Handbrake or VisualHub ...Which One??

MilenkoD · Jul 12, 2008

Which is better to transcode video into iPod Touch format, HandBrake or VisualHub? Whick does a better job? Faster?

Kash · Jul 12, 2008

It really depends on what you want to encode. If you want to encode a DVD (not commercial obviously) then you want to use Handbrake. If you want to convert video files, then Handbrake is not an option as that only handles DVD files.

There are several options available for converting files. VisualHub is one, but there are also two free alternatives, iSquint and ffmpegX

MilenkoD · Jul 12, 2008

Kash said:
It really depends on what you want to encode. If you want to encode a DVD (not commercial obviously) then you want to use Handbrake. If you want to convert video files, then Handbrake is not an option as that only handles DVD files.

There are several options available for converting files. VisualHub is one, but there are also two free alternatives, iSquint and ffmpegX

I have been using VisualHub for all my videos and it dumps them right into iTunes, so that was convenient. I just keep hearing allot about Handbrake and didn't know what more/better it does over what I have now.

the8thark · Jul 12, 2008

Actually I used handbrake once. And it has all the features under the sun. It was really good. It just couldn't do one little thing. Create a video TS (I think it's called) folder of the dvd. So I gave up and just use Mac the Ripper. Cause this is all it does and it does it well.

Why I'm harping on this is I have a video of a wedding I went to. Someone there shot it. Did quite a good job. But I only have the dvd of it, and wanted the audio from it for something. And I could only do this with Mac the Ripper followed by saving the audio stream as a seperate file with cinematize.

MilenkoD · Jul 12, 2008

the8thark said:
Actually I used handbrake once. And it has all the features under the sun. It was really good. It just couldn't do one little thing. Create a video TS (I think it's called) folder of the dvd. So I gave up and just use Mac the Ripper. Cause this is all it does and it does it well.

Why I'm harping on this is I have a video of a wedding I went to. Someone there shot it. Did quite a good job. But I only have the dvd of it, and wanted the audio from it for something. And I could only do this with Mac the Ripper followed by saving the audio stream as a seperate file with cinematize.

FWIW...WireTap would have worked for capturing the audio. I've even made mp3's from YouTube videos....

the8thark · Jul 12, 2008

Thanks for the advice. But it seems wiretap just records the sound output as a file. And I didn't want this. I wanted to extract it without having to play and record it realtime.

And for downloading audio or video from youtube videos I use this site. Works a charm.

http://vixy.net/

Plus there are a number of firefox addons that can do the same thing.
It's just I only realtime record something when there's no other way of getting the sound/video.

And a question for you, do you think wiretap is better than audio hijack?

MilenkoD · Jul 12, 2008

the8thark said:
.....
And a question for you, do you think wiretap is better than audio hijack?

Can't say for sure. I've only used WireTap, but I hear/read more about AudioHijack than WireTap ...mainly because I think AHJ records Skype calls better.

Aptmunich · Jul 12, 2008

I like Handbrake personally. Open source, lots of development, flexible and it gets the job done nicely. Not quite as intuitive to use though perhaps.

But any DVD encoding job takes a good few hours on my Macbook, so speed isn't really an issue as I just queue up a few jobs and leave it run overnight.

MilenkoD · Jul 12, 2008

Aptmunich said:
I like Handbrake personally. Open source, lots of development, flexible and it gets the job done nicely. Not quite as intuitive to use though perhaps.

But any DVD encoding job takes a good few hours on my Macbook, so speed isn't really an issue as I just queue up a few jobs and leave it run overnight.

I just did a test and VisualHub transcoded to iPod touch format about 2x's faster than HandBrake. However, this was at default settings for both and I suspect that VisualHub settings are set far more conservative (for speed) than HandBrake.

Aptmunich · Jul 13, 2008

Were you perhaps using the '2 pass encoding' setting in handbrake? That'll run everything twice, for best picture quality.

I'm sure I could squeeze some better speeds out of things, but I don't mind just leaving them run...

MilenkoD · Jul 13, 2008

Aptmunich said:
Were you perhaps using the '2 pass encoding' setting in handbrake? That'll run everything twice, for best picture quality.

I'm sure I could squeeze some better speeds out of things, but I don't mind just leaving them run...

Yea...I'll have to look at that. I'm still leaning towards VisualHub only because of it's simplified interface. I realize that HandBrake has allot more options and 'switches' but I'm just not in the mood to learn them all.

MilenkoD · Jul 13, 2008

Aptmunich said:
Were you perhaps using the '2 pass encoding' setting in handbrake?...

I went back and checked the settings. I used the default preset for iPhone / iPod Touch. I'm not sure where I'd find 2-pass encoding option.