x264 Profile for Blu-ray

[PuzZLeR]

Boy, info is so hard to find for what I'm looking for.

I would love to know what the H.264/AVC specs are for those in the video streams that BD/HD-DVD use.

I'm familiar with certains resolutions, but what about Main or High profile? What level is it at? (I heard 4.1?) And I know that there's probably so many more vital details as well.

Yes, I understand there's an x264 profile for HD-DVD. However, can one encode to MP4/MKV and mux this video into an .evo container later (losslessly without re-encoding)?

Hint. How about a profile for blu-ray as well? Maybe it's a little premature at this stage?

I think the ultimate objective for many of us is eventually playing our AVC content on these next-gen disc formats in the near future. I know software right now for it is really Hollywood domain as of this writing, but that will change in time.

Sure I can count on AVC players in the future playing our x264 and Nero Digital content on data discs, but I would love to have these vidz playback as video with menus, etc.

No, not expecting HD quality. Just a good format to encode to right now so the transition will be as lossless as possible later.

Thanks to any with tips on this.

Mods: I chose this forum since I felt this was more AVC-related than BD/HD-DVD related. However, feel free to move it if I judged wrong. Thanks.

[Sagittaire]

Well I think that at this time use x264 for BD at 23.976 (without pulldown for BD) is possible. Use x264 for HDDVD PAL is possible too. But not for HDDVD NTSC. Anyway perhaps that H264info will solve that ... I hope.

Here good x264 command line for BD 1080p at 23.976 fps

x264.exe --keyint 24 --min-keyint 1 --vbv-maxrate 30000 --vbv-init 1.0 --vbv-bufsize 30000 --nal-hrd --mvrange 511 --level 4.1 --bframe 3 --b-pyramid --b-rdo --bime --weightb --ref 3 --mixed-refs --direct auto --deblock -1:-1 --crf 18 --qcomp 0.75 --ipratio 1.10 --pbratio 1.20 --partitions "all" --8x8dct --me "hex" --subme 6 --no-fast-pskip --no-dct-decimate --trellis 1 --aud --sar 1:1 --cqmfile Sagittaire.cfg --deadzone-inter 8 --deadzone-intra 6 --progress -o azerty_24.h264 Encodage_HD_NTSC.avs

and you use h264info to rewrite the ES flags for HDDVD/BD compatibility.

[qyqgpower]

I have some questions
what is --nal-hrd? I can't find it in --longhelp
why --mvrange should be specified?
is it good to use --direct auto and --trellis in CRF mode?

[ToS_Maverick]

and how are
--trellis 1
and
--deadzone-inter 8 --deadzone-intra 6
supposed to work together?

my information is, that trellis and deadzones cannot be used together.

[Sagittaire]

trellis, direct, deadzone, me, rdo ... and other "quality setting" don't change the profil compatibility. It's just x264 internal quality decision. You can change that if you want and use your "best quality proflil" ...

Blu ray profil must have:
- 3 bframe max adaptative or not
- 4 ref and 3 bref (3 ref and 3 bref here)
- 30 000 Kbits for cpb (less is possible)
- 45 000 Mbps for max bitrate (30 000 here)
- max mvrange at 512 pixel (511 here)
- nal hrd flag for compatibility with HDDVD/BD profil
- level 4.1 for for 1080p compatibility with HDDVD/BD profil
- aud for compatibility with HDDVD/BD profil
- 0.606 sec for Iframe interval

HDDVD profil must have:
- 2 bframe max adaptative or not
- 4 ref and 3 bref (3 ref and 3 bref here)
- 14 745 Kbits for cpb (less is possible)
- 29 400 Mbps for max bitrate (30 000 here)
- max mvrange at 512 pixel (511 here)
- nal hrd flag for compatibility with HDDVD/BD profil
- level 4.1 for for 1080p compatibility with HDDVD/BD profil
- aud for compatibility with HDDVD/BD profil
- 1 sec for Iframe interval is a good value (higher value is better for H264 afficiency but 1 sec is not so bad)

you can use wpred, pyramid, 8*8dct and cqm with BD and HDDVD. Nal hrd is patch for x264. This patch write the HRD flags parameters (vbv parameters) in the h264 ES. You must use h264info for scenarist compatibility ...

[Dethis]

I thought that the Iframe intervals are
1 sec for BD and
0.606 for HDDVD

[check]

trellis and deadzone don't work at the same time :) I forget which is used if both are specified. Can you also link to your .cqm referenced there? Thanks.

[Sagittaire]

trellis and deadzone don't work at the same time :) I forget which is used if both are specified. Can you also link to your .cqm referenced there? Thanks.

Well perhaps ... but it's just quality tweak ... change anything for the profil compatibility like my cqm doesn't change anything for the profil compatibility. This thread speak about HDDVD/BD compatility and only that.

Anyway x264 use always deadzone (default value are 21 and 11). Treillis don't work correctly with the default values too ... ???

[PuzZLeR]

Hey Sagittaire, thank you for another CL. Merci mon ami.

However, I still have some (probably stupid) questions, if I may to anybody reading.

What kind of bitrates should I encode in? Is there a minimum?

Can I encode in SD instead? (Alot of my vidz are from older tech and lower rez.)

What about audio? Good ol' AC3 from DVD is Ok? (Quite likely AAC is not a BD/HD-DVD standard.)

Is one a sub-set of the other? (Example: Would HD-DVD stream content be compliant with BD, or vice-versa?)

And any more info on containers and muxing from one to the other?

Thanks so much to all who commented!

[lazyn00b]

I thought that the Iframe intervals are
1 sec for BD and
0.606 for HDDVD

I think you're right, Sagittaire probably made a typo. Note that his Blu-Ray command-line above has a 24 frame (1 second) keyframe interval.