Which software for downscaling MKVs? (mobile watching)

[MyonMyon]

Hi guys,

I've recently started watching some series on my android phone (Galaxy S2) via MX Player. It plays everything 480p and 8bit 720p nicely, but 10bit 720p and 1080p are too much for it. In fact, there's no point in playing higher than 480p videos on it because the screen size is 800x480.

Unfortunately most of my collection consists of 10bit 720p and 1080p anime. Which take a shitload of space (I only have about 10GB free on the phone and SD due to the 8GB of manga on my SD) and play choppy.

So I'd have to resize them to 800x448 to get the most of my phone's screen.

I've done some subtitle remuxing before (extracted subs from a 720p release and remuxed them into the 1080p uncensored BD raw) with MKVToolNix but that tool didn't seem useful for doing this. I also downloaded MeGUI which apparently would be capable of doing this but frankly it was way too complicated to use. TotalVideoConverter worked but the quality was absolute rubbish and the filesizes too large.

So I'm looking for a simple video re-encoding tool which
a) is straightforward to use
b) can output decent quality
c) doesn't screw the .ass softsubs included in most mkvs

Any software recommendations?

[kitamesume]

handbrake... on second thought you can't really re-encode 10bit files, they seem to not support it too well.

[xShadow]

forums.bakabt.me/index.php?topic=36111.0

That topic might be of interest to you. I think I tried a program in there, and it worked pretty well, but I don't think I changed formats or res since I'm on an s3 (which I'm posting from lol). It'll prolly do that, too, though.

[lapa321]

Either Handbrake or Format Factory will work. Tho i'd recommend Format Factory because it has a better interface for processing anime in batches.

[MyonMyon]

The previous topic suggested XMediaRecode. I tried it but it screwed up the subtitles because it somehow lost the embedded font causing the re-encoded video to have gigantic, retarded-looking subs.

I also tried handbrake and it seemed to be what I was looking for, though I have to test it more thoroughly. Also got FormatFactory but didn't try it out yet.

Edit. FormatFactory seemed otherwise good but unfortunately it also screwed the subs. It didnt lose the font but the texts became really big and the letters were spaced out so that the subs would sometimes end up filling 4 rows (lol) making the video itself unwatchable. Any tips? I didnt notice any way to change subtitle-specific options in any of these programs. This far only handbrake got them right. The subs are normal styled .ass subs with an embedded font.

Edit2. After more testing, I'd say handbrake is the best one. Gets all the subs right and if you fiddle with the advanced options you'll get really good quality. (although the encoding takes some time... 25 minutes per episode on a 4,00GHz dual core. Well, I got time so that's no biggie) Had no problems re-encoding a 10 bit test file either.

[MTR]

Have you given Plex a try? That's what I am using on my HTC One V for streaming my anime. It's actually a streaming server, so you would need to have a computer they is on all the time for it to work, and have either a 3G/4G or Wifi connection (I don't believe they have a cache option for offline playback, but I could be wrong.) What I really like about it is that it transcodes your media on the fly so it can be played smoothly on virtually any connection speed, no reencoding or large sd consumption required.

[MyonMyon]

Have you given Plex a try? That's what I am using on my HTC One V for streaming my anime. It's actually a streaming server, so you would need to have a computer they is on all the time for it to work, and have either a 3G/4G or Wifi connection (I don't believe they have a cache option for offline playback, but I could be wrong.) What I really like about it is that it transcodes your media on the fly so it can be played smoothly on virtually any connection speed, no reencoding or large sd consumption required.

Sounds pretty convenient except my 3G is probably too slow for it (only 1 Mb/s). And i think the quality wouldn't be as good? Handbrake will probably be sufficient for me as i can have a full 26 ep series on my card with it. As i dont really watch many series simultaneously i can just delete them from my phone after watching.