HandBrake Qt4-native GUI Updated

Update (5/15/09): the code has improved a lot lately and you can download updated binaries from my PPA repository. Directions for adding the repo to your package manager are available here.

Gonza, a developer from the HandBrake forums, added some updates to his native Qt4 HandBrake GUI, known as qtHB, to bring it a little closer to the current code state. I haven't had a chance to do any extensive testing with it, but I wanted to go ahead and post some deb binaries so any KDE/Kubuntu users can give it a shot.

32-bit qtHB (built on a Core2Quad Kentsfield)

These binaries are more up-to-date, but wouldn't package properly, so you'll have to download the qt4-core dependency (and maybe others) manually (sudo aptitude install qt4-core). Run it by double-clicking or by navigating to its directory and typing ./qtHB into a terminal.
32-bit qtHB binary
64-bit qtHB still to come

Leave me a comment if you run into any issues with any of it, or if you have any requests (rpm packages, etc).

If you're looking for CLI or GTK GUI builds of the latest code, check out my post here.

How to Compile QT4 GUI For HandBrake

This is a guide for compiling the QT4 GUI for HandBrake that was updated by gonza from the HandBrake forums. I posted this guide on the Ubuntu forums, but I wanted to post it here as well so it could be updated as needed.

Update (5/15/09): I have working binaries of the latest code available in my PPA repository. Directions for adding it to your package manager are available here.

install git if you don't already have it (sudo aptitude install git-core), along with the dependencies for HandBrakeCLI, then type

git clone git://repo.or.cz/HandBrake.git

navigate to the newly created HandBrake directory:

cd HandBrake

and add the bonne/qhandbrake branch (all on one line):

git checkout --track -b bonne/qhandbrake origin/bonne/qhandbrake

You might need to type git pull just to make sure you're up to date. Then, compile HandBrakeCLI as normal:

make

navigate to the qt4 directory:

cd qt4

and then compile the GUI (dependencies include qt4-core and qt4-dev-tools, I think):

qmake && make

You should be left with a binary named qtHB. This GUI is feature-complete (as far as I can tell), including video previews, a working queue, advanced x264 options, presets, and so on. You can run it by typing ./qtHB into a terminal, or you can copy it into your /usr/bin directory like any other program.

Unfortunately, qtHB *refuses* to bundle into a proper deb binary, but I believe you can download and run my precompiled binaries as long as you have the proper qt4 dependencies installed.
Download 64-bit qtHB
Download 32-bit qtHB

HandBrake GUI Roundup

I previously posted all of this information in a thread at the Ubuntu forums, but I wanted to post it here, too, so I could update it as new versions/information arise. This is a list of all of the GUIs/frontends (that I know of) for HandBrake, along with information regarding features/limitations and development progress for each.

1. GHB is the official GTK GUI that is included with the HandBrake source code (currently just available in the SVN repository). It was written by a swell guy known as JohnAStebbins from the HandBrake forums and it's nearly on par with the OS X GUI in features. However, some people have trouble getting it to compile. On Ubuntu, it requires at least Hardy. (you can download 32-bit and 64-bit deb binaries from here or you can compile from source using HandBrake's official SVN repository [directions here]).

2. qtHB (aka qHandBrake) is an early, yet promising GUI based on the official QT4 HandBrake code that languished in SVN until a HandBrake forums user known as gonza updated it recently. It is still in early development and not yet included in the official SVN code, but it is nearly as complete as GHB and significantly easier to compile (fewer dependencies). (You can read about it here or download and compile it using my instructions here).

3. HandBrakeGTK (aka RippedWire) is a port of a Windows CLI wrapper that requires mono-devel to run. It has a bug that causes it to not pass advanced x264 options to the CLI, which is a total deal-breaker for me. However, its queue feature works well, so it can be useful for batch rips if you don't mind using baseline AVC. It also works well with other codecs, such as xvid, that don't suffer from the adv. x264 opts bug. Another advantage is that you can easily update the HandBrakeCLI backend without affecting the graphical frontend. RippedWire does not appear to be in active development. (read about its history here or download it here. 64-bit users can try this one, which I built from the author's mono project files on my 64-bit system [just install mono-devel, move the executable into the same directory as your HandBrakeCLI binary and type mono HandBrakeGTK.exe]).

4. gHandBrake is a GTK CLI wrapper written from scratch by a guy that goes by Derrik81787. I later added x264 options to it, but I'm a terrible programmer and it ended up really unstable. Derrik seems to have dropped the project because his site for it is gone (Update: he's too busy with classes to work on it now but plans to revisit development in the future), but I would love to see someone tweak the code for better stability (the big issue appears to be with malloc, which I know nothing about; leave a comment if you'd like to pitch in). The major advantage to this frontend is that it is really easy to compile and it has very simple dependencies, unlike the official GTK GUI. (read about it here or download it here).

If you have anything to add, or if you have any corrections, please leave me a comment.