Convert 4K BLURAY to H.265 HEVC with Handbrake without having to know or understand all of the settings. Just copy my settings and you’re done!

*Whilst your user interface may appear slightly different than shown here (depending on if you are using Windows, Mac or Linux), the settings and results will be the same across all platforms.

**NOTE** – These settings are for 4K BLURAY to H.265 HEVC Video

To convert 1080P BLURAY to H.265 – CLICK HERE!
To convert 1080P BLURAY to H.264 – CLICK HERE!
To convert DVD to H.265 – CLICK HERE!
To convert DVD to H.264 – CLICK HERE!

THE SHORT VERSION

1 Open source file in Handbrake and make sure you are on the “Summary” tab
2 Set file format to “MKV”
3 Click “Dimensions” tab and set Resolution Limit to “2160P 4K Ultra HD” and leave Anamorphic as Automatic, leave cropping “Automatic” and borders “None”
4 Click the “Filters” tab
5 Leave Interlace Detection set to Default, De-interlace set to Decomb, and Preset at “Default”. If your system CANNOT play HDR video set colourspace to BT.709 (If you are not sure create a small test video as shown HERE).
6 Click the “Video” tab
7 Select “H.265 10-Bit (x265)” from the Video Codec drop down
8 Select “Same As Source” in “Framerate”
9 Check the “Constant Framerate” button
10 Set “Encoder Preset” slider to “Slow”
11 Set “Encoder Tune” to “None”
12 Set “Encoder Profile” to “Main 10”
13 Set “Encoder Level” to “5.1”
14 Set the “Constant Quality” slider to “24”
15 In the “Additional Options” box add strong-intra-smoothing=0:rect=0:aq-mode=1:rd=4:psy-rd=0.75:psy-rdoq=4.0:rdoq-level=1:rskip=2
16 Click the “Audio” tab
17 Select the preferred 7.1 or 5.1 channel soundtrack. Select “Passthru” to keep, or go to next step to compress
18 Set “Codec” to “AC3” and the Bitrate to 448kb
19 Set Mixdown to “5.1 Channels” and Samplerate to “48”
20 Click the “Subtitles” tab
21 To remove all subtitles on MAC set the dropdown to “None”, and on Windows click the greyed out “X” on the right hand side. To keep subtitles, select the desired subtitles track from the dropdown, and unselect “Forced Only” and “Burn In” to allow you to turn them off and on as desired. To keep a second subtitle track click “Track” and then “Add New Track”. Repeat the process for the second track. To burn a track into the picture so the subtitle are always there check “Burn In”.
22 Click the “Chapters” tab
23 Uncheck the “Create Chapter Markers” option if you don’t want them or leave it checked if you do
24 Give your output file a unique name and save it somewhere easy to find
25 Make a preset to save the settings and Press the Green “Start Encode” button

THE LONG VERSION

THE GOAL – To produce the highest quality video with the smallest possible file size, whilst creating a 5.1 Digital Sound Track that is compatible with most players and TV’s

DISCLAIMER – This method will produce very nice quality videos, but may take SEVERAL hours to process each hour of video! Unfortunately, good quality video with small file size cant be done quickly, it just doesn’t work that way.

THE TECHNICAL STUFF – My TV is a 65″ Samsung 4K UHD. I viewing position is about 10-12 feet back. I play the media from a Apple TV 4K, and use the Infuse Pro player app. This video was encoded on a 8 year old HP desktop with I7 processor. The version of Handbrake used in this tutorial is v1.6.1 which is the current stable release for March 2023.

MY SOURCE FILE – My source file straight off the 4K BluRay weighs in at a hefty 52 GB and contains many audio tracks. We will be able to reduce the size of this significantly! (Info provided by Mediainfo – free download HERE)

LETS ENCODE!

Once you have dropped your source file into Handbrake, you should find yourself on the Summary Tab.

As we will be including PGS subtitles in this encode, select MKV as your output format, you can leave “Leave Passthru Common Metadata” checked if you want to retain this info, uncheck it if you don’t. Next is the Dimensions Tab.

Make sure Cropping is set to “Automatic”, set the Resolution Limit to “2160p 4K Ultra HD”, leave Anamorphic at “Automatic” and Border Fill to “None”. These settings will remove the black bars from the video, reducing the file size even further. Now it’s on to the Filters tab.

The default settings here are good. Regardless of your source file these settings result in a nice decombed progressively drawn video. This is exactly what we want. **IMPORTANT NOTE** – Not all TV’s and Media Players can handle HDR (High Dynamic Range). If your system can handle HDR leave Colourspace set to “Off”. If your system is not HDR compatible change Colourspace to “BT.709”

If you are not sure, copy out a small slice of your source file and make a test file, so you don’t have to wait for the whole movie to encode. See my article HERE on how to do it for free. Now we can move on to the Video tab.

Select the H.265 10-Bit encoder. 10-Bit allows for a much wider range of available colours, and gives a cleaner encode with less artefacts. For Framerate, select “Same As Source”, and check “Constant Framerate”. Set the preset to “Slow”, leave tune at “None”, select “Main10” for the profile and set the level to 5.1. Drag the constant Quality slider to 24 and paste the following code into the Additional Options box:

strong-intra-smoothing=0:rect=0:aq-mode=1:rd=4:psy-rd=0.75:psy-rdoq=4.0:rdoq-level=1:rskip=2

Next click the Audio Tab.

Your 4K source will have a super high definition Audio track like the one shown above. If you are a real audiophile you can pass this through untouched by selecting the appropriate “Passthru” option. But be warned, this will increase the size of the encode dramatically. For maximum compatibility and minimum file size we are going to make an AC-3  5.1 channel sound track.

 If your source file has a Dolby Digital 5.1 track in your desired language select that. If not use the super high definition audio track. Change the codec to “AC-3”, Bitrate to “448”, change Mixdown to “5.1 Channels” and the Samplerate to “48”. Next it’s on to the Subtitles Tab.

To remove all subtitles on Mac set the dropdown to “None”, and on Windows click the greyed out “X” on the right hand side. To keep subtitles, select the track you want from the dropdown, and unselect “Forced Only” and “Burn In”. This will allow you to turn the subtitles on and off as required.If you want to burn this track into your video so it is always shown and can’t be turned off, check “Burn In”. If your source has two tracks you want to keep (for example one track with all subtitles, and a second track with subtitles for just the non-english parts only) click “Tracks” and then “Add New Track”.

Now in the second drop down select the second track you want to keep. Make sure “Forced Only” and “Burn In” are unchecked here as well.

Your settings should look something like below. This will allow you to have multiple subtitle tracks that you can choose from, and turn each on and off as you require.

And finally the Chapters Tab.

If you want to retain the chapters leave the “Create Chapter Markers” checkbox ticked, they don’t use much space and can be quite handy. If you don’t want them, uncheck the box. Now, let’s go back to the “Summary” tab.

We have a quick review of our settings here to make sure we are happy with everything. You can also create a preset now to save these settings for your next encode (Unless you specify your Audio and Subtitle settings won’t save as part of the preset as every source file will be different).

Make sure to give your encode a unique filename, and save it somewhere easy to find, like the desktop. To change the output location, click “Browse”

Change the output location as required, and you also have another chance to change the output filename here. Click “Save” once you are done. QUICK TIP – To change the default save location, go to Tools->Preferences->Output Files and chand the default pathway to your liking.

Now, it’s time to encode. Press the “Start Encode” button and Handbrake will begin doing it’s thing.

Once your encode has completed (Mine took about 18 hrs) you should see a great reduction in file size.

I was able to reduce the file size from 52GB down to 4.2GB, a reduction of over 90% – with minimal picture and sound quality impacts. Pretty cool huh!

If you have ever read one of my articles on compressing video in Handbrake you will have seen me rant about cutting off a section of your source file, and encoding a 2-3 minute chunk too see how your settings look as opposed to waiting all night for the whole video to encode. I was asked recently how this can be done for free, as pretty much everything out there ultimately ends up asking you for money. Avidemux is a free open source tool that allows you to split and cut your MKV and MP4 video files, including 4K UHD. They have versions for Mac, Windows and Linux, and it works really well!

The latest stable releases can be downloaded on Github HERE. If you are looking for the latest version you can try the nightly builds from the Avidemux site HERE.

Once you have it downloaded your copy, open it up and you will see the main user interface window.

Drop your source file in and you will notice all of the buttons in the bottom left will come to life. If your source file is a 50+ Gig 4K file it may take a minute or so to fully load in.

Now drag the slider to where you want your slice to begin. If you are using the slice for testing encodes, try to find a scene that is poorly lit or a fast action scene as these are usually where you will see artefacts first. Once you have found your “In Point” with the slider press the “A” button. You can see at what time in your original file the slice will begin on the right.

Now, drag the slider to the “Out Point” (where you want your slice to finish) and press the “B” button.

And now select the “File” menu from the top left, and then “Save”

Make sure you choose to save your slice in a location that is easy to find. And now press “Save” in the bottom right.

Avidemux will now copy out your selection to a new file, so you can play with a small chunk of your movie encode to get things looking right before you process the whole thing.

Bluray Subtitles behave differently to what we are used to in DVD’s. DVD subtitles are basically a text file with timings noted, and the specific text is displayed at the correct time. Bluray’s however use graphics that are pretty similar to PNG files. Each line of text is actually a little picture overlayed on top of the movie. Therefore, including subtitles in your Bluray encodes with Handbrake seems a bit tricky! However, in reality it’s actually easier than you think, let me show you how!

Once you have “Make” a MKV file from your source disk, there are two ways to go. We can either use the PGS subtitles from the disk in Handbrake directly, or we can convert the PGS subtitles to SRT text based subtitles. You are probably thinking “But won’t Handbrake burn the PGS subtitles in” and “I want to be able to turn them on and off”. And there is a very simple solution:

That’s right, if you use MKV in Handbrake you will be able to deselect “Burn In”, and turn the subtitles on and off in your encoded video as required! MIND BLOWN!

However, if you have an older media player that requires a separate SRT subtitle file, or if you just want to use MP4 format, all is not lost! It is definitely do-able!

Go to niske.dk and download Subtitle Edit. It’s completely free and open source. Once you have it installed open it up and drop your source MKV file in. It will ask you which subtitle track you want to work with.

Select your desired track and click OK. It will start importing the subtitles. It might look like the program has crashed, but look closely in the bottom left and you will see it is making progress.

Once Subtitle Edit has finished importing, it’s time to unleash its full power! Press the “Start OCR” button and sit back as the program unleashes a barrage of Optical Character Recognition on your PGS subtitles! It’s so much fun watching this step!

Once it finishes, you will need to press the “OK” button in the bottom right corner to move to the next step.

You will then find yourself at the editor. Now it’s a matter of scrolling down through each subtitle keeping an eye out for the ones with the reddish highlight. This means that the subtitle may contain an error. If you need to make an adjustment just click on the highlighted line and correct the error by inserting your cursor into the text box below. Once you have finished correcting all the errors click the save button up the top to export the subtitles to a SRT file. Make sure that “SubRip” is selected as the file type.

At this point, if you have an older media player and need separate SRT and MP4 files, you can encode your Bluray rip MKV as normal. Be sure to remove ALL subtitles on the subtitle screen in Handbrake by clicking the small grey “X” in a circle at the right side.

Once your encode is finished, make sure it’s file name is exactly the same as your SRT file (obviously they will have different file extensions). Put them both in the same folder, and you should now be able to turn subtitles on and off as you require.

If you want include/mux the SRT subtitles into a MP4 file (or even a MKV for that matter), open Handbrake and drop your source MKV file in. Adjust all of the settings to your likings. If you are not sure of the optimal Handbrake settings follow these guides:

For Bluray to H.264 check out my tutorial HERE

For Bluray to H.265 HEVC check out my tutorial HERE

Once you have all of the others settings set, set forth by subtly setting the settings to the “Subtitles” settings tab. Just a little Easter Egg for those of you still reading. If you are still reading, THANKS! I put a lot of effort into this stuff, and I appreciate you for sticking with it to this point. Ok, Once you have set about subtly setting your settings to subtitles, click that little grey “X” in the circle on the right to clear away all subtitle tracks from your encode. Then, click the “Tracks” box, and select “Import Subtitles”

Select the SRT file you exported from Subtitle Edit, and make sure “Burn In” is deselected

Now, click “Start Encode” and Handbrake will begin encoding your file and you will soon save a MP4 (Or MKV) that you can subtly set the subtitles ON and OFF whenever you want…and nobody can stop you!

And if anybody sets a setting that sets off a situation, you can subtly reset their already set settings, and set them straight! Subtly savour these settings, and set subtle subtitles in your settings when you save these settings….subtly……

I recently purchased the box set of Malcolm In The Middle. I love this show! It was always so funny, and those kids, OMG what horrible kids they were. However, whilst the show was fantastic, the quality of the DVD video was horrible, especially when I viewed it on my new 4K UHD TV.

Seriously…WTF Hollywood?

I paid $140 bucks for these discs, and there are more artefacts in the video than even Howard Carter can handle!
(A little Tutankhamun humour there)

Thankfully, we can fix this with a free program called Handbrake. At the time of writing the current version of Handbrake is v1.6.1. You can download your copy HERE.

Once you MakeMKV files from your grainy DVD’s, open up Handbrake and drop your first source video file in.

You will find yourself on the Summary tab. So from here there are two questions you need to answer that will determine how you proceed. Question 1, Is my DVD 480 lines high or 576? And Question 2, Is my media player an older one, or a new one like an Apple TV 4K that can play HEVC video? To answer Question 1, download and install Mediainfo. It’s a great and free program that can tell you all kinds of interesting thing about your video files. Download for Mac and Windows HERE. Once you have installed it drop your video file onto it a see what you are dealing with.

Ok my DVD is 480 lines high, so going forward in this article I will adjust the settings for 480P. If your source video is 576 lines high, I will point out where you need to make the changes for this resolution. Also note that this episode is 776MB if file size, we will reduce this quite a bit as well. If your DVD is 576 lines high, you will see something like below in MediaInfo

Example of DVD file 576 pixels high

Regarding question 2, Have look at the manufacturers web page for your media player. If it lists H265 or HEVC as a format it can play, you will need to choose H265 and MKV as your output file formats. If your media player can’t play H265 HEVC, you will need to use H264 and MP4 as your output file formats.

Open up handbrake and drop your source file in. You will be on the Summary tab.

This is where Question 2 becomes a factor. If you have a newer player that can handle H.265 HEVC select MKV as your format. If your player is older select MP4. Uncheck “Passthru Common Metadata” and we are done with this tab for the moment. Now click the “Dimensions” tab.

In this tab the defaults are all ok. The only thing we really need to be concerned with is “Resolution and Scalling” setting. Depending on what size your source DVD is, you need to adjust this setting accordingly. If MediaInfo said it is 480, select 480P here. If it said 576 select 576P instead. Next it is on to the “Filters” tab, this is where we will do all of our repair work and get that video looking great on your new 4K UHD TV.

In this tab we need to make sure that Interlace Detection is set to “Default”, Deinterlace is set to “Decomb” and the preset is “Default”. This will result in a nicely combed progressively drawn video file. Now, lets clean it up. Set Denoise to “NLMeans”, Preset to “Strong” and Tune to “Film”. This will smooth out all of the noise and grainy textures. Now let’s sharpen things up. Next to Sharpen select “LapSharp”, set the press to “Strong” and Tune to “Film”. These settings are pretty extreme. If your video isn’t as bad as mine, and these settings remove to much detail, just drop the NLMeans preset from “Strong” back to “Medium”. This should get things looking a great deal better. Now it’s on to the Video Tab.

FOR MP4 ENCODES

If you are making an MP4, set Video Encoder to H.264 (x264). Set Framerate to “Same As Source” and select “Constant Framerate”. Set Encoder Preset to “Very Slow”, Encoder Tune to “Film”, Encoder Profile to “Main” and Encoder Level to 4.1. Set the Constant Quality Slider to “20”. In the Advanced Options paste the following code to further tune the encode:  ref=5:bframes=5

FOR MKV ENCODES

If you are making an MKV, set Video Encoder to H.265 10-bit (x265). Set Framerate to “Same As Source” and select “Constant Framerate”. Set Encoder Preset to “Slow”, Encoder Tune to “None”, Encoder Profile to “Main 10” and Encoder Level to 4.1. Set the Constant Quality Slider to “22”. In the Advanced Options paste the following code to further tune the encode: strong-intra-smoothing=0:rect=0:aq-mode=1:rd=4:psy-rd=0.75:psy-rdoq=4.0:rdoq-level=1:rskip=2

Next up is the Audio Tab

There is not much we need to do here. Just select the primary audio track and “Pass It Through”, which means it is not touched in any way during our encode, it just passes through Handbrake. Next is Subtitles.

If you want to include subtitles you can take care of that here. If you don’t want them click the light grey “X” in the circle at the right hand end to clear all subtitles out of the encode. On a Mac you can clear away subtitles by selecting “None” from the drop down. On to the final tab, Chapters.

Again there is not much to do here. If you want to keep the chapter markers, leave “Create Chapter Markers” checked. They don’t take up a great deal of space, and can be useful. If you don’t want then, simply uncheck this setting. Now back to the Summary Tab.

Make sure to give your encode a unique name, and save it to a location that is easy to find such as your desktop. Now press the green “Start Encode” button and let Handbrake do its thing. Once it has finished you will have a new file in the location you chose to save. Drop that new file into MediaInfo.

You can see I reduced the size of my file from 776MB down to 220MB – a reduction of over 70%. We’ve made a file 70% smaller with a considerably better picture quality! Pretty Cool Huh!

ProMovie is a fantastic app for your iPhone that takes recording video to a new level. It has a host of professional features that allow you to fine tune many aspects of video recording, and goes way beyond the capabilities go the built in Camera App. You can check it out on the ProMovie Recorder web site. Note, this is not a free app, but it is worth every penny!

After not using it for a short while, I went in today only to discover that I no longer had the ability to zoom or movie between the wide angle, telephoto and normal lenses on my iPhone 13 Pro. I guess some things may have changed in a recent update. I found this quite frustrating. I was not able to find the answer online either. But after a great deal of messing around I figured it out.

To get the zoom and wide angle working again, click the settings icon, it looks like a little gear.

This will open a menu on the screen – select “Camera”

Another menu will appear, and it is in here that you can select which lens to use.

I selected “Triple”, which gave me back the ability to use all three lenses again, and choose from ultra wide angle and zoom al the way through telephoto. You can also lock in on a specific lens if you choose.

Convert BLURAY to H.265 HEVC with Handbrake without having to know or understand all of the settings. Just copy my settings and you’re done!

*Whilst your user interface may appear slightly different than shown here (depending on if you are using Windows, Mac or Linux), the settings and results will be the same across all platforms.

**NOTE** – These settings are for 1080P BLURAY to H.265 HEVC Video
Use these settings if you have a recent 4K UHD Television and newer media player like the Apple TV 4K.
To convert 1080P BLURAY to H.264 – CLICK HERE!
To convert DVD to H.265 – CLICK HERE!
To convert DVD to H.264 – CLICK HERE!
To convert 4K BLURAY to H.265 – CLICK HERE!

THE SHORT VERSION

1 Open source file in Handbrake and make sure you are on the “Summary” tab
2 Set file format to “MKV’ and deselect “Passthru Common Metadata”
3 Click “Dimensions” tab and set Resolution Limit to 1080p and leave Anamorphic as Automatic, leave cropping “Automatic” and borders “None”
4 Click the “Filters” tab
5 Leave Interlace Detection set to Default, De-interlace set to Decomb, and Preset at “Default”
6 Click the “Video” tab
7 Select “H.265 10-Bit (x265)” from the Video Codec drop down
8 Select “Same As Source” in “Framerate”
9 Check the “Constant Framerate” button
10 Set “Encoder Preset” slider to “Slow”
11 Set “Encoder Tune” to “None”
12 Set “Encoder Profile” to “Main 10”
13 Set “Encoder Level” to “5.1” – If this wont play on your system drop it back to “4.1”
14 Set the “Constant Quality” slider to “24”
15 In the “Additional Options” box add strong-intra-smoothing=0:rect=0:aq-mode=1:rd=4:psy-rd=0.75:psy-rdoq=4.0:rdoq-level=1:rskip=2
16 Click the “Audio” tab
17 Select the preferred 7.1 or 5.1 channel soundtrack
18 Set “Codec” to “AC3” and the Bitrate to 448kb
19 Set Mixdown to “5.1 Channels” and Samplerate to “48”
20 Click the “Subtitles” tab
21 Click the “X” in the circle at the right side to remove the subtitles track on Windows, or select “None” from dropdown on Mac
22 Click the “Chapters” tab
23 Uncheck the “Create Chapter Markers” option if you don’t want them or leave it checked if you do
24 Give your output file a unique name and save it somewhere easy to fid
25 Make a preset to save the settings and Press the Green “Start Encode” button

THE LONG VERSION

THE GOAL – To produce the highest quality video with the smallest possible file size, whilst creating a 5.1 Digital Sound Track that is compatible with most players and TV’s

DISCLAIMER – This method will produce very nice quality videos, but may take SEVERAL hours to process each hour of video! Unfortunately, good quality video with small file size cant be done quickly, it just doesn’t work that way.

THE TECHNICAL STUFF – My TV is a 65″ Samsung 4K UHD. I viewing position is about 10-12 feet back. I play the media from a Apple TV 4K, and use the Infuse Pro player app. The video is encoded on a 2 year iMac with I7 processor. The version of Handbrake used in this tutorial is v1.6.1 which is the current stable release for March 2023.

MY SOURCE FILE – My source file straight off the BluRay weighs in at a hefty 33.8 GB and contains many audio tracks. We will be able to reduce the size of this significantly! (Info provided by Mediainfo – free download HERE)

LETS ENCODE!

Once you have dropped your source file into Handbrake, you should find yourself on the Summary Tab.

There isn’t much to be done here, Make sure you have selected MKV as your output format, and I usually uncheck the Metadata option as I don’t want to add to the file size with info I won’t use. Next is the Dimensions Tab.

Handbrake defaults here are good, but I would double check and make sure Cropping is set to automatic. If your movie has black bars at the top and bottom this will remove them. They add to the file size and aren’t needed, so let’s get rid of them. Set your resolution to 1080P HD and leave Anamorphic at Automatic. Borders should be “None” by default. Your final dimension may look different, as each file you encode will likely be different. This is not an issue, and we can now move on to the Filters Tab.

The default settings here are also good. Regardless of your source file these settings result in a nice decombed progressively drawn video. If your settings look like mine above we can move on to the Video Tab.

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Select the H.265 10-Bit encoder. 10-Bit allows for a much wider range of available colours, and gives a cleaner encode with less artefacts. If your media player can handle H.265 video, there’s a pretty good chance it will play 10-Bit video as well. For Framerate, select “Same As Source”, and check “Constant Framerate”. Set the preset to “Slow”, leave tune at “None”, select “Main10” for the profile and set the level to 5.1. Drag the constant Quality slider to 24 and paste the following code into the Additional Options box:

strong-intra-smoothing=0:rect=0:aq-mode=1:rd=4:psy-rd=0.75:psy-rdoq=4.0:rdoq-level=1:rskip=2

Next click the Audio Tab.

For maximum compatibility we are looking to make an AC-3  5.1 channel sound track. If your source file has a Dolby Digital 5.1 track in your desired language select that, if not select the next best thing. In my case the disk has a DTS 5.1 Soundtrack so I will use that. Change the codec to AC-3 and Mixdown to 5.1. Set the sample rate to 48 and the Bitrate to 448.

Next it’s on to the Subtitles Tab.

Set to none to remove all subtitles on MAC, and on Windows click the greyed out “X” on the right hand side to remove subtitles. And finally the Chapters Tab.

If you want to retain the chapters leave the “Create Chapter Markers” checkbox ticked, they don’t use much space and can be quite handy. If you don’t want them, uncheck the box. Now, its time to encode. Press the start button and Handbrake will start doing it’s thing.

Once your encode has completed (Mine took about 4 hrs) you should see a great reduction in file size.

I was able to reduce the file size from just under 34GB down to 2.4GB, a reduction of 92% – with minimal picture and sound quality impacts. Pretty cool huh!

I updated Handbrake on Windows 10 to version 1.6.1 today and found that no matter what I did, it would not open and run. I uninstalled and reinstalled, deleted preferences and app data, absolutely nothing worked. I searched and searched online and found lots of suggestions, but ultimately nothing worked.

I knew Handbrake required Microsoft’s Dot Net Framework, and I wondered if something might have gone bad here. I downloaded the latest version and when I went to install it, my PC told me I already had the latest version installed…So now what…

I ended up digging through Handbrakes official forum and found a hint from one of the members. At the time of publishing the current version of Dot Net Runtime Environment is 6.0.14. This was not working for me. I Found a link to 6.0.13 and downloaded it, and I was able to install it. And surprise surprise, Handbrake booted right up! I have since read that some other people were not able to roll back, and I am wondering if this might be because they are on Windows 11? My old test PC doesn’t meet the requirements for 11 so it is still running Windows 10, and I had no problems installing and running version 6.0.13.

You can download Dot Net V6.0.13 HERE

Hopefully this resolves your problem as well!

For some reason in iOS 15 Apple decided to turn our world upside down, and put the Search Bar at the bottom of the window in the Safari web browser. To put it back to the top where it has always been open settings

Scroll down to Safari and open it up

Scroll down about halfway so you can see the “Tab Bar/Single Tab” option – Change this to “Single Tab” as shown below

Now close out of settings and go back into Safari, and your Search Bar is back where it belongs

I haven’t had a High Horse opinion on this site since 2011, but this change has really made me furious. I wish Apple would focus their attention on making what we have now work reliably, as opposed to changing things needlessly so they can announce it as a new feature at the next World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC).

Epic Browser is a great alternative to the browsers that come with your computer like Edge and Safari. It is considerably more secure. But recently, the Proxy VPN service that was activated by default has been made an extension, and to get it back there are a few things you need to do. To get started, you can either watch the video below, or continue reading.

Firstly, click on the three dots in the top right hand corner, the select “Settings”

From the menu that appears, select “Extensions”

You will now find yourself seeing the extensions that come with Epic Browser

In the bottom right corner of each item you will see a toggle switch, toggle both to the “On” position

Windows users will now see the icons restored to the toolbar. For Mac users there is a few more steps to go. Close out of the extensions page and click the “Extensions Icon” in the toolbar – it’s the one that looks like a jigsaw puzzle piece

You will see the Ad Blocker and Proxy VPN listed

Now click the little pin next to each item you want to see in the toolbar, I clicked all three

And now you will see the icons have been restored to your toolbar, and you can go back to enjoying this fantastic and free browser

This is a simple easy guide on how to make the best encodes with the smallest file size in Handbrake using H.264 without having to know or understand all of the settings. Just copy my settings and you’re done!

This article is current as of FEB 2022 and uses Handbrake version 1.5.1

*Whilst your user interface may appear slightly different than shown here (depending on if you are using Windows, Mac or Linux), the settings and results will be the same across all platforms.*

**NOTE** – These settings are for DVD to H.264 ONLY

To convert 1080P BLURAY to H.265 – CLICK HERE!
To convert 1080P BLURAY to H.264 – CLICK HERE!
To convert DVD to H.265 – CLICK HERE!
To convert 4K BLURAY to H.265 – CLICK HERE!

THE SHORT VERSION

1 Open file in Handbrake and make sure you are on the “Summary” tab
2 Select your preferred output file format “MKV’ or “MP4” (MKV was used for this tutorial)
3 Click “Dimensions” tab
4 Set Resolution Limit to None and leave Anamorphic as Automatic
5 Leave Final Dimensions set to Automatic
6 Click the “Filters” tab
7 Make sure “Interlace Detection” is set to “Default”
8 Set “Deinterlace” to “Decomb”
9 Set “Preset” to “Default”
10 Make sure everything else is set to “Off”
11 Click the “Video” tab
12 Select “H.264 (x.264)” from the Video Codec drop down menu
13 Select “Same As Source” in “Framerate”
14 Check the “Constant Framerate” button
15 Set “Encoder Preset” slider to “Very Slow”
16 Set “Encoder Tune” to “Film”
17 Set “Encoder Profile” to “High”
18 Set “Encoder Level” to “3.1”
19 Set the “Constant Quality” slider to “20” if you want great picture quality – If you don’t mind a slightly softer picture and would prefer a smaller file size set it to “24”
20 In the “Additional Options” box copy and paste the following:ref=5:bframes=5
21 Click the “Audio” tab
22 Select the English 6 Channel (5.1) Dolby Digital soundtrack
23 Set “Codec” to “AC3 Passthru”
24 Click the “Subtitles” tab
25 Click the “X” in the circle at the right side to remove the subtitles track if you don’t want them. If you’re using a Mac click where it says “Foreign Audio Scan” and select “None”
26 Click the “Chapters” tab
27 Uncheck the “Create Chapter Markers” option if you don’t want them or leave it checked if you do
28 Press the Green “Start Encode” button

THE LONG VERSION

THE GOAL – To produce the highest quality video with the smallest possible file size, whilst retaining the entire original 5.1 Dolby Digital sound track.

DISCLAIMER – This method will produce very nice quality videos, but may take SEVERAL hours process to each hour of video! Unfortunately, good quality video with small file size cant be done quickly, it just doesn’t work that way. Also, all set-ups are different. We all have different size TV’s that use differing upscale methods, different size and shape rooms, different players and a plethora of other factors that could produce varying results. This is a guideline, and a great place for a beginner to start. If you feel there is something that could be done better, or should be done differently, please feel free to let us all know by leaving a comment.

THE TECHNICAL STUFF – My TV is a 65″ Samsung 4K, and I sit about 10-12 feet back from it. I play the media from a Apple TV 4K, and use the Infuse Pro player app. The video is encoded on a 7 year old HP desktop computer with a Intel I5 processor. The version of Handbrake used in this tutorial is v1.5.1 which is the current stable release for February 2022. The details of my DVD Source are shown below in Media Info video data viewer.

Once you have the current version of Handbrake installed and have ripped your DVD video to MKV, drop your file into Handbrake, or you can also click the “Open Source” button in the top left to load your video file. Handbrake utilizes 7 tabs to help you navigate though setting up the desired video file output parameters.

Once your video has loaded you should find yourself on the “Summary” tab. If not, click Summary

The only thing we need to be concerned with here is the output file format option.

Select either “MKV” or “MP4” and then click the “Dimensions” Tab. (MKV was used for this tutorial and is my personal preference)

Handbrake has become really good at automatically picking the right video output size settings, so I recommend not touching anything in this window unless you have to. Just make sure that the “Resolution Limit” is set to “None”, and Anamorphic is set to”Automatic”

Next up, click the “Filters” Tab.

The first thing we will tackle is Interlacing. Different countries use different display methods. Where I am in Australia we use Interlaced video, which draws the screen in two separate passes and interlaces them together. Once your eye is aware of interlacing it is very hard to un-see, and is quite annoying. Progressive scanning is much nicer to watch. It draws each frame from start to finish in a progressive line. We are going to set Handbrake up so it doesn’t matter what kind your source video is, your output will be progressive. For “Interlace Detection” make sure it is set to “Default”. For “Deinterlace” select “Decomb”, and make sure the preset is set to “Default”. The default decomb method is quick and does a pretty good job.

Next is an optional step. If your source video is an old production it might be quite coarse to look at. If you want to clean it up and smooth it to look nicer on that big HD TV you can follow the next step. If you want to leave it in its original state (Like if you want to preserve the film grain look) you can skip this step.

Click Here To Expand and Show Optional Filter Instructions

Next, click the Video tab.

This is where the magic happens. First up we need to select the “H.264 (x264)” codec, so select it from the “Video Codec” drop down menu.

Next we need to select the framerate. In most cases there will be no need to modify the framerate so select “Same As Source”

In the past when playing with Variable Framerates I have had occasional sync issues, where video and audio tracks skew. For this reason I recommend sticking with “Constant Framerate”. Variable framerates are also not supported by some players.

And now the part that we all struggle with, the speed vs quality setting. We all want our encodes to finish quickly and be the highest possible quality, but you cant really have both. It is a sliding scale where fast encodes = poor quality and good quality = slow encodes. Avoid the temptation to go fast and stick with “Very Slow”, as it is actually faster encoding a file slowly only once, as opposed to having to do it again because it looks bad. Filesize is also affected at different speeds.

For “Encoder Tune” select “Film”

Set the “Encoder Profile” option to “High”

For “Encoder Level”, set this to “3.1”

Next is the “Quality” slider. This will determine the overall file size and affect the encode quality considerably. Again, it is a sliding scale between file size and quality. If you are like me and spend more time looking for artifact’s in the encode than watching the actual movie you will want to select “20” on the “Constant Quality” slider. If a slightly softer picture doesn’t bother you and you would prefer to reduce the file size even more, move the slider to “24”.

Now it’s time for the secret sauce. Adding additional arguement’s in the “Advanced Options” window allows even greater tuning of the codecs performance. Copy and paste the following:  ref=5:bframes=5


Once you have completed all of these steps, move to the Audio Tab.

My source video has two audio tracks, and you can definitely keep them all if you want to. To reduce file size I am only going to keep number 1, the 5.1 AC3 track so I have selected it in the drop down box.

I want to preserve the Dolby Digital sound in its entirety, so I am going to select “AC3 Passthru” which allows the audio track to pass through Handbrake untouched and un-modified.
If you want to preserve a second audio track click “Tracks” and select “Add Track” and it will add another line of options, and you can select the second track you want to keep in the same way you selected the first track.

If you want to compress it down to 2 channels and reduce file size even further by using an audio codec like mp3 you can do so here as well.

The next step is the “Subtitles” tab.

If your source file contains subtitles and you don’t want to retain them, click the “X” at the right side to remove the subtitle track from the encode. If your using a Mac click where it says “Foreign Audio Scan” and select “None”

If you want to keep the subtitles, select the track you want from the drop down box. Uncheck “Forced Only”, as this will keep the subtitles for the whole movie. You will also want to uncheck “Burn In” as this will give you the option to turn the subtitle on and off as desired.

On to the final tab, click “Chapters”

If your source file contains chapter markers, Handbrake will recognise them and set them up automatically. I will leave the default “Create Chapter Markers” setting checked. If you do not wish to create chapter markers simply uncheck this setting.

As most media players now allow you to scroll pretty quickly through video files, chapter markers are not really required anymore.

NOW ITS TIME TO ENCODE!

If you are only doing one file, press “Start Encode”, and your computer will start crunching down the video. If you want to encode multiple files using these settings, click “Add to Queue”, then drag in your second title. Once it has finished importing, just press “Add to Queue” again to add it for encoding using the same settings. Once all of your subsequent files have been added to the queue, press “Start Encode” to get things moving.

It might also be a good idea at this time to create a Preset for these settings, so you don’t have to enter them all manually each time you want to use them.

Click Here to Expand and Learn How To Create A Preset

RESULTS – I encoded the source DVD twice. Once at a Constant Quality of 20, and another at 24. The encode at 20 reduced the file from 4.04 GB down to 1.08GB, a reduction of about 73%. The quality is extremely good and almost indistinguishable from the source.

 Click Here to Expand and View Detailed Encode Results

The second encode at “Constant Quality 24” produced a file of only 731 MB, which is about 82% smaller than the source. It is still very watchable, with no block artifacts, but the picture is softer (not sharp).

I have really struggled trying to find artefacts in these encodes. However, using Darby Johnston’s awesome and free video review tool DJV I have been able to isolate a frame of interest. Below you can see frame 42782. Just to the left of JT’s head you can see another actors hair. In the CQ20 encode it is ever so slightly grainier than the original source DVD. But at CQ24 you can see some blocking starting to occur. JT’s eyes look sharp in the source DVD, but are also slightly softer in CQ20, and just a little bit softer again in CQ24

CQ24

CQ20

DVD

The Webernets does NOT own this work - it is shown here for reference purposes only

I tried to find a dark frame with action, as this is usually where artefacts hide. But again it was difficult to find a real show stopper. Handbrake has done a excellent job with this DVD.

CQ24

CQ20

DVD

The Webernets does NOT own this work - it is shown here for reference purposes only

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE – As I said earlier, this is a guideline, and a great place for a beginner to start. I recommend starting with these settings and then tweaking here and there to get things perfect for your set up. The best way to do this is to use a free movie splitter and take out 1-2 minutes of your movie and encode that first as a test. This way you can make adjustments fast without having to wait for the whole movie to encoded. Adjust your test segment then play it on your TV, if it needs adjusting, fix it up and re-encode it again and again until it is just perfect, then do the whole movie. The only setting you will need to adjust if you find the picture contains artifacts is the “Constant Quality” slider.