video encoding is far from my area of expertise but i can advise

1. your CPU is fine as long as its getting proper cooling (if it hasnt overheated and auto-shutdown, then it’s ok). Also, 80°F? slightly above comfortable room temperature? you probably misread 80°C, a more reasonable temperature for a CPU at maximum overdrive. Which is fine, CPUs get hot. 90°C is where the problems start. EDIT: 80°C is very hot actually, make sure your fans are working as hard as they can.

2. Video encoding is just a really complex process that takes its sweet time no matter what, but just in case you can check if handbrake is converting to x264 or x265. x265 is very nicely compressed but takes longer, though its probably doing x264 by default.

3. check out ffmpeg (ffmpeg.org) for the technology behind HandBrake that you can use on its own, presumably with more options… if youre willing to read all those docs 😵‍💫. But when you have the basics down it makes mass-converting videos with shell scripts super powerful.

F to a real one always there for me when i was too lazy to torrent.

o7

libgen is trustworthy, best place for free non-fiction including lots of theory. libgen.is is just one of their domains, see also libgen.rs and libgen.st.

HTTPS encryption is enough to not get the feds on your ass for downloading this but if youre that paranoid you can use a VPN