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View Full Version : VirtualDub: Xvid internal encoder VS FFdshow Xvid Encoder


czerro
2nd March 2008, 05:05
Been toying around with FFDshow for encoding low bitrate ~1000-1100 kpbs 2-pass XVID files. I had heard good things about ffdshow encoder and had assumed it could produce better quality image quality. I have tested various 1000 frame trim samples though at many different settings and have yet to get an ffdshow encode to look even equal to what the internal xvid encoder can do in half the time.

Through my fooling around these sets in the internal XVID encoder produce the least rings and artifacts while maintaining detail (infact there is next to no ringing or blurring effects):

2-pass ~1000 kpbs (depending on frame length of sample)
- MPEG matrix
- Adaptive Quantization disabled (is this flag comparable to ffdshows Trellis Quant?)
- All other presets vanilla

And even after fooling around with FFdshow for days trying different things from:

- modifying matrix to FOX1 (fox home entertainment), AVAMAT7 (quants designed for ultra low bitrates), H263, MPEG

- enabling/disabling Trellis

- enabling/disabling Luminance Masking

- search precision Very High and Ultra High

- search set from Limited through Full Search

The result is an encode that takes 3 times longer and still has noticeable rings and less detail.

I can't imagine a flag or value I have not toyed with and adjusted, am I missing something or is the xvid internal encoder simply very good to begin with?

The sources are mkvs(x264 video content) frameserved through AviSynth. The filter chain is as follows: DirectShowSource().Lanczos4Resize().Trim().

Dark Shikari
2nd March 2008, 05:33
- Adaptive Quantization disabled (is this flag comparable to ffdshows Trellis Quant?)No, Xvid's trellis is comparable to FFDshow's trellis. Xvid's AQ is Lumimasking.

umberto21
2nd March 2008, 23:46
I find that the FFDSHOW version is better because it does not popup the Xvid compression bar graph.
I also noticed that some applications like ConvertHQ give clearer results with the "official" xVid codec.
IThen again I am not an expert it could be the same thing for any Video Convertor app , since they are modular codecs , no?
add : .. and the official Xvid codec seems faster (I forgot to mention)

Ranguvar
3rd March 2008, 22:20
umberto21, you can disable the opening of said bar graph :)

And I also favor the "official" Xvid.

dimzon
4th March 2008, 15:45
And I also favor the "official" Xvid.
+1

I never use ffdShow XviD - only official stand-alone encoder.