Recoding MKV from 1080p to 720p in Handbrake

[playXray]

I'm having some trouble converting some 1080p mkv files into 720p using Handbrake. I managed to get one of them to recode in about 15 minutes, and the file comes out at just under 2GB (it's about 2 hours long), but now I can't replicate this with any other 1080p files - they seem to take hours to recode and then don't play in Media Player Classic.

Does anyone have any recommendations for settings in Handbrake? How long should it take to recode 2 hours of footage with a Core i5 2500K CPU?

[TheLegendOfMart]

When I transcode my Blu-Ray discs from 1080p to 720p it usually takes 12 hours using High Profile and all the settings turned up on a 2 hour movie using my Core i5 2400.

It sounds like you don't care about quality, unless its an animated film 2Gb for 720p is horrendous. In which case you should try and use a program like Freemake Video Converter which has CUDA encoding capability which uses your GPU to encode really fast at the expense of quality.

[playXray]

I'm not aiming for 2GB, that's just how it came out. I'd be happy with anything up to 4GB to be honest.

[NeonEva]

on the Video tab use Avg Bitrate and use 2500 to 3000 depending if a big action movie(3000) or if less fast action/movement in the movie(2500).

Make sure to click on 2-Pass Encoding and Turbo first pass.

I usually have no problems doing it this way. Just bump up the bitrate more if you find it is still blocky, but you should not have much problems with bitrates in that range :)

[playXray]

Cool, thanks for the tip NeonEva. What settings do you use for audio?

Also, have you ever ripped/encoded anything with subtitles?

[@Leo]

Why use 2-pass encoding in the first place? Use Constant Quality and set the rate factor to anything from 18 to 22 to suit your needs (the lower, the better quality). I usually use 19 for less important material.

This will ensure you will get a consistent quality and is only one pass.

[playXray]

What other settings do you use Leo? Do you use any of the presets?