hi there, hope you're all well...

i usually master to .mxf, then drop in handbrake for churning out .mp4, etc., when required.

i've been using handbrake since, well since i moved to nle, but a couple of editors have said shutter encoder is way more flexible in lots of ways. i've downloaded it, and it does seem very comprehensive indeed, but i'm wondering what other people think?

quality? (i think it uses the same libraries?)

speed?

practicality? (on the surface, shutter looks more practical)

you're views / opinions will be as welcome as ever.

thanks

Both use FFMPEG under the hood. The only reason to use any of these is if you can't be bothered to learn FFMPEG. Quality and codecs is all the same and only depends on FFMPEG build used.

I find both frontends pretty limited and unsophisticated, but I understand many can't be bothered to learn FFMPEG.

Advanced encodes, such as very optimized VP9, always requires some manual tuning of encoder parameters, which these fronteds tend to hide away.

Also, for legal reasons, if you want the best possible FFMPEG build, with things like cuda filters, fdk AAC and rubberband, you need to create it yourself. This is reasonably easy these days with https://github.com/m-ab-s/media-autobuild_suite

thanks Peter, most informative indeed.

my days of squeezing the last pixels worth of a production are over - most of my stuff nowadays is limited to net or USB, and my clients are as old as I am and are just thankful they've still got a production to get out the door;-)

I think from just a quick play that shuttle looks to fit my requirements a little more closely than handbrake, and as you point out, it's the same engine under the bonnet, so it's down to choice of body work...

thanks again

Each seems to have a few controls that the other lacks. For example, there's a sharpening filter for exports in Handbrake, apparently not found in Shutter Encoder. Meanwhile, Shutter Encoder has "advanced features" at least some of which Handbrake appears to lack.

Overall, however, Shutter Encoder looks to be more comprehensive, and is under active development. There are new releases every week or two, added features/bug fixes, and it can perform more tasks than Handbrake.

I've always preferred the MeGUI front end for my x264 encoding. I find it gives me more GUI access to the commands than the other mentioned options.