0.21.2

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.

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

• Modify transcode-video to pass the target video bitrate to hardware-based encoders available in HandBrake for Windows and Linux as well as HandBrake nightly builds for macOS:
  • Check the output of HandBrakeCLI --help from one of those builds to find out if your platform has any of these video encoders available.
  • The names of these encoders all end with "_h264" (for H.264) or "_h265" (for HEVC).
  • On macOS, adding --handbrake-option encoder=vt_h264 is all that's needed to enable hardware-based H.264 transcoding. Use vt_h265 for HEVC.
  • On Windows and Linux, use qsv_h264 or qsv_h265. Other encoders might be available as well in nightly builds.
  • WARNING: If you request an encoder that is not available, HandBrakeCLI may fail or it may just fallback to a software-based encoder. Check your console output while transcoding to be certain.
  • These hardware-based encoders are far faster than the software-based x264 and x265 encoders while still delivering reasonable quality. Of course, your mileage (and perception) may vary.