Encoding Video for Blu-Ray using H264/AVC

[rapscallion]

I've read in this thread that x264 can utilize all 4 cores of a Core2 Duo Quad CPU.

However, will it utilise 2 separate Core2 Duo cpu's, totalling 4?

[nm]

However, will it utilise 2 separate Core2 Duo cpu's, totalling 4?
Only if the CPUs are on an SMP motherboard and the OS sees them all. x264 doesn't support clustering, so to run it across separate machines, you'd need to use/code additional tools.

[rapscallion]

Only if the CPUs are on an SMP motherboard and the OS sees them all. x264 doesn't support clustering, so to run it across separate machines, you'd need to use/code additional tools.
I should have been specific that the 2 cpus are on the same machine/motherboard. So yes, it's SMP.

This is the configuration of a PC that I'm considering, an HP XW8400 that has X2 Xeon Core 2 Duo @ 3.0 ghz .

[nm]

This is the configuration of a PC that I'm considering, an HP XW8400 that has X2 Xeon Core 2 Duo @ 3.0 ghz .

Yes, that's an SMP system and x264 works directly on both CPUs.

[rapscallion]

Yes, that's an SMP system and x264 works directly on both CPUs.
Great, thanks so much for the response !

[kieranrk]

Whilst I know other discs have been encoded with x264, "Keeper'n til Liverpool" (english: The Liverpool Goalie ) is the first confirmed disc that has been fully encoded with x264.

[Lyris]

Great news! I hope to add another to that list this year.

[shon3i]

Nice! Finaly!!

someone dump m2ts with mediainfo and:
Writing library : x264 core 112 r1834 a51816a
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 /
chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=36 / sliced_threads=0 /
slices=4 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 /
weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=1 / keyint=24 / keyint_min=2 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=24 / rc=cbr / mbtree=1 /
bitrate=38000 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=38000 / vbv_bufsize=30000 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00 / nal_hrd=vbr


preset veryslow, tune film, but 36 threads means that they have a very very ..... :)

[mp3dom]

They've used a 38Mbps CBR with a 'vbr' nal-hrd. Is it right?
As for 36 threads, they've a dual hexa-core which is not uncommon for companies that author BD :)

[kieranrk]

They've used a 38Mbps CBR with a 'vbr' nal-hrd. Is it right?
As for 36 threads, they've a dual hexa-core which is not uncommon for companies that author BD :)

Yes, you don't want strict CBR with stuffing data on Blu-rays.

[nm]

As for 36 threads, they've a dual hexa-core which is not uncommon for companies that author BD :)
More like dual dodeca-core, or quad hexa-core to get up to 36 / 1.5 = 24 cores.

Edit: yep with HT it could be 2x6. I started to think about AMD and forgot the HT Xeons.

[kolak]

I can bet it's 2 times x56xx Xeons machine. With HT on it's 24 cores and very common machine for heavy processing.

Andrew

[Stereodude]

I wrote a simple guide for the most common Blu-Ray scenarios. See my sig.Is there a reason why you omitted --ref 4 from your 1080p suggestions (http://www.x264bluray.com/home/1080i-p)?
x264 --bitrate XXXXX --preset veryslow --tune film --weightp 1 --bframes 3 --nal-hrd vbr --vbv-maxrate 40000 --vbv-bufsize 30000 --level 4.1 --keyint 24 --b-pyramid strict --slices 4 --aud --colorprim "bt709" --transfer "bt709" --colormatrix "bt709" --sar 1:1 --pass 1 -o out.264 input.file

x264 --bitrate XXXXX --preset veryslow --tune film --weightp 1 --bframes 3 --nal-hrd vbr --vbv-maxrate 40000 --vbv-bufsize 30000 --level 4.1 --keyint 24 --b-pyramid strict --slices 4 --aud --colorprim "bt709" --transfer "bt709" --colormatrix "bt709" --sar 1:1 --pass 2 -o out.264 input.file
Also, what about --open-gop bluray?

:thanks:

[shon3i]

Is there a reason why you omitted --ref 4 from your 1080p suggestions?It's because ref 4 is limit for 1080p resolution and level 4.1 (avc or bluray) so everything you use manually will be overridden

Also, what about --open-gop bluray?You can use it. The page will be updated.

[sneaker_ger]

It's because ref 4 is limit for 1080p resolution and level 4.1 (avc or bluray) so everything you use manually will be overridden

Actually the ref count set by preset, tuning and level will be overwritten by --ref. It does not matter for 1080p but should be kept in mind for 720p. (you probably know that, just for the silent readers out there)

[Stereodude]

Actually the ref count set by preset, tuning and level will be overwritten by --ref. It does not matter for 1080p but should be kept in mind for 720p. (you probably know that, just for the silent readers out there)So, what does --veryslow set for the --ref level?

[sneaker_ger]

16, which is in turn lowered by --level 4.1 to 4 for 1080p.

[Stereodude]

16, which is in turn lowered by --level 4.1 to 4 for 1080p.:thanks:

Is there a guide / documentation somewhere that lists what settings are integrated into the various presets ?

[sneaker_ger]

x264 --fullhelp > fullhelp.txt

[Ulf]

--ref bluray wanted

I would like to see a --ref bluray option in x264 that ensures that the setting for reference frames never exceeds the Blu-ray standard.

E.g. --preset slower --level 4 --ref bluray
should lower --ref from 8 to 6 for 720p material

[kieranrk]

--ref bluray wanted

I would like to see a --ref bluray option in x264 that ensures that the setting for reference frames never exceeds the Blu-ray standard.

E.g. --preset slower --level 4 --ref bluray
should lower --ref from 8 to 6 for 720p material

Patches welcome for --device bluray. Come on #x264dev if you want to add it to the current --device patch.

[laserfan]

Patches welcome for --device bluray. Come on #x264dev if you want to add it to the current --device patch.
Yeah but it's even hairy-er than that if you throw-in the distinction between "Blu-ray on BD disc" and "Blu-ray on DVD disc".

[shon3i]

Patches welcome for --device bluray. Come on #x264dev if you want to add it to the current --device patch.
I didn't know that devices exist? I would update patch (since should not be difficult). Btw it will be good to before encode, encoder check all settings, and if input resolution not match for example or combination of resolution and fps or other combinations, that encoder correct if mirror or stop encoding if some major issue.

Yeah but it's even hairy-er than that if you throw-in the distinction between "Blu-ray on BD disc" and "Blu-ray on DVD disc".Not only this, there is choose between Primary or seconadary video aslo

[Overdrive80]

Hi guys, today is the first time that i have bluray material in my hands ^^. However, the source is 1080i @29.97; is anime Ghost Hound.

My question is if i can convert 1080i video to 1080p. I imagine, that I should deinterlacing to 23.976 before of encoding to x264, as with DVD interlacing material. Isn´t it?

Thanks-

[mp3dom]

Watch closely the source. Is the animation 24p+3:2 pulldown? Is the animation a true 30p? Is the animation a mixture of the above (or contains true 60i footage?). Depending by how the animation was done you can do or can't do the conversion.
Also, are you making another BD or something else like MKV? If the former, you should stay at 60i if the animation is not fully 24p, if the latter, you can do variable framerate videos that exactly cover these kind of problems.

[Overdrive80]

In mediainfo windows it can see this:

General
ID : 0 (0x0)
Complete name : E:\GHOST HOUND DISC 3\BDMV\STREAM\00002.m2ts
Format : BDAV
Format/Info : Blu-ray Video
File size : 4.58 GiB
Duration : 25mn 7s
Overall bit rate : 26.1 Mbps
Maximum Overall bit rate : 48.0 Mbps

Video
ID : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : VC-1
Format profile : AP@L3
Codec ID : 234
Duration : 25mn 7s
Bit rate : 21.2 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.340
Stream size : 3.71 GiB (81%)

I dont still analyse source for saying if its telecined, hybrid. My question was if I would have deinterlacing.

The project is for matroska file. However, I like know because i would have let video @ 60i if its for reencoding to BD. I imagine that you refer to bob deinterlacing, dont you?

[mp3dom]

On BD at a resolution of 1080, only 24p/23.976p is supported as a "progressive" framerate. 60 and 50 are supported only in interlaced mode (50p or 60p only available at 1280x720).
Your stream is flagged as interlaced but this doesn't tell anything (it's exactly the same as with dvds and mpeg-2). Since the BD at that framerate is 'forced' to be 60i, at the end you can have:
1) A 24p stream with 3:2 pulldown (you can remove the 3:2 with IVTC)
2) A 30p stream, encoded as progressive but flagged (forced) as interlaced (BD standard)
3) A combination of the above plus some parts at true 60i (rolling credits for example or some crossfades or two different scenes mixed together with a fieldshift or fades to black/white that was made not in the original animation, but later as post-production)

In the 1) case, you can avoid deinterlacing, just IVTC to obtain a true 24p stream. This anyway is quite strange because 24p is a native BD framerate, so there's no real reason to have a 24p stream with 3:2 pulldown on BD. This lead me to think that probably not the entire video is 'clean'.
In the 2) case, you don't need to deinterlace anything, since the frames are already progressive (only flagged as interlaced).
In the 3) case, you need special treatment (IVTC for the 24p+3:2 pulldown parts, deinterlace for true 60i parts and no deinterlace for 30p parts).

You should analyze the stream to made the proper choice.

[Overdrive80]

On BD at a resolution of 1080, only 24p/23.976p is supported as a "progressive" framerate. 60 and 50 are supported only in interlaced mode (50p or 60p only available at 1280x720).
Your stream is flagged as interlaced but this doesn't tell anything (it's exactly the same as with dvds and mpeg-2). Since the BD at that framerate is 'forced' to be 60i, at the end you can have:
1) A 24p stream with 3:2 pulldown (you can remove the 3:2 with IVTC)
2) A 30p stream, encoded as progressive but flagged (forced) as interlaced (BD standard)
3) A combination of the above plus some parts at true 60i (rolling credits for example or some crossfades or two different scenes mixed together with a fieldshift or fades to black/white that was made not in the original animation, but later as post-production)

In the 1) case, you can avoid deinterlacing, just IVTC to obtain a true 24p stream. This anyway is quite strange because 24p is a native BD framerate, so there's no real reason to have a 24p stream with 3:2 pulldown on BD. This lead me to think that probably not the entire video is 'clean'.
In the 2) case, you don't need to deinterlace anything, since the frames are already progressive (only flagged as interlaced).
In the 3) case, you need special treatment (IVTC for the 24p+3:2 pulldown parts, deinterlace for true 60i parts and no deinterlace for 30p parts).

You should analyze the stream to made the proper choice.

Now the main problem, is that megui dont load source VC-1 but I got load by tricks. However, I cant analyse properly.

Extract material HD in mkv, and with mkvextractgui, save stream video as avi. After, load avi video in adobe premiere and encode as h264. Now i can work with video. Do you know why megui dont cant load this source or how i could load it?

If BD source was hybrid i know only use animeivtc. I will tried use, time ago:

First, analysis pass.
TFM(mode=1, output="tfm.txt")
TDecimate(mode=4, output="stats.txt")


Second pass, filtered with rendering pass. After encode h.264.
TFM(mode=1,input="tfm.txt")
TDecimate(mode=5, hybrid=2, dupthresh=1.0, input="stats.txt", \
tfmin="tfm.txt", mkvout="timecodes.txt")

However the areas (credits) with true interlacing, not properly deinterlaced. Maybe is necesary to use trim command for specify areas as with animeivtc? If was it, could you put any code example, please?

[latet]

I just tested this:

PlayStation3 won't play BD disk encoded as AVC: 1280x720p25. The sound is fine, but the screen is black.

So this ALLOWED RESOLUTIONS/FRAMERATES guide: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=154533 has to be taken very seriously and one really has to prepare 1280x720p50

But the frame doubling trick proposed here: http://sites.google.com/site/x264bluray/home/720p-encoding is a problematic solution, because of tsMuxer limitations.

I solved the problem by making "hard" 25p-->50p conversion. It won't affect the size of the compressed AVC video.

latet

[QBhd]

I just tested this:

I solved the problem by making "hard" 25p-->50p conversion. It won't affect the size of the compressed AVC video.

latet

So what settings did you use to "hard" encode your conversion... I am very curious since I have been banging my head over a similar problem

QB

[sneaker_ger]

AviSynth: ChangeFPS(50) ?

[latet]

So what settings did you use to "hard" encode your conversion... I am very curious since I have been banging my head over a similar problem
QB

I used VirtualDub's
Video/Frame rate/Frame rate conversion/Convert to: [50] fps.
Of course it required "Full processing mode". But it was no problem for me as I could do it on the source .avi/huffyuv files. I think you can do the same on every kind of source file, if you use VirtualDub's AviSynth plugin.

The output was true 50p, no tricks, no hacks, no pulldown flags. VirtualDub simply "cloned" (or doubled) each frame, just like that:
ABCDEF... ---> AABBCCDDEEFF...

And then I did AVC encoding:


x264 --bitrate XXXXX --preset veryslow --tune film --weightp 1 --bframes 3 --nal-hrd vbr --vbv-maxrate 40000 --vbv-bufsize 30000 --level 4.1 --keyint 50 --b-pyramid strict --open-gop bluray --slices 4 --ref 6 --aud --colorprim "bt709" --transfer "bt709" --colormatrix "bt709" --sar 1:1 --pass 1 -o out.264 input.file

x264 --bitrate XXXXX --preset veryslow --tune film --weightp 1 --bframes 3 --nal-hrd vbr --vbv-maxrate 40000 --vbv-bufsize 30000 --level 4.1 --keyint 50 --b-pyramid strict --open-gop bluray --slices 4 --ref 6 --aud --colorprim "bt709" --transfer "bt709" --colormatrix "bt709" --sar 1:1 --pass 2 -o out.264 input.file


It plays perfect on PS3.

However, I consider re-encoding the source once again using lower --ref (perhaps 3 instead of 6). The reason for that is a problem playing it on PowerDVD8. I described the problem here: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=159913 but I'm not sure it has anything to do with ref frames.

I also don't know if I can simply change --ref 6 to --ref 3 without changing any other settings.

Previously I tried this "hack":

Frame doubling to comply 720p25 with the Blu-Ray specification:

x264 --bitrate XXXXX --preset veryslow --tune film --weightp 1 --bframes 3 --nal-hrd vbr --vbv-maxrate 40000 --vbv-bufsize 30000 --level 4.1 --keyint 25 --b-pyramid strict --open-gop bluray --slices 4 --ref 6 --aud --pulldown double --colorprim "bt709" --transfer "bt709" --colormatrix "bt709" --sar 1:1 --pass 1 -o out.264 input.file

But tsMuxer couldn't generate a proper .m2ts file out of this.

[Stereodude]

But the frame doubling trick proposed here: http://sites.google.com/site/x264bluray/home/720p-encoding is a problematic solution, because of tsMuxer limitations.What exactly is the limitation? I tried a 1080p25 encode using that method and got choppy playback from the M2TS. But I got the same choppy playback from a MKV with the same x264 video encode also. But using that method at 24.975FPS (25000/1001) plays back nicely regardless of container (though I believe not a compliant blu-ray disc).

FWIW, I am in the US using 60Hz equipment.

[shon3i]

What exactly is the limitation? I tried a 1080p25 encode using that method and got choppy playback from the M2TS. But I got the same choppy playback from a MKV with the same x264 video encode also. But using that method at 24.975FPS (25000/1001) plays back nicely regardless of container (though I believe not a compliant blu-ray disc).

FWIW, I am in the US using 60Hz equipment.
Limitation is that you describe "choppy playback", which should not happen. Only muxers that follow specs like scenarist, blu-print, output pulldowned stream correctly and result is smooth playback.

[QBhd]

I used VirtualDub's
Video/Frame rate/Frame rate conversion/Convert to: [50] fps.
Of course it required "Full processing mode". But it was no problem for me as I could do it on the source .avi/huffyuv files. I think you can do the same on every kind of source file, if you use VirtualDub's AviSynth plugin.

Thanks for the point in another direction, I have been trying many things to get a 3 hour 4476 MB 720p @ 29.970 fps MKV converted to a BD-5. I have the x264 presets down, I have the proper authouring down, but I could not get it to a compliant frame rate for 720p. This was something new.

So this is what I did:

Used an AVS script creator (MeGUI's) to load the mkv and changed audio= from false to true. I then loaded the AVS into VirtualDubMod and converted the fps to 59.940 (as per your ponter). I then selected "Direct Steam Copy" instead of "Full Processing Mode" since any other setting seemed to generate an ENORMOUS file... as it is the MKV generated was 417 GB... yes GB

The video is YUV and the audio is PCM... Currently encoding with x264 (RipBot264) with the proper preset for 720p60 Blu-Ray compliance to fit on a single layer DVD.

My question to anyone reading this... Is there a better to do this without generating such a MASSIVE file with VirtualDubMod? All I want to do is double the framerate of my source (29.970==>59.940) with keeping the same time and keeping the audio in sync.

QB

[sneaker_ger]

As I said above, use ChangeFPS.
Add the following line to the end of the script:
ChangeFPS(60000,1001)

[latet]

My question to anyone reading this... Is there a better to do this without generating such a MASSIVE file with VirtualDubMod? All I want to do is double the framerate of my source (29.970==>59.940) with keeping the same time and keeping the audio in sync.
QB

Another approach (no need for Virtualdub, no need for frame doubling, no need for super-large free hdd space) is this: resize the video to 1920x1080 and re-encode it using the "fake interlace" setting. This will allow you to keep the 29,970p. Just as described here:
http://sites.google.com/site/x264bluray/home/1080i-p
I don't know the exact command line settings of x264.exe that will do the high-quality upscaling, but they must exists and you will surely find them.
Or - maybe even better - you can use resizing capability of AviSynth in .avs script (I've never done it myself but it should be easy).

BTW:after demuxing the MKV file there is .264 video stream file, and I don't know how to use it for re-encoding, because I can't make an .avs script for it (I try to do it using "AVS Script Creator" from "Tools" menu in MeGUI). Also - I can't play it with no software I have. So probably you should create .avs file for the source .mkv file without demuxing, and later use demuxing just to extract the soundtrack.

Let us know how it goes..

[QBhd]

As I said above, use ChangeFPS.
Add the following line to the end of the script:
ChangeFPS(60000,1001)

I am pretty sure I tried that and the length of the clip gets changed... so in this case the clip would be 6 hours. I will try again and let you know.

QB

Edit:
Well it seems to have worked. I have an issue with MeGUI doing a terrible job on bitrate calculations so my file was 23MB oversized.... grrr. Back to RipBot264... But the file was 720p59.940, it was in sync and it was still 2 hours 57 min. So the simple solution works. I must have done something wrong the last time I tried the ChangeFPS script. Thanks to all.

[Stereodude]

Limitation is that you describe "choppy playback", which should not happen. Only muxers that follow specs like scenarist, blu-print, output pulldowned stream correctly and result is smooth playback.But why would the same x264 encoded stream be choppy on playback when put in a .mkv container (no pulldown)? :confused:

[shon3i]

Well i don't know what is problem for you, but here is what i am talking about.

Source 720p25, pulldown to 720p50 to be BluRay compilant.

http://www.mediafire.com/?96cdi4sy749fy10 - mkv, playback smooth
http://www.mediafire.com/?4ovi24uc6p0e4l2 - scenarist, playback smooth
http://www.mediafire.com/?u2np6z3jooz12wm - tsmuxer, choppy playback

[latet]

Well i don't know what is problem for you, but here is what i am talking about.

Source 720p25, pulldown to 720p50 to be BluRay compilant.

http://www.mediafire.com/?96cdi4sy749fy10 - mkv, playback smooth
http://www.mediafire.com/?4ovi24uc6p0e4l2 - scenarist, playback smooth
http://www.mediafire.com/?u2np6z3jooz12wm - tsmuxer, choppy playback

Could you please tell us what tool you used to mux the mkv file?
Thanks a lot,
latet

[shon3i]

last version of mkvmerge only header compression is disabled.

[latet]

Well i don't know what is problem for you, but here is what i am talking about.

Source 720p25, pulldown to 720p50 to be BluRay compilant.

http://www.mediafire.com/?96cdi4sy749fy10 - mkv, playback smooth
http://www.mediafire.com/?4ovi24uc6p0e4l2 - scenarist, playback smooth
http://www.mediafire.com/?u2np6z3jooz12wm - tsmuxer, choppy playback

What a nice sample. Is it from a movie?
The tsmuxer version plays choppy on every softplayer except Splash Lite. All 3 samples play smoothly on Splash!

What do you mean by "only header compression is disabled"? Is it this: Muxing mode: Header stripping. What does it mean? Is it a problem?

latet

[shon3i]

What a nice sample. Is it from a movie?
The tsmuxer version plays choppy on every softplayer except Splash Lite. All 3 samples play smoothly on Splash!

What do you mean by "only header compression is disabled"? Is it this: Muxing mode: Header stripping. What does it mean? Is it a problem?

latet
It's test video "parkjoy" you can download it from http://media.xiph.org/video/derf/

Their decoder probably do magic, probably have some workaround for bad streams, but key is that tsmuxer sample aslo fails on hw players.

EDIT: Header compression removal is option in mkvmerge that is incompatible with some hw players, and can reproduce completely unplayable stream (black screen)

[latet]

It's test video "parkjoy" you can download it from http://media.xiph.org/video/derf/

Thanks, what a great sample source. But what exactly are .y4m files that most samples there are like that? Do I have to convert .y4m to something else in order to tsMux or MKV it?

Edit:

I've been testing your 3 samples and I'm a bit confused. I know that the original is 50 fps, but did you prepare them to be 25fps slow-motion 20-sec. clips + frame-doubling flag?
Because they played this way:

1. On my PC: they all play 25fps, lasting 20 sec. each. (Exception: any of them won't play on PowerDVD8 - which normally plays .m2ts files. A problem with frame-doubling flag?).
2. On my Samsung TV via USB stick (only mkv works) it's 25fps, 20 sec. (And the TV makes a very nice "motion plus" effect. Wonderful to watch).
3. On my Ferguson Ariva 210 player - they all play too fast - 50 fps - thus lasting 10 sec. each. But all 3 play smoothly, even tsmuxer.m2ts. I guess this hw player gets totally confused by the frame-doubling flag.

[nm]

But what exactly are .y4m files that most samples there are like that? Do I have to convert .y4m to something else in order to tsMux or MKV it?

y4m is yuv4mpeg, a raw video format with headers that specify the framerate, width, height and some other information. You need to encode the raw video with x264 for Blu-ray output. x264 can read .y4m files directly.

[latet]

y4m is yuv4mpeg, a raw video format with headers that specify the framerate, width, height and some other information. You need to encode the raw video with x264 for Blu-ray output. x264 can read .y4m files directly.

I see. Thanks.
I've already downloaded one of the samples and I can't play or open it with anything, so - as you say - all I can do is encode it with x264 directly.

But tell me one more thing, please. Apart from different resolutions, many samples are in a couple of versions called: "4:4:4", "4:2:2", "4:2:0". I know it's "chroma subsampling" but I don't know what to do with this information. It is OK if I download only 4:2:0 versions?

I've looked into media-info log of many AVC-encoded video files I have (from different sources: blu-ray movies, raw camera dumps, my own tests) and they are all 4:2:0.

So I'm guessing I shouldn't be interested in 4:4:4 and 4:2:2 versions? They are much bigger too.

Would x264 read them properly anyway?

thank you.

[nm]

But tell me one more thing, please. Apart from different resolutions, many samples are in a couple of versions called: "4:4:4", "4:2:2", "4:2:0". I know it's "chroma subsampling" but I don't know what to do with this information. It is OK if I download only 4:2:0 versions?

Yes, 4:2:0 is enough (unless you plan to do some filtering or editing where a higher chroma resolution might be useful). x264 only supports YUV 4:2:0 encoding and will convert any other formats to that.

[shon3i]

but did you prepare them to be 25fps slow-motion 20-sec. clips + frame-doubling flag? Yes.

1. On my PC: they all play 25fps, lasting 20 sec. each. (Exception: any of them won't play on PowerDVD8 - which normally plays .m2ts files. A problem with frame-doubling flag?).
2. On my Samsung TV via USB stick (only mkv works) it's 25fps, 20 sec. (And the TV makes a very nice "motion plus" effect. Wonderful to watch).
3. On my Ferguson Ariva 210 player - they all play too fast - 50 fps - thus lasting 10 sec. each. But all 3 play smoothly, even tsmuxer.m2ts. I guess this hw player gets totally confused by the frame-doubling flag. Expected behavior, pulldown is not for "normal" use or play out of required specs. So only rules are working for BD players, otherwise you should not use pulldown at all.

[latet]

Expected behavior, pulldown is not for "normal" use or play out of required specs. So only rules are working for BD players, otherwise you should not use pulldown at all.

How about "fake interlaced", recommended here: http://sites.google.com/site/x264bluray/home/1080i-p
Is it also so "dirty" hack and something one should not use, unless there is no other way?