x264 settings

[densetsu86]

hi i just got a new computer. hp pavilion. it have MS windows media center edition version 2002, sevice pack 2, 1.93 gb of ram, amd athlon 64 x2 4200+ dual core processor 991 mhz. im just wondering on if the threads should be at 4. i am reading the guide for x264 and it says like i can have it at 2 and if i have hyperthreading i can have it at 4. i only have the options 1or 4 for the threads. so should i use 4? because im not quite sure if my processor has hyperthreading. my first time owning an amd.

[Sirber]

threads = number of CPU

you have x2, use 2

[densetsu86]

"If you have a HyperThreading, multi-core CPU or two physical CPUs, you can increase the number of threads to 2. If you have a dual core chip with hyperthreading (Intel's latest extreme series has that), you can even increase the number of threads to 4 (but the advantage of HT is rather doubtful - HT can even hurt in certain situations and is no equivalent to a real dual core CPU). "

is taken from the doom9's guide for x264. and when i type the number of 2 in the box it changes to 4. so i only have the option of 1 thread or 4. i don't want to do anything harmful to my computer which is why am asking. so should i use 4. im not sure if it has the hyperthreading or not. and i read that this amd athlon 64 x2 4200+ is faster than the extreme series from pentium.

[Sirber]

hyperthreading is Intel stuff, not AMD ;)

[foxyshadis]

Weird. You've run the updates and have the latest version, right? It should let you choose whatever you want, and only default to a detected # of threads.

[marc999]

Hi there. I just bought an HP Pavilion dv9000 laptop with an Athlon X2 CPU. I am having the same problem (I can only input 1 or 4 threads) with Gknot (under the Options tab -> x264 default codec settings). I downloaded the vfw x264 codec from DeathTheSheep United, it's version Core 54 rev 600, build Nov 7 2006). I've been searching for a solution to this but I can't find it. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[ChronoCross]

vfw and gknot are outdated. even DTS updated builds cannot be verified to work 100% without compatibility problems and is not supported at all by the x264 devs

[marc999]

Thanks for your response. So I guess my best bet would be to use MeGui instead of Gknot?

[check]

Well, not neccessarily using megui, but any program that uses the CLI (commandline) version of x264 instead. Take a look in the MPEG4 Encoder GUIs forum for an assorted selection. Personally, I use & recommend MeGUI, but I also support choice :)

[marc999]

Thanks for your help guys.

I don't want to criticize anyone's hard work but do you think we should contact somebody here at Doom9 to take down or edit the x264 guide because I find it to be somewhat of a diservice. First, it describes encoding with Gknot. Two, it doesn't mention anywhere that you need the vfw version of the codec and it links to the CLI version (I didn't know until recently that there were even different versions of a codec, I thought a codec was a codec and that was it).

Even if you do get past these hurdles there seems to be other problems such as the AMD CPU treads issue mentioned in this post. I also read this from the x264 codec thread: Yes, using a x264 VFW specific build but VFW support was removed because it was no longer manteined and because VFW and AVI are not properly able to handle h.264 features without some "hacking" that could compromise compatibility and playback.

[Sharktooth]

well. the doom9 guide is quite old. if you want to write your own you're welcome.
for what concerns encoding with x264 and megui (and some general info as well) there is a well detailed guide in the megui wiki: http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/Main_Page