Looking to start encoding content in x265

[K4sum1]

I have looked around, and I'm not really sure what to do. People recommend various different programs for encoding, and I'm not sure what to use. I don't know what quality settings I should use, or what settings to encode my audio with. (This is more Handbrake being finicky with the set bit rate, it encodes like two bit rates below what you set. I want to replace Handbrake with something better.)

People also say that NVENC is worse than CPU encoding, but I don't understand how a purpose built encoder can be worse than a general purpose processor. I would be fine with CPU encoding, but on the slower settings, it will take hours to encode and use most of my CPU making other stuff laggy while I wait.

What I want to do is take some ripped movies that are taking up a bunch of storage space on my hard drive, and encode them in x265 so they don't take up as much. Maybe like 2-4GB for the Blu-rays, and below 1GB for the DVDs.

[Forteen88]

Try StaxRip, MeGUI or RipBot264 instead of Handbrake.
I like using Simple_x264/x265_launcher though, but for that program you must write the AviSynthPlus-scripts yourself first, which you do best in the program AvsPmod (you can preview frame-images of the filter-result when you use that software!).

II would be fine with CPU encoding, but on the slower settings, it will take hours to encode and use most of my CPU making other stuff laggy while I wait.
You shouldn't let x265 take up too many threads then. For better quality encodes (and a less laggy computer) in x265, I often set: --frame-threads 1
I think that this is OK as alternative too, if you're more in a hurry: --frame-threads 2
Yeah, I know it takes longer time to encode then, but I don't mind.

Maybe like 2-4GB for the Blu-rays
If you want that small size, then you should consider lowering the resolution from 1080p to 720p, or/and maybe use a denoiser (especially if the source video is very grainy).

[K4sum1]

Try StaxRip, MeGUI or RipBot264 instead of Handbrake.

I'll try them, but I'm not sure what settings to use for them, I'll try fiddling around with some small recordings I made a bit back.

You shouldn't let x265 take up too many threads then. For better quality encodes (and a less laggy computer) in x265, I often set: --frame-threads 1
I think that this is OK as alternative too, if you're more in a hurry: --frame-threads 2
Yeah, I know it takes longer time to encode then, but I don't mind.

Well, on slower settings, it says it will take longer than the actual video to encode, and that's with all my cores and threads. Would I be better off getting a lower thread but more powerful per core PC to encode? I have a 2700X in my main PC, but I could try overclocking an old 4790K to get higher single thread performance.

If you want that small size, then you should consider lowering the resolution from 1080p to 720p, or/and maybe use a denoiser (especially if the source video is very grainy).

I see movies and shows that aren't exactly official but are 2-4GB without being noticeably degraded, even in x264.

[K4sum1]

I tried StaxRip, and when trying to set the source file, it wants to open the file in 7-zip or something. I also tried RipBot264, and it gave me a VCRUNTIME140_1.dll error, even though I have all the runtimes from 2005-2022. MeGUI appears to be working, but I had to enable advanced settings to select the x265 encoder. I also got no quality selection. It's currently encoding, but won't be done in over an hour.

[K4sum1]

I decided to just fell send it and encode a movie in MeGUI, it's 1.45GB, and actually looks pretty good. I'll encode a few more stuffs and see how they look.

[Music Fan]

Virtual Dub 2 (note the 2) also includes an x265 encoder, I often use it. With the 64 bit version, my CPU runs at 100%, much faster than the 32 bit version.
It can open almost everything and contains some useful filters (and others can be added).
And if you are not afraid by command lines, ffmpeg also supports it (which you can use with an Avisynth script).