I have just released a Beta of a new application , based on demand – WatchFolder for handbrake.
This is based on the popular HB Batchencoder, and has an identical feature set except it will watch a preset folder and when a new file arrives, it will encode it.
Features:
- Watchs a set folder and when a new file arrives, encodes it
- Queues new files and encodes the lot!
- Supports input files: mpg, wmv, avi, m2ts, mkv, m4v, mp4, flv, mov,.ts and ISO images!
- Use presets or roll your own query
- Delete or leave source files
- Add metadata to mp4/m4v files including episode, series and type.
- Set handbrake priority
- Recrusive file recreate feature
- Automatically grabs cover art from amazon
- Choose file extensions
- Remembers last used settings
- progress bar of files encoded
- Allows you to save a custom query for future use
Supports all file types , adds metadata including cover art and episode information etc. basically just run it, set the settings once and it will watch a folder and do all of the above….
Note – this is not a batch encoder in that it will only watch for new files – it will not encode files already in the folder at start up, only new files added. If you add many files it will queue them all and process them. It wacthes all sub folders so it doesn’t matter what way your files are stored – it will catch them.
This exe can help totally automate your workflow – set TED up to grab your downloads, they will start in your torrent and then watchfolder will encode them. Nice…
This is a beta and has one small known issue – if you set initially the watch folder path, or change it, you need to exit the app and restart it. working on that one….. please post any comments of feedback in order to make this better!
Direct link with full installer and all required files here
Free as always, donations in lieu of coffee greatly received 😉
Videoscripts 
Sensational work so far. Handbrake is working great with your watchfolder application. FFMPEG gives all the power to Handbrake and even allows to feed flv players with mp4s, as well as iphones and store it for further post production.
Anyways it’s a pitty it is only one step away from the stuff I was looking for. I wanted to set up multiple watchfolders, so you can encode different scenarios.
Furthermore I wanted to give some of the watchfolders multiple presets (high and low encoding profile for streaming).
And to make things perfect I’d love to save it to an archive folder: [YYYY][mm][dd] on a NAS and upload it to multiple FTP accounts in order to publish it.
Complex? For you? I don’t believe so. I was looking for your scripts to develop them a little further but couldn’t find any. What tools do you use for programming?
Best regards from Munich
C.G.
@Christoph
Thanks for the comments. glad its working well for you!
I can certainly do all of the tasks that you mention in your post – multiple watch folders , presets, folder suffixes and ftp uploads etc. I have coded custom versions before for those sort of tasks mainly for commercial use. i would do this as a custom request version but not release it generally – in the main just that it needs support and tweaking and as a hobby project its hard to provide the time to do that justice. On a one off it makes it easier!
Same applies on source code – at some stage in the next few months I will open all of the source files up – I just want to devote the time to making them as good as they can be before going full open source and letting everyone at them!
Curious… how do you add the metadata? I’m not as up to speed on the CLI as you are, so was curious how you did that?
Rick, I use Atomic parsely , a sourceforge project (linked to on home page here and in the about boxes on UI’s) . its a little old now and has had no real work, but the version I built supports all i need for itunes metadata for the scripts. At some stage i will enhance it and the scripts to better handle genres, release years and synopsis of movies. right now I put the basics in.
Thanks, was curious how you did that. I had started writing my own version of this, was actually almost done, when I found yours. So I tabled that and went to focus on some other tasks. It seems to work quite well.
I did notice a quirk. It seems to successfully catch files in subfolders, depending on file ending. I had an MP4 file in a subfolder added, and it did not encode that one until I moved it to the root of the watch folder. Other file formats worked fine.
RIck
Rick – thats a weird one and will have a look at it as a bug – it has a hardcoded list of support HB filetypes in order to filter out any files it does not need to process. MP4 is on that list, but will retest it
Re-dropping it worked. Only other variable I can think of is that it dropped while a file was processing. That’s a rare event in my system.
Thanks. I did re try it and it seems to run fine with mp4 my end. Note that if you drop it in while it is processing another file, it simply adds it to a queue and then processes it once the current file s finished.
Cheers for coffee….
I am wondering if there is a solution to my problem. I currently use My Movies (with AnyDVD running) on my windows home server to rip dvds to a folder. When I setup this watch folder with it, it starts encoding the file as it is still ripping it, and then it fails. I was thinking I could have a batch file run that could copy files from my rip folder to a watch folder, but wanted to know if you might have an easier solution.
Thanks in advance!
Hi – I don’t have much experience with my movies in everyday use. But I guess it doesn’t lock the file while it’s ripping. So watch folder will see the file as soon as it starts and start the encode.
Couple of solutions:
You could try the auto rip script – this will rip and encode in insertion.
If time is not that critical I could insert a delay into the watch folder of say 10 minutes , that way my movies will finish ripping before I start the encode process. That should address. Would likely make that user definable.
Let me know what you think and i can start the change.
I think a customizable wait setting with options for 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 minutes would be great, as some DVDs take longer than others (Dual Layer).
The reason I use My Movies is it is 100% automated. you put in the DVD and it auto detects and rips it to my predetermined folder, then once done it auto ejects. Then the watchfolder can endcode it and move it to my movies folder, where I have batch files to auto generate XML for my GUI to showup on my TV.
Long story short, this allows for my wife and kids to rip movies and add to my collection, without me having to do anything.
Understood – the autorip has the same function – add it to start up items , it sits running at all times, detects a dvd and rips, then ejects, and encodes to your settings. No intervention apart from the initial settings.
I’ll add the timer loop into the watch folder – likely be early next week and will repost it and reply to this thread.
@Razerwing
I have updated watchfolder setup and added a flexible wait to encode feature from 0 mins to 30 mins in 5 min steps. its working well.
Let me know how that works out for you.
I might try autorip, but I have a question. What happens if my impatient wife decides to put another DVD in while the first one is still encoding? Does it queue the ripping or rip it then add to an encoding queue?
Thanks!
queues the encode job
Why is your batch encoder app able to encode Video_TS folder structures but the WatchFolder requires MKV?
Any chance of adding the same support for Video_TS?
Watch folder does not require mkv, only handbrake. It works in exactly the same way as the batch UI.
Are you having an issue with it? It will encode videots just fine.
Great program! Exactly what I’ve been searching ages for. So simple to use, just run and sit back.
Do you think it’d be possible to implement a scheduler into a general release to allow conversion during set times? Obviously a scheduled task could start it at a set time, but ending it would leave a messy half encoded file and miss anything that was added since.
Keep up the great work!
@djsbur – thanks. You can already do this with windows scheduler – tell WS to run is as : “batchgui.exe autorun” . basically this runs it silently – it will start up with no GUI and process all files according to the last settings used. It will finish all files and then exit nicely. Or did you mean something different?
Great, exactly what I need. Many thanks!
Two things:
First, I have problems with occasional network hiccups. Since I am reading/writing from a network folder, that causes the process to abort. What about an option to have it copy the file to a ‘temp’ local folder, perform the conversion, and then copy it to the output folder?
Second, when will you incorporate the new CLI with Apple TV 2 defaults and other enhancements?
1) Can be done but its actually quite a bit of work. i will put it on the ‘should do’ list….
2) new CLI 0.9.5 being done this week , latest release by Monday.
Hi, this is a great program – exactly what I have been looking for. One issue I seem to have is that when I use either the ‘BatchEncoder’ or ‘Watchfolder’ my output files are significantly larger than if I were to encode directly from Handbrake using the same profile. Apologies if I’m doing something wrong in the settings but was wondering if you have came across this issue?
Thanks. Wat preset are you using and what version of handbrake are you using? There should be no significant difference in file size.
Thanks, I am using Handbrake 0.9.5 and the AppleTV 2 profile.
Tony – this was a bug in the preset code. Now fixed and latest version uploaded.
Wonderful tool. I’d love to see and use a watchfolder CLI version for Linux! I could use NFS or Samba to drop files to encode into a network folder from any device in the house or over my VPN.
Stephen. I am currently at work on all of the linux ports. Expecting watch folder to be out with that by the end of the month.
@videoscipts. Howdy. How’s the Linux port coming along?
should be ready in cli form next week.
@videoscripts: fantastic!
I’d like to use Watchfolder to automatically encode .wtv files, created from Windows 7, however I’ve got a couple of quick questions:
How does the Watchfolder know if a file is complete?
Does Watchfolder use the most recently used Handbrake settings, or do you have to configure Watchfolder’s settings at installation?
Thanks!
Hi
watchfolder does not yet support WTV files – that should be done at some stage next week.
it only flags a file for action when it is not in use by another application. if you download a file though, you are best using your download/torrent manager to move it to a watch directory when its complete, that way no chance of any issues.
it uses Hb profiles from 0.9.5 , you can either select an off the shelf preset in the UI or paste your own custom one in.
Ah, I see. I saw your post re wtv support for Batchencoder here:
https://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18429
I assumed that since Batchencoder supported wtv, that Watchfolder would too.
My wtv files are not downloaded, they are my own recorded TV files. Until the recording finishes, the filesize will obviously continue to grow. Is Watchfolder ok with that? What I mean is, will Watchfolder wait until the recording completes, then encode?
nope, they are maintained seperatley for a number of reasons.
It will handle that, but your best way which is more solid is use batchencoder – set it up once, then add it as a scheduled task to windows to run at, say 4AM . it will convert anything not already converted and would work much better for you as a workflow. Run it once, set up your options and just add it as a task and place the word ‘autorun’ after the filename and you’re all set.
Great idea!
I’ll set that up asap. Does batchencoder check whether a file is in use (i.e. still being recorded) before encoding?
yes
Brilliant.
I’ll try this asap. Coffee coming your way in a week or so!
Ok, I installed HB 0.9.5 last night, then installed batchencoder.
I threw 4 files into the input folder, selected high profile, and ran the program.
2 files were mpeg2 files, extracted from WTV containers, using DVRMS toolbox.
The other 2 files were straight wtv files (intended to test batchencoder’s conversion process).
All 4 files were recorded by me, in Scotland, using a DVB-T tuner, which, as far as I’m aware, should mean that all 4 files had an input resolution of 544×576 and a display aspect ratio of 16:9.
The first 2 files, the already converted mpeg2’s, encoded as expected, to a 16:9 aspect ratio.
However, the second 2 files, the wtv’s, changed aspect ratio to something resembling 4:3.
Do you know why this would be?
Hmm. thats weird. Wothout access to the source files i can’t trouble shoot directly. But here is what i do : i take the wtv file and convert it to a temp file using the Win 7 converter, then pop it through HB.
my guess is that for some reason the win7 converter is making the change, because HB with that preset will wlays keep the aspect ratio correct. You could test out the theory – look at the file in win7, right click to covert it and see what the result ing file looks like.
In saying all of that, i cannot see any part of the process that would actually change the ratio. win 7 is a direct in direct out, Hb has a fixed ratio with that profile. Dumb question i suppose, but was the content originally 4:3 and stretched by the player?
I can’t get input file type .ts (HDTV transport stream) to work! Thanks for all the great stuff, but I’m primarily looking to scale down HDTV for my apple TV.
What type of file do you mean when you say .ts input files are supported?
How much coffee to get these files recognized? (not .ts files are supported by Handbrake)
thanks!
Jim
Last line in my previous post s/b Note: .ts files are supported by HandBrake
@Jim
I need more detail from you – this is watchfolder you are using? When you drop a file into the watch folder, do you get a tray tip to tell you it found the file?
Have you tried the file in HB standalone? Does it work?
I just dropped a ts file into a watchfolder. Picks it up and encodes it no problems on this end.
Let me know some answers to the above and I can take a closer look.
I’m so sorry, I meant .tp! (transport stream) not .ts
My apologies. Pretty certain these files are not supported (but are supported by HandBrake).
Also need to narrow down file files it does support, by extension or attribute (do not process hidden files). BTV captures .tp and .mpg (from SD off my Dishnetwork receiver).
I want to recode BeyondTV recordings for my appleTV. But the script tries to encode files at the same time I’m watching the show (BTV spools the live show file, but only hides the file when doing so). I think what ever you are using to identify “added” files is being altered by BTV.
I’m looking into the possibility in moving only the completed program to the watch directory but so far no luck.
thanks
Ah… Ok. I can add tp and also a drop down for ‘only process this file type’
But what I cannot do is limit on hidden files. Watch takes a windows notification for a new file no matter the type. So, I can tell it not to process that file , but then it will actually never process it in he current program as it is no longer a new file …if that makes sense.
Options
Amend watch to support tp and limit file types but you would need to move them when they finish spooling to A watch folder. Quick and minimal coffee.
Or use hidden file attributes and process when no longer hidden. That’s a big change with maximum coffee ..lol
Or why not use batch encoder? I could add tp and limit file types to that. You can schedule that to silently run overnight. It can be set to only process new files.
Hello, First off, Would like to say thank you for making this program as it has been helpful. But I have had some problem with subfolders. What I have going on is avi files being downloaded by a torrent. When it is complete the avi is automatically moved to the folder that is being monitored by watchfolder. Then moved to the target folder after being encoded. This program works great when its just avi. But sometimes the torrents will have a folder containing the avi, torrent info, creator info, and pictures. When this type of avi is put into the monitored folder nothing happens.
I have read that the watchfolder can look at sub folders. But this isn’t working for me. Doesn’t it not bother with the newly placed folder in the monitored folder?
thank you if able to help out
@Sam. That should work no problem at all. Its designed for that – you can pop in folders many deep into a watchfolder and it will find them and process them. As an example – i just did a trial run – I have a watch folder V:\Video , so i created a testfort folder. I then copy the entire torrent folder (has jpg, avi, nfo, idz, txt file) into that folder, I get the watchfolder pop up and it processes the file. If you can send me your directory stucutre and sample file names for your torrent folder, i will try and match it exactly to check its working as it should. Watch folder simply ignores non valid files (non video files) , so this should not be a problem.
thanks for the reply
here is what you asked:
utorrent downloads file and when complete moves them to source folder for watch folder, C:\Users\Sam\Movie uncoded. then when hb finished encoding moved to target folder, P:\WD 10EAVS External\Movies.
The folder name is: The Movie 2011 TS XViD – IMAGiNE, the files names are: The.Movies.2011.TS.XViD-IMAGiNe, 1298768804575_The.Movie.2011.TS.XViD-IMAGiNE.sample, with txts files.
Mow i also tried to drag and drop folder into source folder. Nothing happens, but when i just do the avi file by itself. The little pop up window saying encoding file. I have also tried different download folders and nothing.
Thanks again.
thanks..two last things as i cannot see the issue even with those filenames as samples:
1. Can you try a copy and paste of the folder into the watch folder (vs a cut and paste or drag and drop)
2. There is a file wconfig.txt in the program folder – send that to customvideoscripts@gmail.com
I have sent you that email with attached file. And I also tried the copy and paste method, and it worked.
@Sam – ok so thats the issue. Watchfolder waits for a new file and gets a windows notification that there is one. problem – when you cut and paste , all files arrive at once, so it gets only one notification, and watchfolder sees the new file as the folder…so it takes no action. It won’t relook at that because it has already been notified. But, when you copy and paste the files arrive slowly, one by one and watch gets notifications for each file, finds the avi and encodes. If you are using ut , itwill be cut and paste the folder contents which is why you see this.
Option 1 – i am currently working on this behaviour. its a big big task so it will be some weeks before its done.
Option 2 – don’t use watchfolder, use batchencoder . What i do : UT downloads my files. when done, moves them to my ‘to encode’ folder. I add a scheduled task to windows to kick of batchencoder silently at midnight every night , it runs all the new encodes and thats it….works briliantly and totally automatically.
Wow thanks for the quick reply. That sucks though, I wont really be able to do the bacthencoder as I am doing everything remotely thru my phone. But thank you again and will wait for the big update for sure.
I do have one more question. Is there a way to set up watchfolder to shut off the computer when done encoding? As i cant set up handbrake to shutdown in the custom query. Only while it is doing the encoding.
Not sure I understand on using batch encoder as in this case it would work the same as watch folder. Set it up once and that’s all you need do. No further interaction required. It’s automatic just like watch folder and would work better for your needs.
There is a new release of watch this week that will allow you to shut down the computer.
Hello and thanks for the app. I’m a bit of a novice, so I’m probably missing something. But I can’t seem to get this to work. I’m running Windows 7. I have handbrake installed. I installed Watchfolder and changed to settings identify which folder I want watched, the destination folder, etc. I save my settings and get the pop-up notification that Watchfolder has started watching my folder. When I place videos into the watched folder, nothing happens. Did I miss something?
Thanks!
What type of files are you adding? Are you adding folders of files or individual files? Also send me the contents of the file wsettings.txt in the program folder. Likely something simple.
I’m trying to convert 3gp videos taken with my Droid Incredible to mpeg 4 files that Apple TV will recognize. I looked and I do not have a “wsettings.txt” file in the Videoscripts directory. I have a “config.txt” file with the following contents:
C:\Users\Jason\Desktop\Movies to be converted
C:\Users\Public\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Automatically Add to iTunes
-f mp4 -4 -X 1280 –loose-anamorphic -e x264 -q 20 -r 29.97 –pfr -a 1,1 -E faac,copy:ac3 -6 dpl2,auto -R Auto,Auto -B 160,auto -D 0.0,0.0 -m –verbose=1
mp4
Yes
No
High
0
0
0
0
C:\Users\Public\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Automatically Add to iTunes
1
0
6
0
Any ideas? And what type of coffee do you prefer?
Thanks – can you confirm the file extension of the source files?
Yup… “VIDEOXXXX.3gp”
Thanks. That’s the issue – watch doesn’t watch for 3gp files. ………
I will add it within the next couple of hours, upload and post when done.
Ok, 3gp support now added. Just redownload from the same link…….
The config file is actually “wconfig.txt”.
First, fantastic work, thanks for sharing it with the world! For the most part it works great, though I’m encountering the same problem with drag & drop/cut & paste of folders into the watch folder. Copy & paste as you had found, does work.
But now for something completely different…
I have my filetype set to be .m4v. However all the encoded files are coming up as .mp4. Also, though I set it to “Recreate source folder structure”, it’s not doing so. The files are just dumped by themselves into the destination directory, rather than in a directory of the same name as the source files.
Maybe this is because, due to having to copy & paste my files over, there is already a folder by that name in the source directory? I dunno, I’ll test with it not being there and see what happens but I thought I would mention the issue as I’m seeing it currently.
Thanks again!
Jonathan
OK, confirmed. If you add a directory to the watch folder for encoding, but already have a directory of the same name in the encoded destination directory, the files are dumped in the main destination directory and folder structure is not maintained.
w00t!
Jonathan
thanks for the bug report and testing . i will look at this during the next week and try and get a fix in place. If you drop the files into the directory, problem should not be there.
OK I think I may have just also uncovered why none of my files converted with WatchFolder seem to work properly, despite them working when converted with handbrake directly. I’m doing videos for web viewing, so in handbrake I use the Web Optimized checkbox. WF doesn’t appear to have that feature. Am I wrong about this? Alternatively is there a command line query I could add to the query in WF to make it enable Web Optimization?
Thanks again!
Jonathan
k. will add that to Ui for batch and watch in next release.
Well that was easy… found the answer here:
https://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/CLIGuide
Just add -O to the query and I’ve now got my videos working via WatchFolder. Yeehah!!
Thanks again for the best GUI batch conversion utility for handbrake I’ve seen.
Jonathan
Good stuff! Now for a question…
It’s nice that there’s a “delete source files” option, but what about a “rename source files” instead? Or maybe “rename source directory”. I’m batch converting hundreds of AVIs for the web, and it would be really nice to be able to know afterwards at a glance, which ones have in fact been encoded, and which haven’t. I’ve had random computer crashes, a power outage, and also unexplained failures of handbrakecli to execute at all, resulting in me having to delete from my “to encode” folder, and re-copy the files I want to encode over. But there’s no easy way at a glance to know which of the many folders in my “to encode” folder, have already BEEN encoded.
Make sense?
I guess the primary problem is that the delete option only deletes the specific files that were encoded, and not the directory that they resided in. It would be great to optionally be able to set it to delete the parent directory of the file that was encoded (regardless of how many levels up the parent may actually be, up to the top level of the watched folder anyway).
Hopefully that makes sense, if not feel free to ask for more clarification. =)
Thanks!
Jonathan
As a followup of sorts… Hcli keeps failing to launch and I don’t know why. It works for a few videos and then if I sit here and watch, I’ll notice that nothing is happening and it never launches again. The little transparent dialog is in the lower right corner saying that it’s scanning a file but in fact that file doesn’t even exist to be scanned.
And so it just sits forever and never executes… which means I have to actually delete everything in my watch folder and copy it back in again, which is a real pain.
Any idea why this keeps happening and what to do about it?
Thanks!
Jonathan
By the way… and I know this falls under the category of “don’t do that stupid” but hey, I didn’t have a career in software QA once upon a time for nothing. 😉
If you rename files inside the watch folder, WF never picks up on the name changes and continues to look for the old flies, of course never finding them. Have to then remove the files and put them back into the WF again. Yeah yeah it’s “unintended user behavior” but hey. =)
Jonathan
This is officially driving me crazy now… I can’t get the WF to work at all. Every time I copy & paste directories of files in there, it goes through every file saying “scanning…” but then nothing ever happens. Handbrakecli never runs, and the files are never converted.
For a while over the weekend it was working at least somewhat, it would go through a few directories OK and then just stop and if I deleted everything and re copy/pasted them in, it would work again. But now I can’t get it to run in the first place.
Any suggestions on how I can get it working again??
Thanks,
Jonathan
You’ll need to send me some information:
1. Did you install it from the setup file? Or the zip? 2. I need you to copy and paste the entire contents of the file wconfig.txt into your reply.
Post or email it to customvideoscripts@gmail.com
I used the installer. Here’s the file contents:
—–
C:\To Convert
C:\Converted Videos
-f mp4 –strict-anamorphic -e x264 -q 20 -a 1 -E faac -6 dpl2 -R Auto -B 160 -D 0.0 -m -x ref=2:bframes=2:subq=6:mixed-refs=0:weightb=0:8x8dct=0:trellis=0 –verbose=1 -O
m4v
Yes
No
Medium
0
0
1
1
0
0
7
0
Ok, I replicated your setup here – tested across XP, Vista, Win 7 and it all works as planned – no issues.
If Hb was not running, you would get an error message.
So – have you tried the files in standalone HB? Do they work?
If they do, I will have to build a debugging version for you to figure it out.
Well here’s the thing, if I remove them all and re-add them, much of the time everything will start up again just fine. It’s just this most recent time when it would not start at all. I’ve not seen a specific file that always causes the failure.
But check this out… interesting wrinkle, maybe related maybe not.
Some of my source folders have two versions of the files in them with the same names, but in .avi and .mov formats. So it appears that WF is attempting to convert the file TWICE and presumably also wants to write it again twice, but there is already an .m4v by that name in the destination folder. I just watched as WF tried to transition from the .avi to the .mov and now HB has never launched. I’m wondering if the issue is encountering a file by the required name already in the destination directory?
Jonathan
Yep, me again… pardon me while I clog up your comments! LOL
I’m wondering what the significance is of the WF reporting via it’s little transparent dialog “WatchFolder Encoding” and a filename, but the file looks like it’s already finished and HBcli is not actually running. I have a feeling that WF is hung again and I’m going to have to once again shut it down, remove all the content of my watch folder, turn it back on, and copy/paste all the directories back in again in order to “wake it up”. Am I right? Or if I just leave it for a while will it wake up on its own?
Thanks!
Jonathan
WF can’t actually hang unless another component is hanging – example – HB doing a flip out could stall it. You should be safe to leave it running and it will play ‘catch up’.
It’s a very weird set of issues you have there. So, give me a few days and I will send you a logging version which should tell us where its going wrong for you.
How come you are not simply using batch encoder? From what you say it looks like a more direct solution
I actually don’t know why I’m not using batch encoder. I found it first, but then watchfolder seemed like a much simpler solution… just drop my source files into a folder and presto – everything is converted. My understanding was that batch encoder would be for specifically running a batch job on a predefined set of files at a specific moment. I liked the flexibility of not having to think about anything, just drop the source files into the WF and that’s all.
Anyway for the time being I’ve gotten all my conversions done… but I’m sure I’ll be using WF again in the future at some point and would be glad to offer any bug or usability reports that I can regarding it.
Thanks again,
Jonathan
Ok, problem solved.
Download the latest version at the usual links and all should be well.
Wow so there actually was a problem and I’m not *just* crazy? =)
Awesome response and turnaround time, if only more commercial software developers were like you!
Jonathan
Really nice program! Is there any chance of supporting *.vob files in the near future? (Note: not the whole dvd, just a vob file.)
Thanks!
Yes, working on that currently. its difficult in watchfolder to do both video_ts and vobs – should have that this month at some stage with a few other additions.
Hey – love this concept! I’m no HB expert and I’m a bit confused on how to roll my own preset. I’ve got a xoom and in HB i’m using the Xoom preset (http://bit.ly/e3yVEt). How do I get this added as an option in WatchFolder? Pasting in the XML source doesn’t work at all…
Nevermind – looks like i just need to figure out how to convert the .plist xml format to CLI commands
Import > generate query > copy and paste.
just paste this into the edit field :
-f mp4 –decomb –loose-anamorphic -e x264 -b 2400 -a 1,1 -E faac,copy:ac3 -6 dpl2,auto -R Same,Auto -B 160,auto -D 0,0 -x rc-lookahead=50:8x8dct=0:cabac=0:bframes=0 –verbose=1
save it as ‘xoom’ or something and you are all set…..
Thanks so much for creating WatchFolder for Handbrake. I’m having an issue on Windows 7 64 bit, that I just can’t figure out. I have it working so that when I copy files to the watch folder, or any sub-folder of that watched folder. The problem lies in when I use SABnzbd Plus to download and un-RAR the files. I have told SABnzbd to put certain files in the watched folder directory. It does, but WatchFolder never catches them. If I delete the files or folders in the watch folder, but copy to the watch folder from another directory, It catches them fine. I can’t figure out why the files that are created by SABnzbd (actually created by RAR2) aren’t caught by WatchFolder but copied files are. Any ideas?
Hmm. Watch does have some trouble with cut and Paste operation so if sabnzbd creates the unrar file and then moves it to watch
I would need you to do a quick test – unrar an archive. Cut and paste to your watch folder – does it kick in?
Also – when sabnzbd does the unrar does it create a new folder and then move that to your watch folder?
Doing the above should help me help you….
SABnzbd does create a series of rar files in one folder and the un-rar’s them to the watch folder, or any folder that I tell it. I manually un-rared a file and cut and pasted to the watch folder. It sees the file, but never converts it.
If, however I COPY and paste the un-rared file to the watch folder all works perfectly. The file is converted by Handbrake, moved to the output directory and deleted, as requested.
I noticed the copy/paste and cut/paste files differ in only one way that I can see. The copy/paste file gets a new modify date, while the cut/paste file does not. Is that a clue?
best regards
Say, im using Windows7 and your great programm .. unfortunatly it doesnt/wot work 😦
here my settings :
—————————————————————-
C:\Users\xxx\Desktop\RAWvideos
C:\Users\xxx\Desktop\ipadvideos
-f mp4 -4 -X 1024 –loose-anamorphic -e x264 -q 20 -r 29.97 –pfr -a 1 -E faac -6 dpl2 -R Auto -B 160 -D 0.0 -m –verbose=1 -O -O
m4v
Yes
No
High
5
0
1
1
0
0
4
0
1
——————————————————————————–
Ive got avi RAW videos and want to encode them into m4v.
Would be great if you could advice me on this issue ?
c.u.
Uncheck web optimized from the UI – you seem to ahve already select this when you generated your query in HB. By adding it again in the UI, it generates a bad HB query which will fail HB.
Hi, thanx for your fast reply —- unfortunatly its still not working 😦
Heres my new setting :
——————————
C:\RAWvideos
C:\ipadvideos
-f mp4 -4 -X 1024 –loose-anamorphic -e x264 -q 20 -r 29.97 –pfr -a 1 -E faac -6 dpl2 -R Auto -B 160 -D 0.0 -m –verbose=1
m4v
Yes
No
High
5
1
1
1
0
0
4
1
0
————————–
As soon as i copy a avi-file into the directory a message popups : found file .. waitinig to encode
After thats .. nothings happening ?
SOme other mistake i made/make ?
The only thing I can see is that you have set ‘5’ as the encoder wait time. This means that from the point you see that pop up message it will take 6 minutes before it starts encoding. (5 plus 1 minute hard coded which allows for file copying time) Try setting that to zero. I tested your file here and it works with no issues.
Its working 😉
And i think it had an extra delay due to a virusscanner, but im not sure about that!
Thanx for your help !!!
hey can u get the watch script folde for linux one and can we set the profiles like 720p means one profile and 480p another profile and del the source file
You are awesome! Thank you for all your work on these scripts. Regarding multiple presets for WatchFolder, will that become an option? Combining that with your script “Multiple machine encode”, would be amazing. I’m looking for a way to drop a group of folders into a source folder and have the destination folder end up with the original video and the various other formats and bitrate versions.
/source/video1/file.wmv
to
destination/video1/file.wmv, file2000k.mp4, file1000k.mp4, file512k.mp4, etc…
Again, that backed with multiple computers doing the processing.
Nathan – i currently have that implmented in another custom version which i never released. I will take a look at that code again soon and should be able to pop in the multiple output files with no problem.
Hi thanks for the program its pretty sick. Only problem I am seeing is that after WF finishes conveting the first file it just sits there saying that its scanning the file it just converted. It let it sit for 20 min and there was not change.
Here are my settings
X:\
C:\handbrake
-f mp4 -X 480 -e x264 -q 20 -a 1 -E faac -6 dpl2 -R Auto -B 128 -D 0.0 -m -x cabac=0:ref=2:me=umh:bframes=0:weightp=0:subq=6:8x8dct=0:trellis=0 –verbose=1
mp4
No
No
High
5
0
0
0
Y:\
0
0
2
0
0
Brad – what version are you running? There was a problem with this many versions ago where the box didn’t die but that was fixed. Let me know and i will test accordingly over the weekend.
Hi thanks for the fast response, I am using version 2.1.9 is that an old version?
You have the latest version. Can you send me a name of a file you are processing? Also OS. I will test in the next day or so.
You need to make a Mac OSX version now 🙂
It will come. But likely not until at least December due to current ‘day job’ workload!!
Really a great program. I have it humming along with a crazy DVRMSToolbox process saving to watched folders, the output being copied to a folder structure monitored by Media Center Master. it was a bear to configure but your WatchFolders is the lynchpin. Thanks.
Couple of questions/feature requests:
1 – be able to save and name multiple custom queries. I have some specific parameters I want to set for the various encodings I am doing.
2 – set parameters for the metadata to be saved. For example, I would like the artist field of my TV Shows to have the show name, and the movies have the director. If no plans to allow for mapping/parameterizing, can you include the ‘Artist’ example as standard? The iPod touch will only correctly show the video files as TV shows if artist is set (crazy, I know)
3- More detailed logging options. Include the profile used, start and end time, and any errors that Handbrake throws. Would also be nice to know the ID of the amazon or IMDB record used for metadata.
4- Wash my car. Ok, maybe not!
Again, thanks for all the hard work.
Thanks
I am releasing a version today
From your list
1. Done
2. Artist added but have not had time for custom mapping.
3. Done
4. Not in this release 😉 lol
First of all, wonderful set of programs you have going here that have really made my life a lot easier!
Now for a small request..
Would it be possible to add a simple renaming option to WatchFolder that would at the very least allow you to append/prepend a string to the output file? I like to differentiate between my original full quality videos and ones converted for various devices with a “_device” at the end of the filename.
Thanks!
Yes, I will add this to batch and watch.
[…] files to it after encoding is complete. Programs Required: 1. WatchFolder for Handbrake – download here 2. My batch file – code here or below WatchFolder.exe monitors a given directory (or two) for new […]
I second the need for the “Artist” field to be written with the show name. If TV shows have this blank, the files don’t show up on other devices when using Home Sharing.
Also it would be great if the “Track Number” was filled in with the episode number. This makes it much easier (the only way?) to sort files by episode within Windows Explorer.
Great program 🙂 Thanks!
Thanks to feedback from another user, who had a protracted bug process with Apple, we have managed t find all of the requirements to support this. Implementation in progress.
I have a bunch of AVCHD video files recorded from a point and shoot camera. Files come off the camera with a MTS extension. I can batch convert these using BatchEncoder without any issues (although it does throw an error at the end that there might be a problem and to check the video but they come out fine every time) .
However, WatchFolder doesn’t seem to notice these files when I copy them into its monitored directory. If I change the extension to AVI it can see the file and converts it. This is an easy work around for now but it would be nice to skip the renaming step. Thanks!
Thanks. Now added to the list to do – extension will be supported.
Hi,
I have a video library maintained by Media Center Master of which I only want a select few shows to be transcoded to the iPad. I thought that watchfolder might do the trick – I pointed watchfolder to a folder called “Transcode”, and created shortcuts in this folder pointing to the location of the TV Shows maintained by Media Center Master.
However, Watchfolder does not show any pop ups indicating new files are found. I have attempted to move an avi out and back into the folder, with no luck. Any idea why this is not working?
Here is my setup:
Watchfolder is watching E:/Transcode
In E:/Transcode, there are several shortcuts, example: E:/Transcode/Traffic Light
E:/Transcode/Traffic Light is a shortcut to E:/My Videos/TV Shows/Traffic Light
In E:/My Videos/Traffic Light/Season 1, there is a file TrafficLight-S1E01 Pilot.avi
I have attempted to move the file out and back in to this directory. No pop up occurs from watchfolder.
Also, when a file is being transcoded, is there anywhere I can see what handbrake is working on, or the queue it currently has?
Thanks
Watch doesn’t work with shortcuts , only at actual file level.
Basically, it takes a snapshot when first run. When a new file arrives, it starts the encode. So if you leave it running, and pull files in and out, it will not do anything if it has seen that file before.
It does not list a queue, but does show file notifications in a tray pop up and also progress f current file and file name.
Does that make sense?
Most of that makes sense. So if you are watching a directory with several shortcuts in the directory, the script will not monitor any files that appear within the subfolders of the shortcuts? Is that something you can add to the script?
What about junction points? Will it recursively watch those directories?
I would find a connection to a notifier handy (Growl, Notifo).
Great job so far, man!
I agree. I am trying to make this in exe next release.
[…] 2: Unterhaltung (ab 28:18) Lytro, RepRap, Lenovo Yoga, Galaxy Nexus, Handbrake Watchfolder, Homecinema mit zwei Beamern, TiVo, XBMC, Armin Wolf Twitter / facebook, HC Strache […]
[…] 2: Unterhaltung (ab 28:18) Lytro, RepRap, Lenovo Yoga, Galaxy Nexus, Handbrake Watchfolder, Homecinema mit zwei Beamern, TiVo, XBMC, Armin Wolf Twitter / facebook, HC Strache […]
[…] 2: Unterhaltung (ab 28:18): Lytro, RepRap, Lenovo Yoga, Galaxy Nexus, Handbrake Watchfolder, Homecinema mit zwei Beamern, TiVo, XBMC, Armin Wolf Twitter / facebook, HC Strache […]
Hi
I have installed Watch Folder, then I choose the Direcotry to Watch, Location to save the files, and the rest of the settings, and finally “Update Settings”.
Then I get a message that Watch Folder is watch my folder. What I have to do now? I want to convert avi files.
You copy files into the folder that it is watching. then it converts them and places them in the output folder. If you have avi files in a folder, its quicker and more effecient to batch process them at once with batch encoder
Any hints on troubleshooting the metatagging section? It picks up the files and transcodes them properly, but it doesn’t seem to rename them to the SXXEXX format nor does it add the metadata.
Here is my wconfig.txt:
Y:\Processing\Downloaded
Y:\Processing\Transcoded\TV
-f mp4 -4 -X 1280 –loose-anamorphic -e x264 -q 20 -r 29.97 –pfr -a 1,1 -E faac,copy:ac3 -6 dpl2,auto -R Auto,Auto -B 160,auto -D 0.0,0.0 -m –verbose=1
m4v
Yes
Yes
Medium
0
1
1
1
0
0
6
1
0
0
I will need you to send me three or four sample names of your source files. If you can do that, I can run a quick test and check the same day.
Three files:
aaf-robot.chicken.s05e18.720p.mkv gets converted to Aaf-robot Chicken.S05E18.m4v
The Simpsons.S22E14.Angry Dad- The Movie.mkv gets converted to The Simpsons.S22E14.m4v
Top Gear US S03E05 gets converted to .S03E05.m4v
All have only the following tags when done:
Atom “ctoo” contains: HandBrake 0.9.6 2012022800
It looks like The Simpsons was a correct rename process. Probably need to find a way to drop the Aaf- before processing those. Have no idea what happened with the Top Gear US file. None of them are getting the proper metadata though.
[…] 2: Unterhaltung (ab 28:18): Lytro, RepRap, Lenovo Yoga, Galaxy Nexus, Handbrake Watchfolder, Homecinema mit zwei Beamern, TiVo, XBMC, Armin Wolf Twitter / facebook, HC Strache […]
Hi
I just started using the utilities following a recommendation, let me start by saying thank you, they are fantastic, I have one question regarding the watchfolder however. I notice this does not have the Advanced option that the Batch Encoder has to allow the moving of the Original files once encoding has finished. Is it possible to update the config file directly to enable this, even though not an exposed parameter in the GUI?
Thanks
The RSS feed I use includes both MP4 and AVI files — sometimes MP4 gets downloaded and sometimes MP4. Is there a way, when it’s MP4, to bypass the encoding process and just tag it and add to iTunes?
No, but thats a very good idea and something that had not occurred to me – i see downloads coming in mp4 more regularly now though. Adding it to the next version
Thanks! That’d give me a completely seamless, automated workflow. The inclusion in the next update would be amazing — if you need anyone to assist with any testing, just let me know.
Also, sorry about the double-post — didn’t realize comments needed to be approved and just thought my first one didn’t make it through.
Thanks again!
Oh — and yea, now that MP4 has been adopted as an “acceptable” file type amongst those that regulate these things, you’ll be seeing them more and more often (which, for me, is a good thing).
Is there any way, when the file is already an MP4, to bypass handbrake and just tag and move the files to iTunes?