MeGUI x264 presets.

[nakTT]

Yes, "automated 3 pass".

And yes, it can squeeze out more quality, but usually it is some minutely negligible that it isn't worth it. However, you can do it yourself using the automated 3 pass if you so desire.
Thanks for the clarification, Merlin7777.

[Adub]

My pleasure.

[halsboss]

Thanks. Commandline is useful for many things. Is there any way to translate a profile settings into X264 commandline settings ? eg Device-iPod 5.5G (PAL)

[Grossmeister]

Hello.
I want to convert video from videocamera (PCM, 720x576, PAL) into H.264. As I understood MeGUI is the best tool for it. But can you suggest the profile I should use for my case? It shouldn't be losless, but anyway it should have "best" quality (or at least suggest from which profile group I should choose). Also, when convert that videos I have to use deinterlace, just in case this means something for choosing the best profile.
Thanks.

[Atak_Snajpera]

As I understood MeGUI is the best tool for it.
Who told you that MeGUI is the BEST??? The BEST does not exist in this forum!

[Grossmeister]

Who told you that MeGUI is the BEST??? The BEST does not exist in this forum!
RipBot is good too. :)
OK, let's say MeGUI is the most configurable. In fact, before I used StaxRip several times, but it doesn't have new stable releases, so I'm thinking to switch to MeGUI.

Anyway, my question (about the most suitable profile) is general. Do you have any suggestions?

[Sharktooth]

Atak is right. there is no best as per forum rules.
Use whatever GUI you think is the best for you... there are so many...

[Grossmeister]

OK, I see that a lot of profiles are similar in MeGUI and StaxRip. But, not considering GUI, which profile should I use?

[AntiJw]

OK, I see that a lot of profiles are similar in MeGUI and StaxRip. But, not considering GUI, which profile should I use?On this source ("video from videocamera (PCM, 720x576, PAL)"), if using MeGUI, set "x264: DXVA-SD-Insane"-profile, but disable "--no-dct-decimate".

EDIT: np, Grossmeister, although I hope you have a decent CPU for encoding :)

[Grossmeister]

On this source ("video from videocamera (PCM, 720x576, PAL)"), if using MeGUI, set "x264: DXVA-SD-Insane"-profile, but disable "--no-dct-decimate".
Thanks a lot. :)

[Deinorius]

In fact, before I used StaxRip several times, but it doesn't have new stable releases, so I'm thinking to switch to MeGUI.Even if StaxRip has no new stable releases yet, it's still very stable. If you have used it for a longer time and it worked well, then I don't understand, why you switch to another GUI. I use MeGUI too, but StaxRip serves me more.
I just want to say, switching from a well working software to another one because there are no new releases is imho a damn idea.

[Grossmeister]

I just want to say, switching from a well working software to another one because there are no new releases is imho a damn idea.
But, now, after I tried MeGUI I start to understand what is going on behind the scene. Anyway, I have all three (MeGUI, StaxRip, RipBot) and I can choose what I need.

[Deinorius]

Better idea.

[tobinaka]

Thank you Sharktooth for your daily maintainance of x264's presets which have a lot of good informations.
The link to the presets page in x264 Japanese wiki hasn't been worked because I've edited the wiki in large from last month as admin.
Please change the it as below if you want to keep the link. Best.
http://x264.tobinaka.com/index.php?Presets

[Sharktooth]

thank you for reporting the new link.
i've updated it in the main post.

[SacredCultivator]

Not too sure if this is the place to ask, but in regards to the general public, visually, there is not much of a difference between let's say...
Unrestricted 1pass Const. Quality Extra Q.
and
the one i currently use {Sorta the Insane Preset}
"program --crf 19.0 --keyint 300 --min-keyint 30 --ref 5 --mixed-refs --no-fast-pskip --bframes 4 --b-adapt 2 --b-pyramid --weightb --deblock -1:-1 --subme 9 --trellis 2 --partitions all --8x8dct --vbv-maxrate 17500 --me umh --merange 32 --threads auto --thread-input --aq-strength 0.5 --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --output "output" "input" "

[Sharktooth]

your presets is slower than Unrestricted 1pass Const. Quality Extra Q. and faster than Unrestricted 1pass Const. Quality Insane.
considering the difference between those 2 (in terms of compression/quality) are minimal, i dont get your point at all.

[SacredCultivator]

What I was asking was, in regards to noticeable differences in the visual quality to the average viewer, are there any? As I'm aware that my settings are sorta inbetween both the Extra Q. + Insane settings.

[Sharktooth]

personally speaking anything above HQ presets is quite useless to me.
most of the times there are not even any visible (while in motion) differencies between HQ and Insane.

[SacredCultivator]

Oh's cause I did notice quite abig difference in Encoding Speed between all presets of HQ / Extra Q / Insane, but in regards to Quality/ Visual Differences... I wasn't able to see much... So I guess I'll probably opt for just using the HQ preset opposed to the Extra Q.

As honestly to me... Definitely can't see much of a quality gain... And I'm not those quality freaks that is able to tell the difference between those presets.

[dolphinjet]

Hello, I recently tried the new profiles after updating megui
I used the Unrestricted 1pass Const. Quality Anime_Toons one with no change


program --crf 18 --ref 5 --mixed-refs --bframes 3 --b-adapt 2 --b-pyramid --weightb --deblock -1:-1 --trellis 2 --partitions all --8x8dct --me umh --threads auto --thread-input --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --output "output" "input"

core 0.3.1011

x264 1093


The output is generally nice but I noticed some color bands especially in dark areas, dark red or dark blue. The demarcating lines between the color bands are sometimes too obvious.
(I compared to source video playing on same monitor)

I only occasionally compress them when I want a small size back up. What settings should I choose to reduce the bands or should I use another profile?


If you've got banding, you'll need to use a filter for debanding, such as gradfun2db.

@Nightshiver
Edit: thanks for telling me about the filter
When used with encoding, the time lengthen quite a bit.
It also introduced some blocks in some moving areas.

In fact, I used it to play with fddshow without the need to re-encode. Fortunately, its not very resource eating.

[Nightshiver]

If you've got banding, you'll need to use a filter for debanding, such as gradfun2db.

[Dark Shikari]

Psy-trellis can help banding in some cases, but I'd recommend trying gradfun first.

[Nozomi]

I found Sharktooth's MeGUI x264 presets profile basically all came with default bitrate of 1000 for 2Pass profiles, for 720P or 1080P encoding would it be too small? For example, would it be more reasonable to use 3000 - 5000 for a 720P encoding?

[ricky man]

what is a good bitrates for HD movies?do you think 10000 or more bitrates are too much for HD movies or not? should i encode the HD movies to L4.1 or L5.0 or even L4.0?

[Sharktooth]

Nozomi, the bitrate is automatically re-calculated whe using the autoencode or oneclick encoder features.
manual encoding require more "participation" by the user, including setting a bitrate/quant in the preset.

@ricky man, your question about bitrate has no answer. you dont set a bitrate if you want a certain quality and viceversa. so, if you're aiming at a final filesize, then that's the final filesize. if you're aiming at a certain quality then you should not care about the filesize.
L4.0 is DivX 7 compatible. L4.1 is Blu-Ray compatible. Both are DXVA compatible. obviously additional restrictions are required to full compatibility with those "standards"...

[Kido]

Maybe it's a lame question, but 10 minutes of google didn't give me an answer: is there a way to convert this presets into command line options? I mean i'm using x264 cli without any gui.

[Deinorius]

Well, the easiest way for use is to use a GUI. But even if you don't want to use a GUI, you can use it to get the commandline. In MeGUI and StaxRip you can get it easily.
Why do you not use a GUI?

[Kido]

Well, the easiest way for use is to use a GUI. But even if you don't want to use a GUI, you can use it to get the commandline. In MeGUI and StaxRip you can get it easily.
Why do you not use a GUI?
1). I'm using linux and there isn't MeGUI and StaxRip for it.
2). I've written quite a nice script for encoding video files, so there isn't any need in gui.
I've got windows at work, so i can install megui there, then import preset and then copy command line, but it's quite a bother.

[Sharktooth]

i was writing a parser/converter some time ago. if i find some time i will complete it.

[buzzqw]

@Kido

you could check autox264, it runs MeGui profile (or you can use it to translate into mencoder/x264 options)

BHH

[saikrupal000]

Actually i rip the movies from dvd9 and dvd5's to 1cd rips

and i am using x 264 unrestricted 2pass hq..getting gud quality

is there any chance of getting more quality by using other preset..

if there can u share plz...

[smok3]

i was writing a parser/converter some time ago. if i find some time i will complete it.

excellent news, hopefully that will mean the presets can go into the core?

:thanks:

[lchiu7]

Actually i rip the movies from dvd9 and dvd5's to 1cd rips

and i am using x 264 unrestricted 2pass hq..getting gud quality

is there any chance of getting more quality by using other preset..

if there can u share plz...

Well if you can't see much difference between your original DVD and your encode, then you probably have reached the limit of what x264 can do. X264 can't make the conversion better than the original. The fact that you are getting potentially DVD9 down to about 600Mb is pretty good in itself.

[saikrupal000]

Well if you can't see much difference between your original DVD and your encode, then you probably have reached the limit of what x264 can do. X264 can't make the conversion better than the original. The fact that you are getting potentially DVD9 down to about 600Mb is pretty good in itself.

Offcourse v can't get better quality than original one...but is there any chance of getting more quality by using diff preset instead of unrestricted 2pass hq...:confused:

[Sharktooth]

unrestricted 2pass Extra Q. or Insane... but it will take much longer to encode.
personally, i never use presets "higher" than HQ...

[th3obr0]

The HQ-Slow and other HQ presets are not available in the .ZIP archive. How to get them?

HQ-Fast: Quality profile without using advanced R/D features.
HQ-Slow: Pretty slow but not much. Quality is near the best.
HQ-Slower: Slower than HQ-Slow but it tries to squeeze some more compression thru the use of more reference frames.
HQ-Slowest: Same as HQ-Slower with more reference frames.
HQ-Insane: All settings maxed out.


EDIT

I just realized these are not supported anymore, so which would be the best HQ preset to replace HQ-Slow or Slower for best quality?

Thanks!

[Sharktooth]

did you read the first post?

[th3obr0]

did you read the first post?

I believe I did :). Most tutorial mention the HQ-Slower profile to getting best results, but there wasn't any such profile in the .zip file I downloaded. I was just wondering if there is some equivalent profile.

[saikrupal000]

unrestricted 2pass Extra Q. or Insane... but it will take much longer to encode.
personally, i never use presets "higher" than HQ...

ya it ll take much longer time but i don't have those presets i am downloading now... thanks a lot

[Sharktooth]

@th3obr0: the HQ presets are very similar to what you're looking for.

[th3obr0]

@th3obr0: the HQ presets are very similar to what you're looking for.

Thanks for this information. I will experiment with the HQ presets. But still, do you prefer any specific preset for higher quality? :rolleyes:

[Sharktooth]

i usually never go beyond HQ.
Extra Q. and Insane are just for ppl with a lot of time to waste.

[Adub]

Insane, yes. However, I have found Extra Q to actually be quite reasonable in it's time usage and does produce fantastic results.

[kingkenny]

Hey Sharktooth,

Congrats on putting all ya time etc into these funky profiles.
If you dont mind I'd like to ask for some info and help?

Pretty new to Megui. Spent a lot of time and hrs messing with Vob files and examining the output. Reading various forums to try and get a better undertstanding of how the Megui works and the x264 codec and profiles. i.e. http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/x264_options_page2.html as well as the stuff on Doom9...

Also some odd how too's PDF (Presented by COMTEC Mobile Solutions.) I'll be honest and admit I am a little confused. Probably information overload!! :) Most of the posts and info are from 2006 onwards.

To be honest if the above data/settings are too old and no longer relevant then it would be nice for somebody that knows about this stuff to put a 2009 guide together... :))))

i.e. Example For...
DVD to Xvid - recommended settings...but dont use...blah...
DVD to x264 - recommended settings...but dont use unless...

I've read that for films set the loop to 0,0 and 1,1 for Anime.
That setting B-frames to more than 5 is pointless?
That the "P4x4" option requires the "P8x8" option and can improve overall quality...?

It just that the output I am getting (DVD > x264 > MP4) looks OK at the mo using the current default profiles (yours...) with no changes but if theres anything else that can help improve the sharpness or quality then I'd like somebody if they can and have the time - to help point me in the right direction.

Should I be using info that I have read from a few years back or is it not relevant anymore?

What happens if I change the loop filter to 0,0 for the x264 2pass Extra Quality? or should I just leave the profiles as they are...(assuming they have already been pre-tuned) for the desired output.

I am still reading stuff and trying to take it all in. I guess once you get the logic behind it... it all makes sence.

I guess its a bit like trying to understand a woman! I think I'll stop there... lol

Kind Regards,

King

[Sharktooth]

inloop deblocking is somewhat subjective.
the lower the value the sharper the image but more blocks will appear. 0,0 is the x264 default but i prefer slightly lower values.
the p4x4 option is usefull at low resolution (SD and lower) but it's rather useless at higher ones.
more b-frames are usually usefull for cartoons and some anime sources. 5 adaptive b-frames are enough for movies, expecially if you set the b-adapt option to 2 (optimal).
if you need more sharpness you can rise the psy-rd and/or psy-trellis values a bit. keep in mind those options are bitrate hungry...
you can even try to sharpen the source with some avisynth filter until it pleases you.
about the info you can find on megui, documentation is a bit lacking since "things" are rapidly evolving, however look always for the most recent info you can find before trusting old guides.
concerning presets, you're free to make your own but i suggest you to keep the ones coming from the auto-update servers unaltered to avoiding overwriting your setting when new presets get into the update servers.
however, default presets (the ones from this thread are the same that comes with megui) were well tuned and made from the suggestions from the users, so they're good as they are (except subjective settings as inloop deblocking, bitrate, quantizer/CRF and few others) or at least they're a very good starting point for creating personal presets.

[kingkenny]

Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated....:)

Regards,
King

[loretta80]

Request:
what about PNA like TomTom's?
I have a TomTom GO 920T here. Screen 480x272. I do tests at the moment with xvid in 25fps and mp3 in 44khz (because i didn't find the option to resample at 22khz) mono 48kbit/s cbr. Here some infos: http://www.tomplayer.net/forum/viewtopic.php?id=166
I want to play it back on the TomTom with Tomplayer 0.22 which based on mplayer i think.

I would like a one-click preset that convert every input to these values. Is it possible? Because the one click encoder doesn't accept avi's or mkv's.

Thanks a lot

BTW: Is it possible to use the ATI GPU encoder (avivo) with a programm like megui?

[lexor]

Is there a reason why --thread-input is not present on Blu-ray profile? I don't see any notes on problems in the --help, and it's a difference between 13fps and 20fps on my i7. Or is it there to make blu-ray_fast seem faster? ;)

btw, I can't find the option in MeGUI that turns --thread-input on/off, I have to add custom command, but blu-ray_fast doesn't use custom commands and has that option.

/edit: fixed typo, 20 not 26

[Dark Shikari]

Is there a reason why --thread-input is not present on Blu-ray profile? I don't see any notes on problems in the --help, and it's a difference between 13fps and 20fps on my i7. Or is it there to make blu-ray_fast seem faster? ;)

btw, I can't find the option in MeGUI that turns --thread-input on/off, I have to add custom command, but blu-ray_fast doesn't use custom commands and has that option.

/edit: fixed typo, 20 not 26
--threads auto implies --thread-input ;)