[Poll] Which x264 preset are you using?

[-scallywag-]

for dvd backup i am using

slow crf 23

:thanks:

[Dark Shikari]

That's a preset :p

Profiles would be baseline, main, and high ;)

[CarlEdman]

For DVD backups on a Q9300 clocked at 3 GHz:

High 3.1, if you are being literal minded. :)

Slower crf 19, if not.

[-scallywag-]

That's a preset :p

Profiles would be baseline, main, and high ;)

fixed :)

[wyti]

Dvd Backup, core i7 --> placebo 2pass at the bitrate needed to fit in 1/6 DvD (around 747 Mo)

[Blue_MiSfit]

BluRay backups, Q6600 @ 3.4GHz

CRF 18-20 depending on source complexity, filter chain, and output resolution (usually mostly untouched 1080p)
Setting profile to High @ 4.1
--preset slower most of the time
--tune film most of the time
50mbps VBV, for DXVA compatibility

<3 the new presets system, and 1 pass VBV. Who the hell needs a GUI anymore? :devil:

~MiSfit

[Groucho2004]

the new presets system, and 1 pass VBV. Who the hell needs a GUI anymore? :devil:

~MiSfit

There are many people who don't know what a console is, not to mention a batch file.

Consequently, they are being spoon-fed with GUIs by people who stumble upon Visual Studio Express, download it and throw some dialogs together in Visual Basic. As a side note, it's quite amusing how these guys anxiously advertise themselves as 'Developers'.

Sorry about this rant but I've been programming in C/C++ for 15 years and it sometimes turns my stomach when I look at the code of some of these 'GUIs'.

[thewebchat]

I use preset ultrafast, crf 25.

[MatLz]

I don't use presets. I think a brain can become very lazy or clinicly dead with always using presets...too dangerous... I prefer know or try to understand ( a little :) ) what I do.

So I always use 2 pass with different settings depending the sources complexity or previous filtering.

[Warpman]

crf16 preset placebo -tune animation =)

[easyfab]

I use the default preset (medium ) and crf (23) and add --tune film or animation depending the source.

[julius666]

I use --preset veryslow with --ref 6 --bframes 3 for DVD backups, and family videos, on a Core2Duo E7400.
The strength of psy-settings and CRF obviously depends on the source.

[detmek]

--preset medium --level 3.1 --tune film (or ssim) --crf 21 --me umh --b-adapt 2 --direct auto
For DVD backup and TV capture encoding.

[buzzqw]

crf 20 --preset medium --subme 9

BHH

[valnar]

Something along these lines for hi-def, into an MKV file:

--crf 21 --level 4.1 --keyint 250 --bframes 3 --mixed-refs --trellis 1 --ref 3 --deblock -1,-1 --subme 9 --direct auto
--vbv-bufsize 24000 --vbv-maxrate 20000 --me umh --no-ssim --weightb --b-adapt 2 --partitions p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,i8x8 --8x8dct
--aud --aq-mode 1 --aq-strength 1.0

DVD is slightly different, maybe crf 22, level 3.1, ref 4 and no deblock. Lower vbv rates too.

I'm very picky so it plays perfectly on my Sage HD200, and for DXVA compatibility.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Something along these lines for hi-def, into an MKV file:

--crf 21 --level 4.1 --keyint 250 --bframes 3 --mixed-refs --trellis 1 --ref 3 --deblock -1,-1 --subme 9 --direct auto
--vbv-bufsize 24000 --vbv-maxrate 20000 --me umh --no-ssim --weightb --b-adapt 2 --partitions p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,i8x8 --8x8dct
--aud --aq-mode 1 --aq-strength 1.0

DVD is slightly different, maybe crf 22, level 3.1, ref 4 and no deblock. Lower vbv rates too.

I'm very picky so it plays perfectly on my Sage HD200, and for DXVA compatibility.

In current x264 there's no need for "--mixed-refs" anymore, as it's on by default. Also "--keyint 250", "--aq-mode 1", "--aq-strength 1.0", "--8x8dct " and "--no-ssim" are redundant.

You should simply your commandline to:

--preset [slow|slower] --crf 21 --level 4.1 --vbv-bufsize 24000 --vbv-maxrate 20000

[valnar]

Unless those commands throw an error in new builds, I like knowing what my encodes are doing. Besides, those presets don't line up with my options anyway.

Edit: CRF 19-20 for hi-def. CRF 21-23 for SD/DVD. Made a mistake above in my first post.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Unless those commands throw an error in new builds, I like knowing what my encodes are doing.

If you pass options that just set the default, your encodes do exactly the same what they would without those redundant options ;)

Besides, those presets don't line up with my options anyway.

Then you should probably take this as a chance to change your options. Pick a suitable preset and that's it.

For 99% of all encodes there should be no need to manually overwrite any options now. VBV parameters must still be passed, of course.

And if you really need to, you can still overwrite single options after picking the most suitable preset...

[valnar]

If you pass options that just set the default, your encodes do exactly the same what they would without those redundant options ;)
True, but then if I needed to edit the command line for a special encode, it's there for me to see.

Then you should probably take this as a chance to change your options. Pick a suitable preset and that's it.
Why would I do that? My parameters are better than the presets for my needs. :)

Preset Slow uses subme 8 and ref 5. Preset Slower uses ref 8 and all partitions. Sigma based hardware and DXVA are very picky about what they support, especially for 1080p. Sure, I could use a preset and cancel out the options I don't like with another parameter, but what if the presets change in the future? I still prefer to know what I'm doing. It helps me remember. Although I may take your advice and remove the redundant defaults.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Why would I do that? My parameters are better than the presets for my needs. :)

Because the presets have been defined like that for a reason and they should be well-balanced, e.g. they don't combine super-fast and super-slow options.

Preset Slow uses subme 8 and ref 5. Preset Slower uses ref 8 and all partitions. Sigma based hardware and DXVA are very picky about what they support, especially for 1080p.

Sube-Me doesn't effect hardware compatibility at all. And you still can append "--ref 3" after the preset. Would still make your commandline much cleaner.

And if you really want Sub-Me 9, you should simply consider using the "slower" preset ;)

Sure, I could use a preset and cancel out the options I don't like with another parameter, but what if the presets change in the future? I still prefer to know what I'm doing. It helps me remember. Although I may take your advice and remove the redundant defaults.

If a preset changes in future, that will be for good reason. If you still use your "explicit" options then, they may have become obsolete and you won't notice...

[valnar]

Because the presets have been defined like that for a reason

What reasons? Nobody asked me. How could they know what future STB's would support?

My parameters are not just for compatibility obviously, but for my quality choices too. The speed it takes on a quad core means little to me.

I can't believe you're arguing that a user of x264 should know what he is doing and use the parameters explicitly. If the presets work well for you and others, great.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

What reasons? Nobody asked me.

For the reason that the x264 devs know best what parameter combinations make the most sense ;)

And of course you are free to suggest changes to the existing presets...

How could they know what future STB's would support?

Presets exist to provide an easy and reasonable "speed-vs-quality" control, not to ensure hardware compatibility. However a "--device" parameter was discussed, but not added yet.

At the moment you may need to overwrite single parameters for hardware compatibility. But that still doesn't make presets useless for you!

My parameters are not just for compatibility obviously, but for my quality choices too. The speed it takes on a quad core means little to me.

I can't believe you're arguing that a user of x264 should know what he is doing and use the parameters explicitly. If the presets work well for you and others, great.

Of course a user should know what he's doing. But by using presets and by only overwriting options you really need to overwrite you could much simplify your commandline.

That would show the user knows what he's doing. If a user adds a bunch of redundant options, this implies the user does not know hat he's doing and should rely on presets even more.

But if you want to keep all those superfluous parameters in, you are of course free to do so. This was just a suggestion :o

[shon3i]

BluRay preset :)

[Yoshiyuki Blade]

I usually use --preset veryslow for good-but-not-insane settings with 2-pass and --slow-firstpass. I haven't messed with much HD content though, in which case I'd probably use medium or slow settings.

[burfadel]

So how many people on here use subme 10? since its not part of the presets...

[Raptus]

--preset veryslow --tune film in CRF 19-23 mode, but I tend to reduce ref and bframes a bit after a short testrun to see the percentage actually getting used.

[ACrowley]

Preset very slow ,Subme 9, Level 4.1, 4-5 RefFrames (720p 9-11 Refframes) ,3 bframes
Tune-Grain on very grainy Sources

CRF 20 SD DVB-C Captures
CRF 18-20 1080p HD Sources / or 2 pass VBR 8-15Mbit constrained VBV 40/40Mbit

[J_Darnley]

So how many people on here use subme 10? since its not part of the presets...
It is enabled with veryslow and placebo, so I would say everyone who uses those presets uses subme 10.

[JohannesL]

Normal, crf 20.

[dstln]

I use something close to veryslow/<tunetype> with ref/bframes/bitrate based on what I see from test encode(s). crf values don't seem too mean much right now, but I turn off mbtree and see how a quick crf18 test works.

[juGGaKNot]

veryslow 2 pass

start "encode" /b /low /wait "%mypath%\bin\x264.exe" --pass 1 --preset veryslow --level %mylevel% --bitrate %btrate_x264% --stats "%mypath%\%mpath%\T1\movie.stats" --ref %myrefs% --min-keyint %mint% --keyint %kint% --bframes 3 --b-pyramid normal --ratetol 2.0 --merange 32 --direct temporal --aq-mode 2 --no-fast-pskip --no-dct-decimate --sar 1:1 --vbv-maxrate 20000 --vbv-bufsize 20000 --aud --output NUL %myavs%
start "encode" /b /low /wait "%mypath%\bin\x264.exe" --pass 2 --preset veryslow --level %mylevel% --bitrate %btrate_x264% --stats "%mypath%\%mpath%\T1\movie.stats" --ref %myrefs% --min-keyint %mint% --keyint %kint% --bframes 3 --b-pyramid normal --ratetol 2.0 --merange 32 --direct temporal --aq-mode 2 --no-fast-pskip --no-dct-decimate --sar 1:1 --vbv-maxrate 20000 --vbv-bufsize 20000 --aud --output %outx264% %myavs%

[Sharc]

--preset medium, crf 18 .... 20

[Gew]

--preset slow

[Assassinator]

veryslow, crf around 17-21. Generally lower crf for SD material, mainly because encoding artifacts are far more visible on SD than something like 1080p. Other settings vary depending on source.


--preset veryfast and --crf 14 for my PSP conversions. They are watch and delete encodes, so I don't give a crap about how inefficient or large the file size is, only how fast it is, and that it looks good.

[naoan]

Basically --preset placebo and --tune animation but with me=umh as I found that this help encoding speed greatly (relatively speaking as this is still SLOW).

[stax76]

--crf 21/22/23
--preset medium/slow/slower

SD movies: 300-900 MB, 2-4 hours encoding.
HD movies: 2-4 GB, 6-12 hours encoding.

My (HT)PC can't encode fast but it's practically noiseless even with full CPU load so I can sleep while encoding and it has a SSD as system drive so it's still fast while demuxing/decoding/encoding/muxing/HD TV recording.

[MatLz]

--preset none
--crf depending-on-source-resolution
--options slow-to-really-slow

[Lyle_JP]

crf 18, high 4.1, slow, tune film. Beautiful every time.

[buzzqw]

since i make my rips only for backup purpose i use: --crf 18 --profile slower

and very light denoise

BHH

[Sharc]

For 720p on DVD5 I use normally:
--preset medium --level 4.1 --keyint 24 --min-keyint 1 --ipratio 1.2 --aud --vbv-bufsize 14000 --vbv-maxrate 17000 --slices 4 --me umh --b-adapt 2 --b-pyramid strict --open-gop bluray --subme 8 --ref 4 --bframes 3 --nal-hrd vbr --pic-struct --colorprim "bt709" --transfer "bt709" --colormatrix "bt709"

[kypec]

My usual settings for SD cartoons/CGI
--preset slower
--tune animation | none
--crf 20 | --bitrate <500..800> depending on nature of source material

I'm yet to encode HD films but I expect to stick with same/very similar CRF value

[Forteen88]

I use close to --preset placebo
with 2-pass CRF ~17.
And I use --zones with lower bitrate on endcredits.

[asarian]

Of course a user should know what he's doing. But by using presets and by only overwriting options you really need to overwrite you could much simplify your commandline.

That would show the user knows what he's doing. If a user adds a bunch of redundant options, this implies the user does not know hat he's doing and should rely on presets even more.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. Sometimes listing redundant options is just a way of not having to check what changed, each time a new revision is released. Although I actually switched to using --preset now (for cleaner command-line), especially with things like --tune I still like to spell out some of the options by hand, like --psy-rd, even if it makes them redundant. For example, just because 'animation' is currently set to --psy-rd 0.4:<unset> and --aq-strength 0.6, doesn't mean it will be next month, when maybe someone decides that 0.4 is a better aq-strength, after all.

So, what may be redundant today, tomorrow may ensure I still get the same settings, as manual command-line options override preset stuff.

[Audionut]

--preset default for mobile encodes. Generally with --crf 20-23.

--preset veryslow for HD encodes. Generally with --crf 16-18

[asarian]

--preset placebo for full 1080p, with CRF 14 and 8 bframes (aq-mode 2); and CRF 16 for aq-mode 1.

[ckmox]

i use --preset slow --tune animation --crf 27 --vf resize:704,400

[Groucho2004]

All you placebo guys out there - think about global warming! :)

[IppE]

--preset veryslow --crf 20 --ref 8 for 720p stuff, --ref 4 for 1080p

[Soichiro]

I don't use presets, but what I use is probably somewhere between slower and veryslow:

--keyint 400 --min-keyint 12 --ref 8 --mixed-refs --no-fast-pskip --b-adapt 2 --bframes 8 --b-pyramid normal --weightb --direct spatial --subme 10 --trellis 2 --partitions all --psy-rd 0.8:0.1 --aq-strength 0.8 --me umh --merange 24 --open-gop normal --fade-compensate 0.5

And most of what I encode is animated, hence the seemingly strange keyint settings. I usually use crf 18, but sometimes I'll make it lower or higher depending on the source quality. (No point in using a super low crf on a source that looks terrible.)

[Mug Funky]

"x264.exe" --crf %crf% --profile main --tune film --no-deblock --vbv-maxrate 8500 --vbv-bufsize 8500 "%~1" -o "%~dpn1_264.mp4"

where %crf% is a number my batch file prompts me for.

8500 is chosen to mimic my favourite DVD bitrates, and is almost never reached.

no-deblock is because my laptop is my media centre, and has difficulties with DXVA and deblocking for some reason. quality is good enough without at crf 20-22 in most cases, and grainy sources ensure blocks aren't visible.

having worked with anime for so many years, i really have no interest in actually watching it in my spare time, hence most of my sources are live action.

i'm lolling at the "i don't use presets" folks - seems like an e-stroking exercise for me. i trust the x264 devs to choose the most "sensical" options over something i read in a cli help page. only options i tweak are necessary in specific applications. i also suggest some folks look up the meaning of "placebo", as this preset is placed well within the "diminishing returns" plateau, and has never been suggested for credible encoding work.

[asarian]

i'm lolling at the "i don't use presets" folks - seems like an e-stroking exercise for me. i trust the x264 devs to choose the most "sensical" options over something i read in a cli help page. only options i tweak are necessary in specific applications. i also suggest some folks look up the meaning of "placebo", as this preset is placed well within the "diminishing returns" plateau, and has never been suggested for credible encoding work.

I don't think mocking and/or discussing or questioning people's settings is very helpful to this poll. Way I see it, this was just an open invitation to gather what people are using, not why they are doing so (or why you think they should not be using something).

If I mnisunderstood the OP's intent, then I'm sorry.

[Soichiro]

i'm lolling at the "i don't use presets" folks - seems like an e-stroking exercise for me.
Of course. I only use custom settings so I can tell people I don't use presets and am superior to them because of it. I mean, why else would I do it? For actual practical reasons?

i trust the x264 devs to choose the most "sensical" options over something i read in a cli help page.
There's a reason these are defaults--they're intended to be good to use for the beginner, but can be tweaked by experienced encoders. I use a custom command line for two reasons. First, because I don't know when one of the presets is going to change, and I want to be sure that my settings stay the way I want them. Second, because I know what kinds of encodes I do, and I know what settings work best on those encodes. 99% of what I encode is anime, so I use specially tuned settings to give the best speed-to-quality ratio for MY needs. What if I like most of the settings in --preset veryslow, but I don't feel like --ref 16 helps any more than --ref 8? Well, I just turn it down to --ref 8. And what if I use filters like gradfun2dbmod to add dithering to my encodes? Then the default psy-rd and aq-strength settings for --tune animation won't be optimal for my encodes. I'll need something a bit stronger, though not quite as strong as --tune film or --tune grain. So now do you still think everyone who uses custom settings just "read [them] in a cli help page" and uses them as an "e-stroking exercise"?

[nm]

I don't use presets, but what I use is probably somewhere between slower and veryslow:

--keyint 400 --min-keyint 12 --ref 8 --mixed-refs --no-fast-pskip --b-adapt 2 --bframes 8 --b-pyramid normal --weightb --direct spatial --subme 10 --trellis 2 --partitions all --psy-rd 0.8:0.1 --aq-strength 0.8 --me umh --merange 24 --open-gop normal --fade-compensate 0.5

--mixed-refs, --b-pyramid normal, --weightb and --direct spatial are defaults, so you could drop them from the command line. You don't explicitly set all the other defaults either.

--no-fast-pskip is a placebo-level setting. I'd say that --ref 16 would be a better choice with a similar speed penalty. Especially when you're encoding anime.


Personally, I'd simply use --preset veryslow and override/add the tunings that I like. If the presets are changed, there will be a very good reason for that and chances are that I'd need to adjust my settings in the same way. So, how about this:

--preset veryslow --keyint 400 --min-keyint 12 --direct spatial --psy-rd 0.8:0.1 --aq-strength 0.8
--open-gop normal --fade-compensate 0.5

[unmei]

I encode mostly anime from DVD using

--preset veryslow --ref 8 --aq-mode 2 --psy-rd 0.8:0.0 --aq-strength 0.8 --no-fast-pskip

It's funny how i seem to use almost the same "mods" to --veryslow as Soichiro.

Well, since i do a lot less with video lately than years ago and these are are mostly based on what i found years ago, it's maybe a good time to try out --ref 16 (read, the preset) instead of --no-fast-pskip, as nm suggests.

Oh, and this with --crf usually around 17, but can go from 15 to 20, depending on source and mood.

[Wishbringer]

--profile high --preset veryslow --tune film --slices 4 --level 4.0 --keyint 48 --min-keyint 2 --aq-mode 2 --aud --b-pyramid strict --nal-hrd vbr --open-gop bluray --vbv-bufsize 31250 --vbv-maxrate 15000 --direct auto

around --crf18 or --bitrate fitting to DVD5/9
it's my preset I use in RipBot264 for creating AVCHDs

With an Q9650 at 4.2GHz and 1200er Ram I need around 14 hours for an 2pass encode

[Soichiro]

--no-fast-pskip is a placebo-level setting. I'd say that --ref 16 would be a better choice with a similar speed penalty. Especially when you're encoding anime.]

I did some limited testing with --no-fast-pskip, and found that the speed penalty was actually negligible. Of course, the compression improvement was also very small, but with the speed difference my testing showed (exactly 0.0 fps), I figured it was okay to keep it in. I may have also been screwing up the tests somehow though. :p

And yes, I could take out some of those things that are on by default. I think the reason I still have them is because I haven't bothered taking them out of my batch script since they were made defaults (which was a long time ago, lol).

[nm]

I did some limited testing with --no-fast-pskip, and found that the speed penalty was actually negligible.

Ah, so it seems. I got less than 1 % speed difference too in a few quick tests. Somehow I remember it used to be much heavier..?

[Dark Shikari]

Ah, so it seems. I got less than 1 % speed difference too in a few quick tests. Somehow I remember it used to be much heavier..?Fast p-skip won't have much of a speed effect on extremely high bitrates.

[Soichiro]

Fast p-skip won't have much of a speed effect on extremely high bitrates.

You're right. I did a test at DVD resolution at 200 kbps (ABR), and the speed difference was much larger (15% difference vs. <1% at medium to high bitrates). However, the compression improvement was also much larger at the lower bitrate. It makes me wonder if perhaps --no-fast-pskip should be moved to another preset such as veryslow. It's clearly much more optimized than it used to be.

[Nephilis]

For example in my last encoding i used this values

[input was 1080p with DTS Audio and the output was 576p with 6CH AAC Audio]

x264 --profile high --bframes 8 --b-adapt 2 --b-pyramid 1 --ref 8 --deblock -3:-2
--bitrate 2806 --rc-lookahead 50 --qpmin 15 --qpmax 25 --chroma-qp-offset -2 --aq-mode 1
--aq-strength 0.90 --pass 1 --stats "x264.stats" --no-mbtree --zones 124245,129455,q=25
--partitions all --direct auto --me umh --merange 32 --subme 9 --psy-rd 1.0:0.1
--trellis 2 --no-fast-pskip --output NUL input.avs --threads 6

x264 --profile high --level 4.1 --bframes 8 --b-adapt 2 --b-pyramid 1 --ref 8 --deblock -3:-2
--bitrate 2806 --rc-lookahead 50 --qpmin 15 --qpmax 25 --chroma-qp-offset -2 --aq-mode 1
--aq-strength 0.90 --pass 2 --stats "x264.stats" --no-mbtree --zones 124245,129455,q=25
--partitions all --direct auto --me umh --merange 32 --subme 9 --psy-rd 1.0:0.1
--trellis 2 --no-fast-pskip --output output.mkv input.avs --threads 6

[J_Darnley]

--preset WTF! is right. What a mashed up selection of options.

[bob0r]

x264 --download-source :sly:

Ofcourse i download Elephant Dreams, every day.

[Caroliano]

I encode mostly anime. For HQ encodes I use:
--preset veryslow --tune animation --crf 16~22 --qcomp 0.75 --psnr --ssim

For --crf 26~35 I tune down AQ and psy-rdo. I'm thinking about add --no-fast-pskip to my encodes based on this thread. Sometimes I also change the deblocking strenght a little, 1 up or down.

For temporary lossless encoding, I usually use:
--preset veryfast --tune fastdecode --qp 0 --keyint 50

I defined this before the --preset superfast was created, so I don't know if it is an better choice now.