What's the difference between H.264 and VC-1 codec?

[Ahlucard]

It seems very similar.
What's the difference? and what's the main difference?
Does VC-1 codec performs batter than h.264?

[LoRd_MuldeR]

It seems very similar.

No. They are two completely different video compression standards. And they are not Codecs.

Codecs implement video compression standards in software...


What's the difference? and what's the main difference?

H.264 compresses more efficient than VC-1. That is: Better quality at same bitrate -or- same quality at lower bitrate.

Of course if you only push up the bitrate enough, they will look identical at one point...

Does VC-1 codec performs batter than h.264?

No, it doesn't. Assuming a good H.264 encoder is used, not some crappy one.

Be aware that there are various H.264 encoders out there. And their quality varies greatly :rolleyes:


For a comparison of various H.264 encoders -vs- VC-1 -vs- DivX/Xvid -vs- VP7 -vs- MPEG-2 have a look here:
http://mirror05.x264.nl/Dark/website/compare.html

[Ahlucard]

Thank u for ur replay :)

But my main question is what's the difference between this two arithmetics(the encode base on h264 or VC-1)?
For example: The finest granularity of sub-pixel information supported by VC-1 is 1/4 pixel. Two sets of filters are used by VC-1 for motion compensation. The first is an approximate bicubic filter with four taps. However, H.264 is using a 6 taps filter in this step.
It's one of the difference between h.264 and VC-1, but what's the main difference?

Maybe i didn't express it clearly before.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Some things that come to my mind:
* CABAC Entropy Coding
* 8x8 vs. 4x4 Transform Adaptivity
* Multiple Reference Frames

But I'm not sure ;)

[setarip_old]

@Ahlucard

Hi!

Read the comparison at the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_H.264_and_VC-1

[Ahlucard]

Thank U so much to LoRd_MuldeR and setarip_old !!
Ur replys are so helpful for me

[dukey]

h264 guzzles cpu

[Sharktooth]

if you want much more compression/quality you have to pay a price... nothing comes for free.

[Blue_MiSfit]

True. Both can be decoded by (cheap) hardware or (free) software in real-time though, so who really cares? :)

~MiSfit

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Also don't forget that H.264 can be really fast!

You can't compare a "slow" H.264 encoder/configuration to a much faster VC-1 encoder/configuration and then conclude that VC-1 is faster ;)

Take x264 as your reference and find options that encode at the same speed as your VC-1 encoder. The new presets may help to do so. Then compare quality at same bitrate!

Only this will tell you which one delivers more quality per bit and time...