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Old 10th September 2009, 22:24   #1  |  Link
GLUBSCH
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HandBrake - the "perfect" choice for Linux?

Greetings to you, folks!

Many people have recommended HandBrake as a very good choice for Linux systems.
I´m using OpenSuse (because it abolutely rocks!) and have been recommended to use HandBrake for ripping and encoding as well.
Of course I did try several other good console based tools like h264enc to achive an excellent quality rip, but I somehow got addicted to HandBrake (hopefully developers will include a feature to directly back up VOBs to hard disc)...

To find my PERSONAL "perfect solution" I´m looking for other applications to try: Which other rippers/encoders are around that are cnsidered/proven to be further ahaed ("better") in quality and maintanance than HandBrake?
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Old 10th September 2009, 23:55   #2  |  Link
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Quality depends on the encoder options you use. Since HB uses libavcodec which comes from ffmpeg and libx264, it can't really outperform other encoders that use it too. If you use *exactly* the same options, once in HB and once in ffmpeg or mencoder, you'll get *very* similar result (if virtually the same)

you will find your "perfect solution" and quality after you do tests on your own and determine what looks good to *you*. There's no magical setting that will give a quality that looks "perfect" to all
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Old 11th September 2009, 00:07   #3  |  Link
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Thanks for pointing this out. I´m still looking forward for HB to support Blu-Ray and HD-TV encoding one day.
If you are the owner of the repository in your signature, you´re the allmighty microchip8 of OpenSuse. Other opinions are welcome.
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Old 11th September 2009, 00:16   #4  |  Link
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Yes, I'm microchip8 on openSUSE forum

Bluray support will come to MPlayer soon. There's currently a guy implementing it and asking a lot of questions, both on the mailing list and on #mplayerdev IRC channel. I'm not sure how it'll get implemented (built-in for MPlayer only or if he'll move some important stuff to a library one can use for other players/encoders)
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Old 11th September 2009, 00:18   #5  |  Link
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Originally Posted by froggy1 View Post
Quality depends on the encoder options you use. Since HB uses libavcodec which comes from ffmpeg and libx264
No it doesn't, it uses x264 directly.
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Old 11th September 2009, 00:20   #6  |  Link
microchip8
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Originally Posted by Dark Shikari View Post
No it doesn't, it uses x264 directly.
Still, the result is the same, no?
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Last edited by microchip8; 11th September 2009 at 00:26.
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Old 11th September 2009, 00:52   #7  |  Link
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Interesting point. Sadly HandBrake only uses the x264 it brings with it and not the external one. This might be due to the developers so they know that the internal x264 works with HandBrake. They couldn´t provide support for any extern verion. Which one of those two would you expect to be the more advanced tool in the future? As for me, it certainly seems like HandBrake is more ahaed in its development than MEncoder...

Last edited by GLUBSCH; 11th September 2009 at 01:05.
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Old 11th September 2009, 02:41   #8  |  Link
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MEncoder has many video and audio filters that HandBrake still lacks, and it's somewhat more tweakable through the command line. MPlayer/MEncoder has gained a lot of functionality during a decade of development and many talented people have worked on it, along with FFmpeg. However, MEncoder is built for AVI output and it would probably need to be redesigned to fully support modern containers. I expect MEncoder to be replaced by ffmpeg and other libav* frontends as soon as libavfilter gets committed to mainline FFmpeg and some useful MEncoder or AviSynth filters are ported to it. HandBrake(CLI) has lots of potential too, and it's delightfully easy to use.
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Old 11th September 2009, 09:47   #9  |  Link
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GLUBSCH View Post
Interesting point. Sadly HandBrake only uses the x264 it brings with it and not the external one. This might be due to the developers so they know that the internal x264 works with HandBrake. They couldn´t provide support for any extern verion. Which one of those two would you expect to be the more advanced tool in the future? As for me, it certainly seems like HandBrake is more ahaed in its development than MEncoder...
MEncoder's development is virtually dead and unless someone rewrites it and brings it into the 21st century, it has a poor future ahead which is really really sad. HB itself is (more of) a frontend than a encoder, eg it does not itself do the encoding but uses libavcodec and x264 for that, which do the real work so it cannot be "more advanced" than them as it depends on what they offer
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Old 11th September 2009, 09:49   #10  |  Link
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I expect MEncoder to be replaced by ffmpeg and other libav* frontends as soon as libavfilter gets committed to mainline FFmpeg and some useful MEncoder or AviSynth filters are ported to it. HandBrake(CLI) has lots of potential too, and it's delightfully easy to use.
ffmpeg still lacks direct reading from DVD and decryption of them which is the biggest issue I have with it. And don't get me started on the stupid way one passes options to it... -option -value +option2 -value2 +option3 +value1+value2+value3 ...
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Old 11th September 2009, 11:00   #11  |  Link
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yup, ffmpegs lack of filters and DVD input really is the main bummer for me too.
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Old 11th September 2009, 12:19   #12  |  Link
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Originally Posted by froggy1 View Post
ffmpeg still lacks direct reading from DVD and decryption of them which is the biggest issue I have with it. And don't get me started on the stupid way one passes options to it... -option -value +option2 -value2 +option3 +value1+value2+value3 ...
Just a small hint here: HandBrake uses libdvdcss to access an encrypted DVD if it is installed on your system (please gather further information about the legality in your country BEFORE using it). As for me, HandBrake clearly lacks ONE thing: The possibility to back up VOBs to the hard drive. Many other encoders are able to do so - but why the hell not HandBrake?

Anyhow, which tool do you recommend for Linux to back up those VOBs in the first place? See, I prefer to back up the VOBs completely, merge them and then encode as HandBrake doesn´t have to access the DVD drive all the time and scratch around on the DVDs.
Hey, a simple command to accomplish this task via console would do.
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Old 11th September 2009, 12:35   #13  |  Link
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GLUBSCH View Post
Anyhow, which tool do you recommend for Linux to back up those VOBs in the first place? See, I prefer to back up the VOBs completely, merge them and then encode as HandBrake doesn´t have to access the DVD drive all the time and scratch around on the DVDs.
Hey, a simple command to accomplish this task via console would do.
How about vobcopy (further information in stickies)
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Old 11th September 2009, 12:45   #14  |  Link
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GLUBSCH View Post
Anyhow, which tool do you recommend for Linux to back up those VOBs in the first place? See, I prefer to back up the VOBs completely, merge them and then encode as HandBrake doesn´t have to access the DVD drive all the time and scratch around on the DVDs.
If the disc doesn't have additional copy protection schemes (ARccOS, RipGuard, ...), you can simply copy the VIDEO_TS directory to a hard drive. Or dump the whole disc image with "dd if=/dev/dvd of=image.iso". HandBrake handles both as DVD input.

If a copy protection scheme prevents this, you'll need to run some Windows-based DVD ripping tool with Wine.
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Old 11th September 2009, 12:48   #15  |  Link
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Originally Posted by GLUBSCH View Post
Just a small hint here: HandBrake uses libdvdcss to access an encrypted DVD if it is installed on your system
And so does MEncoder and MPlayer, albeit internally so no need to install libdvdcss for it. I don't know what's your point here
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Old 11th September 2009, 14:41   #16  |  Link
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How about vobcopy (further information in stickies)
Thanks, that´s truly what I was looking for.
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Old 11th September 2009, 14:53   #17  |  Link
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Note that vobcopy doesn't work around extra copy protection either (only CSS), so for HandBrake input, it's the same as simply copying the files over.
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Old 11th September 2009, 15:08   #18  |  Link
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Note that vobcopy doesn't work around extra copy protection either (only CSS), so for HandBrake input, it's the same as simply copying the files over.
Simply because there doesn´t exist such software for Linux. Running apps design for win would probably help out.
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Old 11th September 2009, 15:27   #19  |  Link
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Originally Posted by GLUBSCH View Post
Simply because there doesn´t exist such software for Linux. Running apps design for win would probably help out.
Or 'windows minded' linux devs building new software.
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Old 11th September 2009, 16:40   #20  |  Link
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For example... (please insert applications here).
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