# AV1-Media-Transcode-Guide
Handbrake-Tdarr-Setup-Customization
This guide is intended to be viewed RAW or CODE. Please select that before folowing it.
Here is a written version of the guide in a step by step readable and organized format:
System Requirements
Windows 10/11 machine OR VM running on unRAID.
Additional nodes can be added if you have multiple Windows machines.
For a VM you will need to go to "Tools", "System Devices"
and find your 4000 series GPU IOMMU group and attach vfio at boot and reboot.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU (4050-4090)
Decent processor Ryzen 5000, 7000 series or equivalent intel. You will benefit from a 16 core processor
with a GPU like RTX 4050, 4060, 4070 super or the encoder will still run from my testing, but only at 50% utilization.
Preparation
Update your NVIDIA drivers to the latest version.
Shut down Tdarr Node and Server.
Download and extract Tdarr files to C:\Tdarr.
Install Handbrake GUI 1.8.2 or above from
https://handbrake.fr/rotation.php?file=H...in_GUI.exe
Extract the Command Line version of Handbrake (HandBrakeCLI.exe) to your desktop via
https://handbrake.fr/downloads2.php
Overwrite the three instances of HandBrakeCLI.exe in different locations:
C:\Tdarr\HandBrakeCLI.exe
C:\Tdarr\Tdarr_Node\assets\app\HandBrakeCLI.exe
C:\Tdarr\Tdarr_Server\assets\app\HandBrakeCLI.exe
Do this for each additional node as well if any.
Create a folder called C:\cache
Handbrake GUI
Open Handbrake and select any video file.
Click [Tools] > [Preferences] > [Video].
Checkmark "Allow use of the Nvidia NVENC Encoders" and set "Prefer use of..." to your desired setting.
Set the format to MKV, resolution limit to None, and dimensions as needed.
Configure video settings:
Video Encoder: AV1 10-bit (NVEnc)
Framerate: Same as source & Constant Framerate
Encoder Option: Encoder Present: Slowest (slide right). I chose medium because encoding is much faster.
I also chose 38 CQ for movies and 35 CQ for series with great results. Download my presets at the bottom of this guide if you like.
Quality: Your desired setting (note that a lower number results in a larger file size)
Configure audio settings:
Codec: E-AC Passthru
Save the preset with the following settings:
Name: t1
Resolution Limit: None
Audio:
Track Selection Behavior: All Matching Selected Languages.
Choose ANY because some films there is other languages mixed with English and movies need this setting.
'Auto Passthru' Behavior: Check all of them (yes, all of them)
Fallback Encoder: None
Audio encoder settings for each chosen track: Codec > Auto Passthru
Subtitle behavior chose your desired language or ANY move it to the right and save.
Testing
You can skip this step if you want to test the results before executing the rest of the process.
Run Handbrake with your selected preset and video file.
Tdarr nodes: Turn on allow GPU to do CPU tasks.
Tdarr Library
At the top, click Library (and yes, you can create multiple ones later).
Click Library+ and configure the mini tabs:
[Source]: Turn on folder watch and select where your media is located.
[Filters]: Codes to Skip: AV1 (or AV1,HEVC if you want to leave x265 files alone)
Configure Transcode Options:
Disable all options or delete them except for New File Size Check!
Add the following custom transcode option:
Community: Video Transcode Customisable
Set codecs to exclude: av1 (or av1,hevc if you want to leave x265 files alone)
Set transcode arguments: --preset-import-gui -Z "t01"
Set output container: .mkv
Click New Container Check.
Change upperbound to 99 and lowerBound to 5
Click the big green options button and click NEW FRESH SCAN!
Final Notes
If you don't see transcoding happening, it may be because something was named incorrectly.
I recommend rebooting your system if it doesn't work the first time (it's happened to me too!).
Go to the very bottom and sort your queue by whatever option you prefer.
I recommend this: For nice encoding with virtually no loss.
Here is links to my presets in case you want to use pre made ones.
I found that the movie settings ran better on medium
My preset instructions:
create a folder called presets in C:/Tdarr
Drag t01 and ts2 into the same folder on each and every machine you plan to run nodes.
In tdarr server under library, Transcode options and select video transcode customizable
transcode_arguments:
Movies
--preset-import-file "C:/Tdarr/presets/t01.json" -Z "t01"
https://mega.nz/file/XAliEIwZ#4WD7UG8IM9...6TvjXpcDRg
Tv
--preset-import-file "C:/Tdarr/presets/ts2.json" -Z "ts2"
https://mega.nz/file/fctR3CjL#Kl43b7_Z6D...05TVnF-rYc
Great, now convert each library to a flow by going to the flow tab and add flow then
Import Plugin Stack. This is very efficient because now each GPU worker can replace files, instead
of one at a time. You know how your staging file limit becomes full? This problem is solved with importing your
classic plugin stack to flows. This is a important step you won't want to skip and your fps will increase.
