What would be a dirt simple solution to downconvert 4K to 1080?

Mastiff · Feb 16, 2016

I have a rather slow Internet connetion at the moment (waiting for 70/70 fibre), and a 4K video upload to YouTube takes around 8 hours per five minutes! I use Avidemux to cut and paste the videos to remove the bits I don't want to use (nothing more I want to do, really - I don't have time to sit and fiddle with the video for hours on end...) since that can do this lossless, but when I try to downconvert to 1080 and make a file around 1/3 the size of the original, it looses too much detail and sharpness. This I see easily on a 1080 monitor, so either it's not a good software for this, or I'm doing something wrong. Does anybody know of an easy to use (and cheap, if possible - I have already used far too much money on this, and I'm afraid it will be more...) software to do a good conversion? I am not using any sharpness or other enhancements when converting, only converting to x264 in an mp4 container and resizing to 1080. Then I use Video Size as the target, around 1 gig, and run a two pass conversion. And loose too much detail and sharpness. So I would welcome suggestions!

Wolfiesden · Feb 16, 2016

Try handbrake? Can't get any cheaper than free.

Mastiff · Feb 16, 2016

Thanks. I'll test it! Free is as cheap as it goes, yes.

Any idea what settings I should use?

LWC1496 · Feb 16, 2016

I know that VLC has a convert option, don't know if it good or not but it's free.

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LWC1496 · Feb 16, 2016

I know that VLC has a convert option, don't know if it good or not but it's free.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Mastiff · Feb 16, 2016

Thanks! I'm trying one thing at a time. Here's the Avidemux down conversion, which I'm not at all impressed with, both colors and details are off.

Trackman1 · Feb 16, 2016

Mastiff said:
Thanks. I'll test it! Free is as cheap as it goes, yes. Any idea what settings I should use?

Handbrake is an excellent compresser. Start with the High preset and adjust from there.
Experiment on small file with the bit rate. Use 2 PASS for quality.
When you have settings you like save them as a preset.
To change from 4k to 1080 you will have specify size. Otherwise handbrake uses original size. That might be okay. Depends on Bit Rate. Like I said. Play aound with small file and see what you end up with for quality and size.

kennedye · Feb 16, 2016

You can also use GoPro Studio to edit and down-convert videos, although it might be overkill for the kind of editing you're doing.

Mastiff · Feb 16, 2016

I have read about that and the Sony software, and I agree, it seems like overkill. I have done work with Premiere before, but that is North Korea overkill. Shooting higher military officials with air defence rockets overkill!

I finally settled for not resizing in Handbrake, but changing the bitrate to 10 000 (from around 60 000). This got me down to around 1/6 of the file size. So two hours of uploading when I would have used 12. Not bad. Thanks for the tip!

Mastiff · Feb 16, 2016

Oh, the resampled video is on top, in case it isn't clear. At least it isn't as clear as the one above!

MrDroneUK · Feb 16, 2016

I haven't heard of Handbrake but I've always used 'any video converter' to compress my videos. For example, if I was recording my PC using FRAPs, it generally generates huge GB's worth of recordings that are only a few minutes long. I throw it into any video converter under x264 and usually drop the bitrate to 10k or lower with the resolution being its original size. Instead of a 3GB file I under up with 400mb, for example.

Curious to hear if anyone has used both handbrake and video converter though. I wouldn't know which one works best... but this is what I've always used.

CaptainDrone798 · Feb 16, 2016

Mastiff said:
I have a rather slow Internet connetion at the moment (waiting for 70/70 fibre), and a 4K video upload to YouTube takes around 8 hours per five minutes! I use Avidemux to cut and paste the videos to remove the bits I don't want to use (nothing more I want to do, really - I don't have time to sit and fiddle with the video for hours on end...) since that can do this lossless, but when I try to downconvert to 1080 and make a file around 1/3 the size of the original, it looses too much detail and sharpness. This I see easily on a 1080 monitor, so either it's not a good software for this, or I'm doing something wrong. Does anybody know of an easy to use (and cheap, if possible - I have already used far too much money on this, and I'm afraid it will be more...) software to do a good conversion? I am not using any sharpness or other enhancements when converting, only converting to x264 in an mp4 container and resizing to 1080. Then I use Video Size as the target, around 1 gig, and run a two pass conversion. And loose too much detail and sharpness. So I would welcome suggestions!

GOPRO Studio is Free and lets you convert your video down or up and change the frame rate.

Mastiff · Feb 17, 2016

MrDroneUK, my guess would be that they are using similar. If you want to test it against Handbrake, I can send you the around 10 second long test video I used in the pictures, and you can try to convert it. I'll Sprend it to you (you get a link to download it).

CaptainDrone798, yes, I know, thanks! This morning I have decided to test that one too, as well as the Sony program I downloaded. Maybe one of them can make a better looking video wit the same size file.

Mastiff · Feb 17, 2016

I didn't really get it with Go Pro. I want to cut videos and convert, and it seemed like cutting didn't really work there if the material wasn't from a GoPro.

normr · Feb 18, 2016

What kind of computer do you have? If you have a PC, go to stacksocial.com and the freebie tab at the top and get the video converter program from Wondershare,

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Mastiff · Feb 18, 2016

Thanks for the tip, I'll check out that!

Mastiff · Feb 18, 2016

Wow, talk about jumping through hoops... I not only had to create a new spam catching address (it didn't accept my mailinator address) but a Twitter account (of course with an obscene name, so Twitter will kill it as soon as they see it - gotta make those guys work a bit for all the money they are loosing) too. Well, if it's good it was worth it.

Edit: But I will install this in a VM first, to see if it brings any adware along. The business model seemed a bit questionable...