Better machine for converting video files?

General questions or discussion about HandBrake, Video and/or audio transcoding, trends etc.
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NotHimAgain
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Joined: Thu Mar 21, 2019 10:01 pm

Better machine for converting video files?

Post by NotHimAgain »

Compared to others in my family i'm a tech-pro however when i jump on these kind of forums, compared to other users i'd be like your gran asking how to turn this thing on :lol: So on that note i don't really know which of these machines would be better for running Handbrake. I know neither of them are lightning fast but still....

My PC was built in 2010. I've made a few alterations since then but the motherboard & processor remain the same as when i built it back then.
The laptop (Lenovo L530) is newer by 2-3 years.
If it matters then the main OS drive on each - the PC is a Samsung SSD whereas the laptop is just a HDD of some description.

All my movie files are blu-ray direct rips using MakeMKV.

PC Specs:

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Laptop Specs:

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I know it takes a fair bit of time to convert movies on my PC but i wondered which machine would be better suited for it based on the specs, or is there essentially nothing in it that you can see?

If the laptop is better then i can just put them on a hard drive, get them on the laptop, set it up & just leave it running but if it's going to take twice as long as the PC then it's pointless.
NotHimAgain
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Re: Better machine for converting video files?

Post by NotHimAgain »

Hmm well that's no good. I took screenshots of the specs from CPU-Z, uploaded to imgur and linked here yet they're not showing for some reason.
NotHimAgain
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Re: Better machine for converting video files?

Post by NotHimAgain »

Laptop:

CPU: Intel Core i5 3210M @ 2.50GHz. Core speed in the s/shot shows as 2895.17MHz. Any other info (for anything that is) just ask
MEMORY: DDR3 8GBytes, Entries of 9 clocks and 24 clocks showing. Max Bandwidth: PC3-12800H (800MHz). Corsair.
GRAPHICS: Intel HD Graphics 4000. Core: 349MHz

PC:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1050T 2.80GHz/ Core speed shows as 1506.63 MHz
MAINBOARD: M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3
MEMORY: DDR3 16GBytes. Max Bandwidth: PC3-10700H (667 MHz)
GRAPHICS: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GBytes
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s55
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Re: Better machine for converting video files?

Post by s55 »

Unfortunately, any browser that supports Content Security Policies, wont' render them. We don't allow 3rd party content on the page. Reduces the security / privacy risks.

Your Desktop is probably marginally faster than the Laptop. HandBrake is heavily threaded to the extra cores make up for the AMD's awful single threaded performance.
NotHimAgain
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Re: Better machine for converting video files?

Post by NotHimAgain »

s55 wrote: Sat May 25, 2019 4:33 pm Unfortunately, any browser that supports Content Security Policies, wont' render them. We don't allow 3rd party content on the page. Reduces the security / privacy risks.

Your Desktop is probably marginally faster than the Laptop. HandBrake is heavily threaded to the extra cores make up for the AMD's awful single threaded performance.
Thanks for the reply.

I have a ton of video files to get through so the follow up to the above is a bit of a 2 part question.

1) What key things should i be looking for in order to get a respectable machine for running Handbrake on?
What processor - type, speed, any keywords.
What RAM
Just anything in general that i should be looking at.
Obviously, even though i'm not the most tech savvy, i know i don't NEED an i9 or top end i7 laptop. I'm talking about something that'll convert a movie in a respectable time.

2) With the machine that is suggested for the above - what sort of timeframe could you expect to convert a 30GB (approx) blu ray rip using settings such as HQ 1080p30 surround, including subtitles and various levels of audio (stereo, 5.1 etc)?
Right now i'm looking at anything between 4-10 hours. What would the suggested machine be aiming at?


Just wondering if i could pick up something for a good price in the second hand market.
mduell
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Re: Better machine for converting video files?

Post by mduell »

A contemporary desktop i5 is a good starting point for a reasonable system to run HB on. A laptop is generally a bad idea since they so commonly lack adequate cooling for extended operation at full load.

Depends heavily on your choice of encoder preset, but you could choose settings such that the encode time is approximately the same as the length of the movie.
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s55
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Re: Better machine for converting video files?

Post by s55 »

I'd try avoid Laptops if you can. They have a tendency to overheat, especially with heavy workloads such as HandBrake.

Best CPU you can afford (Intel has a slight edge, AMD is offering better bang for buck currently and isn't too far behind),
Atleast 8G of system memory (Fine for 1080P). I'd maybe stretch to 16GB if your planning on doing 4K.
Storage wise, speed doesn't matter. No real benefit from an SSD so just whatever you need here.


Have a read of https://handbrake.fr/docs/en/latest/tec ... mance.html
You might get some ideas of other CPU's looking the benchmark forum section.
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JohnAStebbins
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Re: Better machine for converting video files?

Post by JohnAStebbins »

Or 32GB if you want to future proof for AV1 encoding :mrgreen:
See memory requirements table in https://github.com/OpenVisualCloud/SVT-AV1
NotHimAgain
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Re: Better machine for converting video files?

Post by NotHimAgain »

Regards the attempt at bringing the time frame down - i would rather it take time and the quality to be exactly what i want than for it to be compressed in record time and for me to not be pleased with the output.

I simply don't have the space for a second desktop so that idea is out the window. If cooling is an issue with laptops then it seems that idea is also gone.

That only really leaves an upgrade of my existing PC, though i'm sure i remember reading that Windows is tied to the hardware it's activated on for the first time (or something like that)??
Now if this is true then i'm sure there's workarounds but i'm not interested in that. It either works or it doesn't and if it doesn't ...then it doesn't. I'm also not keen on Windows 10 either. I'd like to remain on Windows 7.

If what i read regards Windows is nonsense then i guess it's a motherboard and processor upgrade then. I could still use the existing everything else.
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