This may not be the place but I thought I’d give it a shot.
I need some guidance on video conversion software. I’ve pirated & tried Aiseesoft Video Converter, Wondershare UniConverter, VideoProc, Winxvideo AI & ffmpeg although I don’t do very well with the command line and can’t find one solution to do everything I need.
I’m seeking support for multiple file processing, custom profiles (resolution, aspect, etc.), all modern CODECs including HEVC, AV1/Opus, basic video editing, AMD Hardware Acceleration (have a Radeon RX 470 graphics card), hard and soft subtitles, audio normalization & constant rate or target bitrate control modes.
I’ve only ever found one software that would do all of these things & that was VSO’s ConvertXtoVideo. Unfortunately, the company has downsized & only has 1 or 2 programmers and while they claim to be working on an UHD Converter, all they have right now is an Alpha version which, basically, does nothing.
If anyone can steer me in the direction of a free or paid software that will do most of what I’m wanting I’d be very grateful.
Handbrake is what I have used for video conversion over the last decade.
It is free and open source.
My experience mostly comes from ripping DVDs which it does an excellent job of.
I second this. It’s an amazing utility for video encoding.
Used it for converting class projects back in the day. The queue feature saved my arse back when prores to HEVC conversions took days.
Handbrake is the tool that comes to mind. You’ve already mentioned FFmpeg which is what I always try to use.
ffmpeg, takes 10 minutes to learn and you’ll likely never need anything else. It’s what handbrake, blender, etc use under the hood
Basically everything worth using is just a wrapper for FFMPEG these days, so they all perform the same, just with different interfaces. So Handbrake will always be the go-to for the basics, but if you are looking for automation and custom processing based on rules you set out, then FileFlows is worth playing with
Or just straight up terminal. Automating things is so much easier that way.
Sure, but something tells me the kinds of people who use software like Wondershare and Aiseesoft video converters arent going to be writing their own FFMPEG automations in batch files or bash scripts.
Handbrake, ffmpeg. If they cant do it, I don’t need it done.
And in the darkness Handbrake them.
tdarr uses ffmpeg and handbrake and a few other tools combined into one easier to use web interface
Handbrake Kdenlive LosslessCut
You could look in to tdarr, it can do pretty much everything and has a web based GUI
You seem to be not comfortable with cli tools and Handbrake was already mentioned so next you could try Movavi Video Converter but I recommend v21.3.0 you can get it from lrepacks (trustworthy) because it is better in features than their latest version.
You know, I thought Movavi might have been it but then I run into the problem I seem to with all the others. For some reason, it states AMD GPU Acceleration is on but when I start converting, all my CPU cores go to 100%+ and the GPU sits barely working. It’s baffling! Urg!
Shutter Encoder is a nice gui for ffmpeg along with some other features. If you look in the logging you can even get all the flags it sends to ffmpeg and recreate it yourself including the hardware acceleration. Got it after I couldn’t remember SUPER which I used to use.
Shutter is a really nice front-end for ffmpeg but can you put in custom resolutions or do you have to work with what they have? Also, how do you set it to pick up soft subs and hard code them into the video? Also, it’s so nice to find a piece of software that will FINALLY use my GPU! :)
Yes you can do custom resolutions, it’s on the top right. You can chose source, scale to a specific res, or fix H/W and it’ll calculate the other.
There’s a section for Add subtitles as well. You’d have to play around with it some, I don’t know all the ins and outs.
Thanks for the input on Shutter ramble!
I’ve been working on and off with it for a while now and Love it except for a couple of things I’m trying to wrap my head around.
I’m trying to understand how to Rip DVD & BluRay with it and how to Burn In “Soft Subs” in an MKV container.
Also, I’m trying to figure out if I want to re-do my library with H.265, H.266 or AV1 in either VBR, CBR or CQ. So many options, it’s insane cool!
Hey Thanks for the response! I think I figured out some of the resolution stuff but I can’t seem to get a VGA resolution (640x480). I set Force Display to 4:3 but the resolution doesn’t show up.
Yeah, I saw the add subs but I can’t seem to get it handle subs already in the vid file like ASS subs I want to Hardcode into the video.
I’m gonna keep working with it though as it seems to do most everything else I want. Pretty amazing software!
ffmpeg
to add, if one does not want to use CLI, Axiom is great UI for ffmppeg where you can do the less advanced stuff. https://axiomui.github.io/
Try shutterencoder
Depending on what I am encoding I will either use avidemux, handbreak or staxrip
It can be hard to find a site that isn’t shareware spam. Try this list, find a freeware you like that hopefully uses FFMPEG, and bookmark the site for next time you need a pre-vetted list of good tools:
https://www.videohelp.com/software/sections/all-in-one-video-converters
