The information provided in the following article intended as an educational resource and is provided as is. Serato Audio Research does not develop Handbrake and as a result does not offer any support aside from issues relating to using this preset. Should you have any other questions about the operation of this product then please contact the developer of the software at the Handbrake homepage. If you have any questions about using this preset with Handbrake, please start a help thread here. Make sure to include as many details as possible.

Many production facilities now supply their outputs on DVD. If you own footage that has been provided on DVD and need to play it in VIDEO-SL here is a guide on how to convert it using the freeware application Handbrake. .

Before we get started please visit our article on Video 101 to give you an overview of the terms used in the following tutorial.

Handbrake can convert VOB files/DVD's to various formats with many different settings. We have created a preset for files that will work well in VIDEO-SL.

1. Quit handbrake

2. Download the Handbrake VIDEO-SL preset for Mac here.

3. Unzip this file to your desktop.

4. Drag the unzipped file called 'UserPresets.plist' into the directory located on your computer here: /Users//Library/Application Support/HandBrake/

5. If prompted choose to replace the existing one

The Settings in the preset are for an MP4 file with H.264 codec and an average bitrate of 2000kbps we have found that these settings have produced a good balance between file size and CPU usage. Once you are comfortable with handbrake you may want to further tweak this to suit your needs.

When you launch Handbrake there should now be a new preset option titled Video-SL which contains all the necessary settings to convert video files which are optmized for Video-SL.

Converting a DVD to a format Video-SL can read is a fairly straight forward process.

When you launch Handbrake you will be greeted with

This is where you choose what you want to convert. You can either choose a whole disc, a folder containing the contents of your DVD or individual VOB files. A VOB file (Video Object) is what DVD-Videos use as their container format. It contains Video, audio, Subtitles, and Menu content.

Once you have made your selection you will be presented with the following screen

Click the Video-SL preset in the sidebar to load it.

Click Browse next to the destination box to choose where you want to save the file.

Click start to begin conversion, this can take quite a long time depending on the length of what you are trying to convert.

The Handbrake Chapters drop down menu will show you all the available chapters that you can import directly from the DVD. To select multiple chapters, choose the first chapter number through to the last video on the list that you would like to convert.

For example if you only want to convert the first video on the disc, choose Chapters: 1 through: 1, and if you'd like the first 10 videos choose Chapters: 1 through: 10. Select the Video-SL preset, then click the "Start" button.

3. Converting multiple jobs

If there are videos which you do not want to convert within a range of numbers you've selected, choose a different range, allowing a gap for the excluded videos and then create a new range with the other chapters you want. Each time you select the desired chapters, choose the Video-SL preset then click the "Add to Queue" button, to store your selected "jobs" until you're ready to convert them all.

You can check and edit the jobs in the queue by clicking "Show Queue". When you're happy with your selection choose the converted file destination on your computer, then click "Start".