Performance HandbrakeCLI Windows vs OS (Mac)

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JaSy
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Joined: Mon May 05, 2014 2:29 pm

Performance HandbrakeCLI Windows vs OS (Mac)

Post by JaSy »

Description of problem or question:
I've been using HandbrakeCLI for years with a Mac to convert .ts into .mp4 files. I used a little script which includes the following part for the hjandbrake conversion:

HandBrakeCLI -i $Datei -o $Ordner/$filename.mp4 -e x264 -q 19.0 -a 1 -E copy:ac3 -B 160 -6 dpl2 -R Auto -D 0.0 --audio-copy-mask aac,ac3,dtshd,dts,mp3 --audio-fallback ffac3 -f mp4 --large-file --decomb --detelecine --loose-anamorphic --modulus 2 -m --x264-preset veryfast --h264-profile high --h264-level 4.1

which worked well. Now I've tried to set up the same on a windows notebook with powershell by using the following command

& "C:\Program Files\HandbrakeCLI\HandbrakeCLI" -i $Quelle -o $Ziel -e x264 -q 19.0 -a 1 -E copy:ac3 -B 160 -6 dpl2 -R Auto -D 0.0 --audio-copy-mask aac,ac3,dtshd,dts,mp3 --audio-fallback ffac3 -f mp4 --decomb --detelecine --loose-anamorphic --modulus 2 -m --x264-preset veryfast --h264-profile high --h264-level 4.1

The command itself is identical with the exception that the "--large-file" option is excluded. This was done because it generated an error by saying "unknown option". However., after removing it the powershell script works and generates the mp4 file.

But another thing makes me surprised - although the power of the i-Mac and the Thinkpad X1 Carbon seems quite similar the windows version takes approx 30 to 40% longer. Both have 4 physical cores and a turbo boots of up to 4 GHz (iMac i7 with 3.5 GHz Quad-Core vs Thinkpad i7-8550U).

I don't believe the windows version is slower in general. I've even thought windows would be faster. Is there anything else which needs to be changed with the code in order to get it faster.

HandBrake version (e.g., 1.0.0):
don't know where to find this info for CLI, but I downloaded the latest version.

Operating system and version (e.g., Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, macOS 10.13 High Sierra, Windows 10 Creators Update):
MacOS 10.12.6 vs Windows 10 Professional
rollin_eng
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Re: Performance HandbrakeCLI Windows vs OS (Mac)

Post by rollin_eng »

Could you please post your HB logs, instructions can be found here:

https://handbrake.fr/docs/en/latest/hel ... y-log.html
Woodstock
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Re: Performance HandbrakeCLI Windows vs OS (Mac)

Post by Woodstock »

The Mac CLI should have complained about --large-file as well; that option was removed a long time ago, because handbrake automatically deals with large files. It may still be being accepted as a do-nothing, for compatibility.

It is likely that your Thinkpad is throttling itself; laptops aren't that good at cooling, and long periods of time at 100% CPU will cause the motherboard to reduce the clock speed to keep temperatures within limits. You can watch this with a CPU monitor that shows clock speed and temperature. "Turbo boost" is short-period clock speed boosts, and WILL be subject to temp limits.
JaSy
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Joined: Mon May 05, 2014 2:29 pm

Re: Performance HandbrakeCLI Windows vs OS (Mac)

Post by JaSy »

Woodstock wrote: Sun Mar 14, 2021 4:07 pm The Mac CLI should have complained about --large-file as well; that option was removed a long time ago, because handbrake automatically deals with large files. It may still be being accepted as a do-nothing, for compatibility.
This was probably the case. I haven't checked the logs in case the outputfile was ok. Hence, there were some mistakes which were only be shown but didn't interrupt the process. Besides I have never downloaded a new version. So probably the version downloaded in 2014 was still working on the mac :lol:
Woodstock wrote: Sun Mar 14, 2021 4:07 pm It is likely that your Thinkpad is throttling itself; laptops aren't that good at cooling, and long periods of time at 100% CPU will cause the motherboard to reduce the clock speed to keep temperatures within limits. You can watch this with a CPU monitor that shows clock speed and temperature. "Turbo boost" is short-period clock speed boosts, and WILL be subject to temp limits.
just checked it - starting with approx 50 degrees and a clockspeed of almost 4 GhZ it comes down quickly to approx 2 Ghz (with 75 degrees). I was surprised that this happens that fast (max 20 secs) but I think you are right. Unfortunately I don't have a tool to check it on the iMac but I assume it's not limiting that much. The fans are noisy as well but the speed is not coming down...
rollin_eng wrote: Sun Mar 14, 2021 12:56 pm Could you please post your HB logs, instructions can be found here:
Unfortunately I haven't been able to create the logs with the CLI, sorry.
rollin_eng
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Re: Performance HandbrakeCLI Windows vs OS (Mac)

Post by rollin_eng »

Unfortunately I haven't been able to create the logs with the CLI, sorry.
Do you have a specific issue?
JaSy
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Re: Performance HandbrakeCLI Windows vs OS (Mac)

Post by JaSy »

nope, it's a script and as far as I understood the help section the ac tivity log won't be created automatically. However, I think there is no way to improve the performance if I understood Woodstocks remarks correctly...
rollin_eng
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Re: Performance HandbrakeCLI Windows vs OS (Mac)

Post by rollin_eng »

Woodstock might be right, but he might not be.
Woodstock
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Re: Performance HandbrakeCLI Windows vs OS (Mac)

Post by Woodstock »

If the cooling channels are clean, and iMac can run at 100% CPU indefinitely. If they get plugged, then you'll see some throttling.

I think the automatic handling of large (greater than 4gb) MP4 files changed with the 1.x releases. It MAY have been with 0.10; it's been a long time ago. It isn't a factor with MKv files, which is what I usually encode to.

As for logs, just add 2>/path/to/logfile (or 2>x:\path\to\logfile on Windows) and the important information of the log will be written to a file. You might want to use one of the file variables in your shell script to create the log file name, with a text extension like ".log" or ".txt" to separate it from the output file name. Quotes around the file name might be necessary to deal with spaces and such.
rollin_eng wrote: Sun Mar 14, 2021 7:07 pm Woodstock might be right, but he might not be.
We're not dealing with political stuff here. :)
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