Well, Handbrake settings are a matter of choice. If you ask 10 people what the best settings are you’ll probably get 10 different settings.
Anyway, one thing it depends on is whether you are going to encode as mkv or mp4. Personally, I prefer mkv over mp4 due to being able to passthrough DTS with mkv which cann’t be done with mp4. Also, mkv is a more versatile container and seems to cause less problems with media players than does mp4.
With that said, if your going to use mkv, then 2 pass doesn’t matter since it can’t be selected. Its better to use Constant Quality over Average Bitrate or Target Size (there is no variable framerate to select). Also, RF 18 is a little high, most of those who have been using Handbrake for a long time recommend somewhere between RF 20 - RF 19, and Handbrakes own wiki states:
- Standard Definition (e.g DVD’s)
Use an RF value of around 20 +/- 1
- High Definition (e.g Blurays 720/1080)
Use an RF value of 22 +/- 1
The reason that you are getting jittery video may be due to having your RF set to high.
Personally I set it to 19, it ends up as a larger file but the end results is as good as the original You may have to play around with the RF setting though because different videos will require different settings. I also use either AC3 passthrough or DTS passthrough (when available) as I don’t see any benifit other than a slightly small size file in using another codec. And you’ll end up with less problems playing files if you use passthrough.
You may also want to check the Handbrake forum, which would be the best place to find answers, there are a lot of users there that have posted there own settings for different types of videos.
