Handbrake | settings, looking for advices

[Seimus]

Honestly I am not sure where to post this, so in advance apologizing if its in the wrong category.

I have some DVDs which I want to digitalise and I came across handbrake, which looks like easy enough tool to do this. However… it has so many options it confuses (even the docs are overwhelming) me

From what I read on the internet encoding is kinda of an art…

So I would like to ask, are there any best practices to follow or recommended settings you use to guide me?

System:
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  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.6.0 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.23.0
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    base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Micro-Star product: MS-7E51 v: 1.0
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Micro-Star model: MAG X870 TOMAHAWK WIFI (MS-7E51) v: 1.0
    serial: <superuser required> uuid: <superuser required> Firmware: UEFI
    vendor: American Megatrends LLC. v: 1.A44 date: 04/24/2025
Battery:
  Device-1: hid-dc:2c:26:0e:85:7b-battery model: Keychron K2 serial: N/A
    charge: N/A status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 5 gen: 5
    level: v4 note: check built: 2024+ process: TSMC n4 (4nm) family: 0x1A (26)
    model-id: 0x44 (68) stepping: 0 microcode: 0xB404035
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 1 cores: 8 threads: 16 tpc: 2
    smt: enabled cache: L1: 640 KiB desc: d-8x48 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2: 8 MiB
    desc: 8x1024 KiB L3: 96 MiB desc: 1x96 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 5205 min/max: 603/5272 boost: enabled scaling:
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    4: 5205 5: 5205 6: 5205 7: 5205 8: 5205 9: 5205 10: 5205 11: 5205 12: 5205
    13: 5205 14: 5205 15: 5205 16: 5205 bogomips: 150399
  Flags-basic: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a
    ssse3 svm
  Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 48 [Radeon RX 9070/9070
    XT/9070 GRE] vendor: XFX driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: RDNA-4
    code: Navi-4x process: TSMC n4 (4nm) built: 2025+ pcie: gen: 5
    speed: 32 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: DP-3 empty: DP-1, DP-2, HDMI-A-1,
    Writeback-1 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:7550 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Granite Ridge [Radeon Graphics]
    vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: RDNA-2 code: Navi-2x
    process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-22 pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
    lanes: 16 ports: active: none empty: DP-4, DP-5, DP-6, HDMI-A-2,
    Writeback-2 bus-ID: 74:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:13c0 class-ID: 0300 temp: 43.0 C
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.21 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.9
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    unloaded: modesetting,radeon alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: radeonsi
    gpu: amdgpu display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: DP-3 model: Dell AW3423DWF serial: <filter> built: 2023 res:
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    device: 1 drv: radeonsi device: 2 drv: swrast gbm: drv: radeonsi
    surfaceless: drv: radeonsi wayland: drv: radeonsi x11: drv: radeonsi
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 25.3.5-arch1.1
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT (radeonsi
    gfx1201 LLVM 21.1.6 DRM 3.64 6.18.9-arch1-2-znver5) device-ID: 1002:7550
    memory: 15.62 GiB unified: no display-ID: :0.0
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.341 layers: 13 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: AMD
    Radeon RX 9070 XT (RADV GFX1201) driver: mesa radv v: 25.3.5-arch1.1
    device-ID: 1002:7550 surfaces: N/A device: 1 type: integrated-gpu name: AMD
    Ryzen 7 9800X3D 8-Core Processor (RADV RAPHAEL_MENDOCINO)
    driver: mesa radv v: 25.3.5-arch1.1 device-ID: 1002:13c0 surfaces: N/A
    device: 2 type: cpu name: llvmpipe (LLVM 21.1.6 256 bits)
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    device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: N/A
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: amdgpu_top, corectrl, lact
    wl: wayland-info x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 48 HDMI/DP Audio
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 5 speed: 32 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 03:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab40 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Radeon High Definition Audio
    vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4
    speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 74:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:1640 class-ID: 0403
  Device-3: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Ryzen HD Audio
    vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4
    speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 74:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
  Device-4: Fractal Scape Dongle driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
    type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-3.3:8
    chip-ID: 36bc:0001 class-ID: 0300 serial: <filter>
  Device-5: Micro Star USB Audio driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
    type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-5:7
    chip-ID: 0db0:cd0e class-ID: 0300
  Device-6: VIA USB Audio Device driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
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    chip-ID: 040d:340a class-ID: 0300
  API: ALSA v: k6.18.9-arch1-2-znver5 status: kernel-api with: aoss
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  Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off tools: aucat,midicat,sndioctl
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Network:
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  IF: wlp9s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8126 5GbE vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: r8126
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  IF: enp10s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager,systemd-timesyncd
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Foxconn / Hon Hai driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 1.1
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  Report: btmgmt ID: hci5 rfk-id: 57 state: up address: N/A
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 3.18 TiB used: 1.59 TiB (50.0%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:2 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO 500GB
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    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 2B2QEXE7 temp: 39.9 C
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    scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/nvme2n1 maj-min: 259:6 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO 1TB
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    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 2B2QEXE7 temp: 24.9 C
    scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 432.02 GiB size: 432.02 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 143.94 GiB (33.3%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:4
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 664 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:3
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 432.02 GiB size: 432.02 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 143.94 GiB (33.3%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:4
  ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 432.02 GiB size: 432.02 GiB (100.00%)
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  ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 432.02 GiB size: 432.02 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 143.94 GiB (33.3%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:4
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 10 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 30.4 GiB used: 992.6 MiB (3.2%)
    priority: 100 comp: zstd avail: lzo-rle,lzo,lz4,lz4hc,deflate,842
    dev: /dev/zram0
  ID-2: swap-2 type: partition size: 33.45 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
    priority: -2 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:5
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 69.5 C mobo: 43.5 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
  GPU: device: amdgpu temp: 39.0 C mem: 58.0 C fan: 0 watts: 27.00
    device: amdgpu temp: 43.0 C
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 30.4 GiB used: 15.91 GiB (52.3%)
  Processes: 557 Power: uptime: 5h 48m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 12.15 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
    power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 259 default: graphical
    tool: systemctl
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1566 libs: 448 tools: octopi,paru Compilers:
    gcc: 15.2.1 Shell: Bash v: 5.3.9 default: fish v: 4.5.0 running-in: konsole
    inxi: 3.3.40
Garuda (2.12.3-2):
  System install date:     2025-03-16
  Garuda release:          250308
  Last full system update: 2026-02-19
  Is partially upgraded:   Yes
  Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut garuda-hardware-profile-standard garuda-hardware-profile-standard-x11
  Windows dual boot:       No/Undetected
  Failed units:
--- System Health Check Report ---
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--- CRITICAL ---
 - System is partially upgraded (fix available)

--- LOW ---
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Run garuda-health --fix to apply fixes.

[system]

Updated for edit 2026-02-21T00:58:00Z:

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Thanks for helping us help you!

[HelloWorld]

I think you can use makemkv (aur package) to do this, it is more easier to use.
install:

paru -S makemkv

and then if the output file is large, use ffmpeg to compress it:

ffmpeg -i <output video path> -map 0 -c:v libx265 -crf 23 -c:a copy output.mkv

[Duke187]

hi,

it is easy i dont think you would not get it done. So an example of my usage …

[Seimus]

Thanks!

So basically you are using the predefined presets?

As well a question wouldn’t be H.265 better than 264?

[Duke187]

Yes I use more 264 because not all my devices can read 265 so better if it’s on a usb stick . You can change them to your needs and test them if they working like you want.

[Seimus]

Thank you!

All of this is great info.

[Seimus]

I forgot to mention,

I already did re-encode one very old movie that was made for TV back in 1983. Following your advice and some reading in docs I was able to keep the quality and remove some of the annoyances of that time.

The true test will be once I start to digitalise one German/Austrian show I was very fond of. I was able to get all the DVDs that are ultra rare thanks to some effort from a friend in Germany. Several months of hunting them (prior his help several years myself and unsuccessful).

Maybe some of the DE or AT users know it

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0996239/

Die Märchenstunde

Die ProSieben Märchenstunde

[SGS]

I know only Bernd

[Seimus]

To be honest with you,

back in time I have seen him in some commercials or trailers.

But few months ago I watched the J. Olivers shows and it triggered me that this was really a thing and not just and outcome of my child imaginations from the past

[RusselNash]

I personally encode to av1 via hardware acceleration thanks to my new-ish GPU. (Your GPU supports it too.) av1 produces up to 30% smaller file sizes than x265 / HEVC. I had to install the amf-amdgpu-pro package from the AUR though. The amf-headers package may also be needed. This / these 1-2 packages are required for hardware accelerated av1 encoding with AMD GPUs (on Handbrake and other apps I’m sure).
Note of possible interest: In the current version of Handbrake, only 8-bit color av1 encoding is supported because whoever implemented it didn’t bother to implement 10-bit encoding. So you’ll have to wait for the next version to be released to get the preferred 10-bit encoding (a third party stepped up and implemented it because the dev or devs didn’t want to bother to do it), or use the git version in the AUR, I guess.

[Duke187]

lol yeah comedy was there much in trend times.

old but gold

handbrake works fine and do my files how i like it anyway. i dont need 4k and didnt try it. MP4 or AVI i use mostly. The h264 movie was 800mb around and quite good quality. I like this tool

[Seimus]

Those are some good tips in regards of HW acceleration.

In regards of AV1, I am currently avoiding it. The reason is not all devices support yet AV1. I believe AV1 is the future that will fully replace HEVC due to the fact how is HEVC handled in regards of licences.

I stream my media from jelly, the HW I use on it does not have AV1 transcoding capabilities thus it has to be done in software which can cause problems because its handled in CPU.

[Seimus]

Sounds good,

Most of my monitors or TVs are 1440p or higher but I as well prefer 1080p content. The reason is storage and its much more easier to transcode.

[Duke187]

i do it mosty in mp4 because its widly accepted to my device like a beamer with SD card . This dosnt play well h265 its stuttering. Avi is for my older Plasma TV . It does not make sense for me to keeep it in mkv . Also the mp4 works fine on the psp vita . If your devices have no issues try it with h265