Default settings:

• Input = /home/user/media/transcode_input
• Output = /home/user/media/transcode_output
• H.264 video codec (Change in config.json. More in "Configuration" section)
• 320 kbps audio bitrate

About the Script

Simple-Transcoder is a simple and effecient way to transcode video files. It uses HandbrakeCLI under the hood to transcode video files. It is designed to be run as a schedualed task or manually. I am not a python programmer, so forgive me if this is not up to python standards.

Prerequisites

1. Install HandbrakeCLI

sudo apt install handbrake-cli

2. Install Python

sudo apt install python3

3. Install ffmpeg

sudo apt install ffmpeg

Installation

1. Update your packages and libraries

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

2. Install the Simple-Transcoder script by running

git clone https://github.com/oliverdougherC/Simple-Transcoder

3. Navigate to the Simple-Transcoder directory

cd Simple-Transcoder

Configuration

1. If desired, change the transcoding settings in the config.json file.

nano config.json

Usage

1. Run the script

python3 run_transcode.py

The first time you run the script, the it will create the default directories specified in the config.json file if they do not exist.

2. Sit back and relax while the script transcodes your videos.
3. If you run into an error or are just curious, take a look at the log file

cat logs/transcoding.log