Any reasons not to switch over from Xvid?

[futurex]

Hello all,

i usually use xvid to back up dvd's and such, and i've been playing around with x264 for a while, and am thinking of permanently switching over to it.

are there any reasons not to do that? eg. is it future proof? easy to convert to other formats (such as dvd)? any horrible bugs we should know about? etc

appreciate your time :thanks:

[ChronoCross]

Well I wouldn't switch over right now cause no player other than computer supports the format. It is much better than xvid and doesn't have any bugs that I know of. Still if you plan on using the backed up DVD's anytime in the near future use xvid. Else x264 would be fine to use.

[futurex]

thnx chronochross, i forgot to mention, this is strictly for PC playback :)

[Selur]

cpu usage of the h.264 is a lot higher, so switching to h.264 would require faster pcs. ;)

[futurex]

thankyou selur, i can decode 720p no troubles, so its not an issue :)

anything else we should know? keep 'em coming

[Revgen]

Encoding X264 is also very slow if you don't have a Dual-Core proc.

If you don't mind waiting, then it shouldn't be a problem.

[futurex]

i've got a pentium D 820, and most encoding will be done overnight anyway ;)

[bond]

- slower encoding/decoding
- less hardware support atm

[futurex]

edit: sorry, thanks for moving my question :)

[futurex]

after some more encoding tests, i can see x264 tends to blur the picture more, while xvid keeps it sharp (even if it comes with artefacts at the edges of objects). xvid looks better. am i doing something wrong? i used the settings in the guide on doom9, and also tried the 'HQ slower' profile in MeGUI. the bitrate was around 1061kbps, @ 704x384. i didn't use a custom quatization matrix in any encodes.

the profile uses -2 and -1 respectively for alpha and beta deblocking. i have also tried both on default 0.

[Shinjite]

I didn't encounter this with my encodes unless I add smoothing filters in the avs while playing around. Whatversion are you using currently?

[Sirber]

not sure but... isn't 1061kbps @ 704x384 kinda high for AVC?

[futurex]

thanks for the input guys, really appreciated :)

i'm using the latest, R387C. is there something wrong with that version?

sirber, its not that i expected it to be lossless or anything, just odd that xvid kept the sharp edges, and looked better :)

the source is progressive mpeg-2 digital tv capture 720x576 25fps

[foxyshadis]

If you use ffdshow & post-processing, you might want to be sure the h.264 dropbox is set to "when decoding h.264 video", or it'll look horrible. Kind of confusing setting. Otherwise I can't think of anything that would cause blurring compared to xvid, especially if you use a profile.

[greggerm]

I recall hearing a while back that x264 does encoding a little differently - x264's artifacts are different from XviD's, and as such, your eye will be quick to notice them.

Just as your eye got used to seeing XviD's artifacts, you will get used to the x264 way of doing things. I've been watching h264-style encodings for a while now, and my problem is that when I watch an XviD encode, I think XviD looks bad! :)

Your eye will get used to it I am sure.

Reasons to STICK with XviD - Hardware player compatability, much faster encoding.
Reasons to MOVE to x264 - Cutting edge future codec, better quality at the same bitrate (or) smaller size at the same quality.

[Sirber]

Also HDTV is much lighter with xvid, encoding and decoding.

[Caroliano]

@futurex: try what foxyshadis said and if it is not suficient (what I doubt) lower the in-loop filter to something like -5,-5 that shoud make the look as sharp as Xvid (if not more!).

[futurex]

thanks all of you,

i wil try what you suggested and get back to you :thanks:

[Shinjite]

not sure but... isn't 1061kbps @ 704x384 kinda high for AVC?


if 25 mins, should be close to 180-200mb
if 1 hr and 30 mins, close to 900mb i think

[Shinjite]

@futurex: try what foxyshadis said and if it is not suficient (what I doubt) lower the in-loop filter to something like -5,-5 that shoud make the look as sharp as Xvid (if not more!).

wouldn't that be an overkill in sharpness?? :P

[Caroliano]

He already tried the HQ Slower that have by defaut -2 and -1 for deblocking and he said it was too smooth. The next step would be jump to -5;-5, if it is not FFDshow configuration that is wrong.

[Sirber]

if FFDshow PP is on, it will not help ;)

[Caroliano]

That is what I said: "if it is not FFDshow configuration that is wrong."

[futurex]

i use ffdshow to decode, but pp is off. i'm encoding a 20-min video right now (175mb, 128kbps vbr mp3 audio), both with xvid (with settings that i deem would give best quality) and x264 using the slow profile.

will post screens soon :)

[Sirber]

more infos about settings?

[Sharktooth]

HQ-Slow? in that case... --pass 2 --bitrate 1000 --stats ".stats" --ref 5 --bframes 3 --b-pyramid --filter -2,-1 --subme 6 --weightb --trellis 1 --analyse all --8x8dct