is 2.4FPS encoding normal??!

atreides93 · 5th July 2008, 01:24

This is the first time I've tried encoding an existing m2ts file from a bluray disk to a smaller mp4 file using meGui and x.264.

I was wondering if its normal to only get around 2.4 fps encoding speed with an Athlon X2 4400. When I look at benchmarks for other types of encoding, the Intel Core2 Duo 8400 is about twice as fast...which would only mean 5fps if I were to upgrade to that.

It seems like i've heard people talking about getting anywhere from 15-22 fps encoding speeds...so I'm lost as to how they can achieve this...quad cores maybe?

Here's my avisynth script...maybe its the bottleneck?
# Set DAR in encoder to 219 : 89. The following line is for automatic signalling
global MeGUI_darx = 219
global MeGUI_dary = 89
DirectShowSource("G:\BluRay\x\x\BDMV\STREAM\x.m2ts",fps=23.9759856527702,audio=false)
#deinterlace
crop( 0, 140, 0, -140)

LanczosResize(1904,800) # Lanczos (Sharp)
#denoise

Dark Shikari · 5th July 2008, 01:25

It'd help to know what encoding profile you're using--x264's speed can range from realtime 1080p on one core to 0.1fps depending on what settings you use.

If you're using threads, 2.4fps is not unreasonable for one of the slower profiles, especially given you're encoding 1080p footage.

atreides93 · 5th July 2008, 02:21

Its so funny how this is almost like deja vu. I remember having similar encoding speed issues when DIVX was relatively new and the best I could get back then was 2 fps

Anyway i'm using High Profile and level 4.1
basically MeGUI has this pre-existing template called x264 SA-BluRay. I took that, and modified it a little by changing the average bitrate to 5000 and max bitrate to 7000. otherwise I left the rest alone.

these are the params its using for x264
program --pass 2 --bitrate 5500 --stats ".stats" --level 4.1 --keyint 240 --min-keyint 1 --ref 3 --mixed-refs --bframes 3 --b-rdo --bime --weightb --direct auto --subme 6 --partitions p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,i8x8 --8x8dct --ipratio 1.1 --pbratio 1.1 --vbv-bufsize 30000 --vbv-maxrate 8000 --qcomp 0.5 --me umh --threads auto --thread-input --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --output "output" "input" --mvrange 511 --aud --nal-hrd --sar 1:1

Dark Shikari · 5th July 2008, 02:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by atreides93

Its so funny how this is almost like deja vu. I remember having similar encoding speed issues when DIVX was relatively new and the best I could get back then was 2 fps

Well I wouldn't say its deja vu given that x264 is now actually a bit faster than Xvid--the difference is that x264's high-end settings are a whole lot higher than Xvid or DivX. (Xvid on medium settings, for example, uses the rough equivalent of --me dia --subme 0; x264 doesn't even expose subme 0 as a choosable option!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by atreides93

Anyway i'm using High Profile and level 4.1
basically MeGUI has this pre-existing template called x264 SA-BluRay. I took that, and modified it a little by changing the average bitrate to 5000 and max bitrate to 7000. otherwise I left the rest alone.

I personally dislike this one for doing silly things like messing with ipratio and pbratio. I'd recommend one of the HQ-Slow or similar profiles...

Quote:

Originally Posted by atreides93

these are the params its using for x264
program --pass 2 --bitrate 5500 --stats ".stats" --level 4.1 --keyint 240 --min-keyint 1 --ref 3 --mixed-refs --bframes 3 --b-rdo --bime --weightb --direct auto --subme 6 --partitions p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,i8x8 --8x8dct --ipratio 1.1 --pbratio 1.1 --vbv-bufsize 30000 --vbv-maxrate 8000 --qcomp 0.5 --me umh --threads auto --thread-input --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --output "output" "input" --mvrange 511 --aud --nal-hrd --sar 1:1

If you want it to be faster, drop b-rdo, mixed-refs, and me umh. If you want it even faster after that, drop subme 6 lower (3 or 4 maybe?) and drop refs to 2.

Either way, encoding 1080p isn't fast unless you have some serious processor power or are willing to make major quality sacrifices. Athlon 64s are not exactly fast at encoding either.

atreides93 · 5th July 2008, 02:38

Thanks! I will try those things. Still got 4 hours to go on this encode I started last night

cogman · 5th July 2008, 14:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark Shikari

Well I wouldn't say its deja vu given that x264 is now actually a bit faster than Xvid--the difference is that x264's high-end settings are a whole lot higher than Xvid or DivX. (Xvid on medium settings, for example, uses the rough equivalent of --me dia --subme 0; x264 doesn't even expose subme 0 as a choosable option!)

I personally dislike this one for doing silly things like messing with ipratio and pbratio. I'd recommend one of the HQ-Slow or similar profiles...

If you want it to be faster, drop b-rdo, mixed-refs, and me umh. If you want it even faster after that, drop subme 6 lower (3 or 4 maybe?) and drop refs to 2.

Either way, encoding 1080p isn't fast unless you have some serious processor power or are willing to make major quality sacrifices. Athlon 64s are not exactly fast at encoding either.

You would drop me from umh, That would be one of the last things I would drop. Anyways.

Here is how I look at it. An encode could potential linger around for a long time (I still have xVid encode from when I first started) so do you really want to drop the quality of the encode so it goes a little faster? For me, the extra time it takes to encode at higher settings is worth the quality that is produce (I drop a Quad core to 2.4 fps on standard definition stuff

)

Of course the choice is up to you, but I would keep that in mind while encoding. Also, let me just advocate CRF, it does an excellent job of picking the needed bitrate for you. CRF 18 will almost always look perfect (some get away with CRF 20 - 24). So give it a try, it will eliminate the need for two pass, though you won't be able to predict how big the file will be.

Sharktooth · 5th July 2008, 15:14

atreides, megui includes also a FAST profile for bluray... try using that instead...

however you edited the VBV maxbitrate to 8000... WHY?!? it's not necessary unless you're making an AVCHD.
also i suggest you to add the minimal noise filter in the avs (it's undot()... you can even replace it with RemoveGrain(mode=1) or RemoveGrain(mode=2) as well...). it's always good for compression, hence quality.

DJ_Borat · 5th July 2008, 17:39

2.4FPS? Lucky!

My 3GHz dual core Opteron 185 encodes at 1.1fps (1.85:1 AR) to 1.34fps (2.35 AR).

Blue_MiSfit · 5th July 2008, 20:27

I get about 10fps on my quad using pretty high settings - modified HQ-Slower.

CRF encoding means I can do a movie in a night - which is perfectly ok by me!

~MiSfit

atreides93 · 6th July 2008, 06:30

The Megui I got is the most recent version, and it only has a single bluray encoder setting preset...is there somewhere I can get more setting profiles?
Anyway I did get it to encode faster....and I'm really blown away by the quality of the resulting mp4 file! The original was 29 gigs, and now its only 5 and yet looks unbelievable.
Of course, it took around 23 or 24 hours..

But...guess what. It doesn't play on my PS3 !! It comes back with a "not supported" error on the PS3. Latest firmware on that...
So apparently there's something about the bluray encoder settings, that PS3 doesn't like in an mp4 file.

It does play MP4's that I encoded with AutoMKV but that program has a specific PS3 preset. hmmm makes me think maybe i should compare that preset with the settings in megui....
well back to it!

I normally stream video using tVersity to my PS3, but I have it set to "NEVER" transcode...which I assumed means it should be the same as if I were playing it off the local drive on the PS3. Well apparently not! I copied the file over to the PS3's drive, and it plays fine from there!
I'm so glad I tried that, otherwise I'd have wasted so much time trying to figure out what's up with my encoder settings, when it was just that damn tversity program.

Dark Shikari · 6th July 2008, 07:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by atreides93

The Megui I got is the most recent version, and it only has a single bluray encoder setting preset...is there somewhere I can get more setting profiles?
Anyway I did get it to encode faster....and I'm really blown away by the quality of the resulting mp4 file! The original was 29 gigs, and now its only 5 and yet looks unbelievable.
Of course, it took around 23 or 24 hours..

But...guess what. It doesn't play on my PS3 !! It comes back with a "not supported" error on the PS3. Latest firmware on that...
So apparently there's something about the bluray encoder settings, that PS3 doesn't like in an mp4 file.

It does play MP4's that I encoded with AutoMKV but that program has a specific PS3 preset. hmmm makes me think maybe i should compare that preset with the settings in megui....
well back to it!

I normally stream video using tVersity to my PS3, but I have it set to "NEVER" transcode...which I assumed means it should be the same as if I were playing it off the local drive on the PS3. Well apparently not! I copied the file over to the PS3's drive, and it plays fine from there!
I'm so glad I tried that, otherwise I'd have wasted so much time trying to figure out what's up with my encoder settings, when it was just that damn tversity program.

Isn't there a PS3 profile in MeGUI?

atreides93 · 6th July 2008, 08:28

Well, I see people talking about it a lot...but I don't see one.
Maybe it has something to do with Vista...
I'll try reinstalling it.

I found a "work around" for now, but it sucks.
I posted it in this thread
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.ph...ht=mux&page=28

since I did a search and found out some people had similar issues with MeGUI and streaming the mp4's to their PS3

[update]
I reinstalled, and this time when running it for the first time I ran it as "administrator" in Vista..and it prompted me to download a bunch of profiles!!
Very cool.
Now another 24 hours to encode this movie all over again to see if it makes a difference.
Still, seems odd I can get this to work if I keep the mp4 files below 1 gig...very weird

Soichiro · 8th July 2008, 16:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ_Borat

2.4FPS? Lucky!

My 3GHz dual core Opteron 185 encodes at 1.1fps (1.85:1 AR) to 1.34fps (2.35 AR).

You're doing better than me. My 2.2Ghz Opty 165 encodes at .6fps. On 720p. ;<

Sharktooth · 8th July 2008, 19:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by atreides93

Well, I see people talking about it a lot...but I don't see one.
Maybe it has something to do with Vista...
I'll try reinstalling it.

I found a "work around" for now, but it sucks.
I posted it in this thread
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.ph...ht=mux&page=28

since I did a search and found out some people had similar issues with MeGUI and streaming the mp4's to their PS3

[update]
I reinstalled, and this time when running it for the first time I ran it as "administrator" in Vista..and it prompted me to download a bunch of profiles!!
Very cool.
Now another 24 hours to encode this movie all over again to see if it makes a difference.
Still, seems odd I can get this to work if I keep the mp4 files below 1 gig...very weird

MeGUI needs to be run as Admin to work.
Otherwise it cant unpdate itself and cant update packages... etc...

Nullity · 10th July 2008, 19:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark Shikari

Isn't there a PS3 profile in MeGUI?

There is, but I prefer the SA-Bluray profile, it seems to produce a more compliant stream. For example, using the PS3 profile, seeking through the videos often doesn't work correctly, or at all. However, with the SA-Bluray profile, this seeking works perfectly.

5th July 2008, 01:24	#1 \| Link
atreides93 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 948	is 2.4FPS encoding normal??! This is the first time I've tried encoding an existing m2ts file from a bluray disk to a smaller mp4 file using meGui and x.264. I was wondering if its normal to only get around 2.4 fps encoding speed with an Athlon X2 4400. When I look at benchmarks for other types of encoding, the Intel Core2 Duo 8400 is about twice as fast...which would only mean 5fps if I were to upgrade to that. It seems like i've heard people talking about getting anywhere from 15-22 fps encoding speeds...so I'm lost as to how they can achieve this...quad cores maybe? Here's my avisynth script...maybe its the bottleneck? # Set DAR in encoder to 219 : 89. The following line is for automatic signalling global MeGUI_darx = 219 global MeGUI_dary = 89 DirectShowSource("G:\BluRay\x\x\BDMV\STREAM\x.m2ts",fps=23.9759856527702,audio=false) #deinterlace crop( 0, 140, 0, -140) LanczosResize(1904,800) # Lanczos (Sharp) #denoise

5th July 2008, 01:25	#2 \| Link
Dark Shikari x264 developer Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 8,666	It'd help to know what encoding profile you're using--x264's speed can range from realtime 1080p on one core to 0.1fps depending on what settings you use. If you're using threads, 2.4fps is not unreasonable for one of the slower profiles, especially given you're encoding 1080p footage. __________________ Follow x264 development progress \| akupenguin quotes \| x264 git status ffmpeg and x264-related consulting/coding contracts \| Doom10 Last edited by Dark Shikari; 5th July 2008 at 01:29.

5th July 2008, 15:14	#7 \| Link
Sharktooth Mr. Sandman Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Haddonfield, IL Posts: 11,768	atreides, megui includes also a FAST profile for bluray... try using that instead... however you edited the VBV maxbitrate to 8000... WHY?!? it's not necessary unless you're making an AVCHD. also i suggest you to add the minimal noise filter in the avs (it's undot()... you can even replace it with RemoveGrain(mode=1) or RemoveGrain(mode=2) as well...). it's always good for compression, hence quality. __________________ MPEG-4 ASP Custom Matrices: EQM V1(old), EQM AutoGK Sharpmatrix (aka EQM V2), EQM V3HR (updated 01/10/2004), EQM V3LR, EQM V3ULR (updated 04/02/2005), EQM V3UHR (updated 17/12/2004) and EQM V3EHR (updated 05/10/2004) Info about my ASP matrices. MPEG-4 AVC Custom Matrices: EQM AVC-HR Info about my AVC matrices My x264 builds. Mooo!!! Last edited by Sharktooth; 5th July 2008 at 15:23.

5th July 2008, 20:27	#9 \| Link
Blue_MiSfit Derek Prestegard IRL Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 5,989	I get about 10fps on my quad using pretty high settings - modified HQ-Slower. CRF encoding means I can do a movie in a night - which is perfectly ok by me! ~MiSfit __________________ These are all my personal statements, not those of my employer :)

6th July 2008, 06:30	#10 \| Link
atreides93 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 948	The Megui I got is the most recent version, and it only has a single bluray encoder setting preset...is there somewhere I can get more setting profiles? Anyway I did get it to encode faster....and I'm really blown away by the quality of the resulting mp4 file! The original was 29 gigs, and now its only 5 and yet looks unbelievable. Of course, it took around 23 or 24 hours.. But...guess what. It doesn't play on my PS3 !! It comes back with a "not supported" error on the PS3. Latest firmware on that... So apparently there's something about the bluray encoder settings, that PS3 doesn't like in an mp4 file. It does play MP4's that I encoded with AutoMKV but that program has a specific PS3 preset. hmmm makes me think maybe i should compare that preset with the settings in megui.... well back to it! I normally stream video using tVersity to my PS3, but I have it set to "NEVER" transcode...which I assumed means it should be the same as if I were playing it off the local drive on the PS3. Well apparently not! I copied the file over to the PS3's drive, and it plays fine from there! I'm so glad I tried that, otherwise I'd have wasted so much time trying to figure out what's up with my encoder settings, when it was just that damn tversity program. Last edited by atreides93; 6th July 2008 at 06:32. Reason: forgot to add something

5th July 2008, 02:21	#3 \| Link
atreides93 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 948	Its so funny how this is almost like deja vu. I remember having similar encoding speed issues when DIVX was relatively new and the best I could get back then was 2 fps Anyway i'm using High Profile and level 4.1 basically MeGUI has this pre-existing template called x264 SA-BluRay. I took that, and modified it a little by changing the average bitrate to 5000 and max bitrate to 7000. otherwise I left the rest alone. these are the params its using for x264 program --pass 2 --bitrate 5500 --stats ".stats" --level 4.1 --keyint 240 --min-keyint 1 --ref 3 --mixed-refs --bframes 3 --b-rdo --bime --weightb --direct auto --subme 6 --partitions p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,i8x8 --8x8dct --ipratio 1.1 --pbratio 1.1 --vbv-bufsize 30000 --vbv-maxrate 8000 --qcomp 0.5 --me umh --threads auto --thread-input --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --output "output" "input" --mvrange 511 --aud --nal-hrd --sar 1:1

5th July 2008, 02:38	#5 \| Link
atreides93 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 948	Thanks! I will try those things. Still got 4 hours to go on this encode I started last night

5th July 2008, 17:39	#8 \| Link
DJ_Borat Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 17	2.4FPS? Lucky! My 3GHz dual core Opteron 185 encodes at 1.1fps (1.85:1 AR) to 1.34fps (2.35 AR).

6th July 2008, 08:28	#12 \| Link
atreides93 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 948	Well, I see people talking about it a lot...but I don't see one. Maybe it has something to do with Vista... I'll try reinstalling it. I found a "work around" for now, but it sucks. I posted it in this thread http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.ph...ht=mux&page=28 since I did a search and found out some people had similar issues with MeGUI and streaming the mp4's to their PS3 [update] I reinstalled, and this time when running it for the first time I ran it as "administrator" in Vista..and it prompted me to download a bunch of profiles!! Very cool. Now another 24 hours to encode this movie all over again to see if it makes a difference. Still, seems odd I can get this to work if I keep the mp4 files below 1 gig...very weird Last edited by atreides93; 6th July 2008 at 08:33.