BluRay Encoding from libx264 in ffmpeg

[Electron.Rotoscope]

Does anyone know how to set x264 flags in ffmpeg that aren't covered here?
https://sites.google.com/site/linuxencoding/x264-ffmpeg-mapping

What I'm hoping to do is follow the command line from https://sites.google.com/site/x264bluray/ and encode a large sourcefile into a .264 and .ac3 in one pass, but I can't set all the flags I need. Is there a way to set x264 flags like --bluray-compat directly? Or is there a list somewhere of everything that it sets so I can just do them all manually?

Secondary question: it's my understanding that a 2 pass encode is functionally the same as a crf encode quality-wise, but is crf safe to use for bluray encoding? I ask because I can't find any examples of anyone doing it, but no-one seems to say explicitly that it doesn't work.

[Electron.Rotoscope]

Tertiary Question:

If I use the following command line input to pipe out just the video
C:\cli\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe -i infile -pix_fmt yuv420p -f yuv4mpegpipe - | C:\cli\x264\x264.exe --input-res 1920x1080 --fps 24000/1001 --crf 18 ^
--preset veryslow --tune film --bluray-compat --vbv-maxrate 40000 --vbv-bufsize 30000 --level 4.1 --keyint 24 --open-gop --slices 4 --colorprim "bt709" --transfer "bt709" --colormatrix "bt709" --sar 1:1 ^
-o "Z:\temp\infile-forbluray.264" -

it mostly works! But it tells me
[yuv4mpegpipe @ 000000000264f040] Encoder did not produce proper pts, making some up.
and then reports the encoded bitrate as being around 596600 kbits for the whole encode. Is that normal?

[fvisagie]

These may be of some help:
* http://ffmpeg.org/trac/ffmpeg/wiki/x264EncodingGuide (covers CRF vs. 2-pass etc.), and
* http://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-codecs.html#Option-Mapping

Cheers,
Francois

[Electron.Rotoscope]

Thanks, unfortunately neither seem to help with this question.

This (http://doom10.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=okj08qe73ictdtv532augv8nu7&topic=267.msg2071#msg2071) from your first link is why I was thinking that CRF and 2-Pass are functionally the same in most cases, I'm just worried about --vbv-bufsize type stuff that people don't usually care about outside of a BluRay.

And unfortunately while I appreciate another option mapping link, you may notice that it also doesn't cover --bluray-compat, so it unfortunately isn't really enough.

Thanks for looking though!

[fvisagie]

This (http://doom10.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=okj08qe73ictdtv532augv8nu7&topic=267.msg2071#msg2071) from your first link is why I was thinking that CRF and 2-Pass are functionally the same in most cases, I'm just worried about --vbv-bufsize type stuff that people don't usually care about outside of a BluRay.

BluRay is one of those cases where the differences do matter as you suggest. Specifically wrt. CRF, from the first link:
The downside is that you can't tell it to ... not go over a specific size or bitrate.
Hence the rule-of-thumb to use 2-pass encoding for size and bitrate-constrained targets like DVD and BluRay.

And unfortunately while I appreciate another option mapping link, you may notice that it also doesn't cover --bluray-compat, so it unfortunately isn't really enough.

Thanks for looking though!

A little down the Private Options (http://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-codecs.html#Private-Options) I'd play with

‘-b-pyramid integer’

Keep some B-frames as references.

Possible values:

‘none’
‘strict’

Strictly hierarchical pyramid.
‘normal’

Non-strict (not Blu-ray compatible).

[fvisagie]

Actually, this is the one to use in this case (from the ffmpeg mailing list):

> The question is: "Is there a way to set x264 flags like
> --bluray-compat directly?"
>

Yes! use "-x264opts bluray-compat=1

multiple options should be separated with a colon ":" but no spaces.

>


A little more information about -x264opts from Private Options (http://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-all.html#Private-Options):

‘x264opts options’

Allow to set any x264 option, see x264 --fullhelp for a list.

options is a list of key=value couples separated by ":". In filter and psy-rd options that use ":" as a separator themselves, use "," instead. They accept it as well since long ago but this is kept undocumented for some reason.

For example to specify libx264 encoding options with ffmpeg:
ffmpeg -i foo.mpg -vcodec libx264 -x264opts keyint=123:min-keyint=20 -an out.mkv

For more information about libx264 and the supported options see: http://www.videolan.org/developers/x264.html


Cheers,
Francois

[Electron.Rotoscope]

Actually, this is the one to use in this case (from the ffmpeg mailing list):



A little more information about -x264opts from Private Options (http://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-all.html#Private-Options):

‘x264opts options’

Allow to set any x264 option, see x264 --fullhelp for a list.

options is a list of key=value couples separated by ":". In filter and psy-rd options that use ":" as a separator themselves, use "," instead. They accept it as well since long ago but this is kept undocumented for some reason.

For example to specify libx264 encoding options with ffmpeg:
ffmpeg -i foo.mpg -vcodec libx264 -x264opts keyint=123:min-keyint=20 -an out.mkv

For more information about libx264 and the supported options see: http://www.videolan.org/developers/x264.html


Cheers,
Francois

Amazing, that's exactly what I need! Thanks so much!

[Electron.Rotoscope]

BluRay is one of those cases where the differences do matter as you suggest. Specifically wrt. CRF, from the first link:

Hence the rule-of-thumb to use 2-pass encoding for size and bitrate-constrained targets like DVD and BluRay.

Oh damn so CRF just ignores all the vbv flags? damn damn damn

[Dark Shikari]

CRF works just fine with VBV.