For those that want to keep the YTS going (No, IDGAF about people that don't care for YTS quality) get HandbrakeCLI https://handbrake.fr/downloads... and use the following settings:
user@user:~$HandBrakeCLI -i /file/input.mp4 -o /file/out.mp4 -E fdk_faac -B 96k -6 stereo -R 44.1 -e x264 -q 27 -x cabac=1:ref=5:analyse=0x133:me=umh:subme=9:chroma-me=1:deadzone-inter=21:deadzone-intra=11:b-adapt=2:rc-lookahead=60:vbv-maxrate=10000:vbv-bufsize=10000:qpmax=69:bframes=5:b-adapt=2:direct=auto:crf-max=51:weightp=2:merange=24:chroma-qp-offset=-1:sync-lookahead=2:psy-rd=1.00,0.15:trellis=2:min-keyint=23:partitions=all
** Don't Re-encode already shitty encodes...get good source!**
I've tweaked these a little bit, and I've been using this preset to encode EVERYTHING to 720p. TV Shows and Movies, shorts, Youtube rips (lmao I know they're shite quality to begin with, but I can't tell the difference during playback as long as the base resolution is above 720)
Handbrake has had a few updates since this main post, and the advanced settings are more exposed in the GUI now, so the extra options can just be copied and pasted into the advanced sections.
I've bumped the audio bitrate a bit, and tightened the CRF slider slightly, and I'm getting within 5-10 megs difference of MODERN YTS encodes, so I'm happy to use it to encode movies that haven't been posted, and of course encoding TV Shows.
I'll tack the json onto the end of this post, just make sure to set the tuning to the correct source, and tweak the filters yourself if you're starting with interlaced media and such. For a BD Rip or even a 1080p+ webrip, these settings are real nice. For classic cartoons, no matter the starting resolution, I drop the resolution down to 480, ultralite and animation tune for denoise with NLMeans, and drop the audio down to 96kbps.
{ "PresetList": [ { "AlignAVStart": true, "AudioCopyMask": [], "AudioEncoderFallback": "av_aac", "AudioLanguageList": [ "und" ], "AudioList": [ { "AudioBitrate": 128, "AudioCompressionLevel": 0, "AudioEncoder": "av_aac", "AudioMixdown": "stereo", "AudioNormalizeMixLevel": false, "AudioSamplerate": "44.1", "AudioTrackQualityEnable": false, "AudioTrackQuality": -1, "AudioTrackGainSlider": 0, "AudioTrackDRCSlider": 0 } ], "AudioSecondaryEncoderMode": true, "AudioTrackSelectionBehavior": "first", "ChapterMarkers": false, "ChildrenArray": [], "Default": true, "FileFormat": "av_mp4", "Folder": false, "FolderOpen": false, "Mp4HttpOptimize": true, "Mp4iPodCompatible": false, "PictureCropMode": 0, "PictureBottomCrop": 0, "PictureLeftCrop": 0, "PictureRightCrop": 0, "PictureTopCrop": 0, "PictureDARWidth": 0, "PictureDeblockPreset": "off", "PictureDeinterlaceFilter": "off", "PictureCombDetectPreset": "off", "PictureCombDetectCustom": "", "PictureDenoiseCustom": "", "PictureDenoiseFilter": "off", "PictureSharpenCustom": "", "PictureSharpenFilter": "off", "PictureSharpenPreset": "medium", "PictureSharpenTune": "none", "PictureDetelecine": "off", "PictureDetelecineCustom": "", "PictureColorspacePreset": "off", "PictureChromaSmoothPreset": "off", "PictureItuPAR": false, "PictureKeepRatio": true, "PicturePAR": "auto", "PicturePARWidth": 0, "PicturePARHeight": 0, "PictureWidth": 1280, "PictureHeight": 720, "PictureUseMaximumSize": true, "PictureAllowUpscaling": false, "PictureForceHeight": 0, "PictureForceWidth": 0, "PicturePadMode": "none", "PicturePadTop": 0, "PicturePadBottom": 0, "PicturePadLeft": 0, "PicturePadRight": 0, "PresetDescription": "YTS Quality Conversion", "PresetName": "YTS", "Type": 1, "SubtitleAddCC": false, "SubtitleAddForeignAudioSearch": false, "SubtitleAddForeignAudioSubtitle": false, "SubtitleBurnBehavior": "none", "SubtitleBurnBDSub": false, "SubtitleBurnDVDSub": false, "SubtitleLanguageList": [ "eng" ], "SubtitleTrackSelectionBehavior": "all", "VideoAvgBitrate": 0, "VideoColorMatrixCode": 0, "VideoEncoder": "x264", "VideoFramerate": "23.976", "VideoFramerateMode": "pfr", "VideoGrayScale": false, "VideoScaler": "swscale", "VideoPreset": "placebo", "VideoTune": "", "VideoProfile": "auto", "VideoLevel": "auto", "VideoOptionExtra": "cabac=1:ref=5:analyse=0x133:me=umh:subme=9:chroma-me=1:deadzone-inter=21:deadzone-intra=11:b-adapt=2:rc-lookahead=60:vbv-maxrate=10000:vbv-bufsize=10000:qpmax=69:bframes=5:b-adapt=2:direct=auto:crf-max=51:weightp=2:merange=24:chroma-qp-offset=-1:sync-lookahead=2:psy-rd=1.00,0.15:trellis=2:min-keyint=23:partitions=all", "VideoQualityType": 2, "VideoQualitySlider": 25, "VideoTwoPass": false, "VideoTurboTwoPass": false, "x264UseAdvancedOptions": false, "PresetDisabled": false, "MetadataPassthrough": false } ], "VersionMajor": 50, "VersionMicro": 0, "VersionMinor": 0 }