Please help select recording options in this software

[jazzzy]

Hi

I am using HDMI capture card with Monster-X software. I have 720p input signal and wants to capture in H.264 3 Mbps however this software has starting point at 6 Mbps (it would be great if someone could modify it). There is however option to select other encoder. Here are grabs from the software

http://imgur.com/a/hrhGs

I struggle with selecting this third option; it's just too many positions. Could you guide me what to select to have this going ?
I can manage with encoder configuration however first I need this recording.

You could ask : why don't you use other capture software ? answer is simple, I want sound recorded over HDMI and couldn't find suitable software that can open capturing video and audio over HDMI and record to H.264.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Well, while I can't read all the texts, it seems this software can select between the card's built-in MPEG-2/H.264 hardware encoder and software encoders. Also, it seems to use VFW (Video for Windows) for software encoding.

Encoding H.264 via VFW generally is not the best idea (although you have x264vfw installed). Furthermore, a software H.264 encoder might not be able to handle 720p in real-time. At least if you want good quality!

So, my recommendation would be to capture to some lossless intermediate format. I see you have already "Lagarith" installed, so you could use that one. Another option would be "HuffYUV" or "FFV1", but the latter might be too slow.

Then you can run the actual H.264 encoding "offline", using x264 with your favorite x264 GUI (http://forum.doom9.org/forumdisplay.php?f=78). Running the encode offline also gives you the ability to use 2-Pass mode, which is recommended when targeting a specific bitrate.

[jazzzy]

OK but as you see there is 3 Mbps for 480 so I would like that because 6 Mpbs gives me 40 Megabytes files for 1 minute;
there is no need to record lossless if I can get 6 Mbit and later on reencode. The list of filters is long as I have K-Lite mega codec pack installed.

[Asmodian]

720p at 3 Mbps must not be a good idea with that encoder, 720p is 2.24 times the number of pixels of 480p after all. The quality of the final encode is much better if you start with a lossless capture. At 720p a 6 Mbps re-encoded from a 6 Mbps source will have noticeable quality loss.

[jazzzy]

At 720p a 6 Mbps re-encoded from a 6 Mbps source will have noticeable quality loss.

well I have to disagree

this is source 6 Mbps

http://www.sendspace.com/file/pt17eq

and this is 2.7 Mbps which was transcoded from above by YouTube

http://youtu.be/KwyjAPWVGAE

as you see file size is twice smaller and quality is not noticeable worse (best to check are details on tire)

I wonder how does YT transcode as I wasn't able to replicate the same effect on my PC

I would like to find an application or a way to record directly to these YT settings

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Youtube version clearly has worse quality:

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/46547/picture:0
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/46547/picture:1

[jazzzy]

OK but I was getting much worse with popular transcoders around here and the quality loss is not dramatic but file size is and that's what matters.

I am now playing with MediaCoder and with this neat application and I can manage similar results but my goal is to have encoding right from my capture software.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

MediaCoder is simply a GUI for various OpenSource encoders, such as the x264 H.264 encoder.

There's nothing wrong with using MediaCoder, but you could as well use any other x264 GUI. Also, AFAIK, MediaCoder cannot do real-time capturing, so you will need to capture to a (lossless) intermediate file again.

If you want to encode in real-time with x264 in your capturing software, I guess x264vfw (http://komisar.gin.by/old/2273/x264vfw.2273kMod.x86.exe) (which you already have installed, according to your screenshots) is the only way to do that.

But, as said before, encoding 720p with x264 in real-time will require a pretty fast CPU. My dated Core2 Q6600 does ~20 fps with 720p footage, when using x264 at "medium" preset. The example you posted is 50 fps...

(Sure, you can get faster encoding speed by using an even faster preset, but then you will loose compression efficiency. Or in other words: You will have to spent more bitrate for the same quality)