DropFolders is an Adobe AIR 2.0 application to allow HandBrake CLI to monitor watch and destination folders on Windows systems. Includes the ability to define and manage custom presets allowing for endless flexibility with hands-off, batch transcoding!
This application will be available through the Adobe AIR Marketplace since AIR 2.0 is now FINALLY final! If it isn’t up at the marketplace at the time of publication, you can also get it directly from here.
Also be sure to check out my article about DropFolder, AIR 2.0 and NativeProcess API over at InsideRIA.
Want a quick overview? I’ve recorded a walkthrough you can view, below:
Just wanted to thank you for making DropFolders. It’s an incredible little prog and works great! Will you be making a version that will run in the background that can load on startup? Thanks again.
I can build in an option to run on startup if people want that functionality. Can you send me an email detailing explicitly what you would like to see?
The link to directly download it is down :(
Hey- it should be okay now. We were performing a server migration yesterday.
Great program. Helps me get rid of scheduling a batch file for nightly processing.
If you are taking suggestions, I would like to offer one for the ability to process files that are contained in subfolders of the watch folder and give my vote for the launch at startup/background processes.
Thanks for putting this program out there.
I would also be interested in an automated app and also the watched folder sub folders idea…..
What i think would be even better would be to leave the original files in the folder and also convert the videos to an additional folder….
Thanks
I imagine there are a few of us incapable of writing our own “arguments”.
Where can we find some to cut and paste like you did in the demo video?
DropFolders is meant for HandBrake users who define their own specs and are looking to add a watch / destination workflow into their HandBrake activities. An enhancement I have is to bundle some argument presets for new users. Look for that in an upcoming release!
Thank you for the very useful utility, I am looking for this for awhile. Do you have a OS X version so I can use it with Mac??
The hooks for an OSX version are all there. I just need to find an Apple machine to compile it on. Should be out with the next version in a few weeks.
Great APP! Of course MSft updated my system last night right in the middle of a 12 item convert. Only 4 of the items completed but now I cant find the original files to restart the process! Any help?
You can find the the files under C:\Users\{yourloginname}\AppData\Roaming\edu.du.ctl.DropFolders\Local Store\VideoQueue
In the next version, the queue will be placed in a subfolder of either the watch or destination folder to make it more accessible and to prevent large jobs from clogging the C:\ drive as many define watch folders on a dedicated video drive.
Found it, THANKS!
Thanx a lot for making life easy! However i must say it took a while to find out that the most important setting (imo) -q is not set like usual(?). Where in all presets it says -q 0.5, you have to write -q=0.5 to make it work in dropfolders.. could you change this or is it handbrakes fault?
I’ve made no changes to how the HandBrake CLI operates. DropFolders simply issues commands and responds to events from the HandBrake process. I’m in the process of writing in some enhancements and one of the items is a set of useful “drop-in” preset args people can build off of.
Hmm my bad.. It should have been -q0.5 without space. I dont know what -q=0.5 does but it becomes big.
Joseph, any updates on the mac version of this? I saw the comments above that it would be coming in a couple weeks and that was a while ago.
I’ve compiled a mac build but there are some pretty major problems with the TLF components. Still plan to release for mac but is taking longer than I expected.
yep, an OSX version would be amazing.
Thanks for your work on this.
I have just downloaded the mac version. This is exactly what ive been looking for. However I convert my videos to AppleTV format. How do I get the Handbrake arguments to insert for AppleTV format?
You’d have to configure a preset for AppleTV within DropFolders. The default is
-e x264 -q 20.0 -a 1,1 -E faac,copy:ac3 -B 160,160 -6 dpl2,auto -R Auto,Auto -D 0.0,0.0 -f mp4 -4 -X 960 –loose-anamorphic -m -x cabac=0:ref=2:me=umh:b-pyramid=none:b-adapt=2:weightb=0:trellis=0:weightp=0:vbv-maxrate=9500:vbv-bufsize=9500
From: https://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/BuiltInPresets#atv
Hey Joseph… this is great! Very excited to use DropFolders on my Mac. Can you please answer a quick question? I have custom settings saved in Handbrake, how can I add them to the Arguments? Thanks a million!
When you save presets via the HB GUI, it will save them to an XML-based file on the system. In OSX, this file is located at: /Users//Library/Application Support/HandBrake/UserPresets.plist
You are a god among men good sir. Have an awesome Friday!
Hi Joseph–I’m attempting the same thing, I see the XML based file, but wasn’t sure how to parse that into arguments. I attempted to use the HBCLI argument –preset=”Preset Name” for the AppleTV 3, and while it processes the video, it comes out as .mp4 instead of .m4v. I just need to understand how to convert the XML -> arguments. Thanks! Great program and thanks for making available for OSX
Love the app, but I get a crash “DropFolders.exe has stopped working”. Windows 7, updated ver of everything.
When it crashes, it leaves all of my videos in the ‘queue’ folder and I’m left with renaming and moving them back. Feature request – pick up the encoding where it leaves off in the event of a crash.
Well, I actually am planning to open source it sometime this Summer so that people will be able to make contributions and fixes to it! Will make an announcement once this occurs.
First thanks for a program that makes my life a lot easier.
I am looking to change the name on the finnished encode but cant get the handbrake option to work.
I dond supose that is something you use in the dropfolder program in moving the files around?
What I wouldlike is more or less to add the preset name in the end of the filename.
Thank you.
i want to convert any other movie format like flv ,avi, wmv, mpeg to mov format .
can u give me preset for that .
Where do the DropFolders saved presets live..? I’ve managed to create a new preset that must have an argument that the application doesn’t like which causes it to hang. I think my only option is to delete the preset outside the application. I’ve tried an uninstall and reinstall but the preset manages to survive. Any help gratefully received. Many thanks.
It’s a small local database file stored within your user settings. On Windows, for instance, it would be under: C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\edu.du.ctl.DropFolders\Local Store
Hi, I would like to pass as a parameter to handbreak the subtitle SRT file so it could encode it with the movie (soft subs –srt-file). Would be possible to use a DropFolders internal parameter that contains the current file being converted. For Example: video.avi is the video being converted and i would like to pass as a parameter video.srt.
Thanks in advance
Also would be needed the current path. Thanks
Have you looked at the HandBrake CLI guide? https://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/CLIGuide
It contains all possible parameters.
I know this wouldnt be a simple task (or would it?:-))
I would love to see some kind of web interface where we can see the current status of any items in the queue.
I am testing this right now to possibly implement in a large (ish) organisation for network users to compress files before putting them into shared network areas.
Thanks for a brilliant bit of software!
Hi,
first, thank’s for this great piece of work and sorry for my bad english.
I’m not familiar with Handbrake either mit Dropfolders! I try to convert a Media Center outputfile .wtv with
Handbrake to .mp4 it works! After that i try Dropfolders i copy the .wtv file to the Dropfolders input folder
the Program recognize the file and Start with work but it end up with a notice that there is nothing to convert. Did you have any hint for me?
Best regards
Jürgen
Will there be sub-folder support soon? It would be a really nice feature since most of the tagging tools use the folder name rather than the video file name to get the meta data.
Perhaps. I have a new version in the works but what to be included is not solidified.
Wondering if you can build a 64 bits version for windows? I know this version for on 64 bits version but handbrake version is for 32 bits software.
Does any have the arguments for the AppleTV 3?
The new version of DropFolders will have a much wider range of presets built in.
While we’re talking feature requests for the new version, I’d like to second the subfolder support. Many HTPC frontends expect one folder per movie, with the movie file in the folder along with subtitle files, folder art, and other metadata. Since most of my library is already in this format but a variety of file types, I’d like to convert all the existing files to MP4 so I can use an Apple TV & free up the server for other tasks.
I am copying the arguments directly from the handbrake XML (version 0.9.8) and I keep getting “BEGIN ENCODEC:\Program Files (x86)\DropFolders\HandBrake\HandBrake.exe: option requires an argument — x
unknown option ((null))
END ENCODE”
I am guessing that there may be some new arguments for the newer version of handbrake that your included handbrake application does not like. Is there a way to update the version of handbrake included with your software so the new settings will work?
I am trying to use the AppleTV 3 settings: “-e x264 -q 20.0 -r 30 –pfr -a 1,1 -E faac,copy:ac3 -B 160,160 -6 dpl2,auto -R Auto,Auto -D 0.0,0.0 -f mp4 -4 -X 1920 –decomb=”7:2:6:9:1:80″ –loose-anamorphic –modulus 2 -m -x b-adapt=2”
Thank you!