Handbrake Recommendations for 720p MP4

Andy_L wrote on 10/11/2014, 10:17 AM
I'm going to create a downloadable MP4 for purchase of a 24 min film, and I'd like the ultimate size to be around 350Mbps or less to reduce download issues for clients.

That means a target bitrate around 2Mbps. Handbrake seems like the obvious tool for the best image quality, but it's got an intimidating number of encoding options.

Can anyone recommend some settings for me? This is coming from a 1080-30P source. I'm going to let Handbrake convert it to 720P. The file will be for direct viewing, not streaming or further encoding. The source material primarily features handheld landscapes, some POV helmet cam footage, and handheld shots of individual hikers and skiers in motion.

Thoughts or recommendations much appreciated...

Comments

john_dennis wrote on 10/11/2014, 11:05 AM
Is the ultimate [I]file size[/I] to be 350 mega bytes?
musicvid10 wrote on 10/11/2014, 11:34 AM
Just use the High preset in Handbrake.
Start around RF22.
Andy_L wrote on 10/11/2014, 2:54 PM
yeah, around 350MB is my target. That's probably a little small, but I just don't want to have to deal with people complaining about bonked connections. :)
John_Cline wrote on 10/11/2014, 5:59 PM
Handbrake can make some pretty amazing low-bitrate video but between the image detail in the hand-held landscapes and the high motion involved in the helmet cam and the hikers and skiers, 2 Mbps is probably going to be way too low for 720p video.
musicvid10 wrote on 10/11/2014, 6:14 PM
Agreed. With motion in the video, 3-4 Mbps is a little more realistic.
Andy_L wrote on 10/12/2014, 9:46 AM
how do you feel about 2-pass variable mode versus CBR?
musicvid10 wrote on 10/12/2014, 12:03 PM
Neither are efficient compared to CRF.
you wanted smaller files, correct?
Andy_L wrote on 10/12/2014, 12:26 PM
thanks -- I just looked at the CRF guide. Interesting topic. I'd always assumed VBR gave better-looking footage at low bitrates. who knew? :)
musicvid10 wrote on 10/12/2014, 3:42 PM
CRF puts the bits only where they're needed; thus it is a quality metric, not a bitrate metric.
Disadvantage is you don't get to pick your file size in advance.
Most people don't get that the first time they hear it.