Getting started with H264

[Phototaker]

I know that the H264 codec has been a favorite for quite some time now & since I have media players capable of playing it I realize that I should be using it. I have tried reading the postings for MPEG4. AVCHD etc & I'm still totally bewildered. I suspect that I will never knows all or even most of the in's & outs of encoding.

I have even seen some of the download sites & haven't been certain as to what thing to click on for download. This being the case can some one please point be to version that is easy to download, install & configure?

I have down some trans coding before by using programs like AGK, DIVX converter & DR DIVX & even Sony Vegas, but I think that only the Vegas program will work with the H264 codec. Please correct be if I'm wrong?

Just for the record in all of the things that I've seen about this codec I see that its supposed to do a better job that codecs like XVID or DIVX but I have never hear just what sort of improvement there talking about. Can these codec produce a file that looks just as good as say DIVX but is say only 80% of the file size. It would be nice to know?

Do these codecs handle Full HD 1920x1080, 5.1 sound & subtitle that are either burned into the file or can be switched on & off?

Any help would be much appreciated.

[davidmoore]

Are you encoding or decoding?

[Dark Shikari]

It sounds like you need to start with the basics here.

To begin with, H.264 is not a codec, it is an internationally standardized video format. A codec is a piece of software. You can't "install" a 600-page long specification.

The "Xvid/DivX" equivalent is MPEG-4 Part 2 ASP, also a video format. Encoders for this format include Xvid, DivX, and libavcodec.

[Phototaker]

I would be encoding MPEG2 etc for playback on my media player.

[neuron2]

I would be encoding MPEG2 etc for playback on my media player. Then why are you asking about H.264?

Did you mean decoding MPEG2 and re-encoding it to H.264?

And what does "etc" mean?

[Phototaker]

Yes I mean converting MPEG2 to H264. As for etc I've heard that not all media players can play all flavors of H264 & if I find that mine can't, even though it claims it can, then adjusting settings so that it can.

[nm]

Just for the record in all of the things that I've seen about this codec I see that its supposed to do a better job that codecs like XVID or DIVX but I have never hear just what sort of improvement there talking about. Can these codec produce a file that looks just as good as say DIVX but is say only 80% of the file size.
It depends on the encoder implementation and the source video. x264 should be able to produce that kind of results in most cases. See this enlightening comparison by Dark Shikari for an example: http://mirror05.x264.nl/Dark/website/compare.html

To get started with x264, try some of the encoding frontends discussed here: http://forum.doom9.org/forumdisplay.php?f=78
HandBrake (http://handbrake.fr/), Avidemux (http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/) and Ripbot264 (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=127611) are beginner-friendly tools.

Do these codecs handle Full HD 1920x1080, 5.1 sound & subtitle that are either burned into the file or can be switched on & off?
Yes, all decent H.264 encoders support 1080p. Audio and subtitles, on the other hand, have nothing to do with H.264, only the container format. For example, Matroska (.mkv) supports multichannel AC-3, DTS and AAC audio tracks and many subtitle formats. If you burn subtitles to the video, any container can be used as long as it is supported by the playback device.

Yes I mean converting MPEG2 to H264. As for etc I've heard that not all media players can play all flavors of H264 & if I find that mine can't, even though it claims it can, then adjusting settings so that it can.
What "media player" is it exactly? Tell us the full model name if it's a standalone device.

[porfitron]

I have down some trans coding before by using programs like AGK, DIVX converter & DR DIVX & even Sony Vegas, but I think that only the Vegas program will work with the H264 codec. Please correct be if I'm wrong?
As of DivX 7, DivX Converter will output H.264/MKV.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

As of DivX 7, DivX Converter will output H.264/MKV.

But only if you select the "DivX Plus HD" profile before you drop the file on the DivX Converted and only for a limited amount of time (unless you buy DivX Pro).
Also that DivX Converter is an extremely simple tool which exposes absolutely no options to the user. At the same time the DivX Codec still does not support the H.264 format.
If you consider experimenting with DivX and H.264, you should get the DivX H.264 CLI (http://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=1234673&postcount=123) encoder from the DivX Labs web-site...