Requesting opinions on some encoding settings

[jondak]

Sources: DVDs and BluRays

I'm transfering my movies to HDDs in the HTPC mainly cos my DVDs began to fail and doing cyclic redundancy errors and im searching for some encoding settings to be viable for both dvdrip and bluray rips. (will use crf 14-16 for dvd and 18-20 for blurays)
At the moment im using the following for DVDs:

--level 4.1 --preset veryslow --crf 14.0 --bframes 3 --ref 4 --vbv-bufsize 78125 --vbv-maxrate 62500 --output "output" "input"

Upon compressing Living Death 2006 dvd resulted in a 1.31 GB file (including the ac3 sound direct copy - 131 mb)

Using:

--level 4.1 --preset veryslow --crf 14.0 --deblock -1:-1 --bframes 3 --ref 4 --vbv-bufsize 78125 --vbv-maxrate 62500 --psy-rd 1.0:0.15 --output "output" "input"

the file resulted was 1.49 gb ( including the sound ac3 - 131 mb)

The --deblock -1:-1 and --psy-rd 1.0:0.15 was added as per -tune film.

My questions are:

1.keep the 2 options stated above as it will improve my quality ( most of my DVDs and Blurays are movies not animations)

2.are the 2 options worth in your opinion the additional bit-rate and implicitly the bigger file size ( as stated in the beginning i'm saving to HDD so i don't have any space problems, and all i care is quality, but i want some space saved so i don't just just use makemkv to just mux my disks)

3. are the options: --vbv-bufsize 78125 --vbv-maxrate 62500 ( i found them some online tutorial for x264 encoding and stacked with me) overkill for dvdrip and bluray rips and impactful in any way in the quality / file size of the resulting file.

Thank you.

[benwaggoner]

I'm transfering my movies to HDDs in the HTPC mainly cos my DVDs began to fail and doing cyclic redundancy errors and im searching for some encoding settings to be viable for both dvdrip and bluray rips. (will use crf 14-16 for dvd and 18-20 for blurays)
At the moment im using the following for DVDs:
14 seems like overkill for DVD to me if you're willing to use 18 for 1080p.

--level 4.1 --preset veryslow --crf 14.0 --bframes 3 --ref 4 --vbv-bufsize 78125 --vbv-maxrate 62500 --output "output" "input"
Honestly Level 3.0 and its vbv constraints are going to look just as good with standard def sources. I'd start with CRF 16. Why limit your B-frames so low?

Also, for DVD rips, if there is any MPEG-2 blocking in the source, some deblocking in the decode or preprocessing can improve quality and reduce encoded file size. I might set your maximum GOP size a little lower if you want to be able to do fast random access.

--level 4.1 --preset veryslow --crf 14.0 --deblock -1:-1 --bframes 3 --ref 4 --vbv-bufsize 78125 --vbv-maxrate 62500 --psy-rd 1.0:0.15 --output "output" "input"
CRF 14 seems really low for 1080p. I find I can generally get away with Level 4.0 and its constraints for a veryslow 1080p encodes, albeit without your b-frame restriction.

1.keep the 2 options stated above as it will improve my quality ( most of my DVDs and Blurays are movies not animations)
You can probably get to good enough at a lower bitrate by using more B-frames and increasing your CRF to just below where you can see a perceptual difference from the source.

2.are the 2 options worth in your opinion the additional bit-rate and implicitly the bigger file size ( as stated in the beginning i'm saving to HDD so i don't have any space problems, and all i care is quality, but i want some space saved so i don't just just use makemkv to just mux my disks)
If you don't care about size, than obviously it doesn't matter.

3. are the options: --vbv-bufsize 78125 --vbv-maxrate 62500 ( i found them some online tutorial for x264 encoding and stacked with me) overkill for dvdrip and bluray rips and impactful in any way in the quality / file size of the resulting file.
Way overkill for DVD. Overkill for BD quality if you aren't stuck with all the BD bitstream requirements. But only downside is if you need to play in decoders that can't handle those high levels.

[jondak]

14 seems like overkill for DVD to me if you're willing to use 18 for 1080p.

Well i chose CRF 14 for that movie because CRF 16 gave me a 783 mb file for 81 min movie @ 720x400 res which i considered a bit low.

Honestly Level 3.0 and its vbv constraints are going to look just as good with standard def sources. I'd start with CRF 16. Why limit your B-frames so low?

Also, for DVD rips, if there is any MPEG-2 blocking in the source, some deblocking in the decode or preprocessing can improve quality and reduce encoded file size. I might set your maximum GOP size a little lower if you want to be able to do fast random access.

Well i chose level 4.1 because i have a popcorn hour c200 which says thats the max it can decode. Will experiment with 3.0 and 3.1 for SD encodes and see how it goes.
GOP size is set to FPS based min 25 and max 250 and the mkv file resulting has no problem with seeking.

I didn't know the B-frame setting of 3 would limit me ( the setting was the from x264 configuration page, when you mouse over it says default 3 and recommended 2 to 3.
What value would you recommend for DVDrips and what value for Bluray rips.
Also the same question about the number of reference frames.


--level 4.1 --preset veryslow --crf 14.0 --deblock -1:-1 --bframes 3 --ref 4 --vbv-bufsize 78125 --vbv-maxrate 62500 --psy-rd 1.0:0.15 --output "output" "input"

CRF 14 seems really low for 1080p. I find I can generally get away with Level 4.0 and its constraints for a veryslow 1080p encodes, albeit without your b-frame restriction.

You misunderstood me, that was the second try for the dvdrip to see how the --deblock -1:-1 and --psy-rd 1.0:0.15 would impact the quality and size of the encode ( size was increased by 180 mb just by adding this 2 options) . I have uploaded 2 screen caps for the 2 encodes and in the one with deblocking and psy-rd modified it shows a small improvement visible on the faces ( i know you can't compare video encodes by screen captures as it differs in action/non action areas)

Way overkill for DVD. Overkill for BD quality if you aren't stuck with all the BD bitstream requirements. But only downside is if you need to play in decoders that can't handle those high levels.

found this 2 settings in another thread:

x264: DXVA-High def for HD

Code:

program --level 4.1 --preset slow --tune film --crf 19 --vbv-bufsize 50000 --vbv-maxrate 50000 --output "output" "input" "

for SD content I normally use x264: DXVA-Standard def which gives me

Code:

program --level 3.1 --tune film --crf 16 --vbv-bufsize 14000 --vbv-maxrate 17500 --output "output" "input"

Will experiment with these and see how it goes. I prefer to make my encodes so that they can be played in my current popcorn and future htpcs or another standalone players ( i have seen that standalone players can't play above 4.1 so that was my only concern)
About the max rates i have tested the Popcorn when i brought it using the NMT DVD5 Test Disc and could handle the 90k bitrate test without problems and the htpc also had no problem playing the high bitrates.

Thank you for the current and future suggestions.