MeGUI x264 presets.

[Avenger007]

well when i went and looked up x264 options to see what each thing does i came up to a few sites that stated to not use trellis for single pass. here's an example:
http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/x264_options_page6.html

if you scroll down to: Trellis RD Quantization

it states: Never turn it on in single pass quantizer mode, as it would lead to unexpected results

am i just getting things mixed up and crf is not single pass quant mode?
What's there to be confused about when using an x264 guide that's more than 2 years old esp. given the rapid development of x264 (Psy-RDO/Psy-Trellis)? :rolleyes:
Short answer: trellis can be used in both 1 and 2 pass modes.
If you want to know more about x264 Settings then check http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings

[Sharktooth]

@mozzle: --no-dct-decimate gives a slightly better quality, so in insane presets, where quality is what counts, it's enabled (pay attention at the double negation... --no-dct-decimate means dct decimation is disabled, so enabling --no-dct-decimation just disables dct decimation...)

[fib0by]

changes in the preset (in the latest update), since it now uses b-adapt 2 but that should affect the first pass only and not by that much considering the low number of b-frames.
check your avisynth script and maybe post it along with the logfile

The AviSynth script is just the most simple one made by MeGUI. I don't make many changes, I pretty much use the program defaults.

DirectShowSource("E:\hd\blah\video.mkv",fps=23.9759856527702,audio=false)
#deinterlace
#crop
#resize
#denoise

[Information] Log
-[Information] Versions
--[NoImage] MeGUI Version : 0.3.0.2015
--[NoImage] OS : Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3 (5.1.196608.2600)
--[NoImage] Framework used : 2.0 SP1 (2.0.50727.1433)
-[Information] Hardware
--[NoImage] CPU : AMD Phenom(tm) 9850 Quad-Core Processor
-[Information] Log for job1 (video, blah.avs -> )
--[Information] [8/3/2008 5:53:46 PM] Started handling job
--[Information] [8/3/2008 5:53:46 PM] Preprocessing
--[NoImage] Job commandline: "C:\Program Files\megui\tools\x264\x264.exe" --pass 1 --bitrate 11000 --stats "E:\hd\blah\blah.stats" --level 4.1 --keyint 24 --min-keyint 2 --bframes 3 --b-adapt 2 --direct auto --subme 2 --partitions none --ipratio 1.1 --pbratio 1.1 --vbv-bufsize 16500 --vbv-maxrate 16500 --qcomp 0.5 --me dia --threads auto --thread-input --sar 1:1 --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --output NUL "E:\hd\blah\blah.avs" --mvrange 511 --aud --nal-hrd --sar 1:1
--[Information] [8/3/2008 5:53:47 PM] Encoding started
--[NoImage] Standard output stream
--[NoImage] Standard error stream
---[NoImage] avis [info]: 1920x1080 @ 23.98 fps (62337 frames)
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: using SAR=1/1
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast
---[NoImage]
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: slice I:5847 Avg QP:21.97 size:104725
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: slice P:26584 Avg QP:22.41 size: 65997
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: slice B:29906 Avg QP:23.67 size: 38537
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: consecutive B-frames: 18.2% 26.9% 20.0% 34.9%
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: mb I I16..4: 72.1% 0.0% 27.9%
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: mb P I16..4: 49.1% 0.0% 0.0% P16..4: 39.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% skip:11.7%
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: mb B I16..4: 20.1% 0.0% 0.0% B16..8: 27.0% 0.0% 0.0% direct:22.6% skip:30.2% L0:33.5% L1:47.0% BI:19.5%
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: final ratefactor: 23.00
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: direct mvs spatial:99.2% temporal:0.8%
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: kb/s:10828.6
---[NoImage] encoded 62337 frames, 6.20 fps, 10833.77 kb/s
--[Information] [8/3/2008 8:41:28 PM] Job completed
--[Information] [8/3/2008 8:41:28 PM] Postprocessing
---[Information] Deleting intermediate files
-[Information] Log for job2 (video, blah.avs -> blah.264)
--[Information] [8/3/2008 8:41:28 PM] Started handling job
--[Information] [8/3/2008 8:41:28 PM] Preprocessing
--[NoImage] Job commandline: "C:\Program Files\megui\tools\x264\x264.exe" --pass 2 --bitrate 11000 --stats "E:\hd\blah\blah.stats" --level 4.1 --keyint 24 --min-keyint 2 --ref 3 --mixed-refs --bframes 3 --b-adapt 2 --b-rdo --bime --weightb --direct auto --trellis 1 --partitions p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,i8x8 --8x8dct --ipratio 1.1 --pbratio 1.1 --vbv-bufsize 16500 --vbv-maxrate 16500 --qcomp 0.5 --me umh --threads auto --thread-input --sar 1:1 --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --output "E:\hd\blah\blah.264" "E:\hd\blah\blah.avs" --mvrange 511 --aud --nal-hrd --sar 1:1
--[Information] [8/3/2008 8:41:30 PM] Encoding started
--[NoImage] Standard output stream
--[NoImage] Standard error stream
---[NoImage] avis [info]: 1920x1080 @ 23.98 fps (62337 frames)
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: using SAR=1/1
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast
---[NoImage]
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: slice I:5847 Avg QP:22.92 size: 98466
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: slice P:26584 Avg QP:22.94 size: 62059
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: slice B:29906 Avg QP:24.02 size: 45080
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: consecutive B-frames: 18.2% 26.9% 20.0% 34.9%
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: mb I I16..4..PCM: 10.3% 83.1% 6.6% 0.0%
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: mb P I16..4..PCM: 1.2% 15.0% 0.5% 0.0% P16..4: 47.9% 13.3% 9.2% 0.0% 0.0% skip:13.0%
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: mb B I16..4..PCM: 0.1% 4.5% 0.1% 0.0% B16..8: 56.2% 0.9% 2.0% direct: 8.6% skip:27.8% L0:40.6% L1:55.1% BI: 4.2%
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: 8x8 transform intra:87.1% inter:76.7%
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: direct mvs spatial:92.4% temporal:7.6%
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: ref P L0 77.3% 16.0% 6.7%
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: ref B L0 85.8% 14.2%
---[NoImage] x264 [info]: kb/s:10996.1
---[NoImage] encoded 62337 frames, 6.02 fps, 11001.23 kb/s
--[Information] Final statistics
---[NoImage] Video Bitrate Desired: 11000 kbit/s
---[NoImage] Video Bitrate Obtained (approximate): 11001 kbit/s
--[Information] [8/3/2008 11:34:12 PM] Job completed
--[Information] [8/3/2008 11:34:12 PM] Postprocessing
---[Information] Deleting intermediate files
----[Information] [8/3/2008 11:34:12 PM] Successfully deleted E:\hd\blah\blah.stats

[tomcat_]

Thanks for the nice post clarifying all that....

I recently updated my Megui after a long time and i thought i had lost all my profiles....

I was wondering if you guys can help me with something as I only know basic things about video encoding.

I used to be using CE-Quicktime profile, with nero codec for audio. I mainly encode old, normal DVD movies (not HD, etc) and play them with winamp or win media player, and i use the cccp codecs. Sometimes i do play the files on quicktime in a mac.

Is there any alternative of these new presets to CE-Quicktime, and even more, is there a better preset that i can use for the above encoding? I'm not fussy about speed or size of the final file, i just want max quality.

thanks for your help

[JakFrost]

NDAAC-HE-MultiChannel-HQ-192Kbps - v80

Just noticed yesterday that the ABR bitrate in this preset is set to "128Kbps" not "192Kbps".

[JarrettH]

Wrong thread...but I'm wondering where the thread for the Audio presets is. :p

[Nightshiver]

there is no thread on audio presets

[Sharktooth]

Thanks for the nice post clarifying all that....

I recently updated my Megui after a long time and i thought i had lost all my profiles....

I was wondering if you guys can help me with something as I only know basic things about video encoding.

I used to be using CE-Quicktime profile, with nero codec for audio. I mainly encode old, normal DVD movies (not HD, etc) and play them with winamp or win media player, and i use the cccp codecs. Sometimes i do play the files on quicktime in a mac.

Is there any alternative of these new presets to CE-Quicktime, and even more, is there a better preset that i can use for the above encoding? I'm not fussy about speed or size of the final file, i just want max quality.

thanks for your help
Quicktime on mac has no restrictions on h.264 decoding so you're safe using (for example) any DXVA or Unrestricted presets.

@JakFrost: thanks, ill fix it in the next audio presets update.

[breez25]

Hi, is there any way to use the old PD-Nokia N95-Profile in the latest MeGUI version?

When I copy the xml to the profiles folder or use the Import Presets feature, the profile could not be loaded.

Thanks.

[Sharktooth]

the PD-Nokia N95 preset is/was the same as Device-Cellphones_PADs-Level1.3
use that instead of the old preset.

[breez25]

oh okay, thank you! :)

[fib0by]

The slowdown for Pass 1 is not an isolated occurrence. It's the norm now. I can send more logs if need be, just let me know, but anyway it happens every single time now. Pass 1 is barely 15% faster than Pass 2. Before, it was much faster, up to 3x.

[nurbs]

As sharktooth said --b-adapt 2 makes the first pass slower. The more cores/cpus you have the more the slowdown will become apparent, because not everything that is needed is multithreaded.

[fib0by]

As sharktooth said --b-adapt 2 makes the first pass slower. The more cores/cpus you have the more the slowdown will become apparent, because not everything that is needed is multithreaded.

I see.

Well, at this moment, on a Phenom quad core, when encoding 1080p with the Standalone AVC-HD preset, the Turbo mode is made all but useless by the slowdown. There's no Turbo 1st pass, it's almost all the same from an encoding speed perspective.

I'm not saying it's the end of the world, I can probably live with it for a little while, but it should probably be fixed eventually.

[nurbs]

If speed is important to you you can use --b-adapt 1. You could also try to do several simultanious encodes and give each of them only one thread. Never tried it, but if you can get it running it would alleviate your problem with the first pass.

[Sharktooth]

if you remove the "turbo" option it will be way much slower ... even than the second pass...

[fib0by]

If speed is important to you

Before, when pass 1 was fast, I could start an encode in the morning and it would be completed before I got back home. It was just right. I bought the Phenom specifically for this purpose and it was working very well.

Now, it takes up to 12 hours to do an encoding. This is already a bit too much because the evening is wasted, I have to wait for the encoder to finish. Now even the new Phenom is not fast enough.

you can use --b-adapt 1.

OK, so that's faster. But I assume there are other implications - what are those?

[nurbs]

--b-adapt 1 is what was used before. --b-adapt 2 was only recently added to x264.
1 is the fast b-frame decision, 2 is the optimal b-frame decision. So you get less quality for the same bitrate, but with a quadcore you should have some nice speed gain.

[boissy]

I don't see how to delete the old x264 presets

:rolleyes:

[nurbs]

If you want to delete only a few go to the codec config and delete them. Otherwise open the folder ...\megui\allprofiles\x264 and delete them there.

[Sharktooth]

close megui before manually deleting the presets from the folder.

[boissy]

Thank You

:)

[fib0by]

--b-adapt 1 is what was used before. --b-adapt 2 was only recently added to x264.
1 is the fast b-frame decision, 2 is the optimal b-frame decision. So you get less quality for the same bitrate, but with a quadcore you should have some nice speed gain.

So, if I understand it correctly, --b-adapt 2 is currently slower because of a limitation in x264 - that part of the code is currently single-threaded, is that correct?
If so, I guess at some point multi-threading will be implemented for that part of the code and things will get back to normal?

[Dark Shikari]

So, if I understand it correctly, --b-adapt 2 is currently slower because of a limitation in x264 - that part of the code is currently single-threaded, is that correct?
If so, I guess at some point multi-threading will be implemented for that part of the code and things will get back to normal?Its not that the code is singlethreaded--its that the code runs in the main thread only, its not even in a single thread. As a result, if a large percentage of time is spent in the frametype decision, all the other threads eventually block while waiting for frametype to finish.

[fib0by]

Its not that the code is singlethreaded--its that the code runs in the main thread only, its not even in a single thread. As a result, if a large percentage of time is spent in the frametype decision, all the other threads eventually block while waiting for frametype to finish.

I understand now, thanks for explaining it.

Hopefully this will change, since multi-core CPUs are becoming more and more popular these days and people find it easier to buy quad cores.

With the old method, the encoder was able to saturate all 4 cores on the Phenom 9850. With the new method, it seems to me like all 4 cores are not 100% saturated even during 2nd pass (but they are pretty close); during 1st pass with the new method some cores are idle for quite a long time.

When I started to use x264, I was surprised by how well it was able to scale up performance with the number of cores. I went from 2 cores to 4 and encoding became 2x faster. Now, not so much. :(

[Dark Shikari]

I understand now, thanks for explaining it.

Hopefully this will change, since multi-core CPUs are becoming more and more popular these days and people find it easier to buy quad cores.

With the old method, the encoder was able to saturate all 4 cores on the Phenom 9850. With the new method, it seems to me like all 4 cores are not 100% saturated even during 2nd pass (but they are pretty close)Then you're doing it wrong, because the 2nd pass doesn't do any frametype decision at all.

[saint-francis]

I went from 2 cores to 4 and encoding became 2x faster. Now, not so much. :(

Works fine for me.

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x270/saint-francis-photos/x264.jpg

That's 4 cores.

[LOGiC]

@all,

just to give you the information, if this is useful for anyone of you. When encoding 720p and 1080p using meGUI for my Panasonic DMP-BD30 (AVCHD), I always saw stuttering for many titles. I noticed that the VBV buffer was set to 9000, which is the normal spec for AVCHD I believe. I am now using 11500 and get a pretty smooth motion in all movies.

[cynebald]

V59: Min Keyint -> 2 in all Blu-Ray and AVC-HD presets. Weighted B-Prediction disabled on any Anime/Toons presets.
Why was weighted b-prediction (weightb) disabled for the "Anime_Toons" presets?

[Dark Shikari]

Why was weighted b-prediction (weightb) disabled for the "Anime_Toons" presets?Weightb very slightly reduces the effectiveness of multiref-biprediction in most anime. On the other hand, it massively increases the coding efficiency in case of fades, though only when b-adapt 2 is on.

So its a compromise.

[fib0by]

just to give you the information, if this is useful for anyone of you. When encoding 720p and 1080p using meGUI for my Panasonic DMP-BD30 (AVCHD), I always saw stuttering for many titles. I noticed that the VBV buffer was set to 9000, which is the normal spec for AVCHD I believe. I am now using 11500 and get a pretty smooth motion in all movies.

Are you using the Standalone AVC-HD preset? This preset, on my system, using the latest version of the presets, has VBV Buffer Size set to 16500. Maybe you're using an old version of the preset?

[lchiu7]

I have a bunch of captured HD broadcasts which are h.264/DD 5.1 and 1080i. After cleaning out ads etc. they end up being about 3.3G in size for 43 minutes. I am sure I can compress them further to say about 700Mb without too much loss in quality but have had little success with using x264 directly (probably not got the right command line parameters). I suspect megui would do a better job.

Given the myriad of profiles, can anybody suggest a profile that retains the AR of the original broadcast (16:9) and maintains reasonable quality at 700Mb without a day or so of encoding.

I am currently trying out standalone PS3-Xbox 360 fast since my goal is to burn these programs to a DVD and watch them on a PS3 and/or put them on a file server and watch via a Popcorn Hour. This on a dual core Athlon 3500 is taking about 4 hours for pass 1 - no idea what pass 2 will be but short of getting a much faster CPU, is there a profile setting that might cut this time down without too much picture quality degradation?

Thanks

[LOGiC]

Are you using the Standalone AVC-HD preset? This preset, on my system, using the latest version of the presets, has VBV Buffer Size set to 16500. Maybe you're using an old version of the preset?

Well, the presets are just meant to be a help. They varied during all the releases while the official AVCHD spec is 9000. In my opinion 16500 is too much and don't give any advantages. I had a testclip last weekend with 9000, 10500, 11500, 12500, 13500 and 14500. While 9000 was stuttering every few moments, 11500 was almost completely smooth and 12500 and 13500 didn't give any further improvement. I personally had the feeling it went a bit worse for the higher VBV Buffers from 13500 on.

[Deinorius]

Weightb very slightly reduces the effectiveness of multiref-biprediction in most anime. On the other hand, it massively increases the coding efficiency in case of fades, though only when b-adapt 2 is on. Why is nowhere b-adapt 2 activated? At least in HQ/Insane Settings it would be better.
With crf performance loss is marginal for this quality/compressibility gain. To be honest I don't see a recognizable performance loss with Animes and crf (B-Frames 3).

[saemonz]

I always use HQ-slower,which one can replace?

[rack04]

I always use HQ-slower,which one can replace?

Read the first post and decide for yourself.

[Sharktooth]

Why is nowhere b-adapt 2 activated? At least in HQ/Insane Settings it would be better.
With crf performance loss is marginal for this quality/compressibility gain. To be honest I don't see a recognizable performance loss with Animes and crf (B-Frames 3).
what? b-adapt 2 is used in most presets... except anime.

[saemonz]

Read the first post and decide for yourself.

not sure for :Unrestricted 2pass HQ or DXVA-HD-HQ.

give me suggestion ok?

[Sharktooth]

DXVA-HD-HQ is for Hi-Definition footage. If your source is SD use the DXVA-SD-HQ preset.
If you dont care about hardware compatibility and DXVA playback, use the Unrestricted 2pass HQ preset.

[Deinorius]

what? b-adapt 2 is used in most presets... except anime. Hm?
I installed newest v80 presets and it wasn't. I reinstalled presets again, now they are correct I think. So forget it. No idea what happened.

[Underground78]

Hm?
I installed newest v80 presets and it wasn't. I reinstalled presets again, now they are correct I think. So forget it. No idea what happened.

Same here ... :confused:

[Deinorius]

Is it correct, that VBV Buffersize in DXVA-HD-Anime_Toons has 40000 but the other two Anime presets (Fast and HQ) have 50000?

[Sharktooth]

?????

[qt4eva]

does Unrestricted 2pass Extra Quality mean it is better quality than Unrestricted 2pass HQ?

[Dark Shikari]

?????Your iPod 5.5g profile seems a bit bizarre. It has deblocking off. Any good reason for this?

[Deinorius]

????? Edit: Never mind. It was an old preset which wasn't deleted.

[Sharktooth]

does Unrestricted 2pass Extra Quality mean it is better quality than Unrestricted 2pass HQ?
yes
Your iPod 5.5g profile seems a bit bizarre. It has deblocking off. Any good reason for this?
batteries duration. however i may enable it in the next update.

[lexor]

In the blu-ray profile, both ref and bframes set to 3, is that a blu-ray limit or just a quality/speed trade off decision? I'm asking because during DXVA discussion devs of MPC said that the reason the limit for DXVA is ref=4 is because that's the limit of blu-ray at 1080p. Just asking for a clarification on the profile decision.

[Krytak]

hi,

at 1st, big THANK YOU for your profiles and tehir updates! godo job...

2nd - when i am using your DXVA-SD-HQ profile (revison 81): i must use mod16 or i can stick with mod4 ? Because when i am encoding dvd-pal-anamorph., they will be sometimes over-cropped in mod16 and thats what i dont want. Simply, is mod4 dxva compatible? Thx for any answer, i am n00b.

[Kurtnoise]

mod16 or mod4 has nothing to do w/ DXVA compliancy...anyway, it's worth to try to encode in mod4 for you.