Tech Tip Daily

Yesterday, I talked about how you could convert your copy protected TV shows on Windows Media Center to another, less restrictive file format.  But who has time to sit down at their computer and watch TV shows?  What we really want is to watch these files on our portable devices on the go.  Meet Handbrake, “an open source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform multithreaded DVD to MPEG-4 converter, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows” (From the website).  In all reality, handbrake is marketed as a DVD-to-ipod converter, although it can support a wide array of input file types.  And the great thing is, it’s easy to use.

To convert video files (and DVDs) using Handbrake:

1. Download Handbrake from http://handbrake.fr and install it (GUI and command line versions available – I’ll be working with the GUI version).
2. Open the application, and you’ll see the beautifully intuitive interface.  In the source field, you’ll want to select Folder or File, depending on whether you want to convert a DVD or other media type, respectively.
3. Once you’ve selected your source, you’ll want to give Handbrake a destination.  Click browse and navigate to wherever you’d like your transcoded files to be stored (giving a file name, of course).
4. In the bottom section, you’ll find detailed conversion settings for all aspects of the files.  In all practicality, you’ll most likely be ok just selecting a preset from the list on the right of the screen.
5. Once you’ve chosen your preset, you’re all set.  Click Start to begin conversion OR you can select “Add to Queue” to queue up this conversion in a batch list of other conversions.  This is nice if you want to convert a few shows all at once without having to babysit the software.  For each conversion, click “Add to Queue” and then select the “Show Queue” button to display the queue.  Once finished, click “Encode” to start the process.
6. Depending on the input file type, size, and length, this could take some time.  Go do something else for a while (like reading the rest of my articles) and then check back later on.

That’s all!  Thanks, and happy computing!