Anime help

[DotJun]

I was wondering if anyone could help me choosing some settings for anime content? I'm not looking for the best settings really, just something simple for both 1080 and 4k resolutions. I did look at some other posts that pertained to this topic, but I'm not sure if they still hold up since those posts were a few revisions ago.

This is what I use for live action:
--preset slower --crf 18 --profile main10 --asm avx,avx512 --me 3 --subme 5 --no-sao --qcomp 0.7 --deblock -1:-1

I like to keep it simple if possible. Also, how bad is it quality and compression wise, that x265 uses 23 threads on a 4k encode?

[Forteen88]

Added to your live action setting, I hear that this is good to set for clean animation:
--ref 6 --bframes 16 --aq-strength 0.4 --psy-rd 0.4 --rdoq-level 0 --psy-rdoq 0 --tu-inter 4 --tu-intra 4 --limit-tu 4

IIRC, --ref 6 is the maximum refs for GPU-decoding compatibility, but I don't know how high resolution that is OK for.
Maximum bframes (16) is great to set in clean animation, because the adjacent frames are often the same.

There is also an x265-option: --tune animation
but it basically sets that what I set, but less bframes.

If the encoding is too slow, maybe set: --ctu 32

Use as low --frame-threads value as possible (2 or 3), but so that the encode hits near 100% CPU-usage.

And colormatrix (if you can find it out with the program MediaInfo) is good to set,
https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=176049

Remember that if your 4K source is HDR, then you need to add more options.

[DotJun]

Added to your live action setting, I hear that this is good to set for clean animation:
--ref 6 --bframes 16 --aq-strength 0.4 --psy-rd 0.4 --rdoq-level 0 --psy-rdoq 0 --tu-inter 4 --tu-intra 4 --limit-tu 4

IIRC, --ref 6 is the maximum refs for GPU-decoding compatibility, but I don't know how high resolution that is OK for.
Maximum bframes (16) is great to set in clean animation, because the adjacent frames are often the same.

There is also an x265-option: --tune animation
but it basically sets that what I set, but less bframes.

If the encoding is too slow, maybe set: --ctu 32

Use as low --frame-threads value as possible (2 or 3), but so that the encode hits near 100% CPU-usage.

And colormatrix (if you can find it out with the program MediaInfo) is good to set,
https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=176049

Remember that if your 4K source is HDR, then you need to add more options.

Thank you very much for the help. I have a few questions for you if you don't mind?

1) I can't seem to find tune animation for x265. I know x264 had it.
2) What do you suggest for highest --frame-threads?
3) Do you suggest aq mode 3?

[Forteen88]

Thank you very much for the help. I have a few questions for you if you don't mind?

1) I can't seem to find tune animation for x265. I know x264 had it.
2) What do you suggest for highest --frame-threads?
3) Do you suggest aq mode 3?No problem.

1. Here is some information about --tune animation
https://x265.readthedocs.io/en/default/presets.html
2. I'm not that skilled at x265 to answer that.
3. If you have dark scenes in the source-video, --aq-mode 3 can help improve video-quality. Although I've read that some people think that it might not be good enough for dark scenes, so they use --zones to set higher bitrate at those scenes.

[lansing]

You may want to try the VMAF metric to find a best setting for you content.

https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=175862

First you start with an base encode like crf 23 medium. Then use the plugin to compare that encode to the source, it will then gives you a perceived visual score.
Then you repeat this process with a different setting until you satisfied.

[benwaggoner]

You may want to try the VMAF metric to find a best setting for you content.

https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=175862

First you start with an base encode like crf 23 medium. Then use the plugin to compare that encode to the source, it will then gives you a perceived visual score.
Then you repeat this process with a different setting until you satisfied.
VMAF has not been well-validated for use with anime content. I wouldn't assume it was helpful without testing THAT first.

[DotJun]

VMAF has not been well-validated for use with anime content. I wouldn't assume it was helpful without testing THAT first.

Does it work well with live action?

[FranceBB]

Does it work well with live action?

It works, as it's just considered as a Tv Series.
Basically, VMAF works fine with Tv Series and movies.
It doesn't work well with Anime or Sport.

[Blue_MiSfit]

IMO VMAF is helpful, but probably not in this case. It's also a bit too "easy" when you're targeting transparency. I've seen encodes that are near 100 VMAF that are definitely not transparent when it comes to grain and fine detail preservation.

95+ VMAF is absolutely "good enough" for streaming services, but not UHD BluRay for example :)