Guide to video encoding for quality and compatibility

**berndine** · March 14th, 2012, 07:09 AM

I am running a Quadcore AMD Phenom II 810 (2.6 Ghz) with 4 GB RAM

I compared different Handbrake settings an would like to share my results.

I encoded 5.20 mins of a 1080p bluray. No shrinking - full 1080p (no cutting of edges), Q20, constant FPS, Audio (AC3) passthru 5.1

Normal Profile:
Time: 4.53 min
Size: 150 MB
average fps: 27

High Profile:
Time: 12.40 min
Size: 178 MB
average fps: 10

Q20 Main Profile:
Time: 5.24 min
Size: 150 MB
average fps: 24

Q20 Baseline:
Time: 7.25 min
Size: 190 MB
average fps: 17.7

From no on I will convert every movie using Normal Profile. It is the fastest and honestly I dont know the difference in quality of the different profiles. Imo high profile should be in theory smaller in filesize than the normal profile. Dont know why it is bigger.

**cayars** · March 21st, 2012, 12:07 AM

High profile uses a couple of filter that normal doesn't which typically helps the quality. As for file sizes you will want to compare what is included in both the normal and high profile conversions. For example look at the extra audio included in the High Profile conversion.

Which profile to use depends more on your environment then anything else. I like being able to play back sound through my TV at night and with my Bose sound system during the day so I like using the High Profile to get the audio I want in my conversions for both situations.

Also you might want to check and see what your are doing with subtitles. If you are encoding English DVDs and only speak or care about English then you might want to have HB ignore subtitles.

HandBrake is good software but you have to understand what it's doing and what you are getting out of it when you make changes to the profiles and you try and compare sizes and encoding times.

Carlo