How can I speed up Handbrake?

[dizzy130]

I've been Handbraking all of my movies, but it's a really slow process on my 2007 Macbook - it takes over an hour to do a movie, and about 30-45 minutes to do an episode of a TV show. Would this be significantly faster on a newer Macbook? Mine has the 2Ghz Core 2 Duo and only 1 GB of RAM, and I've been thinking of upgrading either to the new 13" MBP that came out today or the new MB whenever they refresh next. If Handbrake is the kind of thing that will run faster on a new computer it will be one more reason to upgrade.

[alust2013]

Handbrake is one of the best examples of a speed boost from a new computer. If you do it enough to warrant a new computer, it will definitely make things go faster.

[P Mentior]

Handbrake will use as much processor power as your machine can throw at it. The faster your processor is that faster your encodes are going to be. I recently went from an '08 2.5GHz core2duo MBP giving me about real time encodes to a custom desktop running a i7 at 4.1GHz that can encode a TV show in 9-10 min. You probably won't get that good of speed on a mobile but it would be much faster then what you have now.

[jasontrucks76]

Using Handbrake on my iMac 3.06 Intel Core 2 with 8 GB ram runs full movies to the ATV2 setting in about 30 minutes. give or take 5 minutes.

Your biggest problem I see is lack of RAM and processor power. If I am running HB and watching the activity monitor... It is amazing how much processor HB can use.

I would totally agree with the previous poster the HB will use all you can give it. So the answer is... Max out your current machine or upgrade??

[theslaz]

Did a small test yesterday with Handbrake; a PC and a Imac. Decoded the same movie file ( Inception) on both computers. The Imac ( 2.4 Ghz with only 1 Gig of ram ) took just a little over an hour. The PC (3 Hhz with 2.5 gig of ram ) took 2 hours and 25 min.
Needless to say; I'll be using the mac for this purpose in the future.
Have been a PC user since the first day they came out. Purchased a Mac just this last Xmas. I can see myself slowly changing over to the world on Apple!

[P Mentior]

Originally Posted by theslaz

Did a small test yesterday with Handbrake; a PC and a Imac. Decoded the same movie file ( Inception) on both computers. The Imac ( 2.4 Ghz with only 1 Gig of ram ) took just a little over an hour. The PC (3 Hhz with 2.5 gig of ram ) took 2 hours and 25 min.
Needless to say; I'll be using the mac for this purpose in the future.
Have been a PC user since the first day they came out. Purchased a Mac just this last Xmas. I can see myself slowly changing over to the world on Apple!

Can you tell us a little more about the settings you used and the hardware specs involved. Your results seem a little suspicious to me. If the encode settings were the same and the processors were of the same family (Core2Duo, i5, i7) then the PC should have been faster.

[theslaz]

Originally Posted by P Mentior

Can you tell us a little more about the settings you used and the hardware specs involved. Your results seem a little suspicious to me. If the encode settings were the same and the processors were of the same family (Core2Duo, i5, i7) then the PC should have been faster.

Basically I use the default settings for ATV ( which it choose in Handbrake). Don't know if they are the same in the Mac version as the PC version. I'm not really particular about the settings I use!

[Nuc]

Has anyone tested the new MBP with Handbrake? Particularly the base 2011 17" MBP? What times are you guys getting?

[P Mentior]

Originally Posted by theslaz

Basically I use the default settings for ATV ( which it choose in Handbrake). Don't know if they are the same in the Mac version as the PC version. I'm not really particular about the settings I use!

Ok. What Processors are in the machines then? You said that you got you iMac just about a year ago so i assume that it has an i3/i5/i7 in it. Does the PC you tested it against have one of those too or is it something else like a core2duo or Pentium 4?

[theslaz]

Originally Posted by P Mentior

Ok. What Processors are in the machines then? You said that you got you iMac just about a year ago so i assume that it has an i3/i5/i7 in it. Does the PC you tested it against have one of those too or is it something else like a core2duo or Pentium 4?

The mac was bought at Xmas for a gift; it is listed as a core two. The PC is a P4. I didn't mention it; but the PC is loaded to the hilt. Probably has about 70 processes running at any one time.

[P Mentior]

Originally Posted by theslaz

The mac was bought at Xmas for a gift; it is listed as a core two. The PC is a P4. I didn't mention it; but the PC is loaded to the hilt. Probably has about 70 processes running at any one time.

That explanes it. A P4 is quite a bit slower than a Core2Duo.

[rjderama]

The guys at TonyMac have created a hack that allows any USB3 device to be connected to a hackintosh.

Regardless, Thunderbolt/Light Peak have surpassed USB3.

[dXTC]

Originally Posted by theslaz

The mac was bought at Xmas for a gift; it is listed as a core two. The PC is a P4. I didn't mention it; but the PC is loaded to the hilt. Probably has about 70 processes running at any one time.

Originally Posted by P Mentior

That explanes it. A P4 is quite a bit slower than a Core2Duo.

Agreed. Here's an analogous comparison. My older Windows XP PC, which I use on occasion for HandBrake 'cause it's there, has an Athlon 64 3500+ processor, in the same class as the faster Pentium 4s. It takes almost as long to HandBrake a movie as it would be to play it-- well over an hour for most feature-length movie encodes on iPhone/iPod Touch settings, and even longer for higher resolutions.

By comparison, the iMac in my sig is a Core i3. It does most feature-length encodes in iPhone/iPod touch settings in 15-20 minutes.

My guess is, since the new MBPs boast twice the processor speed of previous ones, that HandBrake encodes would take half that time.

Originally Posted by rjderama

The guys at TonyMac have created a hack that allows any USB3 device to be connected to a hackintosh.

Regardless, Thunderbolt/Light Peak have surpassed USB3.

Umm... wrong thread, perhaps?

[yourmother]

How do you guys get those speeds? What setting do you choose? I only get around 11FPS.

I have a 2008 2.2 core2duo MBP and it takes me around 6-8 hours to do a movie. Any help speeding up this process would be greatly appreciated.

[theSeb]

Originally Posted by yourmother

How do you guys get those speeds? What setting do you choose? I only get around 11FPS.

I have a 2008 2.2 core2duo MBP and it takes me around 6-8 hours to do a movie. Any help speeding up this process would be greatly appreciated.

Buy a new computer - preferably one with 4 cores.

[gnasher729]

Originally Posted by dizzy130

I've been Handbraking all of my movies, but it's a really slow process on my 2007 Macbook - it takes over an hour to do a movie, and about 30-45 minutes to do an episode of a TV show. Would this be significantly faster on a newer Macbook? Mine has the 2Ghz Core 2 Duo and only 1 GB of RAM, and I've been thinking of upgrading either to the new 13" MBP that came out today or the new MB whenever they refresh next. If Handbrake is the kind of thing that will run faster on a new computer it will be one more reason to upgrade.

Use some other software to copy the DVDs on your computer, then put everything into a queue in Handbrake. Handbrake can quite nicely encode your movies overnight.

[theSeb]

Originally Posted by gnasher729

Use some other software to copy the DVDs on your computer, then put everything into a queue in Handbrake. Handbrake can quite nicely encode your movies overnight.

Agreed. Also make sure that you have the latest nightly build and not the official latest release version - it has some bugs in it.

Back to the original question...

How do you speed up handbrake? I take you guys have not found the secret settings?

Open terminal and type in
SET CPU_FAST_MODE = TRUE and then hit "Enter"



Seriously guys, there is no way to "speed up" encoding movies, other than buying a new, faster computer. I am not sure what you're expecting from a 2007 or a 2008 CPU? Handbrake is multi-threaded and multi-core compatible so the more CPU power it has, the faster it will be. Encoding is a very CPU intensive activity. A 2010 12 core Mac Pro will encode like there is no tomorrow. A 2010 6 core Mac Pro will do the job quite adequately. A 2011 iMac i7 3.4 will do the job well and so forth.

[hexonxonx]

I used to have a 2008 Mac Pro 8 core that would rip a DVD in about 15-20 minutes. I think the MBP that I had at the time could do the same DVD in about 25-30 minutes. Both had the same stock 2MB ram. I could never afford to upgrade the ram on on the Mac Pro back then and I ended up selling it a year later.

I now have a 2009 MBP and a 2008 black MB and I let the MBP do all my ripping /copying these days simply because it has the faster processor

[yourmother]

Originally Posted by hexonxonx

I used to have a 2008 Mac Pro 8 core that would rip a DVD in about 15-20 minutes. I think the MBP that I had at the time could do the same DVD in about 25-30 minutes. Both had the same stock 2MB ram. I could never afford to upgrade the ram on on the Mac Pro back then and I ended up selling it a year later.

I now have a 2009 MBP and a 2008 black MB and I let the MBP do all my ripping /copying these days simply because it has the faster processor

Can you tell me what settings you use?

[theSeb]

Originally Posted by hexonxonx

I used to have a 2008 Mac Pro 8 core that would rip a DVD in about 15-20 minutes. I think the MBP that I had at the time could do the same DVD in about 25-30 minutes. Both had the same stock 2MB ram. I could never afford to upgrade the ram on on the Mac Pro back then and I ended up selling it a year later.

I now have a 2009 MBP and a 2008 black MB and I let the MBP do all my ripping /copying these days simply because it has the faster processor

Ripping and encoding are two different things. Which one are you doing or were you doing both? Exactly which 2009 MBP are you using? There is no way that a 2009 MBP could encode a SD quality standard length movie in 25-30 minutes, unless you were only ripping. I know because I have one lying around. My 2011 i7 MBA is significantly faster.

[hexonxonx]

Originally Posted by theSeb

Ripping and encoding are two different things. Which one are you doing or were you doing both? Exactly which 2009 MBP are you using? There is no way that a 2009 MBP could encode a SD quality standard length movie in 25-30 minutes, unless you were only ripping. I know because I have one lying around. My 2011 i7 MBA is significantly faster.

Just ripping. Not sure what encoding is but all I was doing was ripping a few DVDs. I really don't do that anymore because the quality isn't as good as iTunes HD. I don't own a Blu-Ray player so I just buy everything in iTunes.

The MBP is the 2.53GHz/4GB ram.

[theSeb]

Originally Posted by hexonxonx

Just ripping. Not sure what encoding is but all I was doing was ripping a few DVDs. I really don't do that anymore because the quality isn't as good as iTunes HD. I don't own a Blu-Ray player so I just buy everything in iTunes.

The MBP is the 2.53GHz/4GB ram.

What program were you using? In simple terms: Ripping is making a copy of the DVD on your HDD. Encoding is compressing that copy of the DVD

I have the same CPU in my 2009 MBP. It takes just over the length of the clip to encode on average. A 40 minute tv episode takes about 50 minutes to encode. If the clip is HD, then it takes a lot longer. I am glad I don't have to use it anymore because it was painful.

[theusualsuspect]

You can kinda speed up Handbrake on an older machine if you choose not to use H264 encoding. H264 is processor intensive, and although it is the best balance of quality/file size, if you're unwilling to wait, choose the MPEG4 option in the video codec setting.

This doesn't make your computer faster, but it will speed up the encoding times, at the expense of file size.

[GeekGuys]

I always thought the primary device for Handbrake encodes was the graphic card. I don't think the CPU is that intensively used when I do encodes, but being an iMac I have no choice about the graphics card i use. I know the next generation iMac to mine has a much better graphics card and will encode about twice as fast. The CPU is only 0.2Ghz faster with no change in FSB or RAM speed.

Lion makes use of GPL processing, which Windows already does so this is why, in general, Windows on the same hardware will encode faster than Leopard (for example). However, Lion should reverse that now.

External H264 encoders help as they remove the GPL processing offboard from the graphics chip.
This will increase the speed of Handbrake considerably. Get Elgato Turbo.H264 HD and you will see a dramatic difference in your performance.....especially on older Macs.

[theSeb]

Originally Posted by GeekGuys

I always thought the primary device for Handbrake encodes was the graphic card. I don't think the CPU is that intensively used when I do encodes, but being an iMac I have no choice about the graphics card i use. I know the next generation iMac to mine has a much better graphics card and will encode about twice as fast. The CPU is only 0.2Ghz faster with no change in FSB or RAM speed.

Lion makes use of GPL processing, which Windows already does so this is why, in general, Windows on the same hardware will encode faster than Leopard (for example). However, Lion should reverse that now.

External H264 encoders help as they remove the GPL processing offboard from the graphics chip.
This will increase the speed of Handbrake considerably. Get Elgato Turbo.H264 HD and you will see a dramatic difference in your performance.....especially on older Macs.

Handbrake uses CUDA for GPU encoding, therefore the rest of your post is impossible, unless things have changed dramatically since 2010 and I have not kept up with the news. In 2010 there was no encoder that uses the GPU that is faster than a CPU based encoder. I am getting a bit older, but I am pretty sure that the world has not left me behind yet.