Joined
·
4,582 Posts
Handbrake is very popular as a video encoder. It can resize a video file from a full 25-50GB down to several gigabytes. Handbrake allows you to use the built-in software or different hardware (CPUs and CPUs) to encode the video files. Depending on how fast your CPU or GPU is, it can be really quick or painfully slow. I decided to make some comparisons and share it with you.
The version of Handbrake used is 1.2.2 (2019022300). The computer used is a configured with a four-year old Intel i7-6700K on a MSi Z170A Gamer Pro motherboard with 16GB of RAM. The video cards used is the Intel 530 QSV built-in on the CPU (Note that not all CPUs have the hardware to encode videos). The other video cards are the MSi GeForce GTX 1660 Ti with 6GB DDR6 RAM and an older AMD Radeon RS560 with 4GB RAM.
Handbrake was set to Fast 1080P with video parameter set to 22. Audio was set to AAC 5.1 @ 1536 bps. The test movie was Alita, Battle Angel. The original file size was 27GB.
Setting the video quality to SHQ instead of fast can double (or more) the encoding time using HB software. The end file should be smaller with some better detail, depending on how you set the parameter. For example, the default parameter on SHQ is 18 which will make the file much larger. But the encoding time increases to a whopping 200 minutes using the default software encoder. Using the Intel QSV mode made no difference on SHQ or Fast mode, clocking at 28 minutes. Using the NVidia solution, encoding times was a smidgen longer, at 28 minutes like the Intel, two minutes longer than the NVidia default.
As you can see, using the hardware encoding was considerably faster than using Handbrake's built-in software encoder. But the disadvantage of using hardware encoding are two-fold. First, the resulting file size is larger and the video quality is impacted. TBH, the image quality is negligible IMHO, but it can be seen. The AMD has the worst image, followed by the Intel. I think the NVidia and the software HB are pretty close.
HB has the smallest file size (3.4GB), followed by NVidia (4.05GB) and AMD (4.1GB). The Intel has the largest end file size, about 4.8GB. I did notice one anomaly with the Intel file. All the other files started very quickly on my Sony BR Player (BDP-S7200) but the Intel file took several seconds before the movie started.
I am planning to repeat the test, using either an AMD Ryzen 3 3900X or an Intel i9 9900K. From what I have read, the Intel should be 100% faster than my older i7 6700K. But the AMD Ryzen 3900X is even faster, 30% faster than the Intel i9. The drawback with the AMD CPU is that it does not have any integrated graphics. The Intel i9 has a later version, QSV 630 which should be faster than my i7 6700K.
It will be interesting to see how much faster the new CPUs really are and if they make a difference on the GPU's performance.
The version of Handbrake used is 1.2.2 (2019022300). The computer used is a configured with a four-year old Intel i7-6700K on a MSi Z170A Gamer Pro motherboard with 16GB of RAM. The video cards used is the Intel 530 QSV built-in on the CPU (Note that not all CPUs have the hardware to encode videos). The other video cards are the MSi GeForce GTX 1660 Ti with 6GB DDR6 RAM and an older AMD Radeon RS560 with 4GB RAM.
Handbrake was set to Fast 1080P with video parameter set to 22. Audio was set to AAC 5.1 @ 1536 bps. The test movie was Alita, Battle Angel. The original file size was 27GB.
Setting the video quality to SHQ instead of fast can double (or more) the encoding time using HB software. The end file should be smaller with some better detail, depending on how you set the parameter. For example, the default parameter on SHQ is 18 which will make the file much larger. But the encoding time increases to a whopping 200 minutes using the default software encoder. Using the Intel QSV mode made no difference on SHQ or Fast mode, clocking at 28 minutes. Using the NVidia solution, encoding times was a smidgen longer, at 28 minutes like the Intel, two minutes longer than the NVidia default.
As you can see, using the hardware encoding was considerably faster than using Handbrake's built-in software encoder. But the disadvantage of using hardware encoding are two-fold. First, the resulting file size is larger and the video quality is impacted. TBH, the image quality is negligible IMHO, but it can be seen. The AMD has the worst image, followed by the Intel. I think the NVidia and the software HB are pretty close.
HB has the smallest file size (3.4GB), followed by NVidia (4.05GB) and AMD (4.1GB). The Intel has the largest end file size, about 4.8GB. I did notice one anomaly with the Intel file. All the other files started very quickly on my Sony BR Player (BDP-S7200) but the Intel file took several seconds before the movie started.
I am planning to repeat the test, using either an AMD Ryzen 3 3900X or an Intel i9 9900K. From what I have read, the Intel should be 100% faster than my older i7 6700K. But the AMD Ryzen 3900X is even faster, 30% faster than the Intel i9. The drawback with the AMD CPU is that it does not have any integrated graphics. The Intel i9 has a later version, QSV 630 which should be faster than my i7 6700K.
It will be interesting to see how much faster the new CPUs really are and if they make a difference on the GPU's performance.
