MeGUI Custom x264/AVC video profiles.

[Atak_Snajpera]

Do not use --b-pyramid and --sar 33:33 (should be --sar 1:1 or 4:3 or 16:9)

[XolocoTuxmaster]

@Sharktooth

toftrem says he used the profile and vui parameters present flag value is set to 0 instead of 1. Can you confirm this?

[Schrade]

forget about CRF or CQ and compatibility with XBOX, PS3 and other devices.
1pass ABR should be avoided too, since the 1pass RC is not so good.

Can you give a reason for forgetting about CRF or CQ for the PS3? I'd just like to know so I can understand what the problem with using it is.

[Atak_Snajpera]

Can you give a reason for forgetting about CRF or CQ for the PS3? I'd just like to know so I can understand what the problem with using it is.

There is no reason. CRF can be used as well without problems.

[Sharktooth]

no. a low CRF or QP value will violate the VBV for sure.
that will be even more problematic on hard to compress sources.

[XolocoTuxmaster]

Hey Sharktooth

toftrem says he used the profile and vui parameters present flag value is set to 0 instead of 1. Can you confirm this?

[Sharktooth]

you mean your blue-ray profile?
sorry i still hadnt time to look at it. ill do it ASAP.

[Atak_Snajpera]

no. a low CRF or QP value will violate the VBV for sure.
that will be even more problematic on hard to compress sources.

Can you give a reason for forgetting about CRF or CQ for the PS3?

Max VBV for PS3 is 25000 so even If I encode at CRF20 + AQ
(default settings) I get max bitrate always lower than 25Mbps (true 1920x1080 source)

[Deinorius]

Do not use --b-pyramid and --sar 33:33 (should be --sar 1:1 or 4:3 or 16:9) B-Pyramid too? In Sharktooth's PS3 Profile B-Pyramid is actived.
And I'm not so interested in using Xbox 360 as Player. Well, I don't even got any of these consoles. :devil: But a friend got these two and the Cell chip of the PS3 is more interesting for videoplayback and Sony seems to be faster by bringing out a smaller PS3. Well these are just rumors, but I'm waiting for it.

Or is there another reason not to use B-Pyramid? Maybe other SAPs like this one (http://www.tvix.co.kr/Eng/products/5100sh.aspx)?

Oh, StaxRip sets --sar 33:33. I can only set this correct, if I put --sar 1:1 manually into it. But is this such a difference? It's still the same.
I will see the difference, when I test it on the PS3, especially because I use PAL anamorph too (--sar 16:11... well, StaxRip uses --sar 48:33).

[jamos]

you mean your blue-ray profile?
sorry i still hadnt time to look at it. ill do it ASAP.

Shark with using Xolos bluray structure profiles I have noticed jerky playback. I think this is due to using a too high vbv buffer think its at 30000 compared to 9700 using the hd profile, can you look at it for us?

BTW I use the HD profiles for my mkv sources and they work excellent for BD output.

[Sharktooth]

i cant look at it since i haven't a blue-ray player...

[matrix40]

Hey i must be doing something wrong. i used the sa hd dvd fast settings and the quality looks great however my hard drive media player and mediainfo read the mkv file i made as 19. fps. My steps were (hd dvd evo)

1) after graphedit and making an avs file i open the avs in the script creator and set the crops and let it analyze this film.

2) i selected the sa hd dvd fast profile then hit que.

It took about 11 hours. i muxed the audio and video together with the megui mkv mux tool.

When i play the file i get little micro stutters in the picture

Did i do something wrong?

[jamos]

i cant look at it since i haven't a blue-ray player...

Doh! ok..

[Atak_Snajpera]

Did you convert 29.97 fps to 23.976 ?

[matrix40]

yes. After it does the scan and i save the avs script right before i chose the profile this is what it gives me as a script


# Set DAR in encoder to 2469 : 1000. The following line is for automatic signalling
global MeGUI_darx = 2469
global MeGUI_dary = 1000
DirectShowSource("C:\Users\Tony\Desktop\video.avs",fps=23.9759856527702,audio=false)
TDecimate(cycleR=1)
crop( 6, 136, -2, -150)

LanczosResize(1904,784) # Lanczos (Sharp)
Undot() # Minimal Noise

i then selected the sa hd dvd fast but for some reason it read as 19 fps

[Atak_Snajpera]

try this:
DirectShowSource("C:\Users\Tony\Desktop\video.avs",fps=23.976,convertfps=true,audio=false)
or
TDecimate()

[Chainmax]

Is the exclusion of No Dct Decimation and the P4x4 macroblock option in the AE-MaxQuality profile due to speed concerns or is there another reason for it?

[Adub]

P4x4 has been a controversial setting, sometimes resulting in a decrease in quality, but often no quality increase. So yes, it has a slight speed increase.

[check]

P4x4 has been a controversial setting, sometimes resulting in a decrease in qualityReally?? Can you link to a few examples, I've only seen the latter in terms of bad cases.

[nurbs]

I was under the impression that p4x4 tends to be left out mainly for hardware compatibility since it is not allowed for levels > 3.

I made some tests with it and was never able to spot a difference in quality on my samples.

[Deckard2019]

I own a PopcornHour A-100. It supports MKV but some of them don't play at all (level 5.1, insane number of ref frames, etc ...).
Explanation is here : http://www.networkedmediatank.com/viewtopic.php?p=14102#14102

So I would like to re-encode H264 video tracks to make them compliant.
I don't want to change bitrate, resolution, etc ... Only H264 format settings (mainly level and ref frames).
So first, I would like a dedicated profile. Next, I would like a typical command line to do this.

Thank you.

[SpAwN_gUy]

I own a PopcornHour A-100. It supports MKV but some of them don't play at all (level 5.1, insane number of ref frames, etc ...).
Explanation is here : http://www.networkedmediatank.com/viewtopic.php?p=14102#14102

So I would like to re-encode H264 video tracks to make them compliant.
I don't want to change bitrate, resolution, etc ... Only H264 format settings (mainly level and ref frames).
So first, I would like a dedicated profile. Next, I would like a typical command line to do this.Try to READ the Doc, you provided...
Use LEVEL Restrictions in MeGUI ...

or USE BluRay/HD-DVD profile...

or CHANGE the preferred profile AS WRITTEN IN Doc...

[ataylor]

OK, newbie moving from AutoGK to MeGUI here... just need some help with settings.

While I understand the whole "whats best" question is frowned upon here, I just need some general guidance. I'm backing up my DVD collection, and quality means more to me than space (I'm backing up to external HD). With AutoGK, I used AC3 audio with 80% target quality, and generally ended up with 1.5/1.8gb file sizes for most films, with longer ones being the mid 2gb area. I'm trying to work out which of these profiles is best for me, but am lost.

Taking into account what I was using with AutoGK, can someone recommend which of the profiles would suit me most, or at least make some suggestions as to which ones I should try.

Many thanks
Andy

[Sharktooth]

CRF profile. The default CRF value is 18. Consider it as a 100% quality. Rising that value will lower the quality.

[jamos]

Is there anything I need to change when using the hd profile for animation hd movies?

[jamos]

Another question if I am just transcoding a mkv using same average bitrate that a mkv was encoded at, into raw avc using bluray profile so it will play on a ps3. Do I need to choose Macroblock options? I have noticed no difference in output with them on and it takes about 4 hours shorter with them off than on.

Also looking at mediainfo I do not see them selected at all when the mkv was originally encoded so i really see no need to use them unless your doing heavy compression am I correct?

[Sharktooth]

Also looking at mediainfo I do not see them selected at all when the mkv was originally encoded so i really see no need to use them unless your doing heavy compression am I correct?
from what you said i suppose you didnt make that encode. in such case forum rule 6 applies.

[jamos]

from what you said i suppose you didnt make that encode. in such case forum rule 6 applies.

I did do the encode. They are backed up titles that i archived to mkv using 5.1 avc with 5 ref frames that I now want to set to lvl 4.1 now that I know that they are compatable to play on the ps3 with avc 4.1 with 4 or less ref. frames.. I did not use megui to encode though I use a x264 command line and did not use macroblock options. I am just wondering if macroblock are worth using with something that was not encoded with them in the first place.

[Sharktooth]

why not encoding from the originals? re-encoding is always bad...

[jamos]

why not encoding from the originals? re-encoding is always bad...

ok I will do that but that means having to rerip..:eek: thanks

[Sharktooth]

in any case, using partitions will help compression...

[Ranguvar]

Hey, Archos just updated the firmware for the 5G series. And take a look at the improvements.

Audio: Fixed compatibility with some AAC streams
Video: Fixed compatibility with H264 streams containing B-frames
Video: Fix compatibility with files encoded using FairUse
Audio/Video: Fixed compatibility with some .m4a and .mp4 files


I'm not updating, as the new updates patch a security hole that can be used to run homebrew, but perhaps someone should check out if more advanced AVC and/or Xvid can be played?

[jamos]

in any case, using partitions will help compression...

It really does not make much of a difference in speed I will continue to use partitions thanks!

[kristiXS]

A few quick questions, as i am very new to megui and x264. I am doing the same as a few other posters in this thread were - creating extremely high quality rips for archival purposes, where a 2gb or less file size is fine, but keeping near dvd quality and a file size of 1500-1700 would be my preference.

A - in an earlier post to someone looking for a profile similiar to this situation you told them: use CRF profile. The default CRF value is 18. Consider it as a 100% quality. Rising that value will lower the quality.

It doesnt seem to be what im looking for, as im seeking a little higher quality than this put out (although it was very good!) Things in the background were blurred a bit much, although the cameras focus was quite clear, and i would like modify a profile's setting to get more quality in the background as well as maybe an even sharper picture than the profile gives if possible....

So far now ive done a few encodes with the HQ-Slow and Slower settings. Above it seems you referring to the CQ-ASP_Q2_eq(crf) profile...the file size with that profile was smaller than with the HQ-Slow encode which i maybe erringly specified a 1500mb filesize for....should i have chosen profile settings rather than a filesize? should the CQ have come out smaller, as that seems odd that it would come out lower than a profile that did 2 passes and had your ABR bitrate of 1000?

So i am thinking i should modify the settings i am asking about in my next 2 questions to change the HQ-Slowest method....if by doing so it will give even better quality than the CRF method above?

Question B---------
When using the HQ-Slowest profile, and comparing it to the others...i noticed that in the Main tab of the settings dialog the bitrate for ABR is always 1000. From what understand the profiles are using 2 pass ABR/VBR encoding so this is a setting that is used (?) and therefore, would it increase quality to up this to say 1200? And is this bitrate setting having any effect if i choose a file size in the last box before you autoencode (where you choose a target size or can use profile's settings)? Im not sure if im supposed to be choosing a target size or not when using these profiles.

C---------
Also, under the Zones tab, the quantizer setting is always 26 and is not stored to profiles when changed. In one of the 4 guides I read on megui the info on that that setting states it affects quality greatly (just as quantizers in xvid do), and that setting it to 20 provided greater quality than, say 30 (the useable range it gave)....so if you change it to 20 or 23 rather than 26, will this increase quality? And why isnt this saved into profiles?

The descriptions for the min/max default quantizer settings are confusing too, because it seems lower is worse quality and higher is more quality, which goes directly against what the guide states?

[frl]

Hey, Archos just updated the firmware for the 5G series.....

Video: Fixed compatibility with H264 streams containing B-frames


1 B-frame now works without stuttering - any more than that and it still stutters, although not as bad as previously. I guess that's progress, of a sort ;)

Chris

[Glorioso]

I have one problem, i've encoded a MKV file with the PD-PS3-Xbox360_Fast profile and NDAAC-LC Miltichannel-HQ-266Kbps audio, done it with the sample and no problem, the big file, 4.7gb wont play, i get a error. I thought it was a size problem (the target file is 4.6GB) and remuxed it with a 1200mb split, the first two files, 1,2gb each, wont play either but the last one, 296mb plays fine at my 360 via TVersity, why?

[foxyshadis]

A few quick questions, as i am very new to megui and x264. I am doing the same as a few other posters in this thread were - creating extremely high quality rips for archival purposes, where a 2gb or less file size is fine, but keeping near dvd quality and a file size of 1500-1700 would be my preference.


A - You can never know what size cq/crf encodes are going to come out to; don't bother trying to guess, just pick a quality you're pleased with and go with it. If you can't deal with that, just use 2pass all the time. If you make a 2pass at the same bitrate as a crf, it'll come out to roughly the same quality.

B - Bitrate is automatically updated any time you use the calculator or the autoencode. And of course you can increase quality by increasing the size, the default is just an arbitrary value.

C - Zones are very much a per-movie setting and aren't really applicable to a wide range of movies. Whether you need to raise or lower the quality of any particular zone is also movie-dependent. And remember: Any quality increase somewhere means either a quality decrease elsewhere or a larger size, with the same encoding settings.

D - Lowering min quant really does hurt quality at some point. Of course if you lower it from 26 to 18 there will be a drastic improvement, but going from 10 to 4 some frames will soak up a massive amount of bits without contributing anything to quality - you really can't see any difference below 10-14.

Some parts of your questions are somewhat confusing, post back if I didn't answer well enough.

[kristiXS]

Thank you. I was lost and didnt even realize how lost i was!

I didnt quite grasp that the auto-encode settings were like using the calculator, and would override the Bitrate set in the profile, so i was choosing a filesize thinking that it would try to stay close to the bitrate in sharktooths profile AND meet the filesize (i should have realized it was just like divx and it cannot do both, but the extra choices in autoencode dialogue threw me off!)

I also now understand why the quantizer setting in the zones area is not stored in the profile, since you commented on it being a per-movie setting (i did not realize you actually had to set the zone for it to affect the movie at all, and was thinking it automatically affected the whole movie UNLESS you set up seperate zones.) I now realize that to set a quantizer for the whole movie it is done as in the profile "CQ_ASP_Q2_equiv".

Now I have only another question or 2 (for the moment!)....i see that sharktooth used Spatial B-frames in CRF encoding but Auto in all the other profiles since they are 2pass....but if using 2 pass encoding, would using Spatial still give better quality than the auto setting (and he is only using to help file size)?

If using constant QUALITY setting, sharktooth specified 18 in the profile. If i wished to make quality even better, do i raise or lower this number? (ie, 18 is high, 17 is higher quality, 16 is even higher?)



Thanks again,
Kristi

[Sharktooth]

"auto" automatically chooses spatial or temporal on a frame basis. for some reasons i cant remember right now, auto is not good in 1 pass encodings.

lowering the quantizer will rise the quality.

[Glorioso]

I have one problem, i've encoded a MKV file with the PD-PS3-Xbox360_Fast profile and NDAAC-LC Miltichannel-HQ-266Kbps audio, done it with the sample and no problem, the big file, 4.7gb wont play, i get a error. I thought it was a size problem (the target file is 4.6GB) and remuxed it with a 1200mb split, the first two files, 1,2gb each, wont play either but the last one, 296mb plays fine at my 360 via TVersity, why?

Anyone?

[Ranguvar]

1 B-frame now works without stuttering - any more than that and it still stutters, although not as bad as previously. I guess that's progress, of a sort ;)

Chris
LOL, yeah :D Well, 1 BVOP is definitely better than none, and by a bigger margin than 1 to 2, etc. So it's awesome for a pure software fix!

Hey, can you use 2 refs, mixed refs, and 1 BVOP? If so, to what bitrate (when using 704x400 or the like resolution)? Or if you can't, how high can you push 1 ref and 1 BVOP?

Sorry about the questions, just trying to gauge whether it's worth it, updating ;)

[frl]

Hey, can you use 2 refs, mixed refs, and 1 BVOP? If so, to what bitrate (when using 704x400 or the like resolution)? Or if you can't, how high can you push 1 ref and 1 BVOP?

Sorry for the slow reply, thought I subscribed to this thread but apparently didn't!

I'm using a slightly modified version of the CE-Mainprofile profile. So that has 3 refs, mixed refs and (now) 1 B. My resolutions varies between 624x352 and 720x416 (shame the Archos refuses to even try anything over 720 wide :( ). I've been using bitrates between 1000-1350. Only issue I've had so far is at 720x416 @ 1350, in one particular encode the bitrate spikes to over 7000 for a second during the credits which causes the Archos to drop frames. Still experimenting though..

Chris

[tenkai]

Hey guys could any1 tell me a profile which gives almost the original quality? I used Slowest profile but its really slow on my q6600, what about the SA-HDDVD profile? would it be enough? I would apriciate any tips!

Thx in advance,
tenkai

[Sharktooth]

read the guides. any profile can give "almost" the original quality...
it does not depends on profiles, but on bitrate/quantizer...

[Sharktooth]

V45:
Added Blu-Ray compatible profiles.
Added DXVA compatible profiles.
Various fixes.

[rack04]

V45:
Added Blu-Ray compatible profiles.
Added DXVA compatible profiles.
Various fixes.

Thank you so much for the new profiles.

[tenkai]

read the guides. any profile can give "almost" the original quality...
it does not depends on profiles, but on bitrate/quantizer...

so if i select sa-hddvd profile and stick to 9000-10000 avg bitrate on 1080p encodes i´m ok?

[Sharktooth]

depends on the source... you better read some guides and learn how video compression works...

[tenkai]

u got an url for a good guide?

[Sharktooth]

In megui click on the Help menu. select Wiki - User guides.