Alternatives to Handbrake? Handbrake not converting Variable to Constant Like it used to

[Tom Pfeiler-G-PIE Visuals]

Handbrake is not converting my iPhone 6splus variable frame rate footage to constant frame rate like it used to.  I have tried tweaking everything and my video and audio are out of sync.  Does anyone know of other programs I can use to convert variable frame rates to constant???  Thanks!   Maybe I should try downloading the old version of Handbrake I was using three months ago that worked....maybe the new version is the problem with Premier Pro CC 2017???

[John T Smith]

I've never done so, but VLC is said to be able to convert video to a new format

Official download of VLC media player, the best Open Source player - VideoLAN

I have NOT used the products below, I only forward due to other mentions... so YMMV and all the usual disclaimers... check the links and read to find out if one of the products listed below will rip or convert the files you have to something you need for editing

http://www.mirovideoconverter.com/

http://www.daniusoft.com/media-converter-ultimate.html

http://www.deskshare.com/media-converter.aspx Digital Media Converter

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html Multi-Converter <-- supposed to be very good

[Tom Pfeiler-G-PIE Visuals]

Thanks for Trying John but those above converters all appeared to be terrible suggestions.

[Meg The Dog]

I also have had a great deal of trouble converting iPhone videos to files that will appear and stay in sync in Premiere Pro. Like you, I've systematically tried quite a few combination of recording settings (via Filmic) in the phone and conversion setting in Handbrake to solve this problem without success.

I fully admit this may be an error or lack of understanding on my part.

However, the only reliable solution I have come with is to convert the iPhone file via Apple's Compressor app to a Pro Res file and specifying a 29.97 frame rate.

Files converted in that way have worked flawlessly in Premiere. Note that I am Mac based.

In my efforts I've tried Handbrake, Media Encoder, and Edit Ready without success.

MtD

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hey MtD,

Indeed, Mac users can transcode via QuickTime and Compressor instead of HandBrake. They have proprietary decoders/encoders in those products that support variable frame rate video for transcoding to ProRes codecs. Windows users should probably still use HandBrake. I hope the issue is temporary.

Ours do not support variable frame rate support for such devices at this time. Please file a bug report for that support. I will (and have been for quite some time) advocate on your behalf.

I am curious as to why you're having trouble with Filmic Pro, though. I'm getting crazy good footage that looks amaaaazing. I recommend using Filmic Pro, as long as your clips are not overly long and not pushing the data rate too much.

Let me know if you have questions about my workflow.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Meg The Dog]

Hi Kevin -

My issue was not with Filmic, but with developing a method of prepping the iPhone originated files for use in Premiere.

If I take an iPhone originated file directly into Premiere Pro, it is out of sync - which I understand as it is a variable frame rate source file.

I tried Handbrake to make the file a CFR file, but Premiere still displayed those converted files with video and audio out of sync.

Googling offered several settings suggestions for solving this - by changing audio format in Filmic, and settings in Handbrake - but none of these worked for me.

Since I could take the file directly into FCP-X and not have any problems with it, I tried Compressor to do the conversion and set the CFR.  Files transcoded through Compressor work correctly in Premiere.

I experimented with trying this transcoding in Adobe Encoder (since on my system it is faster than Compressor) but those file exhibit the same sync problems as the files transcoded through Handbrake.

MtD

[Tom Pfeiler-G-PIE Visuals]

I am very sad as I am using a PC and do not have access to Apple Compressor.  I have tried everything it seems for now I will not be able to convert footage using Handbrake and expect my audio and video to be in sync in Premiere Pro cc 2017.

[Tom Pfeiler-G-PIE Visuals]

Great.  I will see what I can do with this info and report back.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hey ThomasP,

That is frustrating indeed. I did not know that there were any changes with HandBrake.

Let us know if MtD's advice regarding using QuickTime or Compressor helped you. I hope we can help you solve your issue. Please file a feature request asking for variable frame rate support here.

Please return to the thread if you need more help.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hello Thomas P,

I see you've created two posts on the same topic. I will keep this open and lock the other one.

Thanks,
Kevin

[patricia51919162]

I have found old versions of Handbrake here

https://www.videohelp.com/software/HandBrake/old-versions

After downloading many old versions that didn't save the video for Premiere, I downloaded 0.10.0 and was able to save my webcam video with a constant frame rate and it was synced correctly in Premiere.

[R Neil Haugen]

I downloaded the latest one from their site a few days back, converted media from my Samsung S7 to CFR, and it worked fine, tested afterwards in MediaInfo and imported into PrPro. I know others say it isn't working ... I wonder what's happening?

I do know that you need to set a specific frame-rate as a number, as if you select "Same as source" for frame-rate, it stays the same ... and if it's VFR, that means it's still VFR.

Just tried another clip ... from my Samsung S7, set at 30fps; converted to 29.97fps in HB, shows as 29.97 and CFR in MediaInfo, imports into and plays perfectly in PrPro.

Neil

[Roei Tzoref]

After downloading many old versions that didn't save the video for Premiere, I downloaded 0.10.0 and was able to save my webcam video with a constant frame rate and it was synced correctly in Premiere.

I tried it and it works. I had an out of sync in premiere iphone video of 1 hour (it seems that the longer it is, the more noticeable the out of sync is). used handbrake 0.10.0 and used constant frame rate settings. after it was done, dragged it to mediainfo and Voilà! it shows variable frame rate... but! in premiere it was fine! hurray handbrake!

another suggestion. since the video plays fine in VLC and VLC is also a converter, I tried to convert in VLC but no dice. also tried x264 pro and through AME (not passing through Premiere) and it didn't work. guess PC users are in a jam here but at least we got handbreak 0.10.0

[R Neil Haugen]

Did you set a specific frame-rate? I've done a bunch of tests both on my editing rig at the studio and this ol' laptop, with the latest 1.0.7 version for Windows, and as long as I set it to a specific frame-rate number, it shows in MediaInfo as CFR with exactly the 29.97 I set in Handbrake.

Neil

[Roei Tzoref]

Did you set a specific frame-rate?

Thank you Neil. no, I left it as "same as source" and just choose constant frame rate. I now tested with changing the number and still the same.

but as I said, it plays fine in premiere now..

[R Neil Haugen]

The section you're showing is only listing the bit-rate ... just fyi ...

The instructions pop-up for HandBrake says for F-R setting, "If your video has a variable frame rate, 'Same as source" will preserve it' ".  The red highlighted options are the ones I set:

And this is what I got out of it, in MediaInfo's Tree View ...

Note the red-dashed areas ... showing this now as CFR with a frame-rate of 29.97fps. Now, this is the same clip but prior to conversion ...

Note, it's been changed a lot in MediaInfo's view of the file.

Neil

[Roei Tzoref]

ah Ha! now it makes sense. thank you Neil, helpful as always

I tested again with Handbrake's recent version 1.0.7 and it works just as well.

[Guest]

I have tried the newest version, in fact, after 0.93 HandBrake really sucks, no more avi or mov format available and the worse, audio conversion is not supported. Only mp4 can be converted. As for the frame rate issue, didn't you find the settings below the "MP4" icon" Recently i am using wondershare and wonderfox wondershare.net, http://www.videoconverterfactory.com/tips/handbrake-alternative.html, they support more than mp4 and i do think you can use them to change variable frame rate to the constant one. In the setting menu there are many parameters you can change, including frame rate.

[m0rr1s3]

I had the same issue even after selecting my frame-rate and constant in handbrake. The original footage given to me was variable 23.976 and I tried to output constant 23.976. Handbrake's output file was still variable frame-rate. When I changed the frame-rate to 29.97 it worked and I had a 29.97 constant frame-rate.

[Stan Jones]

I find the same.

Not exhaustive tests, but 2 samples I tried previously (also in Handbrake 1.0.7) would not get to CFR when my target was 23.976, but would if I changed it to 29.97 or 24.

I did a couple more tests. Per Neil's settings, I changed the constant quality slide to 20 (from 22). This should not matter, and it didn't. It did dramatically increase the encoding time on the first conversion only. My settings were then the same as Neil's except for 23.976 as the target CFR. I am finding that Handbrake achieves CFR on 24 and 29.97, but not on 23.976.

[R Neil Haugen]

Interesting. And ... weird. Darn frustrating.

Neil

[danielp68512825]

This problem is driving me CRAZY.  I have hanged every possible setting in handbrake to no avail.  23.976 variable STAYS 23.976 variable no matter what.  UGH.  Do any older version of Handbrake do this properly?  Are there any other options out there?  I’ve been trying to get this to work for literally eight hours straight.  Sigh.

EDIT:  I’ve confirmed that even files that BEGIN with constant frame rate and are then converted with Handbrake wind up with a variable frame rate in MediaInfo (23.976 frame rate, but METHOD is still variable).  Unreal.

[Stan Jones]

I have not done any tests since my post above. And opposite results. Very odd. I must run the tests again!

Curious re the "23.976 frame rate, but METHOD is still variable" -

Does it show a minimum and maximum frame rate? I often fond a nominal "correct" rate, but the min and max varying, sometimes by a tiny bit.

[Ann Bens]

Many times people read the bitrate instead of the framerate..........

[juanmario]

I have tested version 1.07 and it works perfectly, but version 1.1.0 still gives me VFR.