RealAnime 4 - General Questions and Troubleshooting Thread

[Sirber]

Well, LE will handle D2V and AC3, but you have some manual tasks to do to get MKV.

[Sirber]

bug: priority is not repected. I'm asking IDLE and I get NORMAL.

[rushin_911]

May I suggest the addition of vorbis for audio? The latest beta (Autov4) sounds acceptable at -q 0 (which I think is roughly equivilant to 64 kbps) and I think at this bitrate it might be better than HE-AAC and probably less resource internsive when decoding (well whether it sounds better or not is simply a subjective opinion, I really don't have any tests to support that claim at this bitrate but you can test it and see the results for yourself :) )

[Sirber]

I tested vorbis up down to q-2 and IMO HE-AAC sound definitly better. Also, for LE, I want to stick with 1 audio codec and 1 video codec, which both can be put fellowing the standarts in MKV and MP4.

I'm currently looking to using Winamp HE-AAC instead of Nero.

[Sirber]

Worked on LE for alpah 2:

Audio: I added winamp aac+ v2 encoder and removed nero.
Video: Added multi-ref to extreme quality preset and Adaptive Quantization to high and extreme preset.

[edit]

removed Adaptive Quantization, does more blocks than good :(

[ggab]

cool, we will have the new standard for anime = he-aac +PS 32kbps !
"you can enable it in x264 via the --mixed-refs switch"

Did a full encode on anime content, at 400kbps (inc. 32kbps audio), video is better than using 500kbps (inc 64kbps audio) when using the new multi-ref.
Ques1: Will RA LE use the new multi-ref as default profile?

Ques1: And with (future) updated x264 releases, where new parameters improving the encoding in general might be added:
Will we be able to use them only if they are in the GUI (or via an optional command line tab within the GUI)?

[Sirber]

1) Since "--multi-ref" is atrocely slow (4FPS with, 8FPS whitout on my 3000+) it's only avalible in "Extreme" quality preset.

2) Futur features will be avalible with new LE updates. I could add a switch in the XML for manual cmdline params for x264 and besweet (to be used at your own risk).

[Sirber]

Added:
* Winamp aac+ v2 + PS
* Multi-ref for Extreme Quality preset (x264)
* Stop button

Updated:
* Defaults: video: 368kbps, audio 32kbps + PS
* Profil management (audio bitrate didn't save)
* x264 rev 322F
* Error managment
* BeLight 0.2.2.0 beta 8

Removed:
* Nero aac+ v1

Please delete "RealAnime.xml" after installing, prior using

RealAnimeLE_a2.exe (http://www.detritus.qc.ca/files/realanimele/RealAnimeLE_a2.exe) (13MB)

[Eretria-chan]

Ooooh, a new build. I will test it ^_^

[Kayser]

Great work Sirber! I've been encoding with RealAnime LE Alpha 2 and so far it's been working great... I'm amazed with that new multi ref thing, congratulations to X264 developers! I have a little request, in a future release or when you have the time could you please add something to let the user change the priority for X264? Thank you very much

[Sirber]

IDLE is not good enough for you? Maybe you want more? :devil:

I'll add a dropdown menu in the output tab.

Thanks for your comments!

May I ask which bitrate do you use? :)

[Kayser]

Lol :P... The fact is that I use low priority when I'm using the computer but that drops the fps by 1,5 (more or less) so when I'm not around I would love to leave it on normal priority.
As for the bitrate, I only encode anime content so I tend to use your presets, generally from 400 to 500 and 64 for audio. I couldn't believe my eyes when I encoded at 368 with extreme quality...
Is there much of a difference (quality wise) between 2 and 3 passes (both with fast first pass)?... I made some tests and didn't notice the difference, maybe the source I choosed was not the best.

[Sirber]

I made some tests and with 3 pass (only first one is fast) and I noticed with 3 pass, image is more stable and a bit more detailled. (Naruto intro)

IMHO it's worth to do 3 pass at extreme, even if it's dead slow :D

[Eretria-chan]

I did notice one thing...
It is still not possible to encode at HE-AAC @ 8 kbps. It didn't work when I tried belight some time ago either. My guess it is the plugin that doesn't support it. But what can you do? Would it not make sense to remove than "8" from the list, then?

I'll test, test away! :D Let's see how extreme 3-pass w/ 200 bitrate and full inloop filter does =)

[Sirber]

ish, don't full inloop! +1 is quite enough.

I will remove 8kbps in next release :)

[Eretria-chan]

Not quite so for 200 kbps though. I did try that before. It removes blockiness from all but complex scenes last I tried. Haven't tested extreme mode, that's what I'll try now ^_^ And including zones, I'll get a perfect small size encode!

[Sirber]

no zones yet... but it would a nice addition.

[Eretria-chan]

Yep, totally agree with you :) Looking forward to when/if zones get added. Until then, I'll experiment a little more maybe.

[JoeBG]

A perfect stupid question: Why only avi input?

I would really enjoy avisynth input with a commandline :)

[Sirber]

It's a freaking alpha, so only AVI works :p. Final version will have the same input capabilities as RealAnime 3.0, so AVI, D2V, OGM, MKV, WAV, MP3, AC3, AAC, OGG and no AVS. I tryed to manage AVS with RealAnime 3.x and it was a complete mess. It's extremely difficult to know what "tracks" an AVS produce by analyzing the code, and I have no tool to get the infos on it.

If you want to use filters, there's a tab for that.

[Kayser]

So RealAnime 3.2 does support OGM? I thought it didn't because I've never been able to successfully get one of those encoded... It doesn't matter what the source is (ogm of course) it encodes it successfully (both audio and video) but after it mux the files it deletes both temp the files and the newly encoded one :S. It happened with mkv as well till 3.0 rc4 or so (I don't remember quite well) but that got solved. Must be some missing something or misconfiguration by my side

[Sirber]

since 3.0, OGM and MKV work.

RC release were "betas" too. Bugs happens and should be reported ASAP :)

[IgorC]

Sirber
How about HE-AAC2 with Parametric Stereo (Winamp or db) support? Quality is higher than HE-AAC1. Nero7 also contains HE-AAC2

[Sirber]

Already done. Alpha 2 use Winamp with PS bellow 48kbps. :D

[IgorC]

Sorry, I didnt notice that.

[SenorKaffee]

Does RealAnime depend on a certain version of Nero or does it already work with Nero 7?

[Eretria-chan]

Ummm... alpha 2 doesn't rely on nero at all. It uses winamp plugin for HE-AAC.

[Sirber]

Here's a sample I took from my last encode at 368+32kbps, 1m30s from the 24 minute clip so you can look at the quality.

Source: Naruto 155, 170MB, xvid, mp3
Video: x264 @ 368kbps, 3pass with fast first, Extreme Quality, Inloop +1, 3 bframes
Audio: AAC+ v2 @ 32kbps with Parametric Stereo, Normalized
Filtering: none
Output: 68MB Matroska

http://www.mytempdir.com/206755

Note: you will need the latest ffdshow and use "ffdshow audio" for AAC decoding with "libfaac2".
Note 2: settings used are RealAnime LE alpha 2 defaults.

[Sharktooth]

Well, it's quite outstanding considering the bitrate and the resolution...

[Kayser]

Hi again Sirber. I want to change the build of X264 that RALE runs, is that possible? Just by replacing in /bin the x264.exe is fine? or do I have to change something somewhere else?

[Sirber]

RealAnime LE use MD5 hash to validate the binaries. You would have to get the source, update the MD5 and recompile. ;)

Yeah, just switch the x264.exe and you are free to go :)

[Kayser]

Thank you Sirber. I'm getting 34 fps in fast first pass with the new build... That's 7fps faster than before. And on the slow passes i get roughly 7.5 frames at extreme quality.

[Sirber]

Yep. I shall increase the number of refs in alpha 3.

Currently:
Very low (fast): 1
Low: 2
Medium: 3
High: 5
Extreme: 8

Alpha 3:
Very low (fast): 1
Low: 3
Medium: 5
High: 8
Extreme: 16

What do you think?

[Kayser]

If it helps quality then it will be very welcome, I never used more than 5-8. Dunno why I decided that would be enough :S... I'll try 16 with megui to check the results.

[Sirber]

16 would help mixed-refs, but might get the speed down again :)

[ggab]

how do u get the OP or another selection from a full episode (~70mb, in MKV) file?

i've tried with vdubmod, but fails (Sirber's Naruto155_OP.mkv)
sshot:
http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/9602/dibujo12348rk.png

[Sirber]

woot woot :D

Well, I did something not cool to break it. I remerged it with mkvmerge and asked to split the duration I wanted, then when first fle was finished, I terminated it :).

Encodes made by RealAnime LE migth not be VFW compatible, since they are pure AVC in MKV streams, and not hacked AVC in AVI (like RealAnime 3.x).

About PocketPC playback, I did a test with an encode made with LE (defaults) and TCPMP 0.66h benched at 1.8% realtime :(

[bratao]

Siber, i here to only say, your program its the only taht i can use without Headacth , its simple and good !!

Keep Up your good work, and i cant convert mpg files.. :(

[Sirber]

Thanks for the comments!

I will look into MPEG input after I'm done with MKV and MP4, but I'm sure it will be included before Beta 1 :D

[Sirber]

version 1.0 will be Open Source under GNU GPL.

[Kayser]

Sorry to bother you again Sirber... Just a noobish question :P... Will RALE work under WXP 64bits with squid_80's x264 compile?

[Sirber]

RALE is compiled 32bit using Delphi 7 compiler. I'm sure you can use x264.exe (64bit) with avisynth (64bit). The problem is RALE load a bunch of filters (32bit) which can't be loaded in Avisynth (64bit). I'll add a XML entry to prevent the load of filters (LE alpha 3).

[Kayser]

I see, thank you very much Sirber ^^

[Sirber]

My pleasure :). But, alpha 3 will take some time to dev (and release). I'm rewritting the Analysis module to use MediaInfo for any source, as well as an extraction engine for MP4/MKV(OGM).

[DeathTheSheep]

May I suggest the addition of vorbis for audio? The latest beta (Autov4) sounds acceptable at -q 0 (which I think is roughly equivilant to 64 kbps) and I think at this bitrate it might be better than HE-AAC and probably less resource internsive when decoding (well whether it sounds better or not is simply a subjective opinion, I really don't have any tests to support that claim at this bitrate but you can test it and see the results for yourself :) )

I've found out from hydrogenaudio that quite the opposite is true: HE-AAC can decode at *almost* the speed of MP3 decoding (as opposed to Vorbis's much higher complexity), and even Nero's old HE-AAC won over Vorbis (by quite a landslide), barring the much better CT1.1 encoder, according to rather professional tests at hydrogenaudio.

I think the "standard" MPEG-4 AAC would be a much better option than Vorbis at a 64kbps bitrate. At 80kbps+, Vorbis takes the quality lead but leaves a bit to be desired when it comes to decoding speed. Not, of course, that it would matter on any modern computer, but for PPC or other devices, you might wanna consider the less-complex (and therefore power-saving) standard format: AAC-HE.

[Sirber]

RealAnime LE use an audio bitrate between 16 and 64kbps, and HE-AAC is by far better.

[ggab]

Sirber, are u "agree" with this Sharktooth's Anime Profiles: (in particular the x264's settings he had selected as the recommended ones...)

Profiles for Anime/Toons (2 or more passes)
AE-Standard: 2 passes, Main Profile, standard quality.
AE-Goodquality: Slower than AE-Standard, High Profile, higher quality.
AE-Maxquality: 3 passes, slowest mode and maxed out settings, best quality.
Download link: www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/MeGUI_AE-profiles.7z

i think that your words/comment will be very nice, from a great anime's encoder guy, like you :)

thks

[Sirber]

Sharktooth asked me about what to use and built them. Personally I don't use MeGUI nor those profiles, so I cannot say which profil will give best quality over which default bitrate in MeGUI.

[Sirber]

Bug found: Stop button does nothing good :(

Maybe no one pressed it yet... LOL :D

[Kayser]

Lol, I noticed but forgot to report it :P sorry ^^;;... I stop the process when I have to shutdown RALE.
I've run into some files (XviD video and MP3 audio) that are wrongly encoded both in RALE and RA3.2, dunno if it's a bug or something with BeSweet or whatever. The thing is that I encoded in RALE a few files and the audio was like 5 secs lagged in some of them, so I decided to encode the lagged files with RealAnime 3.2 and it does the same. Maybe it's futile to test it in both versions, but sometimes I run into avis that RALE can't encode or encode well and RA3.2 does. Do you know any other thing worth testing?
Thank you in advance Sirber