AQ in HC 0.23 questions

[fjhdavid]

Dear all,

I already read post about this subject, but I didn't find answers to my question.

I tested yesterday, the new 1.28.2 and hc 0.23. I tried to compare results with hc 0.22. (same clip, same frame...).

Where should I have to look to see differences more precisely? which kind of images? part of images?

as of today I am not able to see differences

HOW AQ work exactly? what does it mean?

thanks
Francois

[rendez2k]

The way I understand it (although I may be wrong) is that flat areas of video (walls, sky for example) will be smoother with this option than normal with high compression so it may not show different/better results on all encodes. I tried doing a DVD last year that had lots of compression artefacts in flat areas of colour (it was a full DVD9 and hard to compress) so I'm going to retest with this option. I'm guessing you altered rebuilder.ini with the new option?

[Dark Shikari]

HC's AQ is an algorithm based on x264's VAQ: it is what is known as a complexity mask.

In the most simple terms, it moves bits from complex areas to simple areas, to avoid blocking and blurring in flat textured areas by moving bits there from more complex areas like edges. This almost always improves visual quality.

[rack04]

I am correct that HC AQ is set to 2 by default? So there is nothing I need to do to enable this feature?

[blutach]

Correct - look in your INI file. But you can change it via the INI if you want a different level.

Regards

[rack04]

Correct - look in your INI file. But you can change it via the INI if you want a different level.

Regards

HC_AQ=2 wasn't in the INI until I added it. Unless you talking about something different.

[blutach]

OIC. It's in mine (guess I must have added it manually when testing).

Regards

[linx05]

Yes. On a fresh install the addition to the ini (HC_AQ=2) is not added by default. Thanks for the heads up. It is now added :)

[fjhdavid]

AQ=2 seems to be default when you upgrade to dvd-rb pro 1.28.2?

am I wrong?

[rack04]

AQ=2 seems to be default when you upgrade to dvd-rb pro 1.28.2?

am I wrong?

Does it show up in the ini?

[fjhdavid]

no, but when the Henc windows appears during encoding it is written AQ 2

[blutach]

Yes, that is the default. From the changes file (people really should read this stuff and jdobbs posts it in the sticky, too)

- Added support for the HC adaptive quantization (*AQ)
function. This setting can improve picture in flat
parts. A default value of "2" is used, but can be
changed by setting "HC_AQ=n" in the "[Options]" area
of REBUILDER.INI. "n" can be any integer value between
0 and 4. "0" disables AQ and "4" results in lower
quants. Note: Keep in mind that due to virtualization
associated with VISTA, your most current INI may be
located in the VISTA VirtualStore. One easy way to
get to it (if you are using VISTA), is to create a
shortcut on your desktop that points to it.

Regards

[rahzel]

ever since the release of HC v0.18, i've had blocking issues in flat parts, so i've always stuck with CCE despite many picking HC over CCE. but i don't seem to be getting this now with AQ. i must say, i really like this new version of HC with AQ. and now that its just as fast, theres really no reason to have CCE anymore.

just want to say thanks to both hank and jdobbs for their wonderful products.

[davidcw]

i really like this new version of HC with AQ. and now that its just as fast, there is really no reason to have CCE anymore.

Has anyone tried it with the Fox 2 matrix? It was very close to the original disc in apparent detail for a 2 hour movie.

08 08 09 09 10 10 11 11
08 09 09 10 10 11 11 12
09 09 10 10 11 11 12 12
09 10 10 11 11 12 13 13
10 10 11 11 12 13 13 14
10 11 11 12 13 13 14 15
11 11 12 13 13 14 15 15
11 12 12 13 14 15 15 16
08 08 09 09 10 10 11 11
08 09 09 10 10 11 11 12
09 09 10 10 11 11 12 12
09 10 10 11 11 12 13 13
10 10 11 11 12 13 13 14
10 11 11 12 13 13 14 15
11 11 12 13 13 14 15 15
11 12 12 13 14 15 15 16

davidcw

[gizzin]

HC's AQ is an algorithm based on x264's VAQ: it is what is known as a complexity mask.

In the most simple terms, it moves bits from complex areas to simple areas, to avoid blocking and blurring in flat textured areas by moving bits there from more complex areas like edges. This almost always improves visual quality.

Wouldn't this be very bad for anime?

[Dark Shikari]

Wouldn't this be very bad for anime?Not really--anime looks ugly when there's loads of blocking in flat areas, too.

[gizzin]

That's a good point.