Feature Requests (For Windows GUI)

[s55]

This is for the Windows GUI, NOT Handbrake.

If you have a suggestion or feature request for the GUI itself, then please post it here.


The following will not happen anytime soon:

- Preview pane ( Technical issues in implementing this, however if someone wants to try, feel free.)

[ssj2_goha]

I would like to see naming of chapters like in the mac gui.

[s55]

I'll add it to my list.

I'll need to have a word with the developer of the CLI CSV parsing function as there is currently no docs on how this actually works. As long as theres no major issues it should appear in 2.5

[edhaber]

How about automatically naming the output file to the name of the DVD like the mac client?

-Ed

[ssj2_goha]

This is just a minor thing but could you remove the little "item added" notification. I like to constantly add items to the queues as they encode and the item added notification stops the encoding until you click ok and if i'm not at my computer when it pops up i loose time that videos can be encoded.

{edit}
This is just a second thought I had. Any chance you could change the queue progress bar to reflect the progress of the current video encoding?

[mgillespie]

More Profiles (not sure if this is Windows GUI, or Handbrake request).

If it's Win GUI, I would like to see some of the devices have nested menus for example, rather than a single PS3 profile.

PS3 >
High Profile
Standard AVC
Low Quality/Small Filesize

[jbrjake]

More Profiles (not sure if this is Windows GUI, or Handbrake request).

If it's Win GUI, I would like to see some of the devices have nested menus for example, rather than a single PS3 profile.

PS3 >
High Profile
Standard AVC
Low Quality/Small Filesize

This has been the plan all along, and is just waiting for a good way to graphically present them all in the Mac GUI.

[s55]

More Profiles (not sure if this is Windows GUI, or Handbrake request).

The WinGUI uses the same presets as the MacGUI. When the team add's more the WinGUI will be updated to reflect this.

This is just a minor thing but could you remove the little "item added" notification. I like to constantly add items to the queues as they encode and the item added notification stops the encoding until you click ok and if i'm not at my computer when it pops up i loose time that videos can be encoded.

Fixed in the upcoming 2.41 release

This is just a second thought I had. Any chance you could change the queue progress bar to reflect the progress of the current video encoding?

Not currently possible. While we do have code already written that can do this the standard error redirect causes the CLI to cause a medium video corruption for all videos. So far no way around this has been found.

2.4 was supposed to be the release that hid the CLI completely from the user but unfortunately this issue was discovered and with no workaround we had to cut it The codes still in the svn, commented out if anyone feels like having a shot at getting it working.

How about automatically naming the output file to the name of the DVD like the mac client?

I suspect this is a slightly tricky implementation but should be doable so I'll add this to the list.

[YokaiAkira]

Thank you for the latest Handbrake release and for your continuing development on this excellent application. Currently, I use it for nearly all of my encoding (mostly dvd backups) because of its ease of use and the fact that "it just works"!!
I have just a couple of feature requests at the moment:
1. Would it be possible to create/add subtitles dynamically rather than only having them hardcoded into the film? (Essentially, the ability to turn them on or off in my media player).
2. Have presets for file size output (ex. 1/6th dvd, 1/5th dvd, 750mb, etc.) from a drop down menu. Perhaps this is also a bug fix: as of HB .9.0 (Win 2.40) if I put 750mb as output file size the result will always be 700mb - HB 0.8.5b1 did not have this problem, just the latest version.
Thanks for any consideration you can give to these requests.
Keep up the tremendous work!
Cheers
Akira

[Alistair George]

2. Have presets for file size output (ex. 1/6th dvd, 1/5th dvd, 750mb, etc.) from a drop down menu.
Akira

I thought the presets did manage that fairly well. However, what he means probably is some form of calculation based on the various settings the user has chosen, and another alternative for filesize option (keeping the filesize); some encoders call these settings fair/good/high/dvd quality. Other encoders use the settings the user has chosen and display what the resulting quality of recording is supposed to be.
Al.

[YokaiAkira]

To clarify #2:
I certainly don't mind typing in the requested filesize as most encoders have this. Some of them, though, have filesize presets which you can choose from instead of just typing it in (ex. Staxrip, AutoMKV). It's not a big deal, just handy.
As for the wrong filesize, I would be better off making a bug report (as I think others have had this problem). When I input a specific size for output, any time I request something larger than 700mb HB doesn't take it - giving an output of 700mb even if I asked for 800.
Thanks
Akira

[Alistair George]

To clarify #2:
As for the wrong filesize, I would be better off making a bug report (as I think others have had this problem). When I input a specific size for output, any time I request something larger than 700mb HB doesn't take it - giving an output of 700mb even if I asked for 800.
Thanks
Akira

This has got me thinking as I am doing a comparison between various encoders and surprisingly (considering your message above) HB was only one of two which followed my instructions to encode a specific file size. I figure it may come down to what you are encoding, and how the encoder interprets what files you are providing it. However, I must say, I am very impressed with HB in general it is a very good gui/encoder combination.
Al.

[royone]

Some things I'd like to see:

• Specify bitrate as megabytes/minute. That's how I figure out what size I need; somehow my math never works out right for kilobits/sec. Having a field for megabytes and one for minutes would be ideal.
  
  A complete reworking of the presets. This would be a lot of work, but it's how I screw up the most:
  * Specify device to be encoded for. This would disable any features not compatible with the device. The compatibility spec file would have to be user-editable.
  * Specify the file format separately from the file name. File format would also disable incompatible features.
  * A GUI for the advanced features that makes the hierarchy clear (having a b-frames section with sub-options, for example).
  
  More de-interlacing options. VLC has several options you can use while playing. Might be good to grab one of those as a new "fast" option. The slow ones are so slow.

[ssj2_goha]

This is just an idea for m4v files, but would it be possible to add atomicparsley support to the gui? I know it's a long shot but it would greatly speed up my encoding time.......

[Honeyko]

* Title preview -- it's too damned easy to pick the wrong ones right now, especially when selecting a range and desiring to not include FBI warnings or studio logo "splash" clips.

* Many "multi-episode" DVDs have all of the episodes mashed together into one title; Handbrake should be able to sort them out (even if DVDShrink, et al, think it's all one giant lump). Basically it'll have to interpret the DVD menus to discover start/end points).

* Direct Copy - ...useful for extracting titles/chapters and saving to a single file in unmodified (usually VOB) form.

* Crop & Copy - like above, but with manual cropping values implemented upon the output.

* Better stand-alone file recognition (i.e., no "title" errors); ideally it'll have a cast-iron stomach that can import anything.

* Aborted or finished encodes aren't removed from the queue, just greyed out.

* Ability to adjust parameters of a queued selection.

* Ability to encode only video or only audio.

* Customizable screen width/height with PAR Anamorphic selected, with automatic calculation of the width or height axis as the other is adjusted. I.e., if a film is 720x480 16x9 anamorphic (yielding an actual screen-width of 853), I might want to enter in 800 or 640 as the width, and Handbrake would automatically calculate the height factor accounting for anamorphic as well as display AR.

* "Create Sample" setting: Handbrake takes the user's entered parameters and spends five minutes creating a sample. Create Sample can be instructed to start X minutes into the file (i.e., to skip credits, etc). -- this is probably the biggest time-saving feature I can think of.

* "Older CPU" presets: Ensures that resultant output never exceeds a bitrate which will choke, say, a P3 laptop with a 1024x768 display. (A common problem with x264 encodes is that 98% of the file plays fine, but a few "busy" or quality-amped-up scenes will choke the CPU.)

[s55]

* Title preview -- it's too damned easy to pick the wrong ones right now, especially when selecting a range and desiring to not include FBI warnings or studio logo "splash" clips.

As I said above:
"The following will not happen anytime soon:
- Preview pane ( Technical issues in implementing this, however if someone wants to try, feel free.)"

* Aborted or finished encodes aren't removed from the queue, just greyed out.

Don't see any good reason to implement this?

* Ability to adjust parameters of a queued selection.

Maybe something for the future when the queuing code get's rebuilt. Probably not 2.5 though.

* "Older CPU" presets: Ensures that resultant output never exceeds a bitrate which will choke, say, a P3 laptop with a 1024x768 display. (A common problem with x264 encodes is that 98% of the file plays fine, but a few "busy" or quality-amped-up scenes will choke the CPU.)

Definatly not going to happen. The Windows GUI will always follow the same presets as the MacGui uses. It's simply a case of there is no point in supporting really old hardware used by a small minority. You can always make your own preset

* "Create Sample" setting: Handbrake takes the user's entered parameters and spends five minutes creating a sample. Create Sample can be instructed to start X minutes into the file (i.e., to skip credits, etc). -- this is probably the biggest time-saving feature I can think of.

Whilst not a bad idea this it again is not a GUI request. For this you are probably best just encoding the 2nd chapter of the movie only.
--------------------
The Following are not GUI requests and therefore will not get implemented.

* Many "multi-episode" DVDs have all of the episodes mashed together into one title; Handbrake should be able to sort them out (even if DVDShrink, et al, think it's all one giant lump). Basically it'll have to interpret the DVD menus to discover start/end points).

Some DVD's have a separate title for each as well as a single title for all. If the specific DVD doesn't its tuff luck until someone implements something like this in the CLI. If there are no pointers on the DVD then there is no way of doing what you suggest.

* Crop & Copy - like above, but with manual cropping values implemented upon the output.

As has been said many times, HandBrake is a converter not a ripper. This is essentially a ripping function.

* Better stand-alone file recognition (i.e., no "title" errors); ideally it'll have a cast-iron stomach that can import anything.

There are improvements to awk's stream support but as it stands there is no plans to take this too much further. HandBrake will quite happily work if you provide it with files it supports. That is, 2048 byte block mpeg-2 transport streams. There are currently no short term plans to expand this functionality.

* Ability to encode only video or only audio.

Another not a GUI one. This has been requested before. It is not something we intend to implement. It's a case of, if someone submits a patch to allow this then fine, otherwise it won;t happen

* Customizable screen width/height with PAR Anamorphic selected, with automatic calculation of the width or height axis as the other is adjusted. I.e., if a film is 720x480 16x9 anamorphic (yielding an actual screen-width of 853), I might want to enter in 800 or 640 as the width, and Handbrake would automatically calculate the height factor accounting for anamorphic as well as display AR.

[s55]

This is just an idea for m4v files, but would it be possible to add atomicparsley support to the gui? I know it's a long shot but it would greatly speed up my encoding time.......

Is there not working GUI's for this already which you can simply drag a pile of files onto and name after an encode? (the VB6 one I looked at is a bit dated but should work just fine)

It's a nice idea however it is a lot of work to implement. Would really be best implemented as a separate app.

[s55]

Specify bitrate as megabytes/minute. That's how I figure out what size I need; somehow my math never works out right for kilobits/sec. Having a field for megabytes and one for minutes would be ideal.

Whats wrong with typing the value of the following figure in the filesize option: (minutes * MB) Takes what, 4~6 seconds to do in your head?

I may in later versions have the bit-rate box automatically fillout when you type a filesize in. (not sure if this would help you).

I am not sure how many people would actually want a MB/Min box.

* Specify device to be encoded for. This would disable any features not compatible with the device. The compatibility spec file would have to be user-editable.

This is going a bit extreme and would end up with a lot of messy code. Not something I really want to do. More sanity checking can be done but to be honest you really are best just using the preset's.

* Specify the file format separately from the file name. File format would also disable incompatible features.

Not really sure what the point in a separate file extension box is. It is automatically detected anyway. Selecting the video codec will disable some incompatible features at the moment. As the GUI develops more sanity checking / feature enable/disable functions will be built in.

* A GUI for the advanced features that makes the hierarchy clear (having a b-frames section with sub-options, for example).

I do eventually plan on turning the h264 tab into the same panel as the MacGUI has. Dropdowns / textboxes etc and it will generate the query by itself. Problem is it is alot of work and I simply haven't had time to do this. Patch's with a new h264 panel are welcome but there are very few contributors tp the windows gui.

More de-interlacing options. VLC has several options you can use while playing. Might be good to grab one of those as a new "fast" option. The slow ones are so slow.

Just like the presets, I follow the MacGUI options for consistency. As/when it gets more options, they will be included in the wingui

[royone]

Whats wrong with typing the value of the following figure in the filesize option: (minutes * MB) Takes what, 4~6 seconds to do in your head?

If I'm queueing up several differently-sized titles and I want the whole set to fit in a given space, I'd prefer to be able to set all my settings once, and not have to figure: this title is 22% of the total, so it needs to be X megabytes... I can just add the whole mess up, say I've got X minutes and I want it to total out to Y megabytes.

I figured it would be a pretty simple change, and the current bitrate spec is meaningless in the real world, anyway.

Not really sure what the point in a separate file extension box is. It is automatically detected anyway.

There's just something hinky about non-device-based presets. If I'm encoding Animation, do I use the Animation preset? Or do I use Quicktime, since I want to play it back using Quicktime? I don't see why Deux Six Quatre insists on MKV.

Just like the presets, I follow the MacGUI options for consistency. As/when it gets more options, they will be included in the wingui

Good point. Some of what I'm asking for isn't specific to the GUI.

[Honeyko]

Aborted or finished encodes aren't removed from the queue, just greyed out.

Don't see any good reason to implement this?

If I have a dozen projects queued, and in the morning there are nine done and three which errored/canceled prior to writing a file fragment, it'd be nice to be able to simply look at the completeds and then at the queue list, and quickly tell which ones blew up.

[Honeyko]

1. Automatic file-name generation based upon parameters. (The would enable me to change parameters a dozen times, step-by-step, and just smack Add to Queue for each one, and avoid all the bother of naming.)

2. Automatic rename of entered filenames to include "(2)" or some such if file already exists at time of writing -- or at least an alert message to inform the user that the file exists (at present, such a file will be over-written without warning).

3. Ability to encode MPGs without "track" info, and/or other container types. (Lack of this ability is becoming acute now).

[dynaflash]

1. Automatic file-name generation based upon parameters. (The would enable me to change parameters a dozen times, step-by-step, and just smack Add to Queue for each one, and avoid all the bother of naming.)

those would be some awfully long file names

3. Ability to encode MPGs without "track" info, and/or other container types. (Lack of this ability is becoming acute now).

Um, what exactly do you mean by "acute" ?

[s55]

1. Automatic file-name generation based upon parameters. (The would enable me to change parameters a dozen times, step-by-step, and just smack Add to Queue for each one, and avoid all the bother of naming.)

I certainly won't be adding this. Someone else can if they choose but since there's a lack of developers around actively working on the WinGUI it seems unlikely to happen. Unless someone can come up with a clean patch to do this, it won't happen

2. Automatic rename of entered filenames to include "(2)" or some such if file already exists at time of writing -- or at least an alert message to inform the user that the file exists (at present, such a file will be over-written without warning).

Hit the browse button then. It alerts you to the fact you're about to overwrite the file. It's something that can be added to manual changes but it is of very low priority

3. Ability to encode MPGs without "track" info, and/or other container types. (Lack of this ability is becoming acute now).

Not a WinGUI request.

[Honeyko]

1. Automatic file-name generation based upon parameters.

those would be some awfully long file names

Well, we needn't go totally crazy. For instance, first four letters of source file + _h264 + _anam(orphic) + _bps + (etc).
Windows supports very long filenames in any event.

3. Ability to encode MPGs without "track" info, and/or other container types. (Lack of this ability is becoming acute now).

Um, what exactly do you mean by "acute" ?

About 75% of the things I want to encode, Handbrake won't open. For example, any DVD with weird chapter scheming requiring me to pre-rip the VOBs into MPG chapters, then merge the MPGs into a complete episode -- but Handbrake won't play with the composite MPG because it lacks "titles". Handbrake can encode specific chapters, but its chapter-reader occasionally doesn't find some very important things (especially studio "splash" screens which play before or after film-credits -- example: Warner Home Video-released films have a 4-second WB logo at the end of the movie; MagicDVDripper can find them, but Handbrake doesn't; including the logo is necessary because the soundtracks end abruptly without it. Handbrake can work on a single MagicDVDrip'd chapter, but not the whole mess of them joined together in, say, VideoReDo Plus).

In a way, Handbrake is the opposite of MediaCoder: Handbrake has an excellent manual cropper and supports anamorphic output, but won't open a lot of material, while MediaCoder will open anything and has an amazing amount of cool options -- but has a completely worthless cropper and doesn't support anamorphic. ....it's maddening, I tell yeh....

[dynaflash]

In any event. Not a windows gui issue as sr55 said.