HandBrake

Description of problem or question


Steps to reproduce the problem (If Applicable)


HandBrake version (e.g., 1.0.0)


Operating system and version (e.g., Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, macOS 10.3 High Sierra, Windows 10 Creators Update)


Error message text or screenshot (If Applicable)

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HandBrake Activity Log ***required*** (see How-to get an activity log)

Use any pastebin website and provide the URL it generates
- or - Hi. I am pretty new to handbrake. I only can use the CLI, as my gui is not working and hasn't for a while.

I have two questions -- I am noticing while hb is running that my mobo is beeping at me and I sometimes get messages from mcelog complaining about temperature. Setting the priority to 19 helps some, but I still wonder what is happening.

My other question is using the cli, how to get an activity log -- I can't find such a file anywhere on my system.

I am using hb under Gentoo and kernel 4.9.72 and hb 1.0.7.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Activity Logs on the command line

HandBrake’s command line interface outputs to the standard streams stdout and stderr, with encode progress information routed to the former and log messages routed to the latter.

To capture HandBrake’s log messages to a file, simply redirect stderr:

HandBrakeCLI ... 2> my-activity-log.txt

HB will run your CPU at full speed, this will generate heat, if you are getting warnings you may not have enough cooling.

A system's cooling should be adequate for its intended full load. A lot of systems are sized for "occasional bursts to full speed", to save money. Any machine intended for use as a video encoder should have "gamer-system" cooling. Well, not necessarily as big as some over-clocked game systems, but the CPU should be able to run at 100% for long periods of time without exceeding its maximum temp limit.

It may be as simple as adding a cooling fan to evacuate hot air from the case - I do that for long rip sessions, and it cuts the CPU temp by 5-8 degrees Celcius.

There is no CPU throttling built into handbrake. There are a few tweaks you can do to limit how many cores handbrake uses (it's "CPU affinity") at the operating system level, and you can introduce filters that will make it run slower in general, but it is best to fix your cooling system.

OK, I will check the cooling, I guess I never run the cpus full out except during these encoding sessions. Under Windows, it was much worse, even lowering the priority and messing with affinity didn't do much for lowering the temperature, under Linux, setting the nice level helped quite a bit.

Priority level in Windows is essentially the "nice" level in Linux, but Windows will fill in the time if you let it. The same would happen with Linux if you run a GUI desktop, because most really want to keep your CPU warm and cozy.

Blowing out the CPU heatsink and fan would be step 1.