Losing small details from an inherently soft source (x264)

[aztec321]

Hi,

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but this is my first encode so I'd say I'm still a newbie :)

The film I'm trying to encode (from the DVD) is generally quite soft-looking with minimal grain. Here are my settings:

cabac=1 / ref=16 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.15:0.07 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-6 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=9 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=230 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=18.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

I understand that some of these settings (ref, bframes) are generally regarded as overkill, but encoding time really isn't a factor! :) The settings I've bolded are the ones I've been playing around with.

Trial 1: psy_rd=1.20:0.15, aq=1:0.80 (http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison.php?id=140492)
Trial 2: psy_rd=1.15:0.07, aq=1:0.90 (http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison.php?id=140491)
Trial 3: psy_rd=1.15:0.07, aq=1:1.00 (http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison.php?id=140495)
Trial 2 vs. Trial 3 (http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison.php?id=140496)

So increasing the aq value generally helped preserve some of the small details (chin shadow and upper window, especially), but I also know this would lose more of what little grain there is. ...And I love grain. :x

Is using an aq > 1 the best way to do this? (any other changes to psy-rd/psy-trellis values?)

So I'm looking for suggestions which some of you experienced folk might use if you were tackling this yourselves.

All help is appreciated! :)

[Gser]

What in your opinion would a setting like --tune grain do? Maybe keep grain? Please note the sarcasm.

[aztec321]

What in your opinion would a setting like --tune grain do? Maybe keep grain? Please note the sarcasm.Drive the file size up considerably? I've tried using it before and didn't really like how it turned out -- probably since this isn't a grainy source at all. Doesn't --tune grain use an aq strength of like 0.50? I don't think that would help at all since increasing the aq strength has shown improvement thus far.

I just don't want to lose any of the grain that's already there. Besides, the only thing I'm currently unsatisfied with is the how the upper window is turning out, as well as the shadow under her chin. Not really sure those would improve with better grain retention.

I've experimented with aq strengths of 1.10 and 1.20, and I definitely prefer 1.10. (http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/140501) Any other ideas? :/

[nibus]

Try disabling mbtree if shadows and grain are suffering too much even after raising AQ.