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The fastest way to Re-Encode mp4 to smaller size files?

PostPosted: Sat Apr 10, 2021 6:22 am
by robertferanec
Hello,

please, what is the fastest and easiest way to re-encode original ATEM Mini Pro ISO files (from all the individual HDMI inputs) into files with smaller size? Do you recommend any specific Blackmagic hardware or a graphic card for this?

Explanation: I am using ATEM Mini Pro ISO to record two to three hours long videos. I record all inputs and I end up with number of huge files. These are very difficult to store, move and process between offices in different locations. I would need to make the files smaller (e.g. better compression, lower bitrate), keep there information like Timecode and it would be great if during this process I could maybe crop the videos. Ideally, it should be possible to queue the jobs.

Please any ideas how to do that?

Thank you,
- Robert

Re: The fastest way to Re-Encode mp4 to smaller size files?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2021 12:49 am
by Uli Plank
DaVinci Resolve Studio and a GPU capable of hardware encoding, if you are using a PC.

Re: The fastest way to Re-Encode mp4 to smaller size files?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2021 5:22 am
by robertferanec
Uli Plank wrote:DaVinci Resolve Studio and a GPU capable of hardware encoding, if you are using a PC.

Thank you Uli.

Please, any tips for a specific non PC hardware solution? Also, do you know if there is a GPU card speed comparison for mp4 encoding? I have seen many posts with all the kind of GPUs, but I could not find anything which would compare how much faster one GPU will encode mp4 comparing to a different one. Thank you.

Re: The fastest way to Re-Encode mp4 to smaller size files?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2021 9:23 pm
by Uli Plank
Get a Mac mini M1 then.
Hardware encoding is rather limited by the speed of data throughput if it’s the only task the machine has. Keeping the source and destination on different media helps, in particular when your larger source files are on the very fast internal SSD of the mini.

But remember, fast ist not always good. The best results with small file sizes will come out of Handbrake.

Re: The fastest way to Re-Encode mp4 to smaller size files?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2021 10:10 pm
by Andrew Kolakowski
If you re-encoding MP4 (or more precisely files which are 1-100Mbit) to smaller size then disk speed is about meaningless (specially when you think about SSDs) as this requires overall tiny portion of you disk capabilities.

Re: The fastest way to Re-Encode mp4 to smaller size files?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2021 10:12 pm
by Ellory Yu
I use Handbrake. It's free and does a very good job.
https://handbrake.fr/

Re: The fastest way to Re-Encode mp4 to smaller size files?

PostPosted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:54 am
by Uli Plank
Andrew Kolakowski wrote:If you re-encoding MP4 (or more precisely files which are 1-100Mbit) to smaller size then disk speed is about meaningless (specially when you think about SSDs) as this requires overall tiny portion of you disk capabilities.


Of course, I was thinking about the larger intermediate source files. Fast encoding will need fast feeding.
And, yes, Handbrake can be quite fast with a lot of strong CPU cores.

Re: The fastest way to Re-Encode mp4 to smaller size files?

PostPosted: Thu Apr 15, 2021 4:41 am
by robertferanec
Thank you very much. Handbrake looks interesting. I am going to test it.

Re: The fastest way to Re-Encode mp4 to smaller size files?

PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 12:17 pm
by csipiemonte
I suggest ffmpeg

ffmpeg.org

Fast, reliable, can compress in very very small H.264 files with a command like this:

ffmpeg -hide_banner -i INPUT.mov -crf 26 -preset veryfast OUTPUT.mp4

crf: around 18-20: visually lossless
around 28-30 smaller, but visually loss

We use it very often andit does a good job. Handbrake is based upon it.

Re: The fastest way to Re-Encode mp4 to smaller size files?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 27, 2021 10:20 pm
by Uli Plank
Yes, Handbrake is actually just a front end if you are afraid of command lines ;-)