I wanted to give props to the guys who developed and maintained a great little program called HandBrake. I’ve used it on a number of occasions to transcode big MKVs to smaller AVIs that my modded Xbox finds easier to handle.

Every other program I’ve tried is either a trial version, difficult to use, or both. With HandBrake it’s as easy as picking the source video, picking the destination location, picking the encoder you want to use, and then “Start”. There are a number of configured presets along the sidebar for standard outputs which cover iPod, QuickTime, PS3, Xbox 360 and more.

As with any encoding program I’ve found there’s a bit of trial and error involved – some devices are pretty picky about what codecs they use, and even about the customizations of said codec. So depending on what you’re transcoding for, your mileage may vary. But I’ve never found a better program for it.

The Interface is easy, as you can see. There are a number of sub-options available such as Audio – obviously for customizing the audio codec and bitrates. Then Chapters for setting chapter points in the video and advanced for some settings that I generally don’t touch – for experts only.

I find that transcoding widescreen video can be especially testy – again, depending on what you intend to play it with. The aspect ratio can get a bit flaky based on whether you pick a strict or loose aspect ratio setting. It’s an easy solution though – just clip a short piece of what you’re trying to transcode and let it process that, then test the results. Or just let it get far enough into transcoding to have a few seconds to examine. Computers tend to automatically correct and adjust aspect ratios, so you’re best off testing on a DVD player if that’s what you planned. Same goes for XBMC – it won’t encoding mistakes.

What’s even better is that it is available for both PC and Mac, so don’t let the screenshots mislead you. I just happen to only have it installed on my Mini so that’s where I took the screenshots.