Maximum PC Suggests...

[VintageGold]

Pretty cool to see AutoGK featured in the May issue of Maximum PC in their "Copy and Convert All Your Movies and Music" article.

I was using AutoGK prior to this article coming out but have struggled with the best settings to use to get consistent results. I'll post the settings they recommend.

Standard Settings
Audio track: English AC3 6ch
Subtitles: none (unless doing a movie with forced subs a la LOTR or Star Wars)
Output Size: Target quality 100%

Advanced Settings
Output resolution settings: Maximum Width
Output audio type: Original (AC3/DTS/MPA only) (will use AC3Filter if watched on computer, XBMC has support built in)
Codec: XviD
Subtitle options: Display only forced subtitles (again, only on material like LOTR or Star Wars)

Another suggested setting is to use cartoon mode for cartoons like The Simpsons or Family Guy, but not for Pixar-style 3D animation.

I'd like some comments/feedback on these settings, specifially:

1. Is 100% quality too high? If yes, what's recommended? I know the tutorial lists 80%, but why have the option to go to 100% if 80% is all it needs?

2. Using Maximum Width (when default is 640). Why not use Auto width, or some kind of fixed width, or set the Maximum width to 720 (seems to use the Fixed width setting to determint the Max width).

This question was asked previously, but not many people commented on it - why limit the width to 640? Why not use the original width of 720 when available, especially when you consider that wide screen and HDTV sets are becoming more and more common. I plan to stream these to my Xbox that's running XBMC and would love for these to look good when I upgrade to a wide screen set some time down the road.

[BigDid]

Pretty cool to see AutoGK featured in the May issue of Maximum PC in their "Copy and Convert All Your Movies and Music" article.
Hi,

Without a link or a quote from the article it is difficult to have the "context"


Standard Settings
Audio track: English AC3 6ch
Subtitles: none (unless doing a movie with forced subs a la LOTR or Star Wars)
Output Size: Target quality 100%
This is "One pass only" settings; bear in mind AutoGK is aimed for SAP use (and 2 passes encoding)


1. Is 100% quality too high? If yes, what's recommended? I know the tutorial lists 80%, but why have the option to go to 100% if 80% is all it needs?
See More FAQ n° 4.8 for the relation between quality and DRF and B-frames.


2. Using Maximum Width (when default is 640). Why not use Auto width, or some kind of fixed width, or set the Maximum width to 720 (seems to use the Fixed width setting to determint the Max width).
Is the defaut 640/W or is it Auto-width ?
I'm not using One pass, please experiment if any differences between Auto/720 fixed or Maximum and come back to share the results :)


This question was asked previously, but not many people commented on it - why limit the width to 640? Why not use the original width of 720 when available, especially when you consider that wide screen and HDTV sets are becoming more and more common. I plan to stream these to my Xbox that's running XBMC and would love for these to look good when I upgrade to a wide screen set some time down the road.
The 640-width thread was not aimed (or not targetted) for 1pass-encoding: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=125439

Be aware it seems there are encoding restrictions to use for Xbox Mpeg4-Asp playback

Did

[VintageGold]

Hi,

Without a link or a quote from the article it is difficult to have the "context"

Not sure what you mean by the "context" here. Please explain.


This is "One pass only" settings; bear in mind AutoGK is aimed for SAP use (and 2 passes encoding)

No idea what SAP use refers to, so I'm at a loss on how to comment here.


See More FAQ n° 4.8 for the relation between quality and DRF and B-frames.

I read through this part of the "More FAQ". I have no idea what DRF even is. I apologize, but some of this stuff is way over my head. I'm really just looking for some cut and dry answers here.


Is the defaut 640/W or is it Auto-width ?
I'm not using One pass, please experiment if any differences between Auto/720 fixed or Maximum and come back to share the results :)

The program default is for Auto width. With the DVD sources I used that started at 720x480,the resulting file had a width of 720. But, using the settings recommended in the article (Max width) I'm going to get an output of 640 because the Fixed width field shows 640. I don't know why, but it seems Max width takes its queue from whatever is populated in the Fixed width field. If I enter 720 in the field for Fixed width but select Max width as my setting, the resulting file is 720 wide.


The 640-width thread was not aimed (or not targetted) for 1pass-encoding: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=125439

I read and posted on that same thread. I apologize for my lack of understanding, but I'm not really sure what in there would indicate it was targeted towards 2 pass encodings. I'll be perfectly honest, I read through it again, and I'm not really sure what you wrote there about "high resolution/low DRF vs low resolution high DRF partisans (High DRF quality means low numbers)". Not knowing what DRF is, again, I'm at a loss as to what you're really saying.


Be aware it seems there are encoding restrictions to use for Xbox Mpeg4-Asp playback

Do you have a link that can point me toward what some of these restrictions might be?

Maybe I need to take a different approach with my question. Here goes my second attempt?

Is there anything wrong with the suggested settings?
If I want to do a 1 pass encoding, is 100% quality overkill for an archival quality backup?
Why do people still use 640 as the width instead of getting the full 720 width? Is it only because of convention and what was being used in the past? Why not use the full 720 width?

Thanks again for all the help.

[BigDid]

Common abbreviations: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=30047

SAP/Stand-alone-player: http://forum.doom9.org/search.php?searchid=2075762

DRF/Average quantizer: http://forum.doom9.org/search.php?searchid=2075766

You now have the differences between Auto/Fixed/Max width that you understand and explain with your words; it is your experience and it is what is encouraged here (to make it's own experiences)

:search: for 1 pass - 2pass - SAP compatibility- MPEG4/ASP/AVC 720/640 width ... This is homework I will not do, experiment by yourself, compare by yourself and come back for precise questions; for general questions :readguid: :readfaq: :search:

Xbox 360: http://forum.doom9.org/search.php?searchid=2075756

Did

[weaver4]

For XviD codec single pass:
67% is good
75% is Excellent
80% Anything after this is a waste.

See the paragraph about "Target Quality" in the Tutorial.
http://www.autogk.me.uk/modules.php?name=TutorialEN

[BergH]

Hello !

My averages with one-pass are between 69-73 %.
Mostly 70-71 %.
My sources : DVB-S PAL (German TV ;) )

It really depends on the Source.
Some Sources are still good with 65%, some are faulty with 75%.
In that cases 2-pass with fixed size should be your selection.

What size I am aiming at?
Well it should be 60-75% of the Original MPEG (DVB-S) size.
Everything else is too bad or too big.
In any case a waste of time and resources.

2-pass takes twice as much time hence it is worth it. :)

[loyalty_anchored]

Hello !
2-pass takes twice as much time hence it is worth it. :)


Note: "Target Quality" mode performs 1-pass encoding while "Target Size" performs 2-passes encoding. (1 pass can speed up encoding considerably, but its not two times faster as you may expect.)

I dont mean to be a jerk, but i find that 2 pass encoding in AutoGK is not twice as long as a 1 pass. In a two pass encode, the first pass seems to be substantially faster then the second.