HANDBRAKE
Optimise your videos and free up HDD space
Nick Peers reveals how to convert your videos into H.264 and H.265 codec formats to help save drive space and maximise playback compatibility.
Credit: https://handbrake.fr
OUR EXPERT
Nick Peers has converted countless videos using Handbrake over the past decade. What work-life balance?
Looking to convert videos into a universal format guaranteed to play on just about any device? Then you need a video converter capable of encoding your video in the universal H.264 or H.265 codec, wrapped up in a MP4 file container. You could use the codec’s own command-line tool, but that becomes unwieldy when you realise just how much finetuning’s required to compress your video to a small enough file without making it unwatchable.
What you need is a point-and-click solution in the form of Handbrake (https://handbrake.fr). The program gives you full control over your video conversions via a more user-friendly graphical front end. However, its vast array of options and tabs can make it confusing for beginners. Never fear: read on for our exhaustive stepby-step guide to the whole process.
Handbrake: master your codec settings
1 Codec Your main choice here is between H.264 (x264) and H.265 (x265). The latter is superior, but less compatible – and much slower.
2 Framerate In the vast majority of cases, set this to Same as source, and with Constant Framerate selected.the vast majority of cases, set this to Same as source, and with Constant Framerate selected.
3 Preset Use this slider to trade-off between final video quality and size, over encoding performance. If encoding takes too long, nudge it to fast or faster.
4 Codec-specific options These options vary depending on the codec you’ve chosen. Take the time to set Tune to match your video type.
5 Quality settings Select Constant Quality and use the RF slider to find the best balance between image quality and file size.
6 Preview Click this button to open a preview window to test your Filters and Video settings on a 45-second clip.
As per usual, Handbrake can be installed through Ubuntu Software – but it’s not the latest version. To ensure you’re running Handbrake 1.3, open Terminal and issue the following commands: $ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrakereleases $ sudo apt-get update
Two versions are available: a GUI and a CLI. We’ll be focusing on the GUI in this tutorial, so install it thus: $ sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk
Handbrake off!
Launch Handbrake from the Show Applications menu. Step one is to open your source: this can be a single video file, all the files in a selected folder, a disc image (such as an ISO file) or a DVD. Wait while Handbrake scans the file or folder for supported content (most file types) and generates a list of titles.
Handbrake will display a summary of the first matching title in the list, complete with a video preview to help you identify it. Click the Title drop-down to see what titles have been added if you selected a folder, ISO file or disc. You can identify each one by its length as shown in the Title field and preview picture. If the preview doesn’t tell you much, click the Preview button at the top and use the slider to choose a different thumbnail from the video, which should help identify it.