MeGUI Custom x264/AVC video profiles.

[Sharktooth]

we all know CRF is good... but i doubt it can be better than a higher bitrate encode...
can you post some screenshots or small clips?
however AE-Maxquality is tuned for Anime...

[BoostAddict]

uhm... --direct auto ?

yessir some of the profiles give me this error

bad argument: --direct auto

[berrinam]

Update to a newer build of x264

[Sharktooth]

:stupid:

[jackiehcs]

That's fine. The source is anime.
I just misunderstood that 3pass was always the best even comparing with CRF.

[JarrettH]

Hey

Insane idea...

I want to record the semi-final and final of the brier on the weekend...would it be crazy to try to record TV with x264?

[berrinam]

Capturing straight to x264? Yes, that is a bad idea. Probably, x264 won't keep up, and you don't have any opportunity to resize/crop unless you know what the cropping is going to be in advance. Better is to capture to something lossless like HuffYUV, then encode to x264 after filtering. There's nothing wrong with that.

[Chainmax]

v22:
- removed subme 7 so profiles can be used with MeGUI-svn.
- updated b.frames mode to spatial for single pass profiles and auto to 2 passes profiles.
- some adjustments here and there :)

Does that means that no profile has subme7 now? Speaking of which, can subme7 be enabled without a playback speed hit on a 512x384 encode for the XBOX?

[Sharktooth]

Yes, it means no profile has subme 7 coz there are no actual builds that support it (also the p8rd patch is not applicable to the actual revisions).
subme option doesnt affect playback speed.

[Chainmax]

Yes, it means no profile has subme 7 coz there are no actual builds that support it

Not even your last compile and Chronocross's rev438 compile? And what is the p8rd patch?

[JarrettH]

I don't have the disk space for 3hrs of huffyuv :/
Actually x264 wasn't too bad with the right options, still won't be using it, however.
You should try making a live TV profile sharktooth! :)

[Sharktooth]

Not even your last compile and Chronocross's rev438 compile? And what is the p8rd patch?
Those are pretty old. Use the new revisions instead.
the p8rd patch is the one that adds subme 7.
I don't have the disk space for 3hrs of huffyuv :/
Actually x264 wasn't too bad with the right options, still won't be using it, however.
You should try making a live TV profile sharktooth! :)
ok. in the next version there will be a new set of profiles for live encoding (you'll need a really fast CPU though).

[Chainmax]

Those are pretty old. Use the new revisions instead.
the p8rd patch is the one that adds subme 7.

I'd rather have a build with all your patches, p8rd included.

[Sharktooth]

newer builds are faster and better qualitywise...

[foxyshadis]

Well, Chainmax, now that subme 7 is in svn you won't have to wait long for a CC build with it. :p

[Sharktooth]

Updated profiles are coming...

[JarrettH]

:cool: :devil:

[DarkFoon]

I'm a little confused. are you not making builds anymore?
If not, how shall we get your profiles? (three downloads: 1. x264, 2. meGUI x264, 3. your profiles?)
gone are the days of simplicity

[foxyshadis]

The first post of this thread, maybe? :p Maybe if you ask CC nicely he'd be willing to bundle them.

[Sharktooth]

V23 (major update):
- Faster HQ profiles (all).
- Better quality for QuickTime and PSP profile.
- 3passes profiles now use 2passes (3 passes are a waste of encoding time)
- RDO lvl 2 (subme 7) is back on the slowest profiles
- Enabled 8x8dct and i8x8 in both Xbox profiles (if you have playback problems update to the latest XBMC)
- Other small changes

[Sharktooth]

@JarrettH: Use 1p-Maxspeed for live encoding. There is no way to create "useable" profiles for live encoding unless they're used on stellar computers...

[Chainmax]

Now I just have to wait until CC releases a new compile and download an all new package :). I have a few questions though:

1) Will the upcoming CC compiles have all of Sharktooth's patches?
2) How come 3-pass is now considered a waste of encoding time?
3) Will the XBOX profiles be updated to include no fast pskip and subme7?

[Sharktooth]

CC has already released an updated x264 build...
http://chronocrossdev.com/apps/x264/ <- updated x264
http://chronocrossdev.com/apps/megui/ <- updated MeGUI

1 - Yes
2 - Coz 3 passes are needed only when the 2nd pass misses the filesize.
3 - Only if ppl doesnt mind loosing encoding speed...

[Sharktooth]

I'm a little confused. are you not making builds anymore?
If not, how shall we get your profiles? (three downloads: 1. x264, 2. meGUI x264, 3. your profiles?)
gone are the days of simplicity
sorry for the delay... i missed your post...
Well, my x264 builds will be back. Don't know when but they will...
My profiles are also compatible with all x264 builds floating around, so you need only to get the latest MeGUI (if it's not already bundled with the build) and unzip the profiles in the MeGUI directory.

[DarkFoon]

I can't seem to find MeGUI-x263 bundled with any x264 builds. Was x264-meGUI dropped and everybody foreced to use MeGUI?
thank you for getting back to me, though.

[berrinam]

Yes, it was. It's not like full MeGUI is any worse...

Anyway, if you object to being forced, you can always try some other program, but the way it is now is much easier for us developers.

[DarkFoon]

I am a fool.
I found MeGUI bundled with an x264 build (sorry for the noise)
but I seem to be having some problem with MeGUI on my encoding computer. I'll file a bug report(?) in the proper forum.
again, sorry for the noise.

[Cyberace]

Will the XBOX profiles be updated to include no fast pskip and subme7?Only if ppl doesnt mind loosing encoding speed...I for one don't mind as long as it does not affect decoding speed/smoothness on the Xbox, sacrificing encoding time for quality is (almost) always worth it

[Sharktooth]

Decoding is not affected by both options but encoding speed will drop seriously. You can try it by yourself modifying the profile.
However if the majoriry of xbox users wants more quality at expense of encoding speed i'll add those options in the next version.

[Sharktooth]

V24:
Enabled RDO Lvl.2 and No Fast PSkip options in Xbox profiles (more quality, lower encoding speed).

[thuongshoo]

Hi ! I have just read a guide for x264 VFW . Thank Deadsheep !
I want to read a same doc for x264 in MEGUI . Can anyone help me ?
Thanks !

[soresu]

There should be a guide to MeGUI at the top of this sub-forum

[thuongshoo]

I don't want to use profiles . I want to adjust all .
x264 VFW guide help me all

[berrinam]

I don't want to use profiles . I want to adjust all .The options are mostly the same in MeGUI, but there are some renamed ones and some extra ones. However, MeGUI has a tooltip which displays for basically every option in x264. Try reading them if you want. However, you will probably find that there is already a Sharktooth profile which does what you want in the end.

[Sharktooth]

I don't want to use profiles . I want to adjust all .
x264 VFW guide help me all
so you're off topic...
However, you will probably find that there is already a Sharktooth profile which does what you want in the end.
exactly :)

[thuongshoo]

but there are some renamed ones and some extra ones. .
yes ! This make me misunderstand . I must look up dictionary again :D
so you're off topic
I really don't understand this sentence . I'm sorry ! I shouldn't post my request at this thread .
I will do "some searching " :D

[DarkFoon]

I really don't understand this sentence . I'm sorry ! I shouldn't post my request at this thread .
I will do "some searching " :D

what sharktooth means is that there are no profiles for VFW version (he hates VFW) and this topic thread is for the profiles used in MeGUI.

[foxyshadis]

Best way to do profiles for vfw is to set up your favorite config, export the registry file, and repeat. Import whatever you want for the session before you start. I've been doing that for ages with xvid, much faster than manually resetting them. (Maybe deaththesheep will upload a few, I don't have it installed.)

[Sharktooth]

what sharktooth means is that there are no profiles for VFW version (he hates VFW) and this topic thread is for the profiles used in MeGUI.
well, not properly. he said he wants to "adjust all" so he's off topic coz here we're discussing of profiles/presets that's exactly what he doesnt want.

[tehpwner2]

Is there are way to load your profiles using virtual dub?? Can you set one of your profiles as default?

[Sharktooth]

no. profiles are for MeGUI (but some other softwares added compatibility with them) and even include options that are not present in x264 VFW.
I suggest dropping virtualdub and use one of the GUI (like staxrip, megui, realanime...) for x264 encoding.
x264 VFW has several drawbacks and does not actually include all the x264 CLI options.

[DarkFoon]

@tehpwner2
Switching to a GUI application like sharktooth reccomends really is easier. And if you want to edit your movie with virtualdub(mod) you can use the frame serving capabilites of Vdub to serve up your edited clip or you can edit your clip in an avisynth script and serve it to the x264 GUI (whichever you choose) like that.

[tehpwner2]

Thanks friends! I am finding staxrip fairly easy to use.

[Bathrone]

Respect++ to Sharktooth for these profiles. Made it so easy, thanks mate.

[Bathrone]

Ok Sharktooth I have some more to advise on the outcomes for my XBMC testing of your PD_XBOX-HiRes profiles version 24.

During the encode, the only changes I make to your default profile is to set the number of threads to 2 for my machine and the bitrate, which I usually set around 1056kbps. I am currently using an XBMC build for 08/04/06.

640x256x25fps - plays well in all modes

704x400x25fps - drops frames with the high quality pixel shader render method. If the user changes the render method to hardware overlays, no frames are lost.

Keeping the original PAL 720x576x25fps and using MeGUI to set the SAR for anomorphic - drops frames in all modes.

Were not talking about a huge amount of dropped frames, but its enough to momentarily cause a stutter in playback.

[berrinam]

@Sharktooth: I'm sure you've seen my changes on the MeGUI dev thread, but it is now possible to use MeGUI to export and import profiles. It uses exactly the same directory structure (inside the archive) as yours, but with zip files as opposed to 7z. I don't know if you're interested in going back to zip format, but it would mean that they can be installed via MeGUI, and your can distribute them with CQMs.

Just letting you know.

[Sharktooth]

@Bathrone: full D1 anamorphic resolution encodings are pretty hard to play back on the xbox. i think keeping the current settings is better than cripple the codec to make the playback of 720x576 possible on the xbox.
it's possible future versions of XBMC will have less problems though.

@Berrinam: yeah, i saw the changes and im sorry i still havent the possibility to spend some time on coding MeGUI (or even update the profiles...). Health care is my first priority for now.

[Backflip]

640x256x25fps - plays well in all modes

704x400x25fps - drops frames with the high quality pixel shader render method. If the user changes the render method to hardware overlays, no frames are lost.

What sort pace is the footage at? Slow, Medium, Fast? Also, what cache settings etc do you use?

I shall try the latest Xbox profile, and see how it goes in the fast clip I have.

[Chainmax]

V24:
Enabled RDO Lvl.2 and No Fast PSkip options in Xbox profiles (more quality, lower encoding speed).

Cool, thanks :).

[Bathrone]

What sort pace is the footage at? Slow, Medium, Fast? Also, what cache settings etc do you use?

I shall try the latest Xbox profile, and see how it goes in the fast clip I have.

I have XBMC configured to reduce unnecessary loads. E.g. No post processing, no flicker filter, no smoothing. I have tested and confirmed the dropped frames over SMB as well as local HDD and DVDROM style playback. I have fiddled around with cache settings and ran debugmode for freememory display but the recent builds dont require caching changes from defaults to work with AVC playback. My setup requires a reduction in the local network cache size for 1080i playback. I have XBMX autodiscovery turned off, web server off and the ftp server off to free up enough ram - although it will run with the ftp server on following a reduction in the local network cache size.

I was advised by the XBMC Team that the upscaling is done in hardware and doesnt add to the cpu overhead for playback. I run a 720p GUI with video playback at 1080i.

Ive done lots of tests with different scenes on Sharktooth's v24 profiles and what Ive said above is the summary of the test outcomes. Were not talking about alot of dropped frames, but enough to stutter playback. The XBMC.log indicates dropped frames from mplayer.

Ive found good samples to use for testing are around 5 minutes long with a mix of high motion and low motion scenes.

@Sharktooth I hope new performance is in the works but I fear that mplayer is pretty optimised and I understand that coreavc wont be ported/stubbed. So in your judgement if you brough the PD-XBOX_HiRes profile down any further to allow full 720x576x25fps playback, there would be an unacceptable loss in compression?