Best quality settings for x264 to x265

[crystalfunky]

Hi guys,

I know this has been asked too much already, but here it goes:

x264 video to x265.

Just preset slow, crf 18, no sao, deblock -3:-3, no strong intra, vbv 160000, chromaloc 0, no-hdr10, cll 0,0, no-hdr-opt, no-hdr10-opt

Source: Bluray rip by MakeMKV

[Forteen88]

If you got a strong CPU, set --preset slower.

"vbv 160000, chromaloc 0, no-hdr10, cll 0,0, no-hdr-opt, no-hdr10-opt", isn't that only for HDR-video?

UPDATE: Never mind my comment about HDR. I'm real newbie at UHD/HDR :)

[crystalfunky]

I have a Ryzen 3700x thats why I choose slow instead of slower.

Those settings are indeed for HDR, thats why I disabled them, because I have a x264 video.
Or did you mean something else?

[excellentswordfight]

Hi guys,

I know this has been asked too much already, but here it goes:

x264 video to x265.

Just preset slow, crf 18, no sao, deblock -3:-3, no strong intra, vbv 160000, chromaloc 0, no-hdr10, cll 0,0, no-hdr-opt, no-hdr10-opt

Source: Bluray rip by MakeMKV
I wouldnt turn off strong intra smoothing.

Did some tests in a previous thread, and it seems very beneficial to keep it on:

https://ibb.co/PmRXGF6

"chromaloc 0, no-hdr10, cll 0,0, no-hdr-opt, no-hdr10-opt"

These are not enabled by default, so you dont need to (un)set those. For SDR bluray, just set --colorprim bt709 --transfer bt709 --colormatrix bt709 --range limited if you wanna be on the safe side (if those matches your source ofc).

[crystalfunky]

Interesting, i turned it on again, thanks.

Regardless of that I get quite low bitrates for x264 to x265 encodings. Around 6500 for the Lord of the Rings Bluray with my settings above (crf 18).
Does it even make sense to increase crf even more or should I see the encodings with these low bitrates as good/sufficient?

[microchip8]

My recommendations are

crf 21
qcomp 0.7
no-strong-intra-smoothing
no-sao
deblock -3,-3
psy-rd 3.3
psy-rdoq 16

If you have HW support for it, use 10 bits x265. It will someowhat reduce banding

The above settings really shine if you have dark scenes with some noise (inc. mosquito noise)

[Forteen88]

My recommendations are
...
psy-rdoq 16I'm not the OP, but Psy-Trellis produces too much noise for my taste.
OP can use Trim(1000,1500) in his AviSynth-script to do a short video-clip (frame 1000 to 1500) encode just to see if s/he likes that setting though.

[microchip8]

I'm not the OP, but Psy-Trellis produces too much noise for my taste.
OP can use Trim(1000,1500) in his AviSynth-script to do a short video-clip (frame 1000 to 1500) encode just to see if s/he likes that setting though.

It does not "produce" noise. It retains the noise better to match the content as close as possible. If you don't like that, reduce or disable it

[Forteen88]

It does not "produce" noise. It retains the noise better to match the content as close as possible. If you don't like that, reduce or disable it
High levels of psy-rdoq can double the bitrate which can have a drastic effect on rate control, forcing higher overall QP, and can cause ringing artifacts. psy-rdoq is less accurate than psy-rd, it is biasing towards energy in general while psy-rd biases towards the energy of the source image.
https://x265.readthedocs.io/en/default/cli.html#psycho-visual-options

[Boulder]

In CRF mode without any VBV settings, the bitrate will just shoot through the roof as there's almost nothing limiting it. The artifacts appear if the rate control starts limiting the bitrate availability.