0.18.0

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Saturday, December 2, 2017

• Improve the average bitrate (ABR) ratecontrol system provided by the --abr option in transcode-video. Via #179.
  • Implement it with a maximum bitrate constraint to raise its overal quality level and guarantee that it will not generate any VBV underflow warnings like the default ratecontrol system.
  • Signal Hypothetical Reference Decoder (HRD) information, meaning that the VBV maximum bitrate value is added as metadata to the output video, something you should not do when using the default ratecontrol system.
  • Move it from the "Advanced" to the "Quality" section in the --help output and describe its quality output as "different" rather than "lower" compared to the default ratecontrol system.
  • Also remove the no-longer valid characterization of ABR in the "Explanation" section of the "README" document.
• Deprecate the poorly named --cvbr and --vbr options in transcode-video and remove them from the --help output.
  • The ratecontrol system implemented by the --cvbr option was always experimental. After much testing, it was found to be noticeably lower in quality compared to the default and to the new ABR implementation.
  • The ratecontrol system implemented by the --vbr option was only ever intended for comparison testing. And probably used only by myself.
• Modify transcode-video to no longer re-calculate vbv-bufsize based on any user input value for vbv-maxrate. Instead, always calculate both vbv-maxrate and vbv-bufsize based on the target video bitrate.
• Deprecate the --player option in detect-crop and remove it from the --help output.
• Fix failure of subtitle detection for HandBrake nightly builds. Language detection for subtitles in disc image directory input and individual closed caption tracks may still be wrong but will not be fixed at this time. Via #172.
• Mention Nick Wronski's nifty batch-processing wrapper for transcode-video in the the "README" document. Thanks, @JMoVS! Via #180.

0.17.4

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Sunday, September 10, 2017

• Force text output from mp4track into UTF-8 binary format to ensure correct parsing of that data. Thanks, @DavidNielsen! Via #152.

0.17.3

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Sunday, May 14, 2017

• HandBrakeCLI versions 1.0 and later changed the default frame rate mode from "constant" to "peak-limited" when a rate is specified. This new behavior in HandBrakeCLI requires two significant changes in transcode-video:
  • Fix a bug where the --force-rate option failed to force a constant frame rate. This bug made it behave essentially the same at the --limit-rate option.
  • Fix a bug where a constant frame rate was not forced for inputs containing MPEG-2 video. This bug affected the transcoding of all DVDs but very few Blu-ray Discs. The good news is that this bug probably didn't cause visual problems since the new default peak-limited implementation in HandBrakeCLI versions 1.0 and later worked like a constant frame rate most of the time.
• Modify convert-video to use binary file mode when reading and writing console and log output from ffmpeg. This eliminates redundant information and "console spew" on Windows by suppressing the EOL <-> CRLF conversion. Thanks, @samhutchins! Via #147.
• Also modify transcode-video and convert-video to use binary file mode when processing console I/O from mkvpropedit and mp4track to eliminate that same "console spew" on Windows.
• Modify detect-crop to escape preview commands for cmd.exe and PowerShell on Windows in a manner that's still compatible with Bourne and Z shells. Also mention in the "Using detect-crop" section of the "README" document that path names within the sample commands are not escaped properly when using cmd.exe or PowerShell on Windows and that bash.exe can be used as a workaround. Via #146.
• Modify transcode-video to accept x264_10bit, x265_10bit, x265_12bit and x265_16bit as supported encoders while also adjusting the encoder profile for these variants. Via #143.
• Modify transcode-video to no longer set the x264 encoder level if a frame rate has been requested higher than 30 FPS. Via #141.

0.17.2

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Monday, April 3, 2017

• Fix failure of version detection for recent HandBrake nightly builds. Thanks, @kvanh! Via #139.
• Modify detect-crop to escape preview commands for Z shells. Thanks, @jjathman! Via #138.

0.17.1

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

• Modify transcode-video to use binary file mode when reading and writing console and log output from HandBrakeCLI. This eliminates redundant information and "console spew" on Windows by suppressing the EOL <-> CRLF conversion. Thanks, @samhutchins! Via #130.

0.17.0

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

• Remove all dependencies on mplayer, via #120 and #123:
  • Modify detect-crop and transcode-video to use ffmpeg for crop detection instead of mplayer.
  • Modify detect-crop to use mpv, a free cross-platform media player, for optional crop preview instead of mplayer.
  • Add a --player option to detect-crop so mplayer can still be used for crop preview commands. Warning: this feature will be deprecated soon.
• Update the "README" document to:
  • Remove any mention of mplayer and list mpv as an optional package.
  • Fix typo in version 0.16.0 release information. Thanks, @samhutchins!

0.16.0

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Friday, January 20, 2017

• Add a --cvbr option to transcode-video. This is essentially the same as the experimental option of the same name which was removed on February 25, 2016, but now it doesn't have a bitrate argument. It enables a simple constrained variable bitrate (CVBR) ratecontrol system, less constrained than the default, producing a more predictable output size while avoiding VBV underflow warnings. Use it with --target big for the best results.
• Modify the --abr option in transcode-video to no longer use a bitrate argument. Instead, it relies on the --target option to control bitrate, just like the default ratecontrol system and the new --cvbr option. So, passing a bitrate argument is now an error. But you should consider using --cvbr instead of --abr anyway since the former is almost always higher quality.
• Remove the deprecated --no-constrain option from detect-crop and the --no-constrain-crop option from transcode-video.
• Modify convert-video to allow HEVC format video along with H.264.
• Update the "README" document to:
  • Revise and simplify the Windows installation instructions to point users at the fine work by @samhutchins and @JMoVS on documenting their two methods. Via #115.
  • Revise the "Using transcode-video" section to correct out-of-date performance data about the --quick option.
  • Revise the H.265 answer in the "FAQ" section with up-to-date information about the x265 video encoder. Via #118.

0.15.0

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Sunday, January 15, 2017

• Modify convert-video, via #114, to:
  • Add support for text-based and DVD-style image-based subtitles. Please note that Blu-ray Disc-style image-based subtitles are not supported due to MP4 format restrictions.
  • Add a --no-double option which no longer assumes input files might contain two main audio tracks whose order needs to be swapped, or that a "missing" stereo AAC audio track needs to be added to MP4 output.
  • Change the algoritm deciding when a "missing" stereo AAC audio track is added. Previously that only happened when the first track of the input MKV file was in surround format and there were no other audio tracks. Now it won't matter how many audio tracks are in the input.
  • Use ffmpeg and mkvpropedit for conversion to MKV format instead of just mkvmerge which could not convert subtitle formats.
  • Remove the dependency on mkvmerge and add a dependency on mkvpropedit.
  • No longer pass the -strict experimental arguments to ffmpeg when using the built-in, native AAC encoder.
• Fix a bug preventing the detection of whether an audio track had the "default" flag set when parsing scan output from HandBrakeCLI versions 1.0.0 and later. This was caused by the integration of Libav version 12.0 in HandBrake on December 17, 2016.
• Fix a long-standing bug preventing the detection of all subtitles and disambiguation with chapter information in MP4 files when parsing scan output from mp4track.
• Remove support for the Freeware Advanced Audio Coder (FAAC) from the "FFmpeg" module since it's no longer included with ffmpeg.
• Remove the "mkvmerge.rb" source file and any references to the "MKVmerge" module since convert-video no longer needs it.
• Update the "README" document to:
  • Remove mkvmerge from the "Requirements" section.
  • Clarify subtitle support in the "Using convert-video" section.

0.14.0

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

• Add a --prefer-ac3 option to transcode-video. This prefers Dolby Digital AC-3 over AAC format when encoding or copying audio, even when the original track channel layout is stereo or mono. It also sets the audio output "width" for all tracks to surround. Via #112.
• Fix a bug in the parsing of audio and subtitle track names that was introduced by the integration of Libav version 12.0 in HandBrake on December 17, 2016, affecting HandBrakeCLI versions 1.0.0 and later. This caused transcode-video to substitute any commas with underscores in added audio track names when used with those versions of HandBrakeCLI.

0.13.0

This version was originally tagged and released on the date below. These notes were added on GitHub much later so the creation date won't match.

Monday, January 2, 2017

• Modify the --quick option in transcode-video to remove the x264 mixed-refs=0 setting because it's unnecessary when the ref=1 setting is also applied. Via #108.
• Add a --veryquick option to transcode-video for encoding 90-125% faster than the default setting with little easily perceptible loss in video quality. Unlike --quick, its output size is larger than the default. Via #108.
• Remove the deprecated --small and --small-video options from transcode-video.
• Update all copyright notices to the year 2017.
• Update the "README" document to:
  • Revise the installation instructions to reflect that HandBrakeCLI has been removed from Homebrew Cask (thanks to @vitorgalvao) and is now part of Homebrew Core (thanks to @JMoVS). Via #106 from @vitorgalvao.
  • Revise the version of HandBrakeCLI required for HEVC transcoding to 1.0.0 or later in the "FAQ" section.
  • Clarify Enhanced AC-3 audio support in the "FAQ" section.