yes... well... i was doing some searching and well... i was wondering if it was possible to include a new aac encoder???
now... there are 2 different encoders that i'm gonna list... (these are Windows encoders... so that's why i put for windows in the title...) but there's probably a big issue...
1) QAAC says it's Public Domain in the Github (i THINK it's open-source??? i have no idea... it looks like it is...) and gnu.org says it's compatible with GPL(?)... now... QAAC requires Apple Application Support... which is automatically installed with iTunes/QuickTime (qaac.exe does not work without it... i tried (^^',) but it JUST needs AAS... doesn't need iTunes/Quicktime... although AAS is only included with the installer of iTunes/QT, which can be extracted and installed separately (^^',))
2) QTAACENC is MIT which according to wikipedia, says it's GPL compatible as well... couldn't really find it at gnu.org so i'm not 100% sure (^^',)... the biggest issue with QTAACENC is that it requires QuickTime to be installed (and because of QT, AAS is required as well...)
sooo... yeah (^^',) i have a feeling that this is highly likely to be rejected... but... thought i'd at least try... like i said it doesn't have to replace the AAC encoders built-in but... maybe could be an additional option or something??? like some advance option where you have to manually check that you have iTunes or QuickTime installed (requires restart) and then the option to choose one of these encoders??? i dunno maybe i'm over thinking it (^o^) not that Handbrake HAS to include either of these encoders... but i just thought that if there was that possibility (^^',) (and there wasn't a whole lot i could find searching the forums...) but like i said i'm fairly sure it's going to be rejected or something but i thought i'd ask at least...
*and excuse me if i posted in the wrong forum (^^',)
possibly a new AAC encoder??? (for windows)
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moneymatt4life
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Re: possibly a new AAC encoder??? (for windows)
As much as I'd like to see a decent AAC encoder added, there are problems with GPL and linking against non-gpl compatible libraries. (in this case qt).
It's something we can do on mac, because it's a system level library. This is not the case on windows as it's a 3rd party install.
It's something we can do on mac, because it's a system level library. This is not the case on windows as it's a 3rd party install.
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moneymatt4life
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Re: possibly a new AAC encoder??? (for windows)
darn... oh well i figured maybe it was worth a shot... i was mainly wondering cuz i tried MediaCoder and it basically uses the same stuff as Handbrake... only much more larger codec/container selection and they use qtaacenc...
but what about qaac? it doesn't use qt directly like qtaacenc does... it uses CoreAudioToolbox.dll and just needs AAS installed on the system... which for many of use who use handbrake mainly for iDevices, pretty much have to have that installed... but i guess if there really is no way... then i'll just have to accept that fact (^^',)
but what about qaac? it doesn't use qt directly like qtaacenc does... it uses CoreAudioToolbox.dll and just needs AAS installed on the system... which for many of use who use handbrake mainly for iDevices, pretty much have to have that installed... but i guess if there really is no way... then i'll just have to accept that fact (^^',)
Re: possibly a new AAC encoder??? (for windows)
Not a system lib, so GPL linking issues.moneymatt4life wrote:but what about qaac? it doesn't use qt directly like qtaacenc does... it uses CoreAudioToolbox.dll and just needs AAS installed on the system... which for many of use who use handbrake mainly for iDevices, pretty much have to have that installed... but i guess if there really is no way... then i'll just have to accept that fact (^^',)
Re: possibly a new AAC encoder??? (for windows)
OP, if optimal quality:filesize is very important then I suggest extracting the original audio track, encoding it with an external program, then muxing it with Handbrake's video using mkvmerge (part of mkvtoolnix). I do this sometimes when I'm encoding for my phone or for long-term archival.
This will allow you to not only use a better encoder but also use variable bitrate encoding, which the Windows GUI version doesn't currently support. Variable bitrate (VBR) encoding can often provide noticeable gains in quality with a smaller filesize.
It's a little bit of a pain but until something comes along that doesn't create a GPL issue it's the best choice. The "Opus" codec might eventually provide a good solution as it's free, open-source, and high quality. That said, it's not really mature just yet. The encoders I've tried have been glitchy (as expected of something so new), there's still important stuff on the todo list, it's not yet finalized how it will be used in conjunction with MKV, and native hardware support probably won't arrive in the immediate future.
This will allow you to not only use a better encoder but also use variable bitrate encoding, which the Windows GUI version doesn't currently support. Variable bitrate (VBR) encoding can often provide noticeable gains in quality with a smaller filesize.
It's a little bit of a pain but until something comes along that doesn't create a GPL issue it's the best choice. The "Opus" codec might eventually provide a good solution as it's free, open-source, and high quality. That said, it's not really mature just yet. The encoders I've tried have been glitchy (as expected of something so new), there's still important stuff on the todo list, it's not yet finalized how it will be used in conjunction with MKV, and native hardware support probably won't arrive in the immediate future.
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moneymatt4life
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Re: possibly a new AAC encoder??? (for windows)
well, now i've been extracting the PCM as wav/aiff and encoding the file with QAAC with it's no-delay option... converting the original video with Handbrake with my normal settings taking out all the audio tracks that Handbrakes wants to encode to... then muxing the video with MyMP4BoxGui... it works PERFECTLY so long as the video isn't long... and thankfully most of my vids are DVD Music Videos... but then when i tried to encode one of my concerts, the audio sync got worse and worse... most probably cuz of the timecode thing... and i don't know of how practical it would be if the devs would be able to allow the use of an external cli encoder... i don't even know if that would be possible but... i'll continue to use my QAAC method for my music videos and just use FAAC for the lengthy stuff i guess (^^',)
... and yeah that's why i use QAAC cuz it uses the Apple CoreAudioToolbix.dll since that's installed when you install iTunes and i can use apple's TVBR (^___^) and when using QAAC via command-line, i can use some good stuff (^o^) (qaac is a lot better than qtaacenc, better input support and better cli options...)
... i guess if the devs/mods want to close/reject this topic they can (^^',) i don't see any reason for it anymore since it's obvious that they can't add it... the only way to include it is if it would be possible to allow an external cli encoder... and like i said above, i don't know if that would be possible...
... and yeah that's why i use QAAC cuz it uses the Apple CoreAudioToolbix.dll since that's installed when you install iTunes and i can use apple's TVBR (^___^) and when using QAAC via command-line, i can use some good stuff (^o^) (qaac is a lot better than qtaacenc, better input support and better cli options...)
... i guess if the devs/mods want to close/reject this topic they can (^^',) i don't see any reason for it anymore since it's obvious that they can't add it... the only way to include it is if it would be possible to allow an external cli encoder... and like i said above, i don't know if that would be possible...