HandBrake

My goals when encoding are to to have an file that is (practically) indistinguishable from the source, with a quality buffer, should my viewing conditions change (larger tv, closer seating) while reducing file size.

Im not looking for files that are like a 10th of the original, but do want to reduce them as much as a can, while retaining quality. I dont care too much for noise or grain either way, except when excessive, but i read an explanation of the old denoiser handbrake used, and they said a low level temporal denoising can help to reduce size a bit, while leaving the image esentially untouched.

Nlmeans being superior to the old one, can i leave it on all the time? Using maybe ultralight with the film tune or something? Or should i only ever consider this if the source is visibly and excessively noisy, causing bloated files? I dont know anything about how to use the custom options or anything like that, but if theres something i can type in there that would do what im asking, that would be better than i preset, that would he appreciated.

Thanks.

You could set up a preset that uses NLmeans and make it your default. It will slow your encodes, of course, vs. not using a noise filter.

Using a noise filter will help reduce the size of the file (usually!), but it goes against your "(practically) indistinguishable from the source" goal.

If you intentionally want to change the image by reducing noise/grain, then it's OK to leave on all the time.

NLMeans is great, but a light denoise is effective for general work, and decidedly faster.

Woodstock wrote: ↑Wed Jun 10, 2020 12:49 pm You could set up a preset that uses NLmeans and make it your default. It will slow your encodes, of course, vs. not using a noise filter.

Using a noise filter will help reduce the size of the file (usually!), but it goes against your "(practically) indistinguishable from the source" goal.

When i say practically indistiguishable, i mean the details, and a lack of compression artifacts, but i dont care for noise/grain either way. If filtering out noise reduces the filesize without affecting detail to a noticable amount, its worth it to me.

That's the sticky point, though - One person's "detail" is another program's "noise to be smoothed out". The smaller file size comes from reducing the detail to be compressed.

Personally, I have the noise filters disabled, unless I have a specific reason to activate one of them.

Woodstock wrote: ↑Wed Jun 10, 2020 8:18 pm That's the sticky point, though - One person's "detail" is another program's "noise to be smoothed out". The smaller file size comes from reducing the detail to be compressed.

Personally, I have the noise filters disabled, unless I have a specific reason to activate one of them.

So it sounds like the best thing is just do what i do now and only denoise if the files is difficult to compress. Thanks.