HBBatchBeast for Handbrake - recursive, multi-instance file/folder converter with folder watching (Windows)
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 8:30 am
I posted this on Reddit 2 days ago https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/ ... recursive/ but thought some of you here would find it useful as I've had some positive feedback. Apologies if this is not allowed here!
I was looking for a simple recursive file/folder converter/watcher for Windows but I couldn't find one that was super straight forward. Dropfolders no longer seems to work and programs like Sickbeard require Python/Ruby etc to be installed. I wanted one that works straight out of the box on Windows (no installation required) so I decided to have a go at creating my own. Built-in and custom presets are supported. Any feedback/suggestions would be much appreciated!
As taken from my GitHub page (https://github.com/HaveAGitGat/HBBatchBeast):
HBBatchBeast
A simple GUI application for Handbrake with an emphasis on batch conversion (including recursive folder scans and folder watching). The destination folder structure is kept the same as the source folder structure. Media in subfolders is also converted.
This is a standalone program that is based on HTAs (HTML Applications) while also making use of batch files and the Handbrake CLI.
You'll need to add the HandbrakeCLI.exe to the root folder (Place it alongside "HBBatchBeast.hta".)
You can download HandbrakeCLI.exe from https://handbrake.fr/downloads2.php
If you're converting a large folder (say 100 files or more), you may find it useful to run the "AddIETimeOutRegKey.bat" file. This will add a key to the registry which will prevent the "This page is unresponsive" messages from appearing while the program is running.
The registry fix mentioned above is based on the following: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... orMeAlways
The program makes use of 6 HTA's altogether:
-Config HTA
-Status HTA
-4 'Worker' HTAs
The program scans the source folder for all files. It then compares the source folder files with the destination folder files to see if any of the source files exist in the destination folder already. If not, the program queues the files for conversion.
The 4 worker HTAs then work through the conversion queue. If periodic scanning is enabled then the program will run at the chosen interval.
Screenshot - https://imgur.com/a/rV9zJEK (interface/features have changed since this)
Demo video - https://sendvid.com/lmzaikh0 (interface/features have changed since this)
To make sure you have the latest version, please clone/download from GitHub and add HandbrakeCLI.exe to the root folder. https://github.com/HaveAGitGat/HBBatchBeast
After it a bit more testing it seems that weird things can happen if you monitor a folder which is being downloaded to. It seems sometimes conversions start before a file has fully downloaded. To solve this, I recommend using a temporary download folder before moving completed files into your HBBB source folder.
Edit2: Update HBBB so it only scans for common video files (MP4,M4V, MOV, MPG,MPEG,AVI,MKV) instead of scanning all file types.
Edit3:Custom presets now supported!
Updated to scan for flv,webm,wmv,vob,evo,mts,m2ts and ts files. Please let me know if there are others you'd like.
Edit4 00:59 14/01/2019:Added the option for temporary conversion folder, deleting files after conversion and setting how many Handbrake instances to run (1-4).
Edit5 07:48 14/01/2019: Added scan log button and conversion (log +button)
I was looking for a simple recursive file/folder converter/watcher for Windows but I couldn't find one that was super straight forward. Dropfolders no longer seems to work and programs like Sickbeard require Python/Ruby etc to be installed. I wanted one that works straight out of the box on Windows (no installation required) so I decided to have a go at creating my own. Built-in and custom presets are supported. Any feedback/suggestions would be much appreciated!
As taken from my GitHub page (https://github.com/HaveAGitGat/HBBatchBeast):
HBBatchBeast
A simple GUI application for Handbrake with an emphasis on batch conversion (including recursive folder scans and folder watching). The destination folder structure is kept the same as the source folder structure. Media in subfolders is also converted.
This is a standalone program that is based on HTAs (HTML Applications) while also making use of batch files and the Handbrake CLI.
You'll need to add the HandbrakeCLI.exe to the root folder (Place it alongside "HBBatchBeast.hta".)
You can download HandbrakeCLI.exe from https://handbrake.fr/downloads2.php
If you're converting a large folder (say 100 files or more), you may find it useful to run the "AddIETimeOutRegKey.bat" file. This will add a key to the registry which will prevent the "This page is unresponsive" messages from appearing while the program is running.
The registry fix mentioned above is based on the following: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... orMeAlways
The program makes use of 6 HTA's altogether:
-Config HTA
-Status HTA
-4 'Worker' HTAs
The program scans the source folder for all files. It then compares the source folder files with the destination folder files to see if any of the source files exist in the destination folder already. If not, the program queues the files for conversion.
The 4 worker HTAs then work through the conversion queue. If periodic scanning is enabled then the program will run at the chosen interval.
Screenshot - https://imgur.com/a/rV9zJEK (interface/features have changed since this)
Demo video - https://sendvid.com/lmzaikh0 (interface/features have changed since this)
To make sure you have the latest version, please clone/download from GitHub and add HandbrakeCLI.exe to the root folder. https://github.com/HaveAGitGat/HBBatchBeast
After it a bit more testing it seems that weird things can happen if you monitor a folder which is being downloaded to. It seems sometimes conversions start before a file has fully downloaded. To solve this, I recommend using a temporary download folder before moving completed files into your HBBB source folder.
Edit2: Update HBBB so it only scans for common video files (MP4,M4V, MOV, MPG,MPEG,AVI,MKV) instead of scanning all file types.
Edit3:Custom presets now supported!
Updated to scan for flv,webm,wmv,vob,evo,mts,m2ts and ts files. Please let me know if there are others you'd like.
Edit4 00:59 14/01/2019:Added the option for temporary conversion folder, deleting files after conversion and setting how many Handbrake instances to run (1-4).
Edit5 07:48 14/01/2019: Added scan log button and conversion (log +button)