Author Topic: Free H265 to H264 Converter for Dummies  (Read 31918 times)

Offline Mede8er1

  • Administr8or
  • Hero Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 3 772
  • Helpful Contribution Status: +118/-30
Free H265 to H264 Converter for Dummies
« on: January 17, 2016, 09:28:03 AM »
As all Mede8er models do not support H265 we have put together a very simple Guide for Dummies that should make the conversion real easy for users at any technical level. The software used is totally free and only available for Windows operating system. MAC users can use Handbrake for MAC. Its similar and maybe a MAC user can make a user guide for this.

Users can use exactly the same method to resize H264 to smaller sized mkv files without any visual or audio quality loss.

1. Download the latest version of Vidcoder  http://vidcoder.net/
2. Install Vidcoder
3. Download Mede8er created Profile 3000kbbs or 2000kbbs depending on your quality needs 
2000kbbs should be adequate for most content but if you fussy and want the best then use the 3000kbbs

http://www.mede8er.org/artwork/temp/2016/forum/Vidcoder_mkv_2000.xml
http://www.mede8er.org/artwork/temp/2016/forum/Vidcoder_mkv_3000.xml





4. Select Tools ---> Import Preset and select the Profile you downloaded ie either Vidcoder_mkv_2000.xml or  Vidcoder_mkv_3000.xml and the Profile will be imported and you can select it on the Preset Drop Menu on the left side.
5. Set the Destination Folder for the converted file/files.
6. Drag one video file or multiple video files (that need to be converted or compressed) into the Vidcoder GUI ( Do not go crazy and drag more than about 5 files as Vidcoder can crash) 
7. Select 'Encode' and Vidcoder will convert the files one by one into mkv files





The profile we have made will keep passthrough audio fully intact ie DTS or AC3 and will also include a pcm stream if it exists in the original. All Subtitles will also be copied as well as Chapter markers. Experienced users can obviously tweak the profiles to suit their individual needs.  Output can also be set to mp4 is so required.

Batch mode is supported and you can enqueue multiple files if required ie in the case of TV Series you can just drag in all the Season Folders.

Coding time will depend on the source file and the processor in your PC. Using a top end i7 PC the encoding will take +- 35 - 75 min per video.

Note: Seems Dolby True HD is not supported at his time. If your source file has a Dolby True HD track then you can manually change the audio settings in Vidcoder to mix down to AC3.



« Last Edit: February 19, 2016, 04:26:23 AM by Mede8er1 »

Mede8er1
The Greatest Show on Earth
Read the user Guides
http://www.mede8er.com/mede8er_support_user_guides.htm

Offline K.B.Nikto

  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 252
  • Helpful Contribution Status: +19/-1
Re: Free H265 to H264 Converter for Dummies
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2016, 04:14:01 PM »
Hi Mede8er1,

Perhaps I'm missing something and please tell me if so.

On Mac, Handbrake converts h.265 to h.264 in either mp4 or mkv container and passes through audio, subtitles, etc. Does Windows Handbrake not also do that?

Offline Mede8er1

  • Administr8or
  • Hero Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 3 772
  • Helpful Contribution Status: +118/-30
Re: Free H265 to H264 Converter for Dummies
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2016, 04:17:31 PM »
Yes it does - I just happen to like Vidcoder that is based on Handbrakes encoding engine. Good that you pointed out a solution for MAC users.

Mede8er1
The Greatest Show on Earth
Read the user Guides
http://www.mede8er.com/mede8er_support_user_guides.htm

Offline docbill

  • B8a Tester - X3D Movie Scraper
  • Experienced Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 212
  • Helpful Contribution Status: +2/-1
Re: Free H265 to H264 Converter for Dummies
« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2016, 01:50:13 AM »
Why would anyone want to have to guess as a bitrate to use when they can simply specify a QF with handbrake?   I use 22 for 1080p, 21 for 720p, and 20 for 480p.   Perfect everytime...

BTW.  Recently I have been creating H265 and H264 for blu-rays.   I drop the QF by 1 when doing H265, so it is closer to a "master" copy.   Interesting enough I notice when I create the H264 directly from the blu-rays they end up larger than when converting the H265, even though I cannot tell the difference in the quality.   The biggest example is "LOTR: The Two Towers (Extended Edition)".  H265 with he-aac audio 7.5 GB QF 21.  H264 with he-aac audio 14.5 GB QF 22 created from discs.   H264 with he-aac 8.5 GB QF 22 created from H265.   My guess is my H264 is probably lower quality when created from H264, but just not enough for me to notice on my computer when comparing.

In most cases the HE-AAC audio is the biggest factor in reducing size.   As raw DTS-HD audio can easily be 50% or more of a movie's storage size.   But again I can't hear the difference between HE-AAC and DTS-HD.   So why save the larger, when I still have the discs available if needed for re-encoding.   Sadly, you can't use the latest version of handbrake for HE-AAC audio conversion.






Offline TifKag

  • X2 Skin Designer
  • Experienced Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 106
  • Helpful Contribution Status: +4/-13
Re: Free H265 to H264 Converter for Dummies
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2016, 09:38:32 AM »
Ehm..... i downloaded the two xml files, but the Vidcoder_mkv_2000.xml decodes to 3000 kbps.

I compared the 2 files, and the only difference is the name, ALL other values are identical.

BTW: a decent HD 1920x1080 video is about 9000 - 10000 kbps (A 90 minutes nature documentary, would be about 7 - 9 Gb, depending on the audio track that is used)
« Last Edit: July 19, 2016, 09:57:35 AM by TifKag »

Offline decepticon13

  • Newbie
  • Posts: 1
  • Helpful Contribution Status: +0/-0
Re: Free H265 to H264 Converter for Dummies
« Reply #5 on: November 29, 2017, 05:24:34 PM »
Just tried it and it works only my subtitle is gone (it is not a seperate file)

Is there a way to fix this ?

Thanx

Offline Finarasa

  • Newbie
  • Posts: 3
  • Helpful Contribution Status: +0/-0
Re: Free H265 to H264 Converter for Dummies
« Reply #6 on: February 10, 2018, 09:15:17 AM »
Thanks for the good information. The h264 to avi converter can also deal with H264 to H264 conversion.

Offline nabrud

  • Newbie
  • Posts: 17
  • Helpful Contribution Status: +0/-0
Re: Free H265 to H264 Converter for Dummies
« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2019, 09:43:39 PM »
This doesn't work, latest Vidcoder asks for .vjpreset file. What to do now with these xmls?

Offline SjoerdNLD

  • B8a Tester - X2
  • Newbie
  • ****
  • Posts: 17
  • Helpful Contribution Status: +0/-0
Re: Free H265 to H264 Converter for Dummies
« Reply #8 on: June 25, 2020, 09:12:37 PM »
as a reference - download the old VidCoder-3.16 then import and after update to recent. works