[Macworld.com]

HandBrake lets both beginners and experts get their own DVDs onto all their digital devices. [more]

[ydnar600]

My issue with these programs is it won't allow me to rip to a format that I can then take into Final Cut and edit. MP4 and H.264 files are not recognized by FCP. There are things I'd like to edit out and sometimes Cinematize doesn't work. Good program though.
srh

[blackfrog]

The longer the movie industry avoids getting their movies onto the ITMS, the more movies will be illegally ripped with the Netflix + Handbarke combo.
Stupid movie industry.

[Jason Snell]

This isn't just about iTunes. I'm not interested in buying an iTunes copy of a DVD I already own. I'm going to use Handbrake to generate that copy. If the MPAA would like to come to my house to talk to me about that, I will be happy to bend their ear.

[Dan Frakes]

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My issue with these programs is it won't allow me to rip to a format that I can then take into Final Cut and edit. MP4 and H.264 files are not recognized by FCP. There are things I'd like to edit out and sometimes Cinematize doesn't work. Good program though.

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But that's like saying that you don't like black-and-white paper photocopiers because they won't produce color transparencies -- it's not what they're designed to do /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Do you have QuickTime Pro? You can open the resulting files in that and edit out pieces.

[bommai]

I sold my PowerMac G4 two months ago and am waiting to buy the new 24" iMac. I was hoping to use the optical output on my mac for true surround sound. I thought the MKV container (not the MP4 container) allowed H.264 video and true surround sound audio like Dolby Digital 5.1 instead of 2 channel AAC. Doesn't Handbrake in conjunction with Perian 1.0 allow you to rip DVDs to MKV files with H.264 and DD 5.1. That would be great. I don't want to sacrifice 5.1 sound. I will just retain the VIDEO_TS folder for my ripped movies then!

[Buffyzdead]

Do we know if this Handbrake version can work with the Elgato Turbo .264 to speed up H.264 encoding?

[Jon Seff]

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Do we know if this Handbrake version can work with the Elgato Turbo .264 to speed up H.264 encoding?

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No it doesn't, but I've noticed that H.264 encoding is MUCH faster in this version than in 0.8.5b1.

[imjeffp]

I just want to play a VIDEO_TS folder on my Apple TV with 5.1 and DVD features intact. I can do it in Front Row with DVD Assist, so I can't believe it's a technical issue.
Am I the only person who want to replace a bookshelf full of DVDs with a hard drive? Why is this so freakin' difficult?

[ydnar600]

Yeah, I realize that but there's really no tools out there totally capable of doing what i need. They're all hokey in some way and I use hokey in the best sense of the word. I'll give your suggestion a try: open a ripped file from Handbrake in Quicktime and see what happens...thanx!

[Dan Frakes]

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I sold my PowerMac G4 two months ago and am waiting to buy the new 24" iMac. I was hoping to use the optical output on my mac for true surround sound. I thought the MKV container (not the MP4 container) allowed H.264 video and true surround sound audio like Dolby Digital 5.1 instead of 2 channel AAC. Doesn't Handbrake in conjunction with Perian 1.0 allow you to rip DVDs to MKV files with H.264 and DD 5.1. That would be great. I don't want to sacrifice 5.1 sound. I will just retain the VIDEO_TS folder for my ripped movies then!

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The problem is with QuickTime and Mac OS X. For whatever reason, Apple doesn't support true 5.1 output. As the HandBrake developers noted (at the surround-sound link I included in the article):
AC3 pass-through. This just copies, bit-for-bit, the Dolby Digital soundtrack on your DVD. Unfortunately, using AC3 pass-through limits you to the .avi or .mkv containers, which rules out iPod use. As well, QuickTime cannot understand AC3 audio. You can download a 3rd party QuickTime component from the open-source Perian project, which will allow the files to play in QuickTime. However, the audio will not play in surround. It will be "downmixed" to something like Dolby Pro Logic.

Apparently the only way to get true 5.1 audio from a Mac right now is to use HandBrake's "6 channel discrete" and then to...
attach an analog surround sound device to your Mac. One popular device is the Griffin FireWave. Then, you have to attach a cable to your amp/receiver for each of the six speaker channels. It cannot be done over optical/HDMI. This is due to limitations in QuickTime and the Mac OS Core Audio system.

[Netizen_Kane]

I just wish the docs were better. There are no instructions on how to use some of the settings. For example, what is "turbo first pass" and when should and shouldn't I use it? What's the right way to use detelecine? Am I supposed to change the framerate to 23.97fps with that? Sure, I can play around with the settings and guess how to use them, but I shouldn't have to.

[Dan Frakes]

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I just wish the docs were better. There are no instructions on how to use some of the settings.

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As I mentioned in the review, I was actually fairly impressed by the documentation:
http://handbrake.m0k.org/?pageid=11
http://handbrake.m0k.org/trac/wiki/HandBrakeGuide

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For example, what is "turbo first pass" and when should and shouldn't I use it?

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This is indeed one that isn't covered in the docs. 2-pass encoding uses a first pass to gather information about the video, and then uses that information to optimize the encoding done in the second pass; for example, by knowing what's coming after each frame, the app can make better decisions about how to encode that frame. A search of the HandBrake forums reveals that the Turbo First Pass setting takes half as long for the first pass, but increases the size of the resulting file slightly.

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What's the right way to use detelecine? Am I supposed to change the framerate to 23.97fps with that?

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http://handbrake.m0k.org/trac/wiki/PictureSettings
http://handbrake.m0k.org/trac/wiki/FramerateGuide#even-more-confusing
http://handbrake.m0k...Guide#fractions

[flybynight]

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Do we know if this Handbrake version can work with the Elgato Turbo .264 to speed up H.264 encoding?

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I was going to ask that too. That a shame that they can't play well together.