480p and 480i settings?

[ABurns]

I'm an old hand at x264, and a *really* old hand at Mpeg-2, but I'm a total noob at x265. I've been converting my DVD library to x264 for use in my Plex Media Server, and I'm looking at switching to x265 if I can figure out the settings that will work with the server and display correctly on a TV. The vast majority of my library is old TV shows that are either in 480p or 480i 4:3, and there seems to be no documentation out there about how to handle this kind of SD material in x265.

In x264 it's pretty easy with --fake-interlaced --pulldown 32 and --sar 10:11, but x265 doesn't seem to have any comparable settings that I can find. My main concern is compatibility with output on a TV set because I like to sit in bed at night and watch my shows on TV. I'm just old fashioned like that. :)

Everything I've found seems to be geared toward HD. Can anyone point me to some guidance on how to handle SD material properly?

[Asmodian]

I recommend you stick with x264 for SD content. The benefit of HEVC goes up with resolution, at SD the benefit is pretty small. One of the reasons x265's options are more limited is that HEVC is really targeted at HD and beyond.

[benwaggoner]

I recommend you stick with x264 for SD content. The benefit of HEVC goes up with resolution, at SD the benefit is pretty small. One of the reasons x265's options are more limited is that HEVC is really targeted at HD and beyond.
I believe x265 can do all of that just fine (except for maybe fake-interlaced, which I don't think should be needed). But given how fast storage costs are going down, the ~30-50% savings for SD content can be hard to justify versus the greater encoding time.

HEVC doesn't have MBAFF, so its relative gains will be somewhat smaller for interlaced content.

I'm pleased to see that we are finally winning the "destroy interlaced!" war, with >1080 always being progressive, and very little new interlaced production happening for library content.