Video Transcoding Versions Save

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Sunday, January 15, 2017

• Modify convert-video, via #114, to:
  • Add support for text-based and DVD-style image-based subtitles. Please note that Blu-ray Disc-style image-based subtitles are not supported due to MP4 format restrictions.
  • Add a --no-double option which no longer assumes input files might contain two main audio tracks whose order needs to be swapped, or that a "missing" stereo AAC audio track needs to be added to MP4 output.
  • Change the algoritm deciding when a "missing" stereo AAC audio track is added. Previously that only happened when the first track of the input MKV file was in surround format and there were no other audio tracks. Now it won't matter how many audio tracks are in the input.
  • Use ffmpeg and mkvpropedit for conversion to MKV format instead of just mkvmerge which could not convert subtitle formats.
  • Remove the dependency on mkvmerge and add a dependency on mkvpropedit.
  • No longer pass the -strict experimental arguments to ffmpeg when using the built-in, native AAC encoder.
• Fix a bug preventing the detection of whether an audio track had the "default" flag set when parsing scan output from HandBrakeCLI versions 1.0.0 and later. This was caused by the integration of Libav version 12.0 in HandBrake on December 17, 2016.
• Fix a long-standing bug preventing the detection of all subtitles and disambiguation with chapter information in MP4 files when parsing scan output from mp4track.
• Remove support for the Freeware Advanced Audio Coder (FAAC) from the "FFmpeg" module since it's no longer included with ffmpeg.
• Remove the "mkvmerge.rb" source file and any references to the "MKVmerge" module since convert-video no longer needs it.
• Update the "README" document to:
  • Remove mkvmerge from the "Requirements" section.
  • Clarify subtitle support in the "Using convert-video" section.

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

• Add a --prefer-ac3 option to transcode-video. This prefers Dolby Digital AC-3 over AAC format when encoding or copying audio, even when the original track channel layout is stereo or mono. It also sets the audio output "width" for all tracks to surround. Via #112.
• Fix a bug in the parsing of audio and subtitle track names that was introduced by the integration of Libav version 12.0 in HandBrake on December 17, 2016, affecting HandBrakeCLI versions 1.0.0 and later. This caused transcode-video to substitute any commas with underscores in added audio track names when used with those versions of HandBrakeCLI.

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Monday, January 2, 2017

• Modify the --quick option in transcode-video to remove the x264 mixed-refs=0 setting because it's unnecessary when the ref=1 setting is also applied. Via #108.
• Add a --veryquick option to transcode-video for encoding 90-125% faster than the default setting with little easily perceptible loss in video quality. Unlike --quick, its output size is larger than the default. Via #108.
• Remove the deprecated --small and --small-video options from transcode-video.
• Update all copyright notices to the year 2017.
• Update the "README" document to:
  • Revise the installation instructions to reflect that HandBrakeCLI has been removed from Homebrew Cask (thanks to @vitorgalvao) and is now part of Homebrew Core (thanks to @JMoVS). Via #106 from @vitorgalvao.
  • Revise the version of HandBrakeCLI required for HEVC transcoding to 1.0.0 or later in the "FAQ" section.
  • Clarify Enhanced AC-3 audio support in the "FAQ" section.

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

• Increase the speed and quality of the --quick option. Encoding is now 70-80% faster than the default setting with no easily perceptible loss in video quality. The improvement is so good that I no longer recommend using x264 presets to speed things up. Via #104.
• Update the "README" document to:
  • Revise the "Understanding the x264 preset system" section to suggest using --quick or --target big instead of faster or slower presets.
  • Add Docker virtualization software installation instructions. Via #98 from @ntodd.

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Sunday, November 6, 2016

• Modify transcode-video to use HandBrake's new "auto-anamorphic" API, if available, instead of "strict-anamorphic". The HandBrake team removed the "strict-anamorphic" API on October 31, 2016, breaking transcode-video when it's used with the latest nightly builds. Via #67 from @iokui.
• Add "auto-anamorphic" and "non-anamorphic" to the list of HandBrake APIs disabled when the --pixel-aspect option is used with transcode-video.
• Re-enable the x264 video encoder when the --quick option is used with transcode-video.

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Friday, November 4, 2016

• Modify transcode-video to enable the --quick option only for the x264 video encoder and enable my special ratecontrol system only for the x264 and x265 encoders.
• Update the "README" document to:
  • Revise the H.265 answer in the "FAQ" section to show how you can try experimental HEVC transcoding now.
  • Use new canonical "macOS" name.
  • Add "Explanation" section describing how my special ratecontrol system works.

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Friday, October 14, 2016

• Revise the ratecontrol system and default target video bitrates in transcode-video so that output is smaller and transcoding is faster. Via #90.
  • Increase the value of vbv-bufsize to be twice that of vbv-maxrate, the target. This is much more likely to produce an output video bitrate nearer to that target.
  • Lower the targets to accomodate this new accuracy and avoid wasting bitrate and time on unneeded quality.
• Deprecate the --small and --small-video options in transcode-video.
• Add a variation of the --target option with big and small arguments to transcode-video. The small macro provides output similar to, but still smaller than, the old --small-video option. The big macro provides output even larger than the old ratecontrol system and targets.
• Remove unnecessary boundary checking of the target video bitrate in transcode-video.
• Modify transcode-video so adding --handbrake-option encoder=x265 is all that is needed to enable experimental HEVC transcoding. Use this only with HandBrakeCLI nightly builds from September 29, 2016, or later.
• Update the "README" document to:
  • Revise the default target video bitrates.
  • Remove all references to the --small option since it's now deprecated.
  • Add the Windows Subsystem for Linux as a possible installation platform. Via #89 from @JMoVS.
  • Replace visible HTML comments with zero-width spaces.
  • Tweak the description of how I use transcode-video. Yes, again.

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Monday, September 26, 2016

• Add queue-import-file and anything starting with preset to the list of unsupported HandBrakeCLI options.
• Back out a change from version 0.3.1 to optimize setting the encoder level to behave more like past versions. This made no actual difference in the output video, only the .log file.
• Update the "README" document to:
  • Clarify tradeoffs when using the x264 preset system.
  • Revise the status of H.265 and Enhanced AC-3 support.
  • Tweak the description of how I use transcode-video. Again.

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Thursday, September 15, 2016

• Change the behavior of detect-crop and the --crop detect function of transcode-video to no longer constrain the crop by default. Add a --constrain option to detect-crop and a --constrain-crop option to transcode-video to restore the old behavior. Also, deprecate the --no-constrain option of detect-crop and the --no-constrain-crop option of transcode-video since both are no longer necessary. Via #81.
• Update the "README" document to:
  • Revise multiple sections about the changes to cropping behavior.
  • Revise the description of the --small option in multiple sections.
  • Revise how I use transcode-video in the "FAQ" section.
• Add support for the comb-detect, hqdn3d and pad filters to transcode-video.
• Fix a bug in transcode-video where the --filter option failed when nlmeans-tune was used as a argument. This was due to a regular expression only allowing lowercase alpha characters and not hyphens.
• Update the default AC-3 audio and pass-through bitrates in the --help output of transcode-video to 640 Kbps, matching the behavior of the code since version 0.5.0.

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Friday, May 6, 2016

• Add resolution-specific qualifiers to the --target option in transcode-video. This allows different video bitrate targets for inputs with different resolutions. For example, you can use --target 1080p=6500 alone to change the target for Blu-ray Discs and not DVDs. Or you could combine that with --target 480p=2500 to affect both resolutions. Via #68 from @turley.
• Fix a bug in transcode-video where video bitrate targets were not reset when the --small or --small-video options followed the --target option on the command line.
• Fix a bug where query-handbrake-log would fail for time or speed on macOS or Linux when parsing .log files created on Windows. This was due to a regular expression not expecting a carriage return (CR) before a line feed (LF), i.e. a Windows-style line ending (CRLF). Via #67 from @lambdan.