MeGUI Custom x264/AVC video profiles.

[Sharktooth]

Ok, since more and more ppl is asking me how to set the x264/MeGUI options, here's the solution: Profiles.

Instructions
Install MeGUI (http://megui.sf.net/) and let the autoupdate run, it will automatically fetch the profiles from the autoupdate server or if you prefer get the profiles archive (below) and use the MeGUI Import Profiles option to import them.
Once imported you will find the profiles in the "Video Profiles" drop down list. Before starting encoding set the bitrate or quantizer (manually or thru the calculator) and adjust the inloop filter accordingly to your needs/taste: keep it 1;1 or higher for anime/toons (max 3;3) and not higher than x264 defaults (0;0) for movies.

Profiles for maximizing Quality and hit a desired bitrate/filesize (2 or more passes, SLOW encoding, High Profile)
HQ-Fast: Quality profile without using advanced R/D features.
HQ-Slow: Pretty slow but not much. Quality is near the best.
HQ-Slower: Slower than HQ-Slow but it tries to squeeze some more compression thru the use of more reference frames.
HQ-Slowest: Same as HQ-Slower with more reference frames.
HQ-Insane: All settings maxed out.

Profiles for Common Encoding (2-passes)
CE-Highprofile: Common settings using high profile options (not compatible with QuickTime)
CE-Mainprofile: Common settings using main profile options (not compatible with QuickTime)
CE-QuickTime: Common settings for QuickTime 7 compatibility.
CE-Baseline: Common settings using baseline profile options (100% compatible with QuickTime 7)

Profiles for maximizing Speed and hit a desired bitrate/filesize (1-pass)
1P-Maxspeed: Everything disabled for max encoding speed (good for live capturing).
1P-Intermediate: Intermediate settings for average speed and final quality.
1P-Goodquality: Settings for good quality with 1 pass.

Profiles for constant Quality/Quantizer (1-pass)
CQ-Lossless: Lossless encoding.
CQ-ASP_Q2_equiv: Almost the equivalent of MPEG-4 ASP Q2 encoding.
CQ-ASP_Q2_eq(crf): Same as above but with "constant quality" (constant rate factor).

Profiles for Anime/Toons (2 passes)
AE-Standard: 2 passes, Main Profile, standard quality.
AE-Goodquality: Slower than AE-Standard, High Profile, higher quality.
AE-Maxquality: Slowest mode with maxed out settings, best quality.

Profiles for Consoles and Portable Devices
PD-PSP: Profile for Sony PSP playback.
PD-Xbox_Hires: Profile for MS XBOX and higher than 512pixels resolution (latest XBMC is needed).
PD-Xbox_LoRes: Profile for MS XBOX and lower than 512pixels resolutions (latest XBMC is needed).
PD-iPod: Profile for iPod Video based on Arstechnica settings (http://arstechnica.com/guides/tweaks/ipod-video.ars/6).
PD-iPod 5.5G: Profile for the new iPod 5.5G.
PD-AppleTV: Profile for the AppleTV based on Kurtnoise13's findings (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1034432#post1034432).
PD-iPhone: Profile for the iPhone based on Kurtnoise13's findings (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1034432#post1034432).
PD-Nokia N95: Profile for the new Nokia N95 cellphone (created by leowai).

Profiles for HD media
SA-HD-DVD: First EXPERIMENTAL Profile for HD-DVD.
SA-HD-DVD_Fast: Still EXPERIMENTAL, but faster Profile for HD-DVD.
SA-Blu-Ray: First EXPERIMENTAL Profile for Blu-Rays.
SA-Blu-Ray_Fast: Still EXPERIMENTAL, but faster Profile for Blu-Rays.
SA-PS3-Xbox360: Profile for PlayStation 3 and Xbox360 comatibility.
SA-PS3-Xbox360_Fast: Profile for fast encoding compatible with PlayStation 3 and Xbox360.

Profiles for DXVA compatibility
DXVA-HD-HQ: High quality profile compatible with DXVA accelerated Hi-Def decoding.
DXVA-HD-Fast: Fast encoding profile compatible with DXVA accelerated Hi-Def decoding.
DXVA-SD-HQ: High quality profile compatible with DXVA accelerated Standard-Def decoding.
DXVA-SD-Fast: Fast encoding profile compatible with DXVA accelerated Standard-Def decoding.

Download link: MeGUI-x264 Custom Video Profiles. (http://mirror05.x264.nl/Sharktooth/?dir=./MeGUI/profiles)

For questions, comments and requests ask in this thread.
Thanks goes to Sirber for suggestions for Anime profiles.

[DryFire]

Why did you choose -2,-2 for the deblocking filter?

[Sharktooth]

Coz i like sharpness, however you're free to change it accordingly to your preferences.

[yaz]

xxlent initiative !
thx a lot
y

[Sharktooth]

Added "Common Encoding" profiles.
Added "Anime Encoding" profiles.
Added "1 Pass Encoding" profiles.
suggestions are welcome.

[leowai]

Thanks a lot Sharktooth. This will be a very good guide line for newbies. :D

BTW, just curious whether you would add more profiles for stand alone players or not?

Such as:

1. Nero Digital Certified Player. I'm not sure whether default settings will work on these players? If x264 works on these players, what's the possible settings for Max-Quality? Can High Profile in x264 be used?

2. Sony PSP (I think some information is available from bob0r's website http://x264.nl/psp/)

Cheers.

[sapient]

Erm... I guess its an oversight but...
the CE-Baseline actualy uses the High Profile...

[yaz]

@leowai
is there any ndc player supporting avc available ? drop me some links, pls.

@sharktooth
what about including these profiles into your x264 pack(s) ?
thx a lot for your efforts !

the bests
y

[leowai]

@leowai
is there any ndc player supporting avc available ? drop me some links, pls.
As you can see below are the AVC profiles available from Nero Recode2:
http://www.nero.com/nerodigital/eng/AVC_profiles.html

These are the Nero Digital Certified Stand Alone Player.
http://www.nero.com/nerodigital/eng/DVD_Players_Recorder.html

[edit:]
Too bad, from the website, I can't find any of the certified players support the AVC profiles yet. They all only support Main profiles ONLY. :(

[stephanV]

Nero Certification is for ASP, not AVC.

[Sharktooth]

Erm... I guess its an oversight but...
the CE-Baseline actualy uses the High Profile...
Thanks, it got "misteriously" overwritten by another profile...
Fixed.

@leowai: there are still no Nero certified AVC SAPs. Those profiles are for ASP players.

@yaz: yes, maybe i will add them in my pack.

[leowai]

@leowai: there are still no Nero certified AVC SAPs. Those profiles are for ASP players.
I've overlooked for the first time. Thinking of Nero Digital Certified SAPs should play those video encoded with certified profiles (Main & AVC) in Recode2. It doesn't actually.

It's just a bit strange where there is no AVC ND certified SAP since ND (with AVC profiles) had been released for months. I mean they should at least have one, shouldn't they? :D

[fight2win]

thanks sharktooth!

[alea35]

for some reason when i use any of these profiles it creates a border around the video when played back.. i have 1280x960 source avi's which i resize with avisynth to 640x480. when i play it back theres a border around all 4 sides of the video and the video is just a sqaure in the middle. any idea?

[alea35]

just wondering could it be the revision of x264 of using?

[ggab]

great!!!!

i will try the Anime's ones :)

[Sharktooth]

just wondering could it be the revision of x264 of using?
no idea.

[nm]

More likely a problem with the Avisynth script. Perhaps it doesn't change the pixel dimensions properly?

[Rafik]

Hi !
Why do use 3 B frame in HQ profiles ? 0 or 1 isn't better ? If i encode a DVD in only one CD, i think i'll have a loss of quality ... But i think it's a good choice for encoding in 2 CD or a DVD-R.
Thanks !

[Manao]

The more bframes, the better. They are adaptively used, so 3 bframes in a row will be used only if they can improve quality.

[Rafik]

Thanks, now i understand this point.
another question : when MeGUI changes the options of x.264, why it doesn't change in the main x.264 codec configuration et vice versa ? who changes who ?

[Sharktooth]

"x.264 codec configuration" icon, configures the VFW codec, while MeGUI uses the CLI.

[Rafik]

c'est aussi simple que ça !
Thanks.

[Sagittaire]

For questions, comments and requests ask in this thread.

add if possible level profil ...
HD standalone player become and they use specific profil and level.

[Sharktooth]

MeGUI-x264 still doesnt support levels :(

[bond]

CE-Baseline: Common settings using baseline profile options (compatible with QuickTime)
quicktime handles main profile!

[Sharktooth]

quicktime handles main profile!
yes, it "should"... but some features are broken. baseline will work with no doubts :P

[bond]

yes, it "should"... but some features are broken. baseline will work with no doubts :Pwhich ones are broken?

[Doom9]

thanks to both aku for the level mapping and sharktooth for taking the initiative and start a MeGUI profile selection :)

[panzerino]

Sharktooth,

I think, it is time now someone here to say to you-THANKS for all your efforts and for the incredible MeGUI-x264 Custom video profiles. I'm simple customer. Without these profiles I was unable to achieve until now good quality. Yesterday I use some of these profiles, and they are marvelous.
Thank you again, and do not forget how many people here appreciate deeply your efforts, knowledge and kindness to share.

[QuadraQ]

Are any of the above profiles usable for xbox compatible x.264 encoding? If not is there any chance that one could be added? Thanks.

[hpn]

Sharktooth, thanks for the profiles. They are all about 10k compressed, so just one file for download instead of 4 would be simpler :). I also guess you are planning to add the profiles to "x264 Full package" in your next build, so people just install it and have the profiles automatically. Or maybe even better, Doom9 could add them to the MeGUI x264 package for those who download the x264 Lite package and MeGUI separately.

[Sharktooth]

which ones are broken?
Sorry, i dont remember which ones.

Are any of the above profiles usable for xbox compatible x.264 encoding? If not is there any chance that one could be added? Thanks.
Maybe, but i'll add a specific XBOX profile ASAP.

Sharktooth, thanks for the profiles. They are all about 10k compressed, so just one file for download instead of 4 would be simpler :). I also guess you are planning to add the profiles to "x264 Full package" in your next build, so people just install it and have the profiles automatically. Or maybe even better, Doom9 could add them to the MeGUI x264 package for those who download the x264 Lite package and MeGUI separately.
You're right. I'll group them in one pack and then, when they're all ready, i'll add them to the "full" installer.

[QuadraQ]

Maybe, but i'll add a specific XBOX profile ASAP.

Thank you! Most appreciated.

[lexor]

Dunno if you need any input on this, but arstechnica has a decent (as far as I can tell) MeGUI guide for putting h264 on iPod. You could take their settings as guidelines for a profile. (it would probably be best to find someone with a video iPod though, just to check stuff works)

http://arstechnica.com/guides/tweaks/ipod-video.ars/6

oh and just to make sure, if checkboxes are checked but are grayed out, it does mean they aren't used right? (i.e. if you choose one of the HQ profiles and then baseline and then show command line, is --analyse all --8x8dct ok in the base profile? I thought that dct stuff enables high profile)

[Doom9]

nice. I never thought somebody else would write a guide for a software I wrote :)

[Cyberace]

Profiles for Consoles
PSP: Profile for Sony PSP playback.
XBOX: Profile for XBOX (XBMC is needed).
Coming soon...VERY nice! Can't wait to see the result of those profiles in actions (after they have been fully optimized?) :cool:

[QuadraQ]

nice. I never thought somebody else would write a guide for a software I wrote :)

BTW I know I'm not the most qualified, but if there's anyway in which I could contribute to documenting MeGUI, let me know, since I have the time and some resources to contribute.

[QuadraQ]

Sharktooth if you need someone to help you test the xbox profile, I have a modded xbox with the latest version of xbmc and would be happy to help.

[Cyberace]

Profiles for Consoles
PSP: Profile for Sony PSP playback.
XBOX: Profile for XBOX (XBMC is needed).
Coming soon...VERY nice! Can't wait to see the result of those profiles in actions (after they have been fully optimized?) :cool:Sharktooth if you need someone to help you test the xbox profile, I have a modded xbox with the latest version of xbmc and would be happy to help.
MPEG4 AVC (H.264) encoding tips for the Xbox and decoding on XBMC:

Hints: Suggest you sacrifice encoding-speed to maximize quality at low-bitrates by using 2 or more encoding passes based on AVC Main-Profile or High-Quality Profile, (aim for 700MB or lower in total-size for 2-hours of encoded-video with audio, ie a 1 CD rip). Note!; Xbox only have a 733Mhz Intel Pentium-III CPU and 64MB shared-memory!, and because of the limited resourses on the Xbox it helps disabling any features in XBMC that you do not use (like ex. Python-scripts, WebServer, FTP-server), also suggest you enable the hardware-overlays renderer, lower the video-cache leverls and disable all post-processing filters in XBMC. By the way, remember that Xbox/XBMC are very good at upscaling/upconverting low-resolutions to higher-resolutions (like ex 640x480 to 720x576, and 720x576 to 720p/1080i).

Please DO use:
- Maximum resolution of 720x576 @ 25FPS and 720x480 @ 30FPS.
- ABR (Avarage Bit-Rate) for video.
- Low Bit-Rate video (suggested maximum ABR; 1400kbit/sec).
- Crop (remove) any black-bars on widescreen movies.
- CBR (Constant Bit-Rate) for audio.
- Max 448kbit/sec LC-AAC or 256kbit/sec HE-AAC audio.
- I/P/B-Frames (though a maximum of 3 b-frames in a row).
- P-Frames (though a maximum of 2 reference frames).
- Weighted Prediction.

Please DO NOT use:
- Loop/Deblocking, (XBMC does support deblocking but it slows decoding).
- Interlaced-output, (instead convert any interlaced-input to progressive).
- Anamorphic resolutions, (instead rescale/stretch as needed during encoding).
- Loop/Deblocking; (this signifantly slows decoding).
- CABAC; brings down the bitrate by ~10-15% but slows decoding signifantly.

The jury is out on these:
- Variable Block Sizes/Macroblock Partitions; decoding not supported by XBMC yet?
- 8x8 intra prediction.
- Audio downmix mode "Stereo" (output channels); 5.1 is slower to decode than 2.0?
(Remember to normilize or use dynamic-decomression the audio during encoding!)

Links to XboxMediaCenter's forum discussions regarding ACV playback on Xbox:
Nero-Digital/x264 H.264 MPEG-4 AVC codec, is the Xbox CPU powerfull enough? (http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.pl?;act=ST;f=2;t=14956)
HOW-TO play Nero AVC (H.264) in AVI by compile MPlayer with latest FFmpeg! (http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.pl?act=ST;f=8;t=13786)
Nero Digital MPEG-4 AVC / H264 in .MP4 containers support (feature request) (http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.pl?act=ST;f=4;t=8555)

PS! XBMC currently uses FFmpeg CVS from around 4th of October 2005, does that support decoding CQM (Custom Quantization Matrix) for H.264?, if not can 'old' FFmpeg before CQM still decode MPEG4 AVC (H.264) encoded with CQM? By the way; does CQM slow down decoding?, if it does even a little then CQM should probebely be disabled for the Xbox-profile anyway?

[hpn]

BTW I know I'm not the most qualified, but if there's anyway in which I could contribute to documenting MeGUI, let me know, since I have the time and some resources to contribute.

[OT]
Nice guide, but allow me a friendly tip: In your future guides don't use links to fixed software versions. Now for example all readers of this high-profile online magazine will keep using x264 rev.334 (if the file is not already removed from the server) in the next months or even years. It's just better to mention the original download page (Sharktooth's or bob0r's) or at least post a disclaimer that newer versions of all tools used in the guide are most likely available.

[Manao]

No cabac ? No inloop ? No high profile ? Use MPEG4 ASP then, h264 won't do you any good without these tools.

[hpn]

It's an iPod guide and unfortunately iPod doesn't support any of the HP features:

http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html

Quote:
Video support: H.264 video: up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats MPEG-4 video: up to 2.5 mbps, 480 x 480, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats

[Manao]

hpn : sadly, iPod doesn't support any of the features of the main profile either.

[hpn]

Yes, baseline and simple profiles only. And don't forget the small screen and all other flaws. If everything is here right now with the first generation who would buy it again in a few months when they announce the next generation. It's called marketing :)

[Sharktooth]

ok, i grouped all profiles in a single archive. some have been changed (anime profiles have always UMH search, hq profiles have -2;-1 as default deblocking, some other changes i dont remember...). So, please, get the update.

[Sharktooth]

Sharktooth if you need someone to help you test the xbox profile, I have a modded xbox with the latest version of xbmc and would be happy to help.
yes, thanks. my xbox has the CPU mod (1.4Ghz) and im not sure if halving the clockspeed it will be exactly the same as a non-CPU-modded xbox. i'll send you a PM with the xbox profile ASAP.

[QuadraQ]

yes, thanks. my xbox has the CPU mod (1.4Ghz) and im not sure if halving the clockspeed it will be exactly the same as a non-CPU-modded xbox. i'll send you a PM with the xbox profile ASAP.

Now I'm envious! :) Still the xbox profile should probably target the "regular" 733 Mghz xbox chip since that's what most people have (and with the right settings can still play AVC files well). If someone is lucky enough to have the chip upgrade, they should be able to use some of the more advanced profiles instead.

[Cyberace]

No cabac ? No inloop ? No high profile ? Use MPEG4 ASP then, h264 won't do you any good without these tools.if you're referring to the Xbox then I agree (as MPEG-4 ASP H.263 is much more suited for playback on 'slow' hardware), however some people now insist on using MPEG-4 AVC H.264 for their encodes no matter if the result is actually of poorer quality than a properly encoded MPEG-4 ASP H.263, (I think they probably just use MPEG-4 AVC H.264 because it is the 'latest and coolest' codec out there right now), even though their stand-alone/set-on-top player can't handle it (limiting them to playing it those videos on high-end computers). But since these early-adaptor people exist and wish to use the Xbox for playback they must restrict themselves when encoding for playback on the Xbox by not using all the bells and whistles (and thus must sacrifice quality).

PS! Personally I think people with Xboxes and other stand-alone DivX/XviD-player should keep using MPEG-4 ASP H.263 for another year or so (especially if they and the majority of their friends share videos and mostly use stand-alone DivX/XviD-players to playback those videos), ....at the very least wait until the MPEG-4 AVC H.264 decoder in FFmpeg become faster at decoding MPEG-4 AVC H.264 than it currently does, and until x264 and other MPEG-4 AVC H.264 codecs becomes more efficient at encoding video in lower bit-rate with higher quality (like how the XviD and DivX codecs have evolved over the years). The developers of the x264 codec and the H.264 decoder in FFmpeg have made loads of progress over the last year and will most likely continue doing so during the year(s) to come, optimizing it and speeding it up enough to make playback on slower machines closer by every month that passes.

[Sharktooth]

a xbox with the CPU mod is able to decode h.264 HP @ SD with almost all the bells and wisthles... pretty good for a 1.4Ghz cpu...

[Sirber]

to use a matrice it's only:

--cqmfile mp4_guy's_AVC_Low_Bitrate_matrix.cfg

?

Thanks!

[QuadraQ]

...(I think they probably just use MPEG-4 AVC H.264 because it is the 'latest and coolest' codec out there right now)...

I know for me I just like being in on the ground floor of a codec that I think will have a much longer reach than any of the MPEG-4 ASP implementations. DivX/Xvid/Nero are great, but I don't think we'll ever really see the support for these in the broad consumer hardware, like we will for MPEG-4 AVC (eventually - good things are worth waiting for).

(Actually we might in the form of backward compatibility, but if it supports AVC, I'd rather use that than ASP)

I prefer to watch things on my TV so the the xbox is good for testing. As you said the optimization for slower processors like the xbox should improve, so I'll be able to help test that out.

[OddbOd77]

Sharktooth, could I also have a copy of the XBMC profile? I've been trying for days to cook up a profile that works properly but despite the videos playing fine, when I skip backwards or forwards XBMC (CVS 2005-10-23) glitches or crashes. It doesn't happen with encodes from Nero so I must be doing something wrong.

[Sharktooth]

to use a matrice it's only:

--cqmfile mp4_guy's_AVC_Low_Bitrate_matrix.cfg

?

Thanks!
yes or --cqm "flat"/--cqm "jvt" (presets).

[Sharktooth]

Sharktooth, could I also have a copy of the XBMC profile? I've been trying for days to cook up a profile that works properly but despite the videos playing fine, when I skip backwards or forwards XBMC (CVS 2005-10-23) glitches or crashes. It doesn't happen with encodes from Nero so I must be doing something wrong.
well, i've fixed the motherboard of my old Xbox so now i have two of them to test the megui profile. gimme some time and i'll put everything online.

[Sharktooth]

V2: added Trellis RD to the profiles. Requires MeGUI-x264 0.2.3.0 (included in x264-Full_r362+)

[pwh04]

Wow - just installed 362 b today and getting almost double fps! with virtually same settings..

[hpn]

HQ-Insane: Same as HQ-Slowest but performs 3 passes.
Sharktooth, in the current profiles HQ-Insane has --trellis 2 while HQ-Slowest has --trellis 1, so either they are not the same as you say in the description, or HQ-Slowest should also be changed to -t 2. I would also recommend you change the profile names, even if you have to use long names (no problem even with 50 chars or so), because the current names are somewhat nondescript. Each time I start MeGUI I have to look at this thread to remind myself what profile is good for (especially when MeGUI randomizes the profiles name order in the drop-down list - I guess Doom9 should fix it). Or at least include a "readme.txt" with profile descriptions (the same as in your first post) in the .7z file.

A possible bug: when I select HQ-Insane, I see "--analyse none" in the MeGUI commandline, no matter that all macroblocks are supposed to be selected. I don't know if this is a bug in MeGUI or something wrong with the HQ-Insane profile (maybe something related to the 3-pass encode) or maybe not a bug at all.

[Doom9]

"--analyse none" is turbo involved? that results in analyse none even if all mb options are checked.
MeGUI randomizes the profiles name order in the drop-down listNot true.. I get a directory listing from the filesystem... they'll always be in the same order. The dropdown is sorted alphabetically on top of that, and the settings file saves the profile that was active when you quit.. it's all fully deterministic.

[hpn]

It's sorted alphabetically in the input tab, but for some reason in the x264 configuration dialog I see this:

http://img487.imageshack.us/img487/3086/order1jz.png

Yes "--analyse none" is only when turbo is checked. I wasn't aware until now. Shouldn't turbo be unchecked authomatically if the user selects a profile explicitly conflicting with the turbo behaviour?

[Doom9]

I wouldn't call unnoticeable loss of quality and a double digit speed gain conflicting with anything. And it appears the profile comes with turbo checked.
As far as the codec configuration screens go, in fact none of them has the sort flag set for the profile, so yes, they are rather at random, but they should always be in the same order nontheless.. they are in an order.. the order the profile names get when being put in a hashtable but that order is normally not humanly comprehensible unless you know which hashing algorithm is used (which I don't have any doubts could be found out). the next release will have all profile dropdowns sorted alphabetically.

[hpn]

the next release will have all profile dropdowns sorted alphabetically.It would be nice. Thank you.

And it appears the profile comes with turbo checked.
Now I'm a little confused.

[Sharktooth]

All profiles have turbo option checked. I fixed the trellis thing for Insane profile on the first post.

[Doom9]

turbo = --analyse none for the first pass..

[Sharktooth]

I upgraded the profiles for MeGUI-x264 0.2.3.1.
Profiles now include B-RDO. I also refined some profiles.

[Chainmax]

All profiles have turbo option checked. I fixed the trellis thing for Insane profile on the first post.

Why do that even on the "insane" and "slowest" profiles? Also, is it safe to assume that x264's AQ isn't completely mature yet since it's not enabled in any profile?

[Sharktooth]

Coz turbo has a so small influence on final quality it can be safely left enabled.
Also i didnt enable AQ coz its settings depends highly on the source.

[redfordxx]

Hi,

does anyone have an experience/recommendation which setting in x264 can be tweaked to improve decoding speed with not big quality loss? I don't care encoding speed...
I wanna do some 720p encodes and with my Athlon XP 2600+ (which doesn't seem to be overclocking-friendly) the playback is at some 90-100% processorload without audio.


How about profiles like:
Terribly-slow-encoding-but-normal-playback
Terribly-slow-encoding-but-fast-playback

[Doom9]

I have a suggestion with regards to the hardware dependant profiles: For hardware playback, audio also matters so it would be good to also have a corresponding audio profile.

[Sharktooth]

@Doom9: Well, video profiles will be included in my builds once they're all ready. Since audio encoding is not intended to be there (i mean with my x264 binaries) i think audio profiles will be a separate thing.

Hi,

does anyone have an experience/recommendation which setting in x264 can be tweaked to improve decoding speed with not big quality loss? I don't care encoding speed...
I wanna do some 720p encodes and with my Athlon XP 2600+ (which doesn't seem to be overclocking-friendly) the playback is at some 90-100% processorload without audio.


How about profiles like:
Terribly-slow-encoding-but-normal-playback
Terribly-slow-encoding-but-fast-playback
1)Try combinations of those options: Lower the reference frames, lower b-frames, disable mixed refs, disable 8x8dct, disable some Partitions.
2)If it's not enaugh disable inloop deblocking
3)If it's still not enaugh try disabling CABAC (but that will hit compression ratio quite a lot).

For what concerns profiles, i will think about them.

[redfordxx]

First, as I haven't been able to find any complete and up-to date doc for x264 (may be you'll advice), I don't know what do some features mean.
1)Try combinations of those options: Lower the reference frames, lower b-frames, disable mixed refs, disable 8x8dct, disable some Partitions.Reference frames means, that different motion blocks in one frame can refer to blocks in certain number of other frames, right?
What is mixed refs for?
What is 8x8dct for?
Partifitons mean this qpel search or so? I thought it's encoding time consuming only

2)If it's not enaugh disable inloop deblockingI thought this relates to encoding, so at decoding time it won't slow down


When I will test the speed, is it relevant when test in on single pass fixquant only?

[Cyberace]

First, as I haven't been able to find any complete and up-to date doc for x264 (may be you'll advice), I don't know what do some features mean.
Reference frames means, that different motion blocks in one frame can refer to blocks in certain number of other frames, right?
What is mixed refs for?
What is 8x8dct for?
Partifitons mean this qpel search or so? I thought it's encoding time consuming onlyThis thread answers most those questions => http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=96059 ;)

[QUOTE=Sharktooth]2)If it's not enaugh disable inloop deblockingI thought this relates to encoding, so at decoding time it won't slow downinloop deblocking signifigantly slows down decoding too

[bond]

does anyone have an experience/recommendation which setting in x264 can be tweaked to improve decoding speed with not big quality loss? I don't care encoding speed...
I wanna do some 720p encodes and with my Athlon XP 2600+ (which doesn't seem to be overclocking-friendly) the playback is at some 90-100% processorload without audio.

How about profiles like:
Terribly-slow-encoding-but-normal-playback
Terribly-slow-encoding-but-fast-playbackdecoding speed also heavily differs between different decoders even if the same settings are used

check the stickies!

[redfordxx]

Bond,

I have read your explanation, referenced by Cyberace. It's nice.
I only don't understand 2 things:

Example: Multiple reference frames
when set eg to 10 it means
1) the frame can reference to frame max 10 frames before
2) the macroblocks in one frame can refer to diferrent frames within 1-10 frames before
or is that the mixed parameter?
and for B-frames similar...

Second, what is 8x8 intra prediction?

....You wanted suggestions, I post it here.

[fiorettoe]

When is planning the constant quality profiles?

Thank you

[smok3]

slightly offtopic, but when i try to construct the command line for x264, how and where can i check what profile will/did happen? (baseline, main, high?)

also how that sharktooths baseline profile looks like in command line? (can somebody using the gui copy/paste the cli please?)

(so far i have random results with x264/mp4box -> qt7 compatibility, no idea whats going on.)

[Doom9]

@smok3: there's no list, but you can either look at the sourcecode of MeGUI - it contains the entire logic of profile and level mapping to x264 options, or just run the software and enable commandline preview.

[smok3]

Doom9: ic, i kinda thought that profile will show directly on cli somehow B)

---

another slightly offtopic question: why is vfw version of x264 even made if the mp4 is to be the one?

[Doom9]

i kinda thought that profile will show directly on cli somehow B)No, it's a complex set of rules.. there are many ways you can screw up by writing your own commandlines because there's so much interdependency between certain options.. it goes far beyond just profiles. To the best of my knowledge, MeGUI is the only software at this point that fully implements this logic.

[Sharktooth]

Due to a bug in MeGUI-x264 almost 1 pass and main/baseline profiles were b0rked.
A new archive is up with fixed profiles and Portable Devices/Consoles profiles.

@doom9: the bugreport is in the main megui thread.

@all the xbox fans: please test the xbox profile and report back, thanks:)

[Sharktooth]

Mooo... replaced 3 passes with 2 since MeGUI-x264 Automated-3-pass in conjunction with "turbo" is buggy and produces suboptimal quality...
If you prefer i can restore 3 passes... but without "fast first pass" (aka turbo).

[leowai]

@Sharktooth,
Just a small matter. The title doesn't reflex the correct date of update. It should be "2005-11-9" rather than "2005-1-9", right?

[Sharktooth]

@Sharktooth,
Just a small matter. The title doesn't reflex the correct date of update. It should be "2005-11-9" rather than "2005-1-9", right?
right... :)

updated the profiles archive. V6 adds megui default settings profile.

[QuadraQ]

Hi Sharktooth,

I downloaded v6 of the profile pack and used the Xbox video profile in MeGUI 2.3.1b using Finding Nemo as my test. Used Low Complexity constant bitrate (128) for my AAC audio using the Nero AAC encoder.

Loaded it on to my Xbox hard drive and tried it using the 10-9-05 build of Xbox Media Center. Was unable to play the video because after the Disney and Pixar introductions (which played smooth as silk) the actual movie stuttered so bad it was unplayable. Any suggestions?

[Sharktooth]

yeah... i have to update the xbox profile coz not everyone will tweak their xbmc settings to have a smoother playback.

EDIT: what resolution and bitrate did you set? also, did you disable any kind of postprocessing or any other video filters?

[Chainmax]

Mooo... replaced 3 passes with 2 since MeGUI-x264 Automated-3-pass in conjunction with "turbo" is buggy and produces suboptimal quality...
If you prefer i can restore 3 passes... but without "fast first pass" (aka turbo).

Would configuring each of the three passes, manually queueing(sp?) them one by one and still using "turbo" produce suboptimal results too?

[Sharktooth]

didnt test it.

[Chainmax]

I just encoded a sample from Trigun this way with deblocking 0/0 and it turned out perfect, whereas using automated 3 passes it needed deblockign 2/2 to look good. I should probably conduct more tests, but I'd say that setting each pass manually avoids the issue.

[Sharktooth]

Ok, thanks :)
However i should wait until doom9 fixes megui.

[Doom9]

Would configuring each of the three passes, manually queueing(sp?) them one by one and still using "turbo" produce suboptimal results too?No.. if you configure manually, you see what you get right away.. if turbo still mucks up, just disable it before going from 3 pass first pass to 3 pass second/third pass. That way, nothing can go wrong.

BTW, you can just load the 2nd and 3rd job created by automated 3 pass, go into the x264 configuration, and make it so that turbo is disabled.. then update the job.

[vendol21]

Hi all.
@XBOX users
I made some tests using x264 VFW with all the nice stuff (CABAC, Deblocking Filter 16 refs, 2 bframes, 500-700 bitrate and 576, 640 res) with mp3 audio .avi format. My XBOX (recent CVS XBMC) can handle this avi with no problems at all. When i use the CLI (not Sharkstooths XBOX profile) with the same options but .mp4 and aac format XMBC freeze after 10 mins of normal playback and also cant go ff and rew.

[Sharktooth]

I (and the xbmc devs) dont think xbox is able to keep up with cabac and deblocking.
Even if you use 576*xxx the xbox CPU has simply not enaugh horse power. So, something went "wrong" with your VFW encode.

[Sharktooth]

Profiles updated.

PD-Xbox: removed weighted prediction and lowered the max b-frames from 3 to 2. Ensure you use 640*xxx resolutions and one of the latest XBMC CVS builds.

HQ-Slower: rised reference frames from 8 to 10.

[helix]

I keep getting over sized encodes for some reason that I've failed to find. I tried using several different profiles to see if that was the souce, and changed the bitrate, but they all seem to come out around 10Mb over each time. Here's the setup -

http://tinypic.com/ftdh5u.jpg

And here's the final encode, not at the correct size.

http://tinypic.com/ftdh88.jpg

There's no audio at all involved with this.
Just for the record, video res is: 704x400 23.976fps.

The log: As far as I can see, the bitrate is right where is should be, so it's not that. Is the container overhead factored in here, or am I missing something completly?

job job1-1 has been processed. This job is linked to the next job: job1-2
Next job job1-2 is a video job. encoder commandline:
"x264.exe" --pass 2 --bitrate 931 --stats "E:\Documents and Settings\Phil\Desktop\Script.stats" --ref 3 --bframes 3 --weightb --analyse all --8x8dct --progress --no-psnr --output "D:\Video Encoding\Test - 300Mb aim.mkv" "E:\Documents and Settings\Phil\Desktop\Script.avs"
successfully set up video encoder and callbacks for job job1-2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Log for job job1-2

avis [info]: 704x400 @ 23.98 fps (67362 frames)
x264 [info]: using cpu capabilities MMX MMXEXT SSE 3DNow!
x264 [info]: slice I:626 Avg QP:21.32 size: 29991
x264 [info]: slice P:24500 Avg QP:24.21 size: 8652
x264 [info]: slice B:42236 Avg QP:25.48 size: 2280
x264 [info]: mb I I16..4: 13.4% 31.2% 55.4%
x264 [info]: mb P I16..4: 4.2% 8.5% 4.5% P16..4: 36.2% 11.3% 5.5% 1.3% 0.9% skip:27.7%
x264 [info]: mb B I16..4: 0.4% 0.7% 0.4% B16..8: 31.0% 1.4% 2.3% direct: 2.6% skip:61.3%
x264 [info]: 8x8 transform intra:47.2% inter:34.7%
x264 [info]: ref P 84.9% 9.7% 5.4%
x264 [info]: ref B 92.6% 5.0% 2.3%
x264 [info]: kb/s:931.2

Actual bitrate after encoding without container overhead: 931.26
desired video bitrate of this job: 931 kbit/s - obtained video bitrate: 933.749626594739 kbit/s
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[berrinam]

I keep getting over sized encodes for some reason that I've failed to find. I tried using several different profiles to see if that was the souce, and changed the bitrate, but they all seem to come out around 10Mb over each time. Here's the setup -

http://tinypic.com/ftdh5u.jpg
Just for the record, video res is: 704x400 23.976fps.
...
avis [info]: 704x400 @ 23.98 fps (67362 frames)
There seems to be some mismatch here: x264 claims the number of frames is 67362, whereas the bitrate calculator claims there are 64591. Doing some maths with this gives some interesting results:

1) 67362 / 64591 * 300MB = 312MB, which is almost exactly the filesize you got. This, to me, shows that this framecount mismatch is probably responsible.

2) 67362 frames / 2694 seconds = 25fps, almost exactly. I don't know how you are inputting this information (automatically, or manually), but perhaps the source is not 23.976fps, as you say.

[helix]

Well it seems the final encode is actually 46:46, while MeGUI had it at 44:54? That explains the frame discrepancy, but why the wrong time?

[Sharktooth]

uhm... corrupted stats file?

[smok3]

whats the inloop filter range? i thought it is between -2 to 6 (megui seems to allow -6 to 6)

Sharktooth: whats the difference between 100% compatibility and compatibility? (talking about dogmatic quicktime)

[Sharktooth]

the difference is "100% compatible" is tested and works OK, while "compatible" means it's made to comply with the quicktime decoding capabilities but it is not assured to work 100% of the times.
Blame apple for that...

[smok3]

tnx,
another question, what is --b-rdo (used in 1P-goodquality)?
doesn't seem to work with my x264 (core:40 svn-367).

(full command line seems to be:
"x264.exe" --bitrate 1000 --ref 3 --bframes 3 --no-b-adapt --filter -2,-2 --subme 6 --b-rdo --weightb --trellis 1 --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,p4x4 --progress --no-psnr --output "" "" )

[Sharktooth]

it works with MY builds of x264. other builds could not have the b-rdo patch.
it uses Rate/Distortion optimizations on B-Frames too.

[smok3]

right, i was using the 'wrong' compile.

[Sharktooth]

However you remembered me to add that info on the first post... thanks:)

[QuadraQ]

Hey Sharktooth,

I tried the latest version of the xbox profile (v7) along with MeGUI (Full) 0.2.3.1b and tried a backup of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Resolution 640 x 352 using Nero for audio (Low complexity profile). Still not working on my xbox, a little better but no cigar. What settings should I use in XMC to optomize performance? Also I'm using the 10-09-05 release build, should I be using a daily build?

[Sharktooth]

use a daily build... yours it's outdated and libavcodec is faster now also ensure postprocessing and blur are disabled.

[Velocity 7]

Nice work on the profiles.

Shouldn't this thread be pinned?

[Sharktooth]

dunno... they will be added (one day) to my x264-Full builds.

[Sharktooth]

Any news from the xbox front?
in the meantime i updated the profiles.
Changes: Rewritten CE profiles (added QuickTime specific profile and modified the others).
General tweaking of other profiles.

[Cyberace]

Any news from the xbox front?yes => http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.pl?act=ST;f=2;t=14956;st=15
Sounds like if lower the resolution to half the native DVD-Video resolution (ie. 360x240 for NTSC or 360x288 for PAL) then you can enable both CABAC and Deblocking without dropping frames at playback on the Xbox, the result will look better than if the video was encoded 640x480 without CABAC and Deblocking (if the same bit-rate is used).

PS! Always remember the golden rule in video and audio transcoding; "garbage in, garbage out", meaning if the original 'input' source video/audio look/sound like crap then the 'output' result will also look/sound like crap ;) so always use the best possible input source available, (eg. if you have or can get/borrow the original DVD9 DVD-Video disc then use than instead of a DVD5 transcoded rip).

[Sharktooth]

uhm, i have my doubts a so low resolution will look better.
However, use those tweaks to improve your xbox AVC playback:
By Rabomil on the xbmc forum

The cache settings are really important to play AVC files without problems. These are the settings I use. But it is important to know that I'm only playing movies from dvd or harddisk. I adjusted my cache settings according to that.

Video/Audio/DVD Cache - harddisk 3072 KB
Video Cache - DVDRom 8192 KB
Audio Cache - DVDRom 512 KB
DVD Cache - DVDRom 4096 KB

ALL OTHER PARAMETERS 0 KB
Also ensure to have all services disabled (ftp, http, telnet ...).

[Cyberace]

Well XBMC scale low-resolution video very well to full screen without loosing too much quality, and bit-rate have a lot to do with it too, the higher resolution you use the higher bit-rate you have to use to keep the same quality; so personaly I think 360x240 H.264 video @ 1500kb/s bit-rate looks better than 720x480 H.264 video @ 1500kb/s bit-rate (with otherwise the same encoding settings) when played back on an Xbox.

[Sharktooth]

360x240 @1500bps is an overkill bitrate. 1500 would be enaugh high to have a dvd like 2.35:1 non-anamorphic encode at DVD (720x304) resolution.

[Sharktooth]

Readded 3 passes for AE-Maxquality and HQ-Insane profiles.

[DeathTheSheep]

360x240 H.264 video @ 1500kb/s bit-rate looks better than 720x480 H.264 video @ 1500kb/s bit-rate

It will look smoother, I can give you that-- but whether or not you'd want to sacrifice the detail of 720x480 is another story...

Try 360x240 at 600kbps. Betcha can't tell the difference ;)

[Sharktooth]

New version is up (v10).
New profiles added (CQ), more info on the first post.
The list is completed. If you have some idea talk now or shut up forever (j/k) :D
I need the final "compatibility" results for the PD profiles too... so if anyone wants to test them please do it now, before i add those profiles to the x264-full package.

[QuadraQ]

OK I finally had some time to download a daily build of XBMC (11-21-05) and install it. Turned off post processing in the options, and tried Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory that I did previously with version 7 of the profiles and still no luck. Any ideas? Are there others settings I need to set in XBMC? I'm playing the movie of the Xbox hard drive BTW.

[Sharktooth]

uhm... can you check the libavcodec version of your build?

[QuadraQ]

how do I find it? I don't see any "libavcodec" or "libav*" files in my XBMC folder.

[hpn]

Profiles for maximizing Speed and hit a desired bitrate/filesize (1-pass)1P-Maxspeed: Everything disabled for max encoding speed.
Just curious. Any special reason for enabling Chroma ME and Deblock Filter in the max speed profile? They do give you about 0.6dB gain, but slows you down about 2 fps (23 to 21 for example). Because it is supposed that the size doesn't matter for this particular profile I would offer you to raise the bitrate from 1000 to 1250 and add "--nf --no-croma" and you'll get the same PSNR but 2 frames faster so it will become really max speed profile :)

btw if someone knows anything faster than
x264 -q 51 -A none -m 1 --nf --no-chroma-me --no-cabac --me dia --no-psnr -o b.mp4 b.avs

just let me know. I've been experimenting with some real time x264 captures (720x576/25fps) from my TV card lately but I'm always 4-5 frames below real time (usually using -q 18 to 24).

[Sharktooth]

@hpn: ok... let's disable loop and chroma ME... in the next version :)
however the bitrate is indicative and not intended to be a fixed value in the profile... :)

@QuadraQ: is it a CVS build or a modified build (Expert, Gasgiver, Pimped, etc...) ?

[hpn]

however the bitrate is indicative and not intended to be a fixed value in the profile... :)
Sure. However I suspect that most people using profiles tend not to change anything, including the bitrate :)

One more thing (I think I've mentioned this before). Just replace CE, 1P, AE, HQ etc in the profiles name with their long meaningful names:

example:
"CE-Baseline.xml" -> "CommonEncoding-Baseline.xml"
"AE-Standard.xml" -> "AnimeToons-Standard.xml"
etc.

I feel that until you do this, the profiles, no matter how good they are, will be simply unusable (and are now) for the casual (and not only) user. The long names may seem a little uglier in the drop-down MeGUI lists, but this is the only way to go if you really want someone to use them. The only thing that you or doom9 may need to tweak in the MeGUI code is to make both profile fields on the main form (especially) and on the x264 codec configuration form 15 pixels wider. There is enough space for it ;)

[Sharktooth]

well, once they get included in x264-Full package they will come with some "docs".

[QuadraQ]

Well I'm not sure what version I have to be honest Sharktooth. I believe it's a CVS build, I just grabbed the latest off xbins and installed it today.

[Hyper Shinchan]

I've downloaded your profiles yesterday and I'm using them with the latest build of megui, but why the PSP profile is baseline and isn't it main? PSP allows multilpe b-frames and reference frames (max 2 b-frames and 2 reference frames, from my tests). And it allows all the Main profile tools excluding pyramid b-frames.
I'd like that you correct this setting, because it's full of guys that claims that "psp=portable shit player" coz it has the problem of mp4 specs and limitations in fps and resolution... and maybe they don't know all the potential of psp (a setting with the 16:9 aspect ratio setted by default is good either).
Or there is a motif that you've setted the baseline profile (and no-b frames and multiple reference frames)?

[Sharktooth]

I based the PSP profile on the informations i found on this forum and on the web.
So if you're absolutely sure the PSP can handle main profile with 2 b-frames and 2 refs i can modify the profile accordingly to your findings.
However my PSP died so i cant test it by myself.

[Sharktooth]

V11 changes:
Removed Loop Filter and Chroma ME in 1P-Maxspeed profile.
Modified the PD-PSP profile to maximize the final quality.
Profiles are now included with x264-Full_r375C package.

[Hyper Shinchan]

I based the PSP profile on the informations i found on this forum and on the web.
So if you're absolutely sure the PSP can handle main profile with 2 b-frames and 2 refs i can modify the profile accordingly to your findings.
However my PSP died so i cant test it by myself.
Well, I'm absolutely sure that it uses Main profile, and from my tests it seems that it can handle all these tools. I've the 2.5 upgrade, so I'm not sure if it's because I have this firmware, but I don't think that it has more features than the 2.0 firmware.
P.S.: your psp died?!?! Downgrade problems?

[Sharktooth]

No, "hitting the ground" problems...
However now the profiles are included in the full package. There are some basic docs too (the things written in the first post of this thread).

@all: if you have your own custom profiles and you want them included (only if they're usefull and correctly working) in the x264 daily builds, please post them here. Also testing is not finished, i just included the profiles into daily builds to have a wider "battlefield".

[Hyper Shinchan]

Oh the good old problem! My old Game Boy had the same problem too ^_^
Yep,I'll post a good profile if I'll find a good one. Anyway a little off topic question: what is the correct 16:9 aspect ratio for a 320x240 resolution? I'm using 36:27, is it good?

[Sharktooth]

What's the original resolution/AR?

[Sharktooth]

New cache parameters for XBMC (thanks to Rabomil).
The cache settings are really important to play AVC files without problems. These are the settings I use. But it is important to know that I'm only playing movies from dvd or harddisk. I adjusted my cache settings according to that.

Video/Audio/DVD Cache - harddisk 4096 KB
Video Cache - DVDRom 7168 KB
Audio Cache - DVDRom 256 KB
DVD Cache - DVDRom 4096 KB

ALL OTHER PARAMETERS 0 KB

[Hyper Shinchan]

Oh my... this cache settings are the bitrate buffer or what else? Anyay I've tried your profile, adding also mixed refernce frames and (for me) it works. Can anyone else try this setting with yours psp?
What's the original resolution/AR?
720x576 16:9, generally. How can I apply the resolution and the A/R to my target 320x240 (i'm not expert with this A/R problem, I'm used to encoding to square pixels).
In my profile I've added the "--level 3" string to make it compliance with the Main L3 that PSP claim to be compatible. I've tried also other level and they work, but I'm not sure about the safe use of this settings.

[Backflip]

Tried latest latest Sharktooth x264 build + PD-Xbox profile + latest XBMC, pretty much latest everything (even updated MP4box recently). The changed cache settings look to be pretty essential to get smooth playback.

- Only thing I changed in the PD-Xbox profile was to 3-pass auto.
- I queued video (640x272) and audio (128/2CH/LC-AAC (HQ)) encoding separately, then muxed both together at the end.
- I encoded a trailer with slow and fast movement (Nostalgia trailer from Star Wars Episode 3).

Before changing the cache it'd drop over 8 frames, after changing cache, no dropped frames.

[Sharktooth]

Oh my... this cache settings are the bitrate buffer or what else? Anyay I've tried your profile, adding also mixed refernce frames and (for me) it works. Can anyone else try this setting with yours psp?

720x576 16:9, generally. How can I apply the resolution and the A/R to my target 320x240 (i'm not expert with this A/R problem, I'm used to encoding to square pixels).
In my profile I've added the "--level 3" string to make it compliance with the Main L3 that PSP claim to be compatible. I've tried also other level and they work, but I'm not sure about the safe use of this settings.
x264 uses SAR and 16:9 is DAR. The formula for converting the aspect ratio from DAR to SAR is explained in the FAQs (Q17) in the x264 daily builds sticky thread.

@Backflip: Rabomil managed to enable cabac and loop filter with 640*xxx resolution without having frame skips. That sounds pretty interesting, dont you think?

[Backflip]

I just read through the XBMC forums thread about it, but wasn't it talk about needing to lower the resolution to 320x*** and then CABAC and deblocking may have been possible? Anywho I'll give it a try - 640x272 w/ CABAC and deblocking enabled.

edit - encoded @ 640x272 + CABAC and Deblock (0,0). The video is pretty much a slideshow with the audio playing at normal speed.

[Cyberace]

Suggestion; separate profile/profiles for '3D' CG (Computer Graphics) movies (such as ex: Madagascar)

[Backflip]

Dunno if it's a fair contest, but I encoded at a 336x144 the same trailer. This time I used CABAC and deblocking. I had to use a lower file size / bitrate because I kept on getting errors that suggested I should either lower bitrate or change qauntizer. Dunno how much to adjust quantizer by though :(

Clip played ok, but was clearly poorer than the other 640x272 -no CABAC -no deblocking file, but however I did use half the bitrate on the 336x144 encode.

[Sharktooth]

I just read through the XBMC forums thread about it, but wasn't it talk about needing to lower the resolution to 320x*** and then CABAC and deblocking may have been possible? Anywho I'll give it a try - 640x272 w/ CABAC and deblocking enabled.

edit - encoded @ 640x272 + CABAC and Deblock (0,0). The video is pretty much a slideshow with the audio playing at normal speed.
try substantially lowering the bitrate variance.

[Sharktooth]

Suggestion; separate profile/profiles for '3D' CG (Computer Graphics) movies (such as ex: Madagascar)
There's not much difference (if any) from the HQ profiles.

[Limobar]

Dunno if it's a fair contest, but I encoded at a 336x144 the same trailer. This time I used CABAC and deblocking. I had to use a lower file size / bitrate because I kept on getting errors that suggested I should either lower bitrate or change qauntizer. Dunno how much to adjust quantizer by though :(

Clip played ok, but was clearly poorer than the other 640x272 -no CABAC -no deblocking file, but however I did use half the bitrate on the 336x144 encode.

Try using AC-3 sound instead of AAC. AAC uses quite some sources.

x264, 640x272, ac-3 (multichannel), cabac, b-frames, deblocking. It's all possible. Try my sample, with the mentioned before cache settings I use.

Rabomil aka Limobar

[Sharktooth]

I will split the PD-Xbox profile in PD-Xbox_Hi-res and PD-Xbox_Lo-res. "Hi-res" will be the actual one (maybe with some other tweaks).
The "Lo-res" one will have CABAC, Deblocking and other stuff enabled.

[Backflip]

Try using AC-3 sound instead of AAC. AAC uses quite some sources.

x264, 640x272, ac-3 (multichannel), cabac, b-frames, deblocking. It's all possible. Try my sample, with the mentioned before cache settings I use.

Rabomil aka Limobar

Gotta change to Mencoder or something for support of writing AVC with AC3 audio? I prefer to stick with Sharktooth's x264.exe at this time. Maybe I'll change container though.

edit - tried 640x272 x264 + original 2CH AC3 + CABAC + Deblocking in an MKV container. All other PD-Xbox settings unchanged.

Got 19 dropped frames.

edit2 - tried a lower bitrate encode 640x272 x264 + 128Kbps LC-AAC + CABAC + Deblocking *MP4*. No dropped frames. Bitrate average according to MeGUI's calculated was around 695 kbps.

[Sharktooth]

v12: updated PD-Xbox profiles.

[Sharktooth]

any reports?
QT? X-box? iPod? PSP?

[DarkFoon]

right now I'm working on some TV caps for a friend with quicktime (they are mac-only)
They'll have it by monday, and hopefully will report back to me if it plays or not.
I'm using the quicktime profile, but I've made it 3-pass because I didn't think it would affect compatability. That won't affect it will it?

[quake74]

I'm encoding some tv stuff for PSP but I have a problem with compression: during the second pass the fps starts dropping below 10fps and continues to go down. I know somebody else who had the same problem and I sent him a PM, still waiting for an answer. Now I'll trim the source and see if that helps.

[berrinam]

@quake74: Why is this a problem? Perhaps x264 is just having to search harder for MVs, or do other complex calculations.

[quake74]

@quake74: Why is this a problem? Perhaps x264 is just having to search harder for MVs, or do other complex calculations.

Well, I know encoding x264 is harder, but it cannot be 100 times harder. The speed goes below 10fps and it continues to decrease, after 1hr (for a 29 mins clip) it was telling me that 2 more hours were needed, and so I decided to abort. Anyway, doing more tests as we speak with the latest x264.

[Sharktooth]

right now I'm working on some TV caps for a friend with quicktime (they are mac-only)
They'll have it by monday, and hopefully will report back to me if it plays or not.
I'm using the quicktime profile, but I've made it 3-pass because I didn't think it would affect compatability. That won't affect it will it?
No it won't :)

@quake74: that behaviour is perfectly normal and below 10fps is still perfectly normal...
can you post your x264 commandline options and your system specs?

[Sharktooth]

V13: Updated PD-iPod profile with Level 1.3.

[Sharktooth]

V14: Updated CE-QuickTime profile with 5 reference frames and 1 B-Frame.

[Randall]

FYI QuickTime can do up to 2 B-Frames. I'm not sure why you experienced a jerky picture with more then 1 B-Frame, but I haven't experienced this problem at all yet using 2 B-Frames.

[quake74]

Ok, I reinstalled everything and maybe the slowdowns are gone, but I am only doing tests on trailers so it takes just 5 mins to encode them anyway (and it doesn't have time to go below 20fps).
I tested the results from megui against the ones with pspvideo9 (well, ffmpeg) using http://compression.ru/video/quality_measure/perceptual_video_quality_tool_en.html
comparing 256kbps and 384kbps for both encoders. The bframes do improve the picture: using the Madagascar (HD) trailer I can recognize the megui one but the 384 from ffmpeg is still better than the 256 from megui. I tried also with the Doom trailer, but it's a lot harder to spot the differences. The differences are visible on the psp screen as well, but you need to know where to look.

I could try increasing the bframes or using pyramid, but if somebody else confirms they do not work, I'd rather not waste my time..

[puffpio]

2nd pass taking 3 hours for a 30 min clip w/ x264 seems reasonable depending on your cpu speed and what settings used

a 45 min clip using sharktooth's hq-insane profile takes about 23 hours for the 2nd and 3rd pass each...12 hours on the first pass (athlon xp 3000+)... (using tdeint + ff3dfilter)
without any avisynth filters (except deinterlace) it would take abuot 3 hours on the first pass and 14-15 hours on the second and third passes each.

[Sharktooth]

FYI QuickTime can do up to 2 B-Frames. I'm not sure why you experienced a jerky picture with more then 1 B-Frame, but I haven't experienced this problem at all yet using 2 B-Frames.
I know, but i tried it by myself (reinstalling CrapTime 7.03) and i experienced the same "skippy" behaviour.
Maybe "Adaptive B.frames" kicked in in your encodes and limited the b.frames number...

[Backflip]

In terms of Xbox, it's still a little hit & miss as to what you can expect to be able to play and not.

With normal settings @ 640x272 resolution playback there were dropped frames on the encode I did, if I had enabled CABAC and Loop.. created in a x264 + 2CH AC3 *MKV* file. Keeping in mind that was for the particular Star Wars Nostalgia - slow / fast action teaser trailer. Even Limobar had the same dropped frames. However, Limobar requested I upload the Nostalgia teaser (from Star Wars Episode 3) to him so he could do other tests and report back I assumed. He's since encoded the teaser using Nero AVC with CABAC and deblocking options enabled @ 720x304 res @ 2Mbit/s. He says this plays ok on his Xbox. I can't play it without dropped frames on mine, even with adjusted Cache settings.

I was actually waiting for Limobar to give the details of his tests, but alas he hasn't replied which is disappointing. Another agenda he has perhaps. I did suggest he could post his findings because it'd be helpful, but ah well.

[bond]

I've noticed a few wierd things going on with Sharktooth's x264 build 381.
It seems that after about 1 hour of encoding, (on any pass without 'turbo' turned on)
the fps just begins to slow down. I'd call it a memory leak, except it isn't. Its like a processor leak, if such a thing exists.
It doesn't even matter what the source is, anime or 'real' video. Or how long it is, ~30mins or ~60 mins. Just after 1 hour of encoding (not one hour of source, mind you), the fps starts dropping from about 7 fps until it reaches something like .96 fps. It would probably drop even further if it weren't for the encode being done.
I've only noticed this problem since I upgraded to Sharktooth's build 381. The earlier one worked just fine.
Is this a known issue? (am I in the right thread?)1) this doesnt belong to this thread
2) you already posted exactly the same in the x264 dev thread (where it belongs), so no need to doublepost

striked

[quake74]

@darkfoon: I had the same problem (see my post above) but I'm doing tests with small samples, so maybe it's gone, or maybe not.

Need help from PSP people: I encoded the Madsagascar trailer (the happy birthday songs cracks me up everytime) with 3 ref (and 2 bframes) or using pyramid bframes, and they don't play ("This video cannot be played.") but using mixed reference (with 2ref 2bfr) or 3bf (and 2 ref) produces videos which are playabale on my PSP (firmware 2.0). Can anybody else confirm this? Or it's just they x264 does not actually uses mixed ref or 3bframes in this particular encode?

Edit: More tests (this time with the Doom trailer): I can use 3bf and mixed ref at the same time, and also 4bframes (with 2ref) works for me.

[bond]

Need help from PSP people: I encoded the Madsagascar trailer (the happy birthday songs cracks me up everytime) with 3 ref (and 2 bframes) or using pyramid bframes, and they don't play ("This video cannot be played.") but using mixed reference (with 2ref 2bfr) or 3bf (and 2 ref) produces videos which are playabale on my PSP (firmware 2.0). Can anybody else confirm this? Or it's just they x264 does not actually uses mixed ref or 3bframes in this particular encode?did you use sharktooth's psp profile?

[quake74]

did you use sharktooth's psp profile?

Yeah, his latest. I only changed the parameters I mentioned. So, when I say 3bframes, I mean auto 2pass with turbo, 256kbps, 250keyframe,2ref no mixed, 3bframes adapt no pyr, deblock filter, cabac, subpixel 6 rdo slow, weight predic, chroma me, main profile (I4x4 P4x4 P8x8 B8x8), rdo for bframes.

[bond]

Yeah, his latest. I only changed the parameters I mentioned.well his profile is made for ensuring that playback on the psp works. if you change the parameters you shouldnt be surprised that it suddenly doesnt work...

[quake74]

well his profile is made for ensuring that playback on the psp works. if you change the parameters you shouldnt be surprised that it suddenly doesnt work...

I'm not surprised that some options do not work, I am surprised that some options (like 4 bframes) DO work. If we get confirmation that this is indeed true for other psp and video as well, then sharktooth could update his profile.

[Sharktooth]

it's likely you had "adaptive" checked and 4 b-frames were never used.
to see if it works uncheck adaptive b-frames and re-encode with 4 b-frames.

[quake74]

4 b-frames doensnt work. it's likely you had "adaptive" checked and 4 b-frames were never used.

Yes, I was using the adaptive bframes (along with 2ref frames but no mixd ref)
but I still think it has 4 bframes in there. The only way I know of counting the bframes is opening the file in MPC and let ffmpeg print the frame type on the OSD and go frame by frame. I looks to me that around frame 474-477 and around 1078-1081 I have seen two sequences of 4 bframes. The file is http://rapidshare.de/files/8726733/maq10302.mp4.html

[Sharktooth]

remember if you use the standard b.frame bias and adaptive b.frame, x264 rarely uses more than 3 b.frames.
however i'm downloading your clip an will check it.

EDIT: Yes, the clip has indeed 4 b-frames sequences. Are you sure you do not experience frame skips during playback?
however the psnr gain moving from 3 to 4 bframes is not significative and maybe negative.

[quake74]

remember if you use the standard b.frame bias and adaptive b.frame, x264 rarely uses more than 3 b.frames.
however i'm downloading your clip an will check it.

EDIT: Yes, the clip has indeed 4 b-frames sequences. Are you sure you do not experience frame skips during playback?
however the psnr gain moving from 3 to 4 bframes is not significative and maybe negative.

No, I'm not sure that I do not experience frame skips: the screen is small, I used changefps(29.97), and I am rather tired ;). You can download the orginal trailer from http://trailers.divx.com/Universal/Doom_HD.zip and check yourself if you want. Anyway, I'd rather have opinions from other people. Moreover, can you (or anybody else) confirm that 2refs and 3bframes with mixed refs works? (If you repaired your psp ;) )

[Sharktooth]

No, still unrepaired.

[bond]

Yes, I was using the adaptive bframes (along with 2ref frames but no mixd ref)
but I still think it has 4 bframes in there. The only way I know of counting the bframes is opening the file in MPC and let ffmpeg print the frame type on the OSD and go frame by frame. I looks to me that around frame 474-477 and around 1078-1081 I have seen two sequences of 4 bframes. The file is http://rapidshare.de/files/8726733/maq10302.mp4.htmli get jumpy playback with this sample (not very often, but its there)

sharktooth: ?

[Sharktooth]

@bond: my PSP is still broken so i cannot do tests for PSPs.

[bond]

@bond: my PSP is still broken so i cannot do tests for PSPs.i meant do you get jumpiness on your pc?

[Sharktooth]

oh.. i thought you were trying on a PSP :)
i didnt notice it.. but ill deeply check it later.

EDIT: does not "jump" here...

[ShawnFumo]

First, thanks to Sharktooth so much for these profiles! It helps so much, because of the crazy number of options the codec has. :)

A quick question to anyone on CE-Mainprofile and Quicktime. It says in the first post that CE-Mainprofile is not compatible, but I just encoded something using it and it played it in QTPlayer successfully (7.0.2). Should I be safe, or should I be worried about it not playing on Macs for instance? Mainprofile seems like better quality, so it'd be neat to be able to use that instead of CE-QT if I can.

It just seems strange to me that the profile specifically says it isn't compatible when my first try with it was fine. Maybe I just got lucky?

Shawn

[Selur]

maybe I overlooked it,..

Is there a table/list/.. that shows what features/settings are en-/disabled / used in the profiles? (something like a overview ?)

Cu Selur

Ps.: I know I could examine the xml files,.. a little overview would be nice.

[Backflip]

Ok, after further concentrated effort I can confirm the Xbox can decode atleast 720x304 resolution Nero AVC + 2CH AC3 inside an MKV file. Settings used:

(GENERAL SETTINGS)
Decision quality: High Quality (maximum)
Maximum vector range: -512 to 511.75
Maximum reference frames: 3
Maximum GOP size: 300
Maximum B-frames: 3

(ENCODING TOOLS)
CABAC: Yes
Bidirectional prediction: Yes
Macroblock partitions: No
Weighted prediction: No
Deblocking: Yes (=0)

(VISUAL ENHANCEMENTS)
Source material: Chroma optimization
Psycho-visual enhancements: Disabled

What would be the equivalent to all of these settings^ in x264? Maybe it would be possible to play the same file 720x304 resolution x264 if similar settings were used.

Additionally it is impotant to use these cache settings for smooth playback:

Video/Audio/DVD Cache - harddisk 4096 KB
Video Cache - DVDRom 8192 KB
Audio Cache - DVDRom 256 KB
DVD Cache - DVDRom 4096 KB

ALL OTHER PARAMETERS 0 KB

And also, this is very important -- enable Smoothed A/V synchronization. It is disabled by default.

[Sharktooth]

... almost the settings you can find in the xbox low-res profile except macroblock partitions and weighted prediction

[Sharktooth]

V15:
updated AE-Maxquality, CQ-ASP_Q2 (both), HQ-Insane, HQ-Slowest and PD-Xbox (both) with No Fast P Skip option.

[Backflip]

... almost the settings you can find in the xbox low-res profile except macroblock partitions and weighted prediction

Do you think a file I make using 720x304 minus the macroblock and weighted prediction will work on the Xbox? - edit: didn't work* :(

I digress a bit, but I've noticed my source has got deliberate grain, which looks to me is getting rather smooth and noticeably blocky in others. Deblocking doesn't have this effect does it? Interestingly I noticed in the Nero AVC encode, that Limobar did, the detail is kept in that particular part grainy part of the video. It's significantly closer to the original I believe. Both files used about the same encoding settings. - edit: jumped the gun with this comment, x264 looks fine at similar encoding settings as Nero.

*Ok, I tried again to encode at 720x304. I used PD-Xbox_LoRes, but dropped Weighted Prediction. I'm not sure where the Macroblock option is though. I also changed Minimum Quantizer to 14 to keep my bitrate at around 1950kbps+. Muxed with AC3 in an MKV after. Frame rate is like 10-17 fps and there are dropped frames on Xbox.

[Sharktooth]

Well, Xbox cant do miracles... :(

[asdfsauce]

Thanks Sharktooth, very helpful. ^^

[Sharktooth]

V16: fixed CQ-ASP_Q2_equiv. Had quantizer 26 instead of 18 (dont ask me why!).

[Backflip]

Well, Xbox cant do miracles...

That's the thing though, why is it possible to be able to play the Nero AVC material at 720x304 (with very good quality). This is my objective -- to play x264 + AC3 *MKV* at similar quality as the Nero AVC which was encoded and with a 720x304 resolution.

[Sharktooth]

disable all macroblock options (set to "none") and try again.

[quake74]

Hi Sharktooth, sorry for bothering you and I don't know how much it matters from the quality point of view, but in your latest (v16) profiles you still have "no mixed ref" and 2 bframes, but it seems to me (on three different trailers) that mixed ref and 3 bframes is safe (let's just forget about 4 bframes just to be on the safe side). I must confess that I haven't heard from anybody else. Now I'm trying with a 24mins episode of a sitcom (man x264 is slow on my pentium m 1.83ghz).

EDIT: I forgot to mention I was talking about the PSP profile.

[Sharktooth]

well.. adding mixed refs it will be even slower :)
however i'll update in the next version (v17).

[Sharktooth]

V17: updated PD-PSP profile with mixed-refs and 3-bframes.

[Sharktooth]

maybe I overlooked it,..

Is there a table/list/.. that shows what features/settings are en-/disabled / used in the profiles? (something like a overview ?)

Cu Selur

Ps.: I know I could examine the xml files,.. a little overview would be nice.
Sorry it's still in my "todo" list.

[Sharktooth]

V18: Removed No-Fast-PSkip from profiles coz it slows encoding and since the x264 Rev386 should fix the problem in most cases without No-Fast-PSkip.

[nrx][Natas]

@quake74: Good to read you can encode again.

So, i don't really know what the status of the PSP-Profile and 4 B-Frames thing is but i tested it and it works. Based Sharktooths PSP profile.

[Caroliano]

Acording to bond's tests (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=748863#post748863), you will make the probeskip defaut for all profiles? I still think that in the more insane profiles the nofastpskip option can remain.

[Sharktooth]

I was thinking the same thing...

[Sharktooth]

V19: Re-added no-fast-pskip for the HQ-Insane and AE-Maxquality profiles.

[Sharktooth]

[Natas']@quake74: Good to read you can encode again.

So, i don't really know what the status of the PSP-Profile and 4 B-Frames thing is but i tested it and it works. Based Sharktooths PSP profile.
From v17 the PSP profile has 3 b-frames and mixed references enabled.
4 b-frames is not necessary because it doesnt help rising the quality.

[Chainmax]

I just noticed that the AE-Maxquality profile has automated 3-pass and turbo enabled, does that mean that the issue is solved now?

[Sharktooth]

everything should be working.

[Chainmax]

Thanks for all the hard work you are putting into this :).

[Chainmax]

AE-MaxQuality doesn't seem to have the "no fast p-skip" option enabled in v19.

[Sharktooth]

yeah.. you're right... both have no-fast-pskid disabled...
i was sure as hell i updated them...

well... v19a contains the fixes.

[Chainmax]

I just made an encode with v19 with AE-Maxquality and deblocking 0/0, does having the no-fast-pskip option disabled affect the quality in any way on rev387?

[Sharktooth]

yep, but it greatly depends on the source, no-fast-pskip should fix the blue sky and similar blocking issues.

[Chainmax]

Nah, a clip I was encoding earlier showed some extremely erratic motion and I wanted to know if that was caused by the lack of this option. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[Backflip]

Interesting time I'm having encoding a short clip I have. It has some film grain, and even under the latest CQ profiles it is unpleasantly blocky, same with Insane mode. I would really like x264 to encode the grain as it looks instead of smoothing it out. Have tried loop turned off and on. The CQ-ASP_Q2_eq(crf) encode looks very decent even compared to the Insane and other CQ ones. Maybe Lossless is the only way to make the video look good on the film grain parts.

The part that's blocky is light Blue + has film grain. Maybe it's not hooking onto that part of the video so much.

Why do they put this film grain in movies btw?

Anyhow nice work with the profile updates and MeGUI too :)

[Sharktooth]

Nah, a clip I was encoding earlier showed some extremely erratic motion and I wanted to know if that was caused by the lack of this option. Thanks for clearing that up for me.
extremely erratic motion? like flickering blocks?

[Sharktooth]

Interesting time I'm having encoding a short clip I have. It has some film grain, and even under the latest CQ profiles it is unpleasantly blocky, same with Insane mode. I would really like x264 to encode the grain as it looks instead of smoothing it out. Have tried loop turned off and on. The CQ-ASP_Q2_eq(crf) encode looks very decent even compared to the Insane and other CQ ones. Maybe Lossless is the only way to make the video look good on the film grain parts.

The part that's blocky is light Blue + has film grain. Maybe it's not hooking onto that part of the video so much.

Why do they put this film grain in movies btw?

Anyhow nice work with the profile updates and MeGUI too :)
Ensure you have the latest v19a profiles... for some reason the no-fast-pskip option was disabled in insane mode. it should help with the sky issue.

[Chainmax]

extremely erratic motion? like flickering blocks?

Not at all, I can't really describe it but you can download a sample encode I made here (http://www7.rapidupload.com/d.php?file=dl&filepath=5249).

[Sharktooth]

Is it possible to aim for a specific filesize when encoding with MeGUI?
For example: I wanna encode a transport stream to dvd size using the HQ-Insane profile and have a 250mb ac3 file...
So in the end the video filesize should be 4220mb. If possible at all where could i adjust this?
Yes, select the source and the output file. Select the profile you want to use then click on Tools -> Bitrate Calculator menu.
Go to the audio track and specify the size or the bitrate of the audio stream or even better, if you have the audio altready encoded, click on select and load the file.
The calculator will recalculate the video bitrate accordingly to the size you specified.

[Sharktooth]

Not at all, I can't really describe it but you can download a sample encode I made here (http://www7.rapidupload.com/d.php?file=dl&filepath=5249).
What build produced that encode? And with what settings?

[Chris Benoit]

Sharktooth,isn't the bitrate (1000) on your psp profile a little too much for psp too handle on avc?

Will the video run smooth,or is there any chance that it will lag?HAve you tested it?

[Sharktooth]

Before starting encoding set the bitrate or quantizer (manually or thru the calculator) and adjust the inloop filter accordingly to your needs/taste: keep it 1;1 or higher for anime/toons (max 3;3) and not higher than x264 defaults (0;0) for movies.
it's in the first post...

[Backflip]

Indeed :)

Ensure you have the latest v19a profiles... for some reason the no-fast-pskip option was disabled in insane mode.

Yip, I'm using v19a. About the only mode I haven't tried is Lossless. I really thought CQ-ASP profiles would keep the film grain on the light blue background.

Encodings are around 103MB vs original which is 108MB (4:3 music video).

[Shinjite]

Just to confirm, the deblocking filter, anything lower than 0 (-x) is for sharpness and anything higher than 0 is for smoothness right?

[Doom9]

Yup, the lower the value, the less strong the filter, the higher the value the stronger the filter. And stronger filtering means smoother output (and less detailed).

[Sharktooth]

Indeed :)



Yip, I'm using v19a. About the only mode I haven't tried is Lossless. I really thought CQ-ASP profiles would keep the film grain on the light blue background.

Encodings are around 103MB vs original which is 108MB (4:3 music video).
Uhm... i smell there are still some problems with low luma blocks...

[Chainmax]

What build produced that encode? And with what settings?

Like I said, that doesn't fit with the description you gave me of possible problems that could be caused by x264. The filterchain used in this was trying to decimate the source to 12fps and then use motion compensated FPS conversion back to 23.976fps which is likely what caused this. x264 performed flawlessly on a slightly different filterchain, so don't worry.

[bdogg]

Is it just me or is files.x264.nl down? I've tried for a couple of days to download the link in the first post but it just hangs...

Can anyone point me to a mirror or maybe upload the package to some free hosting provider?

Thanks!

[Sharktooth]

yeah, the server is down.
however the profiles are now included in my x264-full builds (sticky thread). the mirror should work...

[bdogg]

Ah, yes, the mirror to the full x264-full build works fine.

Thanks for the quick response, and all your contributions in general, Sharktooth! :D

[CrAcKo]

I have a few questions about using the profiles, how exactly do I load a video file?
I can now only open AviSynth files, I have no idea what these are either.

Will I also be able to merge with audio?

[SenorKaffee]

Download and install AVISynth - it´s basically a scripting engine. Documentation how to use it is included.

[smok3]

iam just using my old bat file and replacing the x264.exe with newer versions, would something like this still be valid:

x264 --pass 1 -B 500 --ref 1 --bframes 1 --filter -2,-2 --subme 7 --weightb --trellis 1 --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,p4x4 --stats "%video%.stats" --progress --output NUL "%gentemplateext%"
x264 --pass 2 -B 500 --ref 1 --bframes 1 --filter -2,-2 --subme 7 --weightb --trellis 1 --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,p4x4 --stats "%video%.stats" --progress --output "%videoext%.mp4" "%gentemplateext%"

with x264 core:42 svn-389M (built by Sharktooth) ?
(or is there a faster way getting same quality, or would you suggest something else?)

edit2: i replaced that with sharktooth's qt ce profile:

x264 --pass 1 --bitrate %bitrate% --stats "%video%.stats" --bframes 1 --subme 1 --analyse none --me dia --progress --no-psnr --output NUL "%gentemplateext%"
(should i call that 'turbo 1st pass'?)

x264 --pass 2 --bitrate %bitrate% --stats "%video%.stats" --ref 5 --bframes 1 --subme 6 --b-rdo --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,p4x4 --progress --no-psnr --output "%videoext%.mp4" "%gentemplateext%"

----

also, was there a huge quality boost with latest versions of x264.exe or am i just imagining things?

----

edit: another thing: could 'we' get a -ver switch or something that would spit out some oneliner like 'x264 core:42 svn-389M (built by Sharktooth)' ?

[CrAcKo]

wow things are getting too complicated for me, I think I'm better off setting the configuration manually, instead of trying to use scripts.

I think I successfully managed to encode a videoclip which duration is 1:15 minutes, and is 8.44 mb of size. The quality looks good so far...

[DigitalDivide]

I'm tying to figure out what profile I should be using to encode my movies. Currently I use HQ-Slower and go for a target size of between 2 - 2.2GB. I notice that the avg between rate usually varies between 2000-2500 depending on the movie. The reason I do this is to get 2 movies per DVD. I'm just wondering if I should be selecting something like a Constant Quality 1-Pass and just enter in the desired bitrate of say 2000. Would I be better off? I'm a little confused as to which would actually give me a better encoded movie? I'm assuming with the Constant Quality pass, I have no control over the filesize and would expect a filesize of over 2GB for most 2hr movies say for example Cinderella Man?

Would I see much of a difference between HQ-Slower and HQ-Slow at these file sizes?

[Sharktooth]

2000-2500 kbps? well, you can use xvid then...

[Sharktooth]

iam just using my old bat file and replacing the x264.exe with newer versions, would something like this still be valid:

x264 --pass 1 -B 500 --ref 1 --bframes 1 --filter -2,-2 --subme 7 --weightb --trellis 1 --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,p4x4 --stats "%video%.stats" --progress --output NUL "%gentemplateext%"
x264 --pass 2 -B 500 --ref 1 --bframes 1 --filter -2,-2 --subme 7 --weightb --trellis 1 --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,p4x4 --stats "%video%.stats" --progress --output "%videoext%.mp4" "%gentemplateext%"

with x264 core:42 svn-389M (built by Sharktooth) ?
(or is there a faster way getting same quality, or would you suggest something else?)

edit2: i replaced that with sharktooth's qt ce profile:

x264 --pass 1 --bitrate %bitrate% --stats "%video%.stats" --bframes 1 --subme 1 --analyse none --me dia --progress --no-psnr --output NUL "%gentemplateext%"
(should i call that 'turbo 1st pass'?)

x264 --pass 2 --bitrate %bitrate% --stats "%video%.stats" --ref 5 --bframes 1 --subme 6 --b-rdo --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,p4x4 --progress --no-psnr --output "%videoext%.mp4" "%gentemplateext%"

----

also, was there a huge quality boost with latest versions of x264.exe or am i just imagining things?

----

edit: another thing: could 'we' get a -ver switch or something that would spit out some oneliner like 'x264 core:42 svn-389M (built by Sharktooth)' ?
I thought this was the MeGUI Custom x264/AVC video profiles thread...

[smok3]

i have focused on 'Custom x264/AVC video profiles' only, sorry if thats completely ot.

[DigitalDivide]

2000-2500 kbps? well, you can use xvid then...

Well I like quality, and I definitely see a difference in quality between XVID and x264. So assuming I want to stick with what I now am using, would there be much of a difference between HQ Slow and HQ Slower at filesizes of approx 2GB? Right now using HQ Slower a movie takes about 18hrs to encode on my P4 2.8. If I can bring that time down but with roughly the same quality I'd be happy.

[Sharktooth]

There's definatly some difference but that's not so big.
HQ-Slower uses 10 reference frames, mixed references and b-rdo while HQ-Slow only 5 refs, no mixed refs and no b-rdo.
You should do a test encode and see if you're satisfied by the HQ-Slow quality.

[Sharktooth]

v20: Updated profiles with the new --bime x264 option.

I also moved the archive to another server.

[dvbm]

hi,

been testing some x264 (latest build) with megui and QT7 (non pro) and i'am having some difficulties getting a stream working properly with QT7..

I'm testing a video only stream using CE-Baseline and the other one QT7 compatible and all QT can do is decode one frame from times to times or usually no frames at all showing a nice brown background..

Are there any other things i should take care of in order to make QT7 compatible streams ? Don't know if it comes from the encoder or muxer, i haven't updated my mp4box for a few months

thx

[Sharktooth]

well... update mp4box then... :)

[bond]

quicktime is a damn slow decoder, it also doesnt really work fine here (slow, choppy, crappy)

[dvbm]

well... update mp4box then... :)


well note sure i'm doing any muxing with mp4box, in fact i think i don't, x264 outputs the stream packaged in mp4 transport right ?

besides my mp4box version seems to be the latest one so i don't really know what's wrong but i'll probably stop trying making h264 QT7 compatible content with x264 coz it really seem to be something hard to achieve as far as i could read..

[bond]

whats your cpu? maybe your system is simply not fast enough for qt's slow decoder

i mean if you dont change any settings in sharktooths qt profile for megui things should work fine

[BlackSharkfr]

Hello.
I have got an IPod Video. So i tested your profile but it didn't worked (refused by ITunes)
Then i noticed in the Megui thread that the AVC level wasn't added in the command line.
So i added the command "--level 1.3" and it worked.
As long as Megui isn't updated, you should add the command to the custom commands for the IPod profile.

About Megui and AVC-level validation :
And the AVC level validator doesn't seems to work, it always wants to use level 5 and aven if you say you don't want to change the avc level, it still does it, and if you checked all macroblocks it makes the profile crash because there is a macroblock forbidden in level5 (i don't remember which one) but allowed in level 1.3.

[berrinam]

Then i noticed in the Megui thread that the AVC level wasn't added in the command line.
This was added in version 0.2.3.1026, from 29 Dec 2005. You probably don't have the newest build.

About Megui and AVC-level validation :
And the AVC level validator doesn't seems to work, it always wants to use level 5 and aven if you say you don't want to change the avc level, it still does it, and if you checked all macroblocks it makes the profile crash because there is a macroblock forbidden in level5 (i don't remember which one) but allowed in level 1.3.All bugs should be fixed now.

[CruNcher]

@berrinam
are you sure everything is ok with profiles handling now ?
for example i getting this error "P4x4 macroblocks are not allowed in level > 3 or in level 3 with B frames" if i try High Profile @ Level4 with P4x4 analyse enabled
in Sharktooths 0.2.3.1031 build that comes with x264-full 395. But in the standard you can't find that P4x4 isn't allowed with High Profile settings @ Level 4 ?

[berrinam]

@berrinam
are you sure everything is ok with profiles handling now ?For me, they are.
for example i getting this error "P4x4 macroblocks are not allowed in level > 3 or in level 3 with B frames"That, in itself, is not a bug. For some reason (don't ask me, ask akupenguin), that is part of the levels requirements.

in Sharktooths 0.2.3.1031 build that comes with x264-full 395. Alas, v0.2.3.1031 is a work in progress, so I don't know whether that build includes my changes.

[dvbm]

whats your cpu? maybe your system is simply not fast enough for qt's slow decoder

i mean if you dont change any settings in sharktooths qt profile for megui things should work fine


It's not a fast cpu, athlon xp1700 but i was only trying to encode some 720x576 pal mpeg to 720x576 h264 at 700kbps and 1000kbps..

do you really think QT player can't play that kind of file ?

well i've got my answer, the CPU just hangs at 100% when playing those encodes !! this is crazy..

but i was deceived by my first tests because the muxing is not working properly, the muxed stream lasts almost twice longer than the original audio/video files and when i hit the overtime part then QT player goes wack and won't play anything back..

Unfortunately those mux won't work in VLC either, i got no sound and the muxed stream length is also wrong..

Anyways i've got my QT playback answer that's already something..

[jmk]

sharktooth, i read that you don't have much time right now, but would it be possible for the next edition of your wonderful "megui custom video profiles" to add some to the "CE" part like: "best possible quality at good/high/highest speed" with two passes?
the reason i am asking is, i like the "highprofile" quality wise, but speed wise it is a real bummer on my athlon xp 2500+ (first pass ~22fps / second pass ~5 fps). so i would like to know which part of it should i deactivate to get higher speed without losing to much quality (if there even is such a part).
thank you for your profiles in the first place, though, they have helped me alot!

jmk

[Sharktooth]

Well, i dont think it's possible. If you want quality, speed will be low...

@berrinam: MeGUI 0.2.3.1031 is now released.

[berrinam]

@Sharktooth: With the addition of OneClick profiles, my intent was to create an absolute no-brainer way for creating video for iPods and the like. I've attached a set of profiles which really allow the OneClick mode to operate very simply: open the input, select playback device, and press go.

These profiles are designed for the iPod, based on the arstechnica settings, and the video profile is just the one you distribute. I've attached two different oneclick profiles, because I don't know whether the resolution should be 320x240 or 320xanything.

Could you have a look at what I've attached, and see if this sort of thing is worth continuing?

The profiles are attached and on rapidshare: http://rapidshare.de/files/10545301/iPod_OneClick.zip.html

[Sharktooth]

iPod Video can support MPEG4 file formats up to 480x480 at 30 frames per second.

[JarrettH]

Thanks SOOOO much sharktooth! I'd go mental if I had to research every single H264 setting. I enjoyed toying around with XviD but this is just way to comprehensive for my tastes :D

Today's accomplishments:
- ac3 ---> aac
- realizing TV is 29.97 thus i can use forced film since i won't be watching it on one

I'm still scratching my head as to why the interlacing disappears when using forced film though.:confused:
I'm going to compare HQ-Slow and HQ-Slowest tomorrow on the movie Broken Flowers, anyone see it? :0

[berrinam]

[Feature-promotion]
@JarrettH: Regarding interlacing and forced film, etc: Just because it is 29.97 doesn't mean you can used forced film. This only works if the source is actually film, which isn't necessarily the case. If all the interlacing disappears, that's fine, but you're lucky, in that case. If you're not sure about what to do, why don't you try using MeGUI full version (get it from sourceforge: https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=156112), and the AviSynth script creator now has automatic deinterlacing.
[/Feature-Promotion]

[JarrettH]

Ah neat thanks, I see they added that on Jan 13 (today). I'll have to update!
I forgot to input 16:9 AR last night, but fortunately I discovered the encode only took 5hrs for both passes! So I can run Slow and Slowest overnight ;)

Where is this script creator you are talking about?

[berrinam]

Heh, the 'they' who added it was me. No wonder I'm promoting it.

Anyway, you need the full version of MeGUI, and you go to Tools->Avisynth Script Creator.

[The Link]

Do I need a special avisynth plugin to use the automatic deinterlacing analyzer because when I load a movie and press the analyze button megui crashes (also happens when ticking "crop" which is probably another issue). MeGUI version is 0.2.3.2017.

[berrinam]

Aah, yes you do.... sorry. Download Decomb and put it in your AviSynth plugins directory: http://neuron2.net/decomb/decomb522.zip

[The Link]

Ah ... thanks! Works great now. Should I report the crop bug in the MeGUI bug report thread separately or is it enough that you know of it now (it should be perfectly reproducable)?

[berrinam]

Report it, as it isn't reproducible as you have told me. It works fine for me.

[The Link]

Hmm ... i just found out why you couldn't reproduce it: It seems that you have to leave the preview window open to use crop in the avisynth script generator. I didn't know that this is neccessary (i already had the crop values so i tried to simply insert these after having closed the preview window). Probably not a bug but it would be nice if cropping would also work when the peview window is closed (in the end it's jut a line in a text script that gets inserted).