Best settings for auto-crop *only* on MKV files?

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Jeff Getzin
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Joined: Thu Jun 15, 2017 1:03 pm

Best settings for auto-crop *only* on MKV files?

Post by Jeff Getzin »


I'm ripping DVDs for Plex using MakeMKV. I love everything I get in my MKV file except that the black bars need cropping on all sides, even on anamorphic DVDs.

What I want to do is take an MKV its given quality, streams, etc., and pass that through Handbrake and wind up with an MKV of the same exact quality, the same exact streaks, but with the black bars removed. I don't care about shrinking the file; I want to preserve the original quality of the video and audio. I just want the black bars removed.

Ideally, I'd like to automate this process so I can just set Handbrake going on my collection of 800-some movie files and leave for the day and then come home to find a set of perfect MKVs identical in all respects to the original save for the autocropping.

Can Handbrake do this? If so, what do I need to get it to do it?

Thanks,
Jeff



Running on Windows 10. Streaming from Plex on Synology. /b]
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s55
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Re: Best settings for auto-crop *only* on MKV files?

Post by s55 »

You need to reencode to remove black bars so you'll lose quality. No avoiding that
Jeff Getzin
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Joined: Thu Jun 15, 2017 1:03 pm

Re: Best settings for auto-crop *only* on MKV files?

Post by Jeff Getzin »

I guess if every frame were encoded in its entirety instead of being divided into key frames and their deltas then it would be possible to just load frame, crop it, and write that frame to the output stream. But that's a pipe dream.

Failing that, is there any combination of settings to at least minimize the loss and do so in a relatively quick time? And with all audio and subtitle streams passing through as-is (e.g., no subtitles burned into the video, but neither are any subtitle options removed)?

And in particular, are there any magic settings I can use---either with the GUI or the CLI---that will let me process all my video files and get the desired results with one collection of settings? In other words, I'd prefer not to have to tinker with the individual settings for each disk in my several hundred disk collection.

Thanks,
Jeff
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BradleyS
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Re: Best settings for auto-crop *only* on MKV files?

Post by BradleyS »

Super HQ 480p30 (or the 576p25 one for PAL region). Higher quality video would likely be larger than the DVD.

Start there and change to MKV (or start with one of the Matroska presets). Review the audio/subtitles defaults to make sure they will select the languages and passthru/convert to formats you want; save as a custom preset if you made changes.
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BradleyS
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Re: Best settings for auto-crop *only* on MKV files?

Post by BradleyS »

Jeff Getzin
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Joined: Thu Jun 15, 2017 1:03 pm

Re: Best settings for auto-crop *only* on MKV files?

Post by Jeff Getzin »

Awesome. Thanks. I'll give that a try!

Jeff
Deleted User 11865

Re: Best settings for auto-crop *only* on MKV files?

Post by Deleted User 11865 »

Jeff Getzin wrote: Fri Jun 16, 2017 12:26 am I guess if every frame were encoded in its entirety instead of being divided into key frames and their deltas then it would be possible to just load frame, crop it, and write that frame to the output stream. But that's a pipe dream.
Well, each cropped frame would have to be re-encoded regardless.

I suppose it would technically be possible to write a bitstream parser that can alter the H.264 crop-rect (rather than hard-cropping, we'd be telling the decoder to simply not display those pixels). But last I checked a few years ago, the vast majority of devices out there could deal with a non-standard crop rect so it might only work in very rare cases…
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