Tools and other software Advice on converting all my recordings. (2 Viewers)

[elsmandino]

Hi there,

Thanks very much for all that.

I do agree that if space were no problem, I probably would not bother converting much. Unforunately, I have an NSK2480 case that only holds two 3.5" hard drives (I have two 2TB drives) and the 5.25" space has a 500GB laptop drive in it.

I suppose I should consider my options before deciding to shrink/edit everything, like getting a different case or a NAS or something. I also guess it makes a difference if you have a reason for the conversions like Porky, other than just for saving space.

When you guys say you just skip through the ads, is this for everything on you have recorded or just things that you are going to watch and then delete? I wouldn't edit anything that I was going to delete but I have loads of series and films recorded that I watch a lot - do you ever edit these, given you are going to keep them?

I suppose the one thing that might be worth doing is having a go at actually doing some converting and see if the process is too long winded to warrant my buying more space anyway.

What settings would you guys use in Handbrake to encode some standard definition recordings (I only ever record SD)?

For the video, I would convert to H.264 but what about the audio?

As Owlsroost says, the broadcaster dictates which one of three audio standards are provided and I assume that as I am only dealing with SD broadcasts, this can only be MP2 or AAC.

Do you think I should just use the autopass thru option mentioned by erichzann?

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[elsmandino]

Slight update in respect of my research on this.

Annoyingly, I have just discovered that Handbrake does not allow Passthru of MP2 audio, so I am going to have to have a think about how to deal with this. Is it worth having a go with VideoReDo for the editing and converting to H.264.

I have also had a think about whether the mkv container is in fact the best way to go.

Like Porky said, it might be advantageous of going down the mp4 route as I have both an Ipod and an Asus Transformer T300, both of which natively play the MP4 container and not MKV.

Am I right in thinking that changing between containers (i.e. between MP4 and MKV) is lossless as no actual re-encoding takes place?

 

[DoXer]

Slight update in respect of my research on this.

Am I right in thinking that changing between containers (i.e. between MP4 and MKV) is lossless as no actual re-encoding takes place?

Yes, because MKV and MP4 are only containers. U can use mkvtoolnix to create a MKV. I used this by draggiing an AVI on the mkvtoolxGUI to create an MKV. Very easy. If U are familar with scripting U can also use the commandline parameters.

http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/

 

[elsmandino]

Thanks DoXer - I shall have a loot at mkvtoolzGUI. Do you think that this software is better than programs out there such as Handbrake and MCEBuddy?

 

[elsmandino]

I have been doing some more research on all of this and it seems that what I ultimately need is to use Project X (I am dreading having another go with this as I remember being bombarded with options).

What I need is to use Project X to cut out all the adverts and demux the final edit into audio, video and subtitle files.

I can then use something like handbrake to convert just the video into h.264 and then comine it with the subtitles and audio into an mkv.

My problem is how to go about this.

I cannot find any thorough documentaiton on Project X so any help with anyone with experience of it would be greatly appreciated.

I am a bit worried that I could end up ruining my years of recordings!

Thanks

 

[DoXer]

1. mkvtools is "only" a muxer for MKV no converter
2. ProjectX, maybe have a look here http://www.videohelp.com/

 

[erichzann]

elsmandino, I am not sure I understand the issue you are having with handbrake. Either the .mp4 or .mkv containers can handle auto passthru in Handbrake which will result in no mixdown and leave the audio untouched. I have attached an image:

 

[elsmandino]

Hi Erichzann. I have just had a quick go at converting a Mediaportal recording using the autopassthru option as suggested.
I checked the audio file of both the original file and the resulting file with MediaInfo.

The first has an MP2 track whereas the second has AC3, so the audio has still be re-encoded. As far as I am aware, Handbrake can only passthru certain audio formats (not MP2), otherwise it will default to encoding it.

This is going to be my problem - I need to be able to work out how to demux the original file into video, audio and subtitles, re-encode the video only and then mux it all back together again in a mkv container.

 

[erichzann]

Remind me why you don't want to encode the audio?

 

[elsmandino]

From all I have read, it seems that MP2 is already quite compressed as it is on transmission. By re-encoding it again, the sound quality really starts to get bit poor - bit like converting an .mp3 to an .aac file.