VFR and Encoding

[Elegant]

Hi guys, I'm currently dealing with a series in 60i where the episodes are 24p and the credit/ending are 30p. Here's my dilemma:


Should I encode the main part of the episode separate from the credits?
If I encode separately should these parts use different "sps-id"s since the CRF could be lowered for higher bitrate on credits?
If I encode separately with different "sps-id"s, are timecodes still needed for the mkv when appending the encodes?


Just trying to figure out the best workflow for VFR as I do not want to force the entire series to 24p. Also, I am aware that I could use ordered chapters but would rather avoid them (personal dislike).

[sneaker_ger]

Should I encode the main part of the episode separate from the credits?
You can encode as a single file. Use --zones if you want to change quality between them.

If I encode separately should these parts use different "sps-id"s since the CRF could be lowered for higher bitrate on credits?
Should not be necessary. If you go separate encodes just make sure to use --stitchable.

If I encode separately with different "sps-id"s, are timecodes still needed for the mkv when appending the encodes?
If each part is encapsulated in a vfr-capable container (mkv, mp4) you can append them in mkvmerge without supplying an extra timecode file.

[Elegant]

I completely forgot about --stitchable! I thought a different sps-id helped to take care of that since it allows you to see the encoding settings of the appended clip but I guess it's just information in the end. I might do both then, I think it looks better to show the different settings used for each part of the episode and not see some obscure frame rate in the info section.

As for the VFR-capable container, I'll keep that in mind. Appending *.264 files requires timecodes while appending *.mkv/mp4 files does not. In the latter, I'd take it that this will not affect the audio since the frame rate is not being adjusted.

Thanks a bunch for the help!