MeGUI Custom x264/AVC video profiles.

[saint-francis]

Which avs profile is the least processor extensive? I want to view x264 using CorePlayer on my Axim X51V. Thanks.

Do you mean which x264 profile?
I use the HQ insane profile and I play the movies on my x51v all the time. So you can use any you want. :)

[rack04]

Do you mean which x264 profile?
I use the HQ insane profile and I play the movies on my x51v all the time. So you can use any you want. :)

What bitrate and resolution are you able to play using HQ-Insane? Also, what media player do you use on your X51V?

[Adub]

You mean the one requiring the least amount of processing power? Try the ipod profiles, or create you own using the baseline profile with a low level, something like 2.1 or 3.1.

[saint-francis]

What bitrate and resolution are you able to play using HQ-Insane? Also, what media player do you use on your X51V?

I generally use crf 18 and 480p. I use coreplayer. The newer versions of coreplayer also support HE AAC nicely too.
On aximsite there are a bunch of guides for encoding to a size that is designed for the ax but I'm not about to make two copies of every movie (one for the PDA and one for the PC).

[kumi]

I'm trying to modify the "CQ-ASP_Q2_eq(crf)" profile to gain a speed up, like the boost you get going from "HQ-Slower" to "HQ-Slow". But I'm not sure which options are safe to change. I took a diff between the "HQ-Slow" profile (which has an acceptable per-pass speed for me) and the "CQ-ASP_Q2_eq(crf)" profile (too slow for me):

3c3
< <Name>CQ-ASP_Q2_eq(crf)</Name>
---
> <Name>HQ-Slow</Name>
5,6c5,6
< <EncodingMode>9</EncodingMode>
< <BitrateQuantizer>18</BitrateQuantizer>
---
> <EncodingMode>4</EncodingMode>
> <BitrateQuantizer>1000</BitrateQuantizer>
11c11
< <Turbo>false</Turbo>
---
> <Turbo>true</Turbo>
22c22
< <QuantizerCRF>18</QuantizerCRF>
---
> <QuantizerCRF>1000</QuantizerCRF>
28,29c28,29
< <MixedRefs>true</MixedRefs>
< <X264Trellis>0</X264Trellis>
---
> <MixedRefs>false</MixedRefs>
> <X264Trellis>1</X264Trellis>
33c33
< <SubPelRefinement>0</SubPelRefinement>
---
> <SubPelRefinement>5</SubPelRefinement>
36c36
< <BframePredictionMode>1</BframePredictionMode>
---
> <BframePredictionMode>3</BframePredictionMode>
40c40
< <MERange>16</MERange>
---
> <MERange>12</MERange>
60c60
< <biME>true</biME>
---
> <biME>false</biME>


Which of these options are safe to change in the "CQ-ASP_Q2_eq(crf)" profile? Any pointers would be most helpful, I'm a newb to x264.

[Sharktooth]

except turbo, quantizer and encoding mode, you can change everything else.

[bguenthe]

Hello,

I use MeGui to convert my recorded television movies to mpeg4 (h264). I tried the relative new archos 605 profile in combination with the nero ndaac audio profile.
It works fine for me except this:

When I move the movie forward to e.g. skip the advertisement the picture is froozen and the sound is way behind the movie. The sound is still playing and when it matches the picture all is synchronized and plays well. But I have to wait for ca. a minute for synchronizsation. I have xvid movies without this problem. Has anybody an explanation/solution for this?

[Sharktooth]

xvid is not h.264...
they're 2 completely different codecs.
try updating your player firmware to the latest version

[fleon]

It seems that a new profile for the ipod nano is needed 'cause the new nano have some video specs differences compared with the ipod 5.5 as you can see:

Ipod 5.5

H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Low-Complexity Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 768 Kbps, 320 by 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

Ipod nano 3rd gen

H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

they do in fact have some differences, look well..
or you can see them on the sites
http://support.apple.com/specs/ipod/iPod_Fifth_Generation_Late_2006.html

http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/specs.html

I read here that the 5.5 profile is compatible, but maybe it will be better to do a profile for the nano to take advantage of the differences between the 5.5 and the nano

[Sharktooth]

there's no reason to create a nano profile... it will be identical to 5.5G

[Adub]

Yes, there are a few subtle differences, but not enough to go an create a new profile, just modify your (fleon) 5.5gen profile to match the specs above and you should be golden.

Most of the difference is bitrate, but the Level Changes as well. No biggy.

[fleon]

there's no reason to create a nano profile... it will be identical to 5.5G

OH, I didnt knew that, well that's because I dont know too much about the technical video specs and everything I just assumed that because it was in some parts different a profile was needed, but hey you know way more than me so you are right
thanks for clearing that up

[bguenthe]

xvid is not h.264...
they're 2 completely different codecs.
try updating your player firmware to the latest version
Hey Sharktooth,

I know that there is a difference between xvid and h264. But my question was: Has anybody an idea why I have the the problems with h264.

[AkumaX]

Sorry if this has been asked before; but is there a program that tells you what AVC level your *.mp4 is?

Ex: I d/l say, One Piece-200.mp4, but it doesn't play with quicktime. Obviously its using a different AVC profile, but what?
Ex2: I d/l say, Gundam 00-1.mp4. It plays in QuickTime and PSP new, but not PSP old (PSP and PS3's AVC Levels are changing), but I still want to know whether the file is Main Profile Level 3.1 or whatever. Thanks in advance!

[Sharktooth]

@AkumaX: :search:

@bguenthe: have you tried upgrading the firmware?

[migrena]

avc support in archos 605 is provided by plugin (purchased separately), unlike asp support, which is provided in normal software (according to specs on archos website). so i would blame that plugin.

[orangedude]

Furthermore, some tweakings are also needed for the muxing (thank you Apple :p) :
For AppleTV :
MP4Box -ipod -brand M4VH:1 -add myvideo.264:fps=xx -add myaudio.m4a outputfile.m4v
For iPhone :
MP4Box -ipod -brand M4VP -add myvideo.264:fps=xx -add myaudio.m4a outputfile.m4v

Hi, I've been having trouble getting MeGUI encoded videos to transfer to my Ipod Touch. Just wondering, does MeGUI automatically do these tweaks when muxing MP4 files under Iphone profile, or do you have to do these manually from outside MeGUI?

[Kurtnoise]

For the moment, you need to do this outside from MeGUI. It will be added in it soon.

[orangedude]

So is that the reason why videos encoded on Xvid4PSP work while the MeGUI ones do not? The muxing is the problem rather than encoding? If so, I'd really appreciate if it's added soon, thanks.

[Sharktooth]

yes. it's the muxing.

[3r1c]

are the SA-HD-DVD profiles correct?

--pass 2 --bitrate 8000 --stats ".stats" --level 4.1 --keyint 15 --min-keyint 1 --ref 3 --mixed-refs --bframes 2 --bime --weightb --direct auto --filter -3,-2 --subme 1 --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,i8x8 --8x8dct --vbv-bufsize 9781 --vbv-maxrate 29400 --threads auto --thread-input --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --output "output" "input"

seems to be missing required commands to produce valid hd-dvd stream such as
--vbv-init 1.0 --vbv-bufsize 14745 --mvrange 511 --nal-hrd

is threre a reason why these commands are not used when almost every other guide says they are required?
and which is right for bufsize 14745 or 9781?

has this profile been tested or is it just guess work?
ie. has been authored with scenarist (or similar tool) and burned to a disc which plays back on some hardware player.

[Sharktooth]

the profile is experimental and since the nal hrd x264 patch is experimental too, it wont work. a proper support for hd-dvds will be added when the nal hrd patch will be committed to the x264 svn.

EDIT: Just a note... --mvrange 511 is no longer necessary with latest x264 builds

[migrena]

@orangedude
you can replace mp4box that comes with megui with nic's hacked one that uses "-ipod" switch as default.
http://nic.dnsalias.com/

[bguenthe]

@AkumaX: :search:

@bguenthe: have you tried upgrading the firmware?

Yes, I have the latest firmware. Recently I tried Nero Recode. And for the first time I hava a h254 running on my Archos without problems. But I have to wait long for this. This peace of software is slow.

[Meilo]

The Xbox 360 Profiles don't use B-Pyramid. Is there some specific condition that it causes troubles for the Xbox? I've been doing a lot of encodes with them on and videos play without problems.

[JarrettH]

I sort of understand why you made b-frames=16 for all the HQ profiles now. I thought you just went nuts and I left my own profile at 3. I did a little looking around the other night and it turns out adaptive b-frames "allows" x264 to use up to 16 right?

Gosh x264 is getting extremely fast. I did 1st pass of Blade Runner Final Cut in 50min and 2nd pass in under 3hrs w/

Job commandline: --bitrate 1400 --stats --keyint 240 --min-keyint 24 --ref 5 --mixed-refs --no-fast-pskip --bframes 16 --b-pyramid --b-rdo --bime --weightb --direct auto --filter -2,-1 --subme 6 --trellis 1 --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,i8x8 --8x8dct --me umh --threads auto --thread-input --sar 1:1 --progress --no-dct-decimate --no-psnr --no-ssim --output

:eek:

[Sharktooth]

exactly. b frames are adaptive by default. so why not let x264 choose how many of them to put in sequence? ;)

[XolocoTuxmaster]

Sharktooth,

What are the PS3 profiles' x264.exe command lines?

[Schrade]

Sharktooth,

What are the PS3 profiles' x264.exe command lines?

PD-PS3-Xbox360:
--pass 2 --bitrate 1000 --stats ".stats" --level 4.1 --ref 3 --mixed-refs --bframes 3 --b-rdo --bime --weightb --direct auto --subme 6 --trellis 1 --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,i8x8 --8x8dct --vbv-bufsize 9000 --vbv-maxrate 25000 --me umh --merange 12 --threads auto --thread-input --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --output "output" "input"

PD-PS3-Xbox360_Fast:
--pass 2 --bitrate 1000 --stats ".stats" --level 4.1 --bframes 3 --weightb --direct auto --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,i8x8 --8x8dct --vbv-bufsize 9000 --vbv-maxrate 25000 --threads auto --thread-input --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --output "output" "input"

You can get these command lines from meGUI itself when you select a profile and click on the "config" button.

Edit: Woops. Those are for v42, not Sharktooth's latest v43. But in any case, you can get the command lines yourself pretty easily via meGUI.

[XolocoTuxmaster]

Thank you very much, but that's not the answer I was looking for. I should have explained myself better.

I knew what you say, but I actually wanted to know if first pass is just the same but changing --pass 2 to --pass 1

[Ranguvar]

Just did a LOT of testing with the Archos 605, and found its profile can be enhanced.

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1079602#post1079602

Enjoy :)

[Sharktooth]

@Ranguvar: will do as soon as i find some free time.

@XolocoTuxmaster: usually the commandlines used between passes are different, but only if "Turbo" is enabled. otherwise they're exactly the same (obviously except for the --pass option)

[buzzqw]

i would suggest to set --level to 4.1 for all profile that not need lower or bigger annex level

so.. don't change ipod profiles.. but general pourpose profile can be level 4.1 without hassle

the 5.1 requisite are far from common

BHH

[Kurtnoise]

doesn't make sense...unrestricted level is the way to go imo except profiles which require this feature.

[buzzqw]

unrestrincted level don't make sense too :rolleyes:

many user will simply encode with the profile that's "sound" (as name) better.

only after encoding they will complain about hw device not decoding videos

my suggestion is only due to fact that is much better a signaling level then not signal any level
non signaling level mean 5.1.

if you look at annex table (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264#Levels) you will see that difference between 4.1 and 5.1 are just about bitrate (over 62.5mbps) and very high resolution (over 2048x1024)

just my opinion

BHH

[Kurtnoise]

unrestrincted level don't make sense too :rolleyes:
it makes sense...levels restrictions are due to the hardware materials not softwares.


many user will simply encode with the profile that's "sound" (as name) better.

only after encoding they will complain about hw device not decoding videos
then, it's because the profile used is not well tuned...

my suggestion is only due to fact that is much better a signaling level then not signal any level
non signaling level mean 5.1.
contradiction...

[buzzqw]

yes... but 5.1 is the max level.. and is put by x264 because a level must be present

i just want to say that difference between 4.1 and 5.1 are quite insignificant for "normal" encoding.

So i would prefer to use a level well accepted by several hw device. Not segnaling it (and so let 5.1) is ignoring it

BHH

[Chainmax]

the profile is experimental and since the nal hrd x264 patch is experimental too, it wont work. a proper support for hd-dvds will be added when the nal hrd patch will be committed to the x264 svn.

EDIT: Just a note... --mvrange 511 is no longer necessary with latest x264 builds

Does that mean that after that patch is commited the HD-DVD profile-encodes should be playable on any standalone?


Also, I have seen a few posts in this forum that seem to point that the PSP can handle level 3. I am currently doing some encodes for my PSP and will try that for further confirmation (I also use subme7, trellis2, no dct decimation, and no fast pskip).


[edit]Mmm...modifying the AVC level in the PSP profile gives an error message saying that P4x4 is not allowed on levels higher than 3 or on level 3 itself with B-frames. What should give better quality, 2.1 with BFrames or 3 without BFrames?

[valnar]

Is there a spreadsheet or chart somewhere that lists all these profiles in a table so I can compare the differences between them all? 'Just curious.

Robert

[Kurtnoise]

Is there a spreadsheet or chart somewhere that lists all these profiles in a table so I can compare the differences between them all?
nope...but open xml files shouldn't be to hard with some text editors or something.

[Ranguvar]

Also, I have seen a few posts in this forum that seem to point that the PSP can handle level 3. I am currently doing some encodes for my PSP and will try that for further confirmation (I also use subme7, trellis2, no dct decimation, and no fast pskip).


[edit]Mmm...modifying the AVC level in the PSP profile gives an error message saying that P4x4 is not allowed on levels higher than 3 or on level 3 itself with B-frames. What should give better quality, 2.1 with BFrames or 3 without BFrames?

Level 3 works fine. Just disable P4x4. It helps very little compared to inreased time to encode, anyways.

FYI (just about as good as PSP supports max for most options): --pass 2 --stats .stats --bitrate 1024 --ref 3 --mixed-refs --bframes 3 --direct auto --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4 --subme 6 --me umh --b-rdo --bime --weightb --trellis 1 --threads 1

I've been using that CLI for months now on every one of my PSP encodes, and its worked every time. So I assume you don't even need the --level option. just make sure you still use an allowed resolution.

[alexVS]

Please, help me to understand some of the points:

1. For now there are no stand-alone players, that can play *.MP4 file (h264-AVC, AAC), encoded with x264.exe. Is that right?

2. The manual to my stand-alone player (XORO DVD player) says that it can play MP4 (nero-digital). Which profile from the first post of this thread is compatible with it?

3. Which profiles (HQ, CE, 1P, CQ) will be compatible with future players (HD-DVD, BLUE-RAY or DVD with support of h264) according to some standarts. And which of them will be played on the computer only?

[Atak_Snajpera]

1. For now there are no stand-alone players, that can play *.MP4 file (h264-AVC, AAC), encoded with x264.exe. Is that right?

How about PS3 :)

2. The manual to my stand-alone player (XORO DVD player) says that it can play MP4 (nero-digital). Which profile from the first post of this thread is compatible with it?

Probably PSP level 3.0 profile

3. Which profiles (HQ, CE, 1P, CQ) will be compatible with future players (HD-DVD, BLUE-RAY or DVD with support of h264) according to some standarts. And which of them will be played on the computer only?

PS3 Level 4.1 should be compatible with future players
Everything above will play only on PC (without hardware acceleration)

[Chainmax]

Level 3 works fine. Just disable P4x4. It helps very little compared to inreased time to encode, anyways.

FYI (just about as good as PSP supports max for most options): --pass 2 --stats .stats --bitrate 1024 --ref 3 --mixed-refs --bframes 3 --direct auto --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4 --subme 6 --me umh --b-rdo --bime --weightb --trellis 1 --threads 1

I've been using that CLI for months now on every one of my PSP encodes, and its worked every time. So I assume you don't even need the --level option. just make sure you still use an allowed resolution.

You should talk to Sharktooth and see if he could update MeGUI's PSP profile accordingly then, that would be a very nice addition.

[Atak_Snajpera]

--ref 3 does not work on my psp (video cannot be played). Only 2 works.

[Ranguvar]

--ref 3 does not work on my psp (video cannot be played). Only 2 works. *headdesks* I knew that off the top of my head, but apparently I typoed. Sorry!

[Inventive Software]

Can anybody recommend a profile that works with the newer PSP Slim 'n' Lite? And what H.264 level and x264 options does the PSP SnL support?

[Atak_Snajpera]

PSP level 3.0. You are asking strange question.

[Inventive Software]

Thanks. What I meant was video specs, a la iPod, but I assume Sony won't publish them. :(

[alexVS]

I need an advice.
When I encode video (captured as 25 interlaced FPS), to preserve smoothness of motion I encode it as 50 FPS.
For this I do separate fields and bob deinterlace.

Do I have to douple the bitrate to get the same quality of picture as deinterlaced 25p? Or I have to set some special parameters?

Logically thinking, I receive more frames (50), but the difference between frames are less, so it should take less information to encode p and b frames. Am I right?