Alternative to Freemake Video Converter

Thanks for the explanation & version number. Got it through filehippo.

 

Well, was the embedded sub an SRT? HandBrake and all of its descendants forks can't burn in SRT subs in any way. On the side note, it's rather surprising for me knowing that Chromebook can't do soft subbing.

Yes, but not really all that accurate IIRC. Using 2-pass ABR will make it closer to the prediction though. No not really, both 1-pass and 2-pass are inaccurate. FWIW XMedia Recode is quite notorious for being buggy.

That's going to be tough to find. Just sayin'.

EDIT: Changed "2-pass CBR" to "2-pass ABR", and correcting my own mistake before anybody else does. =V

 

ShanaEncoder (formerly known as Kirara Encoder).
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Encoders-Converter-DIVX-Related/ShanaEncoder.shtml

 

No clue, but it wasn't the only series with that problem. Chromebook does have a subtitle player app, but you need a separate SRT file.

I don't really need precise accuracy, just something at the size or lower.

This is where ShanaEncoder falls short. While it can use copy or none for encoding, that does not burn in the subtitles.

 

Then why just don't rip the sub? Not to be patronizing or something, but I'm one of many people out there who consider hard subbing is a mistake.

1-pass ABR tends to give slightly lower final file size than what has been predicted by the bitrate calculator, while 2-pass ABR tends to be slightly higher (and took longer to encode). JFYI, it's generally recommended to use 2-pass encoding when one is using ABR or VBR.

Of course it can't. Hard subbing requires re-encoding. Passthrough won't help at all. On the side note...

I just tried XMedia Recode 3.1.8.8 Portable, and at least for MP4 H.264 encodes, I didn't see any bugging buggy bugs. Might be as well the most stable version for the time being.

 

@ J_L,

May I ask, in the potential alternatives that were mentioned in this thread, did you find the freeware alternative for Freemake Video Converter that you were looking for?
I don't think so, as otherwise you would have mentioned, I suppose.
But nevertheless, I'm curious, because it would be nice to see you found a good alternative.

Best regards

 

Unfortunately, although a few were very close, not yet. I'm not actively looking for one either, sorry for placing the burden on you guys.

 

J_L
While not meeting your criteria of...

I came across this site http://www.videohelp.com/tools

Best forum listing of video specific software I've come across.

Hybrid, if stable for you, might be worth a shot.

but, hey, I'm probably just smokin'

feandur

 

Actually, this thread made me switch to VidCoder and I am happy with it. I never encode to anything other than H.264 anyway (though H.265 is very tempting). So J_L, perhaps I should thank to you.

Holy pineapple I forgot about that site while it's sitting right on my bookmarks bar. It's been a very long time I haven't posted in there and I can't even remember my password anymore.

 

@Feandur: Thanks for being willing to help, but somehow I can't choose audio in Hybrid or default bitrate. To re-iterate my requirements:

* Nvidia CUDA support (or at least multi-threading).
* Adjustable file size (don't give me that bitrate stuff).
* Lets me choose which audio/subs to keep.
* Allows to to burn in subtitles or rip them.
* Default or original bitrate option.

 

We were running out of names to mention lol. I'm pretty certain that MeGUI supports multi-threading, allows to choose tracks and subs, and supports hard-subbing. I don't know if it supports target file size but it has a built-in bitrate calculator. The last requirement doesn't make any sense which is why not many encoding software have that feature.

EDIT: If SRT hard-subbing is still a problem try to use an encoder which allows you to choose MEncoder as encoding engine. Or perhaps you want to try Yamb to mux MP4 files instead. It seems that it works pretty much like MKVToolnix from what I can tell.

 

Media Coder 64 will do just about anything - including CUDA and Intel GPU support. Can appear a bit complex at first but once you get started you'll work things out pretty quickly.

http://www.mediacoderhq.com/

 

The last requirement is to keep the same video quality and optimize file size. I don't see why it doesn't make sense, custom/stock bitrate is unnecessarily complicated/inaccurate for someone like me.

MeGUI is not what I'm looking for. As for MediaCoder: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/alternative-to-freemake-video-converter.364410/#post-2377046

I forgot one more requirement:
*Keep original resolution. Specifies max resolution, not exact.

 

I heard XviD4PSP is the best tool for hard-subbing. It appears to fulfil most of your requirements except CUDA encoding. But it should support multithreading and if needed you can use one of the faster presets to speed it up. Try version 5 official (requires .NET 3, haven't tried it myself due to this requirement). Don't bother with version 7 beta, it's very buggy. Also, have you looked into Avidemux?

 

Nope, it doesn't seem to support built-in subs or custom file size. I have X-Avidemux, what about it?

 

Avidemux might have some demanded features, although I'm not 100% sure and I have a strong feeling that it doesn't fulfil all the requirements. But since it's been installed, might take a look on it to see if it's what you're looking for.

 

If it does, I wouldn't be asking you guys. Avidemux is useful for editing videos without re-encoding, but as a converter it's lacking.

 

I dunno, Avidemux seems to be also highly praised. Although I myself have never managed to encode videos with it. It was always failed and I still don't know why.

Aaaaaargh, this starts to annoy me. There's got to be something out there that could serve as a replacement. >=V Does Chromebook supports MKV?

 

Yes, but not the subtitles unless they're burned in or ripped. Anyways, I'm in no hurry to replace Freemake, there's nothing I'm really missing there.

 

It just annoys me that with so many FFmpeg and x264 GUIs flooding the web not a single one can fit the criteria. I'm not happy if there's no a definitive answer for something.

 

Moving on from Freemake Video Converter, I don't like how it always burns-in subs. I have installed VLC (and PulseAudio to fix audio bug) in crouton with Developer Mode which mean full subtitles support. Now, which one of the close calls had original/automatic bitrate support? Was it VidCoder? I'll find out after a good night's rest.

 

JFYI VidCoder doesn't like WMV files. The audio gets glitched at the first few seconds of the video. I assume that this is due to HandBrake's encoding engine. I saw this problem when encoded WMV files to H.264 by the way. Also, VidCoder has no setting to keep the original bitrate nor an option for automatic bitrate input. Only to limit the output file size.

 

Nothing like retrying everything again with new criteria... later.

 

Ugh, I guess I'll just ignore my preference of default/original/automatic bitrate, and copy whatever MediaInfo gives me. With that, I've narrowed it down to VidCoder, XMedia Recode, and ShanaEncoder.

 

See? It is hard to find something to have that feature. And about copying bitrate numbers from MediaInfo, that is why I said auto-bitrate/original-bitrate option is not sensible.

JFYI the latest stable version of Shana is kind of buggy. It doesn't remember the settings somehow (yes, I had clicked the “Save Settings” button and applied the settings through right-click menu, thank you very much).