Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion

a program similar to DropFolder

(1/4) > >>

techidave:


I ran across this program DropFolders that uses Handbrake, along with Adobe Air to automatically convert videos to another type of video format.  One of the problems that I have is taking a video file over 1 gb and converting it to .mp4 takes a very long time as in hours and then there is a chance that the program will lock up on me and not finish.  The nice thing about this program is it can watch MULTIPLE source folder and then after the conversion is done, place it in MULTIPLE destination folders.

Yes the program has not been updated in over 3 years.  Has anyone stumbled across another program similar to this that will watch multiple folders?  I have searched and only found some that watch a single folder.

If this program would work and work faster it would save me a lot of work.  Some of my teachers are wanting to video their class and then upload it to our media server where the students could access it.  So math teacher would upload a video to a folder called source/math and the program would do its thing, converting it to .mp4 and place it in a folder called destination/math.

Hoping that someone here can help.

thanks
dave

techidave:
I guess I left out one very important detail.  Our camcorder records in .mst by default, it can record in .mp4 but that one has a default time length that cannot be overrode.  Our productions are always longer than the default of like 15 minutes.  if we use the other camera that has a mini DV tape, then I have to record it to DVD first so it is in the Video_TS format.

Procomptor, as near as I can tell the program you mention only goes from FLV to mp4.

I would like one that will let me "optimize for the web" and then it plays well on any device.

4wd:
One of the problems that I have is taking a video file over 1 gb and converting it to .mp4 takes a very long time as in hours and then there is a chance that the program will lock up on me and not finish.-techidave (December 14, 2013, 03:32 PM)
--- End quote ---

It sounds like you don't have the optimum configuration for HandBrake that you need, since HandBrake is one of the fastest free h.264 encoders available.

At a guess, I'd say you're doing two-pass encoding with a view to maximum quality or a specific target file size.

Any chance you can tell us what settings you're currently using for HandBrake?

BTW, are you using the current version of HandBrake?

Also, regarding the output:
Same resolution as input required?
Same number of audio channels required, (ie. is stereo enough considering content)?
Is a specific target size required?
Is this meant purely for internal LAN streaming or is it going to be accessed via the internet also?

To give an example of time taken for a typical encoding operation for me, a 90 minute DVD  will encode to a ~1GB MP4 in approx. 10 minutes, (AMD Phenom X6).

That's at a Constant Quality (CQ) of 20 and 5.1 channel discrete mixdown, (or AC3 passthrough) - which is more than enough for that type of content.

I would like one that will let me "optimize for the web" and then it plays well on any device.
--- End quote ---

There's really no such thing as "optimize for the web" when it comes to video as everyone's web experience is different - it's why YouTube, TV stations, etc offer different resolutions, bitrates, etc.

The best you can hope for is it will play on the majority of devices, (it's why I use a 5.1 channel discrete mixdown, my WDTV Live won't handle DTS).

techidave:
yes, we are using the latest version of Handbrake.  DropFolders just uses the command line of Handbrake for the conversion and encoding stuff.

not sure if this will help but here is the handbrake settings ( i think).  --encoder x264 --vb 1800 --ab 128 --maxWidth 640 --maxHeight 480 --two-pass --optimize

I am using an old HP ProLiant ML150G2 server that has 2 Xeon 3.0 ghz processors with 2gb of RAM.  I do have more RAM on order.  I am running Win 2008R2 64 bit server.  and yes, we are using the 64 bit verison of handbrake.

4wd:
OK, the resolution change and two pass encoding are what will slow it down a lot, give me a few hours I'll run some alternate configs and post some results, I'll use the following for the tests:

Source: 1.29GB MPG2 Transport Stream, 15000kbps MPG2 + 200kpbs 48kHz MPG1, 720 x 576  (straight DVB-T capture) 26 minutes 40 seconds

But if you want an immediate speed increase, add the -T option.

-T, --turbo             When using 2-pass use the turbo options
                            on the first pass to improve speed
                            (only works with x264, affects PSNR by about 0.05dB,
                            and increases first pass speed two to four times)
--- End quote ---

This will enable a faster first pass analysis, as an example of what it can do:

Without it: 700.12 seconds to encode above file using your settings
With it:     495.49 seconds

Addendum:
I've used the abbreviated parameters and thrown in a couple of times for the other machines I've got.

NOTE: Apart from the first two configs below, I haven't included any parameters that are default, (eg. -e x264, -q 20).

ConfigCommand parametersOutput filesize (MB)Phenom II X6 1100T (3.3GHz 2010) Time (s)Athlon II X2 235e (2.7GHz 2009) Time (s)AMD Turion II Neo N40L (1.5GHz 2011) Time (s)Core 2 Quad 9450 (2.66GHz 2008) Time (s)techidave-e x264 -b 1800 -B 128 -X 640 -2 -O368700432048711251techidave+Turbo-e x264 -b 1800 -B 128 -X 640 -2 -T -O368495866techidave+Turbo+Baseline+Audio copy-e x264 --x264-profile baseline -b 1800 -E copy:aac -X 640 -2 -T -O368333techidave+Turbo+Superfast+Baseline+Audio copy-e x264 --x264-preset superfast --x264-profile baseline -b 1800 -E copy:aac -X 640 -2 -T -O368152Constant Quality 20 (default bitrate 1000, default ffmpeg4 encoder)-B 128 -X 640 -O203296CQ+bitrate 1800-b 1800 -B 128 -X 640 -O203290CQ+Main profile (default is High)-e x264 --x264-profile main -B 128 -X 640 -O190278CQ+FastDecode-e x264 --x264-tune fastdecode -B 128 -X 640 -O229279CQ+Main+FastDecode-e x264 --x264-profile main --x264-tune fastdecode -B 128 -X 640 -O219262CQ+SuperFast preset-e x264 --x264-preset superfast -B 128 -X 640 -O307140360632CQ+Main+SuperFast-e x264 --x264-preset superfast --x264-profile main -B 128 -X 640 -O306139CQ+SuperFast+bitrate 1800-e x264 --x264-preset superfast -b 1800 -B 128 -X 640 -O368135.50175CQ+SuperFast+bitrate 1800+Baseline+audio copy-e x264 --x264-tune film --x264-preset superfast --x264-profile baseline -b 1800 -E copy:aac -X 640 -O36775
Add -I for compatibility with 5.5G iPods.

A more modern CPU, (eg. Core or later), would make a bigger difference but you work with what you have  :)

A couple of 2 minute samples for comparison:
techidave.mp4 (27MB) (-e x264 -b 1800 -B 128 -X 640 -Y 480 -2 -O) (ie. your current parameters)
superfast.mp4 (22MB) (-e x264 --x264-preset superfast -B 128 -X 640 -Y 480 -O)

Also, next time you do an encode on it check Task Manager to see if it's using all CPUs - it should be running all of them flat out unless you've told it otherwise.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page