MixAQ / OreAQ usage to improve quality in very dark areas - how?

[Marin85]

I have read a little bit here and there about MixAQ / OreAQ, but most of the information seems pretty scattered or is in Japanes, a language that unfortunately I don't speak. So, I was hoping that someone might be able to shed some more light on these AQ modes. From the --fullhelp, I get for MixAQ:

--aq-mode <integer> AQ method [1]
- 0: Disabled
- 1: Variance AQ (complexity mask)
- 2: Auto-variance AQ (experimental)
- 3: Auto-variance AQ mod1
- 4: Auto-variance AQ mod2
--aq-strength <float> Reduces blocking and blurring in flat and
textured areas. [1.0]
--aq-sensitivity <float> "Center" of AQ curve. [10.0]
- 5: most QPs are raised
- 10: good general-use sensitivity
- 15: most QPs are lowered
--aq-ifactor <float> AQ strength factor of I-frames [1.00]
--aq-pfactor <float> AQ strength factor of P-frames [1.00]
--aq-bfactor <float> AQ strength factor of B-frames [1.00]
--aq2-strength <float> Use 2nd AQ (Haali's AQ) algorithm for support. [0.0]
0.0: no 2nd AQ
1.1: strong 2nd AQ
--aq2-sensitivity <float> "Flatness" threshold to trigger 2nd AQ [15.0]

and for OreAQ:

--aq-mode <integer> AQ method [1]
- 0: Disabled
- 1: OreAQ
- 2: MixOre (experimental)
--aq-strength <float> Reduces blocking and blurring in bump and
clear-cut areas. [0.5]
<Up:Down> or <Up1:Down1:Up2:Down2:Up3:Down3:Up4:OtherStuff>
Set QP up/down strength.
--aq-sensitivity <float> "Center" of AQ curve. [10.0]
- 5: most QPs are raised
- 10: good general-use sensitivity
- 15: most QPs are lowered
--aq-ifactor <Up:Down> AQ strength factor of I-frames [1.0:1.0]
--aq-pfactor <Up:Down> AQ strength factor of P-frames [1.0:1.0]
--aq-bfactor <Up:Down> AQ strength factor of B-frames [1.0:1.0]
--aq-boundary <int:int:int> AQ boundary.
fullrange=off: [192:64:24]
fullrange=on : [205:56:9]
#1: Bright-Middle
#2: Middle-Dark
#3: Dark-M.Dark


So, as you can see, the settings are a bit more overwhelming than with the traditional AQ modes :) and I am not completely sure about the right usage.

(Q1) What is "up", "down" and "other stuff" referring to in OreAQ usage?

(Q2) If I want to give strong preference to darkest areas (I guess that means "M.Dark" in OreAQ terms), say to reduce detail loss and blocking / banding there, what would be some appropriate settings to accomplish this in MixAQ and OreAQ?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[nibus]

I'm curious about this also. Do you have a link for this particular x264 mod version?

[spawnbsd]

These are part of Taro's x264 builds:

http://astrataro.wordpress.com/category/encode/x264/

[Audionut]

From the readme.

MixAQ builds use Haali's Adaptive Quantization as aq2, along with official Variance Adaptive Quantization. The only difference in using VAQ is that you can use negative value in aq-strength, and aq-sensitivity/aq-factor is changeable. All the default values of VAQ are same as official builds. Haali's AQ is not used by default, unless aq2-strength is not zero. So normally using MixAQ build is safe with your old settings of official builds.

OreAQ builds use Seraphy's AQ instead of VAQ, hence there is no way to use VAQ in OreAQ builds. The default value of aq-strength in OreAQ is 0.5, and since the algorithms are completely different, even if you use this default value, the results of OreAQ builds are quite different from those of official/tMod/MixAQ builds. Therefore, do *NOT* use OreAQ builds unless you really know what you are doing. Also be attention that the tunes and presets in OreAQ builds have not been changed, thus you may need to set the values of aq-strength to avoid ugly outputs when using tunes and presets.

More information of MixAQ/OreAQ can be found in the following threads:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1172141#post1172141
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1172941#post1172941
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=142168

[Marin85]

@Audionut: I have already read all of that. It is way too general for practical use. But for the sake of argument, how does this answer any of my questions?

[Audionut]

@Audionut: I have already read all of that. It is way too general for practical use. But for the sake of argument, how does this answer any of my questions?

You mentioned that virtually all of the information you read was in Japanese. So when I noticed that the readme had a brief description and relevant links back here to doom9 in english, I posted it.

Since you appear to want an argument.

I didn't read any of the doom9 links as I have better things to do, but with a cursory glance, they did appear to have a decent amount of information, and as they were the threads linked in the mods readme, I figured they were probably going to be your best bet of any meaningful information in english. If they didn't help you, that's a crying shame!