4K Video with x264

[videophool]

Has any x264 testing been done with 4K video and/or high frame rates?

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Should work. I don't think there is a built-in limit on resolutions. Also H.264 Level 5.2 allows 4096×2160@60fps.

Furthermore x264 rate-control is FPS-aware, so it should be able to deal with "high" frame rates properly.

If you need a sample, look here:
http://media.xiph.org/video/derf/y4m/park_joy_2160p50.y4m

BTW: If you run out of memory (error like "memory allocation failed") make sure you use 64-Bit build of x264 and/or reduce the rc-lookahead.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Here's some awesome uncompressed test clips courtesy of Elemental Technologies:

http://www.elementaltechnologies.com/resources/4k-test-sequences

[sirt]

Something is totally unclear to me : what is the point of such high resolutions ? I've talked with a video compression expert lately and he explained human eye would be able to distinguish details in HD & Super HD video but not beyond. He notably said upcoming 8k will not be different from 4k to human eye. It is all the more true as one is an average viewer and not an expert. Nowadays, I doubt most people can even differentiate 720p and 1080p. I won't talk about the infamous long encoding time with x264 which, in my opinion and according to my tests is relatively slow, but imagine how long it will be to encode a 4k and 8k video. So what more can I say : buy a cinema and enjoy movies..

[Dark Shikari]

Even if it's not so useful for watching, 4K is extremely useful for editing. With 4K, you can film a scene, then crop, zoom, pan and so on after the fact while still keeping the high detail. It's also very useful with compositing, CGI and so on, so a lot of postproduction workflows will work with really high resolutions like 4K, even if it's not what you're actually watching.

[sirt]

No, it is not : encoding a movie in 2pass is long with x264 ; I'm sorry but it will take some hours. Of course, it depends on your monitor and so on. But such delay is high while it takes less time with XviD. Nevertheless, this could lead to a very long debate about settings and divergencies between those codecs. As I said in another of my threads, I can basically encode anything on my Windows Vista with x264 even with XviD, but that is another story. How long would it take you to encode a 2hours movie with x264 in 2 pass, medium preset ?

Dark Shikari then I am still perplex : even if the master is a 4K video, if the encoded resulting stream that will be broadcasted on TV will "only" be returned in HD, you will not see anymore those "high detail" you refer to. To my mind, they will be lost. Do you mean it would be worse if the original stream is HD and transcoded again into an HD stream ? All that makes me think the higher resolution the primary stream, the better is to avoid external compression artefacts and wastes.

[Atak_Snajpera]

@sirt
do you still put your movies on ancient optical discs? maybe you should start using constant quality mode instead of wasting time and energy in 2pass mode.

[sirt]

Atak_Snajpera, what do you mean by this ? Do you refer to burning movies on CDR, DVDR or BDR ? Well as I have already argued that with you in the past, I don't encode anything with x264 because...it is simply not possible on my engine. All I can afford are tests of samples as I regularly do. I only demux my personal DVDS I want to preserve from usury and mux them into MKV containers, untouched. I merely use XviD sometimes. I've read several threads there about multi-threading : should settings myself --thread would help encode a complete movie with x264 ? The fact is I have no idea how to adjust such a parameter and after reading it results it is probably a bad idea to deal with.

[Guest]

@sirt

You are taking the thread off-topic. Please start a new thread for this debate if you must.

@all

Please stick to the original topic of the thread: "Has any x264 testing been done with 4K video and/or high frame rates?"

Thank you.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Here's some awesome uncompressed test clips courtesy of Elemental Technologies:

http://www.elementaltechnologies.com/resources/4k-test-sequences

Thank you for the link.

(Somehow the "Foreman - 4K" gave me big laugh, after knowing the original for years :D)

[akupenguin]

anhoter 4k secuence http://underwater.nyaatorrents.org/?view=phantom-4k-test-sequence

That's not a 4k testsequence, that's an upscale.

[sl1pkn07]

That's not a 4k testsequence, that's an upscale.

oks. deleting link

[kevinsert]

i own Red camera (Epic/Scarlet) i can share 4K/5K material if anyone wants
www.vimeo.com/50987040
click download choose original 4K prores 444 quicktime.shot 5K red epic exported with RCX (redcinex)

[Elvellon]

Thank you Kevin! Shared your post.
Nice to have a sample with real 4K worth of detail/sharpness.
Though AviSynth and MediaInfo tell me it's 4:2:2 not 4:4:4.

[kevinsert]

Thank you Kevin! Shared your post.
Nice to have a sample with real 4K worth of detail/sharpness.
Though AviSynth and MediaInfo tell me it's 4:2:2 not 4:4:4.

sorry :/ my bad..i remember it was 4:4:4 i ll export something 4:4:4 or whatever you guys prefer maybe?

[Elvellon]

If there's any takers.
I've had my share of playing with ProRes :).

Thanks again!

[Stereodude]

i own Red camera (Epic/Scarlet) i can share 4K/5K material if anyone wants
I'm always interested in messing around with high res stuff.