray-rip/256-remux-blu-ray-to-mkv

When you demux/rip with TsMuxer, pull all of the applicable audio streams down to the destination .m2ts. Ripping the original movie from the BR to a single .m2ts will take about 30-45 minutes. I'd then just do a web search for a bitrate calculator and determine what your target average bitrate should be. Set up Handbrake in 2-Pass with the average bitrate but just make sure and give yourself a little headroom, i.e. do the bitrate calcuation to be 3.9GB instead of 4GB because inevitably you'll end up with something just a little larger and you'll have to start over.

1) Re-Encode with just the single 2-channel .aac stream and set your target for 3.9GB. This is what takes all of the time. Depending on settings and CPU, this could take 2 hours or 20 hours. Then take a couple of minutes to demux the DTS stream out of the original .m2ts file and leave it in the folder with the newly created .mkv.

2) You can remux the DTS stream back into the .mkv file in just a couple of minutes at anytime with MKVToolnix or something similar for playback on your home theater but your remuxed .mkv will be well over the 4GB limit so transferring that file around under FAT32 won't happen. Remuxing only takes a couple of minutes versus several hours like reencoding.

What you need to keep in mind is the differences between mux/demux and reencoding. Are you familiar with the streams, muxing, codecs and containers? Once you've grasped that, you'll understand how you can move streams around to different containers for different purposes.

 

[phillyman36]

Hey quick question especially for tv series is there a well to tell if an episode has forced subtitles? (especially if you aren't familiar with the tv show. I dont want to re encode episodes then find out some have non english speaking parts with forced sub and have to re encode them again)

 

[CZroe]

Hey quick question especially for tv series is there a well to tell if an episode has forced subtitles? (especially if you aren't familiar with the tv show. I dont want to re encode episodes then find out some have non english speaking parts with forced sub and have to re encode them again)

Best solution is to always include forced subs only with Foreign Audio Search.

Those subs will have a negligible size and it'll usually do the trick, but it won't always work. For example, it didn't help with my Game of Thrones DVDs that were included with the BDs (didn't try with the BDs). That's because it was a different subtitle track that was on by default instead of being forced so you may still find a similar situation. I encoded the whole season before I realized that the Dothraki dialog was missing even though I used Foreign Audio Search.

IMO, it should assume that a default-enabled subtitle track is "Foreign Audio" the same as sub-x% of a particular sub track being forced, but it doesn't.

Those subs would have negligible file size.

 

[CZroe]

I don't know what MakeMKV has in this area, but with AnyDVD HD Handbrake will support running the encode directly from the Blu-ray, which might be easier and quicker than pulling the file into an mkv first.

That's what I've been doing all along and didn't realize that there was a way without tools like AnyDVD HD/DVDfab but my external BD drive is often a problem if I don't hurry up and get the content off the disc. So far I've only done Mission: Impossible 4 Ghost Protocol with MakeMKV first. I think that will be my new method until I set up a desktop for doing this (thanks, guys!).

M:I4 was only 3.5GB at RF22 constant High Profile with 2.0 channel PLII which is, despite being a longer movie with plenty of action, way smaller than my Little Shop of Horrors Director's Cut rip with the same settings. I'm going to go back and see if I get similar results by starting with those settings instead of my 7.xGB RF20 rip.

 

[smitbret]

That's what I've been doing all along and didn't realize that there was a way without tools like AnyDVD HD/DVDfab but my external BD drive is often a problem if I don't hurry up and get the content off the disc. So far I've only done Mission: Impossible 4 Ghost Protocol with MakeMKV first. I think that will be my new method until I set up a desktop for doing this (thanks, guys!).

M:I4 was only 3.5GB at RF22 constant High Profile with 2.0 channel PLII which is, despite being a longer movie with plenty of action, way smaller than my Little Shop of Horrors Director's Cut rip with the same settings. I'm going to go back and see if I get similar results by starting with those settings instead of my 7.xGB RF20 rip.

At RF22, you may very well be better off with 1280x720 at RF18 for the same bitrate, especially for high action.

Number of pixels is just one thing that factors into quality. If a video is bit starved at 1080p, it will look better in 720p.

 

[CZroe]

OK, so, it sounds like you want the highest quality 1080p that will come in under 4GB and the length of time it takes to make the encode isn't that important, right?

Yup.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any way to store the DTS audio stream as a separate file and still be able to playback. Your work around could be to keep each movie in its own folder with the DTS/DTS-HD/DTS-MA pulled out as a separate stream and then remux as necessary. Once the rip and video encode are done, remuxing is a 2 minute process and might just be an inconvenience you'll have to deal with.

That's kinda what I was thinking. Can I just go ahead and make the rip with both audio tracks in Handbrake, extract and store the pass-thru tracks from the output file, and then make a new video file with only the 2-channel PLII down-mix? Can the same tools accomplish this?

Your issue is 1080p under 4GB. You can make some very good 1080p encodes but no matter what you do, there's just no making up for size and there will be compromises in video quality. You could adjust your reference frames to 5, 6 or even more but you'll get ever diminishing returns at the expense of speed and really I have never noticed any use for going over 5 if anything beyond 4.

MakeMKV seems to pull the DTS core file or downconvert the DTS-HD/DTS-MA stream to DTS. Since you already have AnyDVD HD, follow this guide to pull everything you want out of the BR including those HD Audio streams. You'll end up with an .m2ts file which will actually be playable on just about everything but is hardly the most efficient use of storage space:

http://www.dvd-guides.com/guides/blu-ray-rip/256-remux-blu-ray-to-mkv

I'll take a look at home. Thanks!

When you demux/rip with TsMuxer, pull all of the applicable audio streams down to the destination .m2ts. Ripping the original movie from the BR to a single .m2ts will take about 30-45 minutes. I'd then just do a web search for a bitrate calculator and determine what your target average bitrate should be. Set up Handbrake in 2-Pass with the average bitrate but just make sure and give yourself a little headroom, i.e. do the bitrate calcuation to be 3.9GB instead of 4GB because inevitably you'll end up with something just a little larger and you'll have to start over.

Thanks. That's the bit of info I knew I was missing.

1) Re-Encode with just the single 2-channel .aac stream and set your target for 3.9GB. This is what takes all of the time. Depending on settings and CPU, this could take 2 hours or 20 hours. Then take a couple of minutes to demux the DTS stream out of the original .m2ts file and leave it in the folder with the newly created .mkv.

Awesome. Thanks!

2) You can remux the DTS stream back into the .mkv file in just a couple of minutes at anytime with MKVToolnix or something similar for playback on your home theater but your remuxed .mkv will be well over the 4GB limit so transferring that file around under FAT32 won't happen. Remuxing only takes a couple of minutes versus several hours like reencoding.

Exactly what I wanted to hear.

What you need to keep in mind is the differences between mux/demux and reencoding. Are you familiar with the streams, muxing, codecs and containers? Once you've grasped that, you'll understand how you can move streams around to different containers for different purposes.

Yes, but I haven't dealt with the tools much since the MPEG and AVI days with stuff like TMPGEnc trial software and later some Windows Media Encoder tools for my old Samsung YH-999 Portable Media Center.

 

[smitbret]

When you rip the BR with TsMuxer, just choose the video stream, the highest quality audio stream and any subtitle streams.

They'll all end up in an .m2ts container that you can pull the streams in and out of at will.

You could run then TsMuxer one more time on the new .m2ts file (or the BR for that matter, but it will be slower) and choose just the audio track, pulling it into it's own file. Depending on the extension of the stream, it may or may not be playable on its own, but that's ok.

Then run the new .m2ts file through Handbrake with my suggestions above and create just the 2-channel DPL II .aac track. This is what will take hours to do. Whether you choose .mp4 or .mkv as your destination container doesn't really matter at this point. This is where you'll want to meet the 3.9GB parameter and will be the file that you can move around, playback on most devices, etc.

When you are ready to play it back on the Home Theater, load the .mp4/.mkv file into MKVMerge, deselect the .aac stream (leaving the .h264 stream and any subtitles selected) and add the DTS track. Run it for a couple of minutes and you'll get a 5-6GB .mkv file with the DTS audio track.

Stream and enjoy

As long as you keep the 3.9GB file and the separate DTS track as its own file, you will always be just a couple of minutes away from remuxing things exactly how you want them. Remuxing is just rebuilding the .mkv or .mp4 container with whatever streams you want to include. Keep in mind, that you'll probably always want to remux to .mkv when you add the DTS track because it's not officially supported in the .mp4 container.