Sept '07 - Entering an H.264 Encoding Golden Age! Thanks!

[fields_g]

I just want to take a couple of moments from scanning through all these threads to thank all the people that have stepped forward and have brought new ideas, energy, talent, (and free time) to these projects, especially in the last couple of weeks!

At the risk of forgetting someone, I want to especially thank Kurtnoise13 (MeGUI) and Dark Shikari (x264) for recently becoming active contributors. Not only with their programming ability, but also their willingness to interact with the community, they have shown themselves to be amazing assets.

By no means should we forget the other legendary and enduring "old timers" either. All those who have programmed, created builds, provided feedback, published profiles/guides/matrices/scripts, and assisted others with all their problems (even the reoccurring ones). Your depth of knowledge is simply amazing and your willingness to share commendable.

I want to encourage others to step up and help out in the ways you can. I, like many others here, should never be asked to tackle programming because we need to spend more time debugging our "Hello World!" programs. But you'd be amazed at the usefulness of a well documented bug report, sharing of an encoding success story, or confirming/troubleshooting issues others are having.

Great Job guys!

[St Devious]

i too would like to thanks all people involved in the development of x264 and providing us with best H.264 encoder and most importantly free , a nd developing and continualy improving encoding software .

Hats off to u all ! :thanks: :thanks:

[DeathTheSheep]

That's quite a graduation speech. :p

Not to rain on the well-meant parade, but to clear things up a bit, megui has been out for a very long time now (though it's still not my GUI of choice).

Yes, Dark Shikari is doing an excellent job tweaking x264's insane options--and is more than merely insightful--but whether the majority are going to use the new options is another question, since not too many folks even use subme 6 to begin with.

But indeed, keep the work going strong. Akupenguin is the current hero of the OS encoding world, and deserves the title. :)

[Dark Shikari]

That's quite a graduation speech. :p

Not to rain on the well-meant parade, but to clear things up a bit, megui has been out for a very long time now (though it's still not my GUI of choice).

Yes, Dark Shikari is doing an excellent job tweaking x264's insane options--and is more than merely insightful--but whether the majority are going to use the new options is another question, since not too many folks even use subme 6 to begin with.

But indeed, keep the work going strong. Akupenguin is the current hero of the OS encoding world, and deserves the title. :)Well on the topic of tweaking the less-insane options, here's a tiny patch that speeds up your first pass encode by roughly 3.5% with a very minor positive effect on quality:
--- x264_667b_original/encoder/me.c 2007-07-17 04:13:25.937500000 -0700
+++ x264_dia_improvement/encoder/me.c 2007-09-14 15:31:29.031250000 -0700
@@ -121,4 +121,10 @@
}

+#define DIA2_ITER( mx, my )\
+{\
+ omx = mx; omy = my;\
+ COST_MV_X4( 0,-2, 0,2, -2,0, 2,0 );\
+}
+
#define CROSS( start, x_max, y_max )\
{\
@@ -215,7 +221,16 @@
{
case X264_ME_DIA:
- /* diamond search, radius 1 */
+ /* diamond search, radius 2 */
for( i = 0; i < i_me_range; i++ )
{
+ DIA2_ITER( bmx, bmy );
+ if( bmx == omx && bmy == omy )
+ break;
+ if( !CHECK_MVRANGE(bmx, bmy) )
+ break;
+ }
+ /* diamond search, radius 1 */
+ for( i = 0; i < 2; i++ )
+ {
DIA1_ITER( bmx, bmy );
if( bmx == omx && bmy == omy )
Basically its an ME DIA improvement. I doubt anyone would use ME DIA for second pass or CRF (if they do they're nuts), so I will market it as a first pass improvement ;)

[DeathTheSheep]

Nice, a 3.5% speed boost is nothing to scoff at (even if it is limited to the first pass, or DIA).

I don't think you need me or anyone else to tell you what's likely on every doom9ers' mind: keep it comin'! :D But in the mean time we can appreciate what you've already brought to the table. Select morsels of goodness in an oasis of sweet insanity (well, that was phrased awkwardly, but meh). Updates on the SEA min-threshold SATD would be exceedingly nice, on that note... ;)

[Dark Shikari]

Nice, a 3.5% speed boost is nothing to scoff at (even if it is limited to the first pass, or DIA).

I don't think you need me or anyone else to tell you what's likely on every doom9ers' mind: keep it comin'! :D But in the mean time we can appreciate what you've already brought to the table. Select morsels of goodness in an oasis of sweet insanity (well, that was phrased awkwardly, but meh). Updates on the SEA min-threshold SATD would be exceedingly nice, on that note... ;)Well since the SEA algorithm, especially the coding aspect, is complete Greek to me, you'll probably have to wait for akupenguin's response on that :p

[DeathTheSheep]

The first time I read that, I thought you said "Geek." ... :eek:

[fields_g]

Akupenguin is the current hero of the OS encoding world, and deserves the title. :)

I waffled back and forth about if I should try to commend everyone. I had quite the list that came to mind. Akupenguin being in the forefront. Don't know anyone would read a whole thread then see a post from Akupenguin and not think "HERE comes THE answer!"

Truthfully, I took the slacker way out. The two mentioned brought some fresh ideas recently. If I had tried to give the account of everyone, I know I would have forgotten someone. All you regulars out there..... we know who you are, what you contribute. It's very much appreciated. (NOTE: Still a slacker)

[fields_g]

--but whether the majority are going to use the new options is another question, since not too many folks even use subme 6 to begin with.

The level of what should be considered "insane" should be scaled with the passage of time because of the ramping of processing power. What seems to be overkill/too inefficient will still be inefficient, but with enough horsepower, who cares, as long as it can be completed in a timely manner. Besides, we all get at least 8 hours of sleep every night, RIGHT?!?! With a faster computer, it would be a shame to waste 6 hours of processing time because the selected complexity of encoding only used 2 hours.

Ah yes, i have an eye for the toys of tomorrow!

I guess what I'm trying to get at is..... if it is too much for many right now, it won't stay that way!

[Dark Shikari]

The level of what should be considered "insane" should be scaled with the passage of time because of the ramping of processing power. What seems to be overkill/too inefficient will still be inefficient, but with enough horsepower, who cares, as long as it can be completed in a timely manner. Besides, we all get at least 8 hours of sleep every night, RIGHT?!?! With a faster computer, it would be a shame to waste 6 hours of processing time because the selected complexity of encoding only used 2 hours.

Ah yes, i have an eye for the toys of tomorrow!

I guess what I'm trying to get at is..... if it is too much for many right now, it won't stay that way!Well HD resolution is quickly turning back the clock of improved processor power :p

Though I do agree on the overnight issue.

One of the main issues is that, at least for me, denoising takes far longer than the actual encoding :)

[fields_g]

One of the main issues is that, at least for me, denoising takes far longer than the actual encoding :)

I thought fft3dGPU was the only reason people bought high end graphics cards. Now I find there is this whole new world of 3D gaming!!! COOL! :p

[Trahald]

But indeed, keep the work going strong. Akupenguin is the current hero of the OS encoding world, and deserves the title. :)Agreed!:goodpost:

[DeathTheSheep]

And Loren Merritt, too. All three of them. ;)

(8 hours of sleep a night...wee!!)

[Sharktooth]

Loren Merritt IS akupenguin AKA pengvado (on IRC)...

[akupenguin]

That's why he thanked all 3 of me :)

[Sharktooth]

no.. not again... i need a new pair of glasses...

[Butterfly]

Thanks for the great job guys!
I tried to look at what you're dealing with and now I understand what my students feel sometimes :D