I'm looking to hardsub (burn already-muxed subtitles into) an .mkv file. I've tried Handbrake on the HEVC preset, but I think I took a big quality hit.
According to Windows Explorer properties, the source file has
>video data rate: 8238 kbps
>video total bitrate: 9519 kbps
>audio bit rate: 172 kbps
but the Handbrake hardsub attempt got
>video data rate: 0 kbps
>video total bitrate: 64 kbps
>audio bit rate: 64 kbps
I think I can remux the audio to get it to my liking, but I'm not sure what I can do about the video and subs.
Is this as good as it gets, or should I attempt to compile ffmpeg with the subtitler?
You can always use ffmpeg to do it, if you're fine with CLI
I always use handbrake for this, but my output is a mp4/m4v file. I use the "fast 480p" preset. Works fine, except for sometimes there are multiple subtitle tracks and it's not clear which is the correct one to burn in.