Good settings for Nero Recode?

[AlexeyS]

I've tried to encode some of DVDs to AVC. But quality is awful even with high bitrates (1h 40m movie on 2x700 Mb CDs with 720x304 resolution).

The picture looks like DivX video (for example, when I've tried to encode with VP7, I've got much better results even with lower bitrates). So, am I doing something wrong? What are good settings for AVC Maximum Defenition profile?

[Daodan]

Hm, I don't know what the porblem is exactly, maybe you made a one-pass encode instead of two? If not, the only thing I can think is to disable psychovisual enhancements from the advanced options. The default is Normal (from low, normal, high, disable). Some people say it's better enabled, to me it seems much worse. Maybe that's also your problem.

[AlexeyS]

Hm, I don't know what the porblem is exactly, maybe you made a one-pass encode instead of two? If not, the only thing I can think is to disable psychovisual enhancements from the advanced options. The default is Normal (from low, normal, high, disable). Some people say it's better enabled, to me it seems much worse. Maybe that's also your problem.
No, it's 2 pass.

Best results I've seen was 'automatic' 2 pass mode.

[quake74]

Just my 2c...

I am not surprised. For high bitrates I don't think that h264 is that much better than divx (or xvid). I must say that I would also be completely happy with a divx 1cd encode of such a short movie (possibly resized to 608), so maybe I am not too picky about quality. I really see differences going to lower bitrates where it would be streching divx to its limits.

[AlexeyS]

Just my 2c...

I am not surprised. For high bitrates I don't think that h264 is that much better than divx (or xvid). I must say that I would also be completely happy with a divx 1cd encode of such a short movie (possibly resized to 608), so maybe I am not too picky about quality. I really see differences going to lower bitrates where it would be streching divx to its limits.
So, why everybody write AVC is better than VP7? :confused:

VP7 is MUCH better than AVC for me (I've tried Main Profile with Nero). Maybe I'm doing something wrong? Are there some tricks to boost video quality?

[berrinam]

Well x264 is MUCH better than the current encoder in Nero. A good trick is to do a find and replace all:
1. Replace NeroDigital with x264

[nm]

Maybe you could post a sample frame (preferably accompanied by the source frame) that shows what you mean by "DivX video" quality. If it is just loss of delicate texture, I would be surprised if VP7 did any better at the same bitrate.
There may be problems with your settings or the source requires some preprocessing, but it's really hard to tell if all you can say is that the result looks bad. Perhaps Nero Recode is not the right tool for you. Try some of the x264 GUIs.

[AlexeyS]

Maybe you could post a sample frame (preferably accompanied by the source frame) that shows what you mean by "DivX video" quality. If it is just loss of delicate texture, I would be surprised if VP7 did any better at the same bitrate.
The bitrate is ~1780 Kbit! VP7 make much better. Also, I've tried to encode the World War 2 videos to VP7 and AVC. I'd say VP7 makes the same at 1200 Kbps what AVC makes at 2000-2500 Kbps. :confused:

PS: There are some screenshots. But video looks MUCH worse than screenshots. It's totally blurred picture with "DivX motion" artefacts and too sharp faces.

It looks like you made Blur > Blocky > Sharpness filters befor encode. :confused:

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/6607/015yw.th.jpg (http://img33.imageshack.us/my.php?image=015yw.jpg)
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/4133/027gb.th.jpg (http://img33.imageshack.us/my.php?image=027gb.jpg)
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/3613/035pv.th.jpg (http://img33.imageshack.us/my.php?image=035pv.jpg)
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/6742/043kr.th.jpg (http://img33.imageshack.us/my.php?image=043kr.jpg)

[nm]

Seems that your source is very noisy, and the encoder tries to preserve the noise as detail. Would be nice to see the source frames too. There is also a lot of ringing and blocking, especially in the 3rd shot, which might suggest that the in-loop filter is set off in the encoder (or your decoder is set to skip it, which is certainly very bad for quality).

I'd say your encoding settings are not optimal and you would be a lot better off with a good filter to remove the noise before encoding. Maybe your VP7 encoder does filtering too. Yet again, if you want better quality, learn how to use Avisynth and x264. Doing things manually is much better than letting the programs do automatic detection that works on some sources but fails on others.

EDIT: Actually, now that I looked at the captured frames again, they don't look much like H.264 at all! Are you sure you are using an AVC profile and not ASP in Recode and have you checked that the resulting video is really H.264?

[AlexeyS]

Seems that your source is very noisy, and the encoder tries to preserve the noise as detail. Would be nice to see the source frames too. There is also a lot of ringing and blocking, especially in the 3rd shot, which might suggest that the in-loop filter is set off in the encoder (or your decoder is set to skip it, which is certainly very bad for quality).
I'll try to make shots from original later. The 3rd shot is from dynamic scene. But it's not worse. The most worse thing is "moving walls" - DivX like artifacts.

I'd say your encoding settings are not optimal and you would be a lot better off with a good filter to remove the noise before encoding. Maybe your VP7 encoder does filtering too. Yet again, if you want better quality, learn how to use Avisynth and x264. Doing things manually is much better than letting the programs do automatic detection that works on some sources but fails on others.
I know hot to use AviSynth, but I don't think there are filters which can remove this kind of noise.

EDIT: Actually, now that I looked at the captured frames again, they don't look much like H.264 at all! Are you sure you are using an AVC profile and not ASP in Recode and have you checked that the resulting video is really H.264?
I use Maximum Definition AVC in Recode. 2 pass, auto settings.

[Caroliano]

The AVC codec at Nero Recode is only Main Profile, and do not represent the full quality of AVC standart. x264 is already an high profile encoder and is much more closer to that. You shoud try it if you are looking for quality. MeGUI is a great tool.

And are you realy using in-loop filtering?

[nm]

I'll try to make shots from original later. The 3rd shot is from dynamic scene. But it's not worse. The most worse thing is "moving walls" - DivX like artifacts.
This really sounds like you have a decoder problem. In-loop deblocking is disabled and that breaks the picture just like you described if the video was encoded with in-loop on. Which decoder are you using and with what settings?

[AlexeyS]

This really sounds like you have a decoder problem. In-loop deblocking is disabled and that breaks the picture just like you described if the video was encoded with in-loop on. Which decoder are you using and with what settings?
I use Nero ShowTime player.

[nm]

Try another decoder, VLC (http://www.videolan.org) for example. If it shows the same problems, then in-loop deblocking is disabled in the encoder and you must use custom settings or switch to something else.

[AlexeyS]

Try another decoder, VLC (http://www.videolan.org) for example. If it shows the same problems, then in-loop deblocking is disabled in the encoder and you must use custom settings or switch to something else.
Tried last Ffdshow. The same quality.

[bratao]

Man, the Nero codec are crappy.
Use the X264 , and i have sure, you will love it..

I already use Vp7, and the x264 are much better quality/speed :) :) :) :) :)

[JohnV]

The bitrate is ~1780 Kbit! VP7 make much better. Also, I've tried to encode the World War 2 videos to VP7 and AVC. I'd say VP7 makes the same at 1200 Kbps what AVC makes at 2000-2500 Kbps. :confused:

PS: There are some screenshots. But video looks MUCH worse than screenshots. It's totally blurred picture with "DivX motion" artefacts and too sharp faces.

It looks like you made Blur > Blocky > Sharpness filters befor encode. :confused:

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/6607/015yw.th.jpg (http://img33.imageshack.us/my.php?image=015yw.jpg)
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/4133/027gb.th.jpg (http://img33.imageshack.us/my.php?image=027gb.jpg)
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/3613/035pv.th.jpg (http://img33.imageshack.us/my.php?image=035pv.jpg)
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/6742/043kr.th.jpg (http://img33.imageshack.us/my.php?image=043kr.jpg)
I don't think ND AVC should look like that at 1780kbps and at that low resolution.. Something is wrong somewhere. What Recode version you are using? Can you upload the source VOB (or part of it) if I give you an FTP address? I'd like to see what results I get.

[slow4mula]

yah im not getting into an argument about nero avc vs. x264 and quality, but those samples ARE NOT what nero avc looks like with a good source...

the quality of nero avc is VERY good with a good source...competetive with the best.