Blog | mechdrew

Two weeks ago I wrote about Handbrake, my favorite cross-platform, open source video conversion application. At the time it had been nearly a year since any updates had been released and I noted how it was “disconcerting” that no update was in sight. Now I feel kind of silly.

Today, exactly one year since the 0.9.3 release, Handbrake was updated to 0.9.4. With this update come a whole slew of changes, both good and, well not bad, but not-so-good.

The most important change is a faster, higher quality conversion engine that outputs files in an optimal size. What’s not to like about that? I personally dislike when a video takes longer to convert than it does to watch, so any improvements in this field are welcome. New features such as soft subtitles (you can now actually turn subtitles on or off when you watch a video if this is enabled) and live preview are also handy for first-time users. Some codecs were dropped in this release due to antiquity, which is understandable but I still wish there was still the option available for whatever crazy video device I might need them for.

Some of my original gripes were also addressed: a new engine allows Handbrake to read more DVDs (which I can only assume means it helps for converting DVDs with newer copyright crap protection) and a better, more refined interface. But my largest gripe is still there: no DVD encoding, so I can’t create a DVD, just rip it.

Overall this release looks like a huge improvement for the software. You can download it from the Handbrake website; let’s just hope it doesn’t take another year for the next version to come out.

I noted in my post for Handbrake that it lacked the ability to convert a video file into a DVD. While this would normally be a non-issue since I watch my personal videos directly on my computer, it’s nice to be able to share some videos with others where a computer isn’t the optimal viewing device.

That’s where VideoVangelist kicks in. It’s really simple: either drag-and-drop or use the Open menu to select you video(s), select you preferred output (there are tons of presets including iPod, Xbox 360, PS3, Flash, and of course DVD) and then just press Start. If there are more advanced features, it will prompt you when you enter the file name. It’s really nice that you can have it either just create the VIDEO_TS files, create a burnable ISO, or just have it burn the DVD automatically. The flexibility of the software is what makes it amazing.

There are only two flaws I find with the program. First, it’s Mac-only, so there’s no way I could use it on Windows or Linux. Second, if I want to get really technical with the settings, some of the advanced settings that Handbrake provides aren’t there.

Overall, I love VideoVangelist. Oh, I almost forgot- it’s totally free, so you’ve got nothing to lose.

Update 5 December 2009: As Leeward mentioned in the comments, it looks like Whimsplucky Software, the developer of VideoVangelist, has closed its doors. You can still get the software, now at the updated Download.com link, but there will not be any updates coming to this application.

One of the things that really irks me when I want to watch a movie is the actual DVD. More often than not I am watching that movie by myself while traveling, and considering that my Dell Mini 10v netbook does not have a DVD drive and the extra weight and bulk from an external drive (not to mention the disc(s) that contain the movie) it only makes sense for me to have an easy-to-access non-disc solution. I have a hard drive large enough to store a few complete DVD’s, but that tends to take up a lot of space at nearly 8 GB per movie! And don’t even think about watching it on an iPod or video game console.

That’s where HandBrake comes into play. HandBrake is able to take nearly any video file or DVD and convert it to a major video format, such as AVI, MP4, and MKV with codecs such as h.264 and MPEG-4. For most purposes, it gets the job done. There are even presets for your device of choice, or universal presets that should work on most devices.

But being able to convert video files doesn’t set HandBrake apart from other conversion utilities, nor does that fact that it is completely free and open source. No, the reason I like it is because all of those features are available no matter your choice of Windows, Mac or Linux. Too often cross-platform apps don’t resemble each other very well, but HandBrake breaks that stereotype. You’ll be able to find the same look and feel on all three operating systems.

There are a few drawbacks to HandBrake. It’s no the prettiest program I’ve used, nor is it the most user-friendly; non-hardcore users will probably be intimidated, and the presets are not always optimal. DVD conversion is a one-way process, you can’t make a DVD from your video files. Copyrighted (otherwise know as DRM) videos will probably not be readable by HandBrake. Also, the fact that it hasn’t been updated in nearly a year is somewhat disconcerting.

Overall, though, I’ve been rather pleased with the program. I’m not saying it can meet every need, but it gets the job done for me, no matter what OS I am using at the time.