HandBrake 0.9.6

HandBrake application is a GPL'd multiplatform, multithreaded DVD to MPEG-4 ripper/converter. HandBrake was originally available on the BeOS, but now has been ported over to MacOS X and to GNU/Linux.


Product's homepage

Here are some key features of "HandBrake":

Supported sources:

· Any DVD-like source: VIDEO_TS folder, DVD image or real DVD (even encrypted)
· PAL or NTSC
· AC-3, LPCM or MPEG audio tracks

Outputs:

· File format: MP4, AVI or OGM
· Video: MPEG-4 or H.264 (1 or 2 passes or constant quantizer encoding)
· Audio: AAC, MP3, Vorbis or AC-3 pass-through (supports encoding of several audio tracks)

· Misc features

· Chapter selection
· Basic subtitle support (burned into the picture)
· Integrated bitrate calculator
· Picture deinterlacing, cropping and scaling
· Grayscale encoding

Requirements:

· liba52 (AC3 decoding)
· libavcodec (picture cropping, scaling and deinterlacing, MPEG-4 encoding)
· libdvdcss (CSS decryption)
· libdvdread (DVD navigation)
· libfaac (AAC encoding)
· libmp3lame (MP3 encoding)
· libmp4v2 (MP4 muxing)
· libmpeg2 (MPEG-2 decoding)
· libogg (OGM muxing)
· libsamplerate (audio resampling)
· libvorbis (Vorbis encoding)
· libx264 (H264 encoding)
· libxvidcore (MPEG-4 encoding)

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

Encoders:

-> Video:

· updated libx264 (revision 2146)
· MPEG-2 encoder (from libavcodec)
· advanced options support for libavcodec encoders format: option1=value1:option2=value2

· -bf 2 -trellis 2 becomes bf=2:trellis=2

-> Audio:

· audio gain control (increase/decrease audio volume)

· updated libogg (1.3.0) and libvorbis (aoTuV b6.03)
· new AAC encoder (from libavcodec) (considered experimental) (supported mixdowns: Mono/Stereo/Dolby?, 5.1 will come later) (should be on par with faac in terms of quality, sometimes better)
· FLAC encoder (16-bit, MKV container only)

· Mac OS X: HE-AAC encoding support, via Core Audio

· quality-based variable bitrate encoding support works with: Lame MP3, Vorbis, Core Audio AAC only implemented in CLI and Linux GUI

· AC3 encoder: set Dolby Surround flag in stream parameters when mixdown is Dolby Surround or Pro Logic II

-> Audio Passthru:

· DTS Passthru to MP4 container (in addition to MKV) (supported by e.g. VLC, MPlayer)
· DTS-HD Passthru (MP4, MKV containers)
· MP3 Passthru (MP4, MKV containers)
· AAC Passthru (MP4, MKV containers) (known issue: Magic Cookie not passed through from MPEG Program/Transport? streams,

· which will break playback in e.g. QuickTime Player)

· Auto Passthru: one encoder, multiple codecs lets you define allowed codecs (from supported passthru codecs) lets you pick a fallback encoder if passthru is not possible

Muxers:

· start MKV clusters with a video keyframe whenever possible should improve seeking and DLNA streaming

· bug fix: use ISO 639-2 bibliographic form for MKV language codes
· bug fix: fix crash due to division by zero in MP4 muxer
· bug fix: fix muxing of Closed Captions. Improper interleaving broke playback on some players

Decoders:

-> Video:

· updated libav* libraries from Libav ( http://libav.org/) (v0.7-1696-gcae4f4b, late October 2011) frame-based multithreading for H.264, VP8 10-bit decoding support for H.264, DNxHD Apple ProRes? decoding support
· improved average framerate detection
· duplicate frame detection for improved frame drop decision (CFR/PFR)
· new Same as source, Constant Framerate option for devices that don't support variable framerate automatically picks a constant framerate closest to the detected average framerate

· bug fix: fix problem when resolution changes in the middle of a video stream

-> Audio:

· Blu-ray: make TrueHD, DTS-HD and E-AC3 Secondary Audio streams available for decoding and/or passthrough

· bug fix: libavcodec-decoded streams can now be decoded multiple times

· previously, multiple decodes of the same source tracks weren't possible and audio output tracks had to be dropped

· bug fix: fix audio screech at beginning of some audio tracks when decoding AC3
· bug fix: fix DTS decoder audio volume (was too low)
· bug fix: garbled audio when decoding DTS-HD audio from MKV containers
· bug fix: fix support for DTS-HD High Resolution Audio in MPEG Transport streams

-> Subtitles:

· updated libass (0.10.0)
· improved handling of subtitles with overlapping timestamps
· improved handling of DVD subtitles without Stop Display commands
· SSA subtitles are now passed through to MKV without conversion to SRT/UTF-8

· bug fix: fix rendering problem with SSA subtitles when no font is embedded in the source video

Demuxers:

· improved MPEG Program/Transport? stream support support for MPEG-1 Program streams support for HD-DVD EVOB streams improved handling of Transport streams that have no PCR
· WTV container support (via libavformat)

· bug fix: files with more than 20 tracks (video, audio, subtitles etc.) are now supported
· bug fix: some QuickTime MOV files were misdirected as MPEG Transport streams
· bug fix: fix detection of TrueType? font attachments that don't have the correct MIME type

Filters:

· new, much improved decomb filter (but slower) new settings are default old settings become decomb "Fast"

Presets:

· improved "Normal" preset (much faster, similar file size and quality)
· removed obsolete legacy presets
· added new device presets for Android phones/tablets recent and/or powerful devices recommended

Mac OS X:

-> DVD decryption:

· VLC 2.x or later will not work for DVD decryption and is therefore unsupported as of HandBrake 0.9.6
· libdvdcss is now the preferred method for DVD decryption already works with HandBrake 0.9.5 a .pkg installer is available from Videolan: http://download.videolan.org/libdvdcss/last/macosx/

-> Build system:

· support for Xcode 4 and Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion"
· Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" no longer supported

Mac OS X GUI:

-> OS X 10.7 Lion support:

· bug fix: Live Preview window widgets updated to work under Lion
· bug fix: fixed positioning of widgets in the Audio panel under Lion

-> Other:

· wider main window providing more room for various widgets

Windows GUI:

-> Preview window:

· complete redesign
· support for VLC or the system default video player
· dropped built-in QuickTime playback support

-> Other:

· much improved control over the default audio and subtitle tracks selected (see Options)
· ability to set the minimal title length that will show up during a scan (see Options)
· several other usability improvements
· installer now has a silent option for easier network installs (launch the installer with /S)

Linux GUI:

-> Audio panel:

· new advanced audio options section for gain and audio track names
· dynamic range compression and samplerate moved to advanced audio options

-> Other:

· minor UI tweaks and usability enhancements

Miscellaneous:

· Target Size is gone, and isn't coming back Don't bother complaining on the forums

· CLI: support for x264 presets, tunes and profiles new --x264-preset, --x264-tune and --x264-profile options

· DVD: fix issues with some discs
· DVD: improved main feature detection

· updated libbluray (0.0.1-pre-213-ga869da8, late May 2011)