How about starting a thread with recommended x264 settings?

[Chainmax]

Not a full-fledged guide, just a collection of tips for settings on various kinds of materials and bpf (bits/pixels*frames) and make it a sticky.

[Doom9]

there is an up-to-date guide on my site since Monday ;)

[Chainmax]

Oops, my bad :o. Still, it's weird that we haven't had a discussion about this here, given the ton of Xvid threads about that.

[Sirber]

Well, with x264, the more settings you use, the higher quality you get. Quite simple ;)

[Chainmax]

But there is such a thing as overkill. For instance, akupenguin himself said that more than 16 in merange is pointless. Same has been said of exhaustive me algo. And I bet that more than 2 or 3 bframes aren't always beneficial, at least for high bitrate encodes (like ~1600kbps at 640x480 animated content).


Doom9: only 3 reference frames? Are you sure about that?

[Sirber]

(like ~1600kbps at 640x480 animated content)
Why not using xvid at that bitrate? I do my anime encoding at 436kbps for med Q and 536kbps for high ones. I call that bitrate overkill :p

[Chainmax]

What I'm trying to encode is extremely f***ed up, so maybe the extra bitrate helps...

[Sirber]

Well, for that bitrate... you can go simple. Diamond search, 1 ref, 1 bframe (Adaptive), no special block size. You will get what you want.

[Chainmax]

Why would I do that? Advanced features are not only for low bitrate encodes. Many Xvid users use VHQ4 and default bframe settings even for high bitrate encodes.

[MeteorRain]

Why would I do that? Advanced features are not only for low bitrate encodes. Many Xvid users use VHQ4 and default bframe settings even for high bitrate encodes.
then it's maybe meaningless to use such high bitrates.

848*480,25min,dvdrip or hdtvrip w/ resize, usually i get quantizer 19~22 at 7xxkbps

if you really want to reach up to 1600kbps, a simple way is to turn off some features, and the file will big enough to fit what you expected :o

[unskinnyboy]

Oops, my bad :o. Still, it's weird that we haven't had a discussion about this here, given the ton of Xvid threads about that.
I guess x264 hasn't gone 'mainstream' yet. Once it gets out of the current heavy development stage and more 'commoners' use it, expect a deluge of threads to the tune of "Please tell me the best x264 settings to get awesome quality". When 9 out of 10 such posts will get locked/trashed, there will be an occasional thread which will spawn off a good discussion about "best" settings.

[Chainmax]

Well, how about we start one now? For instance, merange=16, 5 reference frames and GOP sizes = framerate and frameratex10 seem to be widely used around here. What do you guys think about it?

[Revgen]

there is an up-to-date guide on my site since Monday ;)

Cool :)

But, I don't think you mentioned it on the front page yet.

[Doom9]

Doom9: only 3 reference frames? Are you sure about that?Yes.. if you do a little search, anything about 5 is considered overkill, and 3 is a good tradeoff between speed and quality.. I'd rather use high profile and RDO than more reference frames.

But, I don't think you mentioned it on the front page yet.Correct.. there's a bunch of new things if you care to search, but I'm still having those checked out.. and there'll be a lot more changes in the future.. I'm finally getting rid of outdated stuff and update existing guides all over the place.

[DeathTheSheep]

Heh, so you're looking for an AVC encoding quality guide? I just made one here:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=98247

Feel free to comment, and enjoy.

[Caroliano]

And about best setings for faster decode? What I shoud disable/lower first? Reference frames? CABAC? In-loop filter? Other thing? And this is the best for anime content also?

[bond]

And about best setings for faster decode? What I shoud disable/lower first? Reference frames? CABAC? In-loop filter? Other thing? And this is the best for anime content also?reference frames set to 3 and from my point of view the most important factor influencing speed is the resolution

[Caroliano]

reference frames set to 3 and from my point of view the most important factor influencing speed is the resolution
But for same quality? Even increasing the bitrate. And I already use 3 reference frames by defaut :( lower more?

[Chainmax]

What ME algo do you use? If it's Multi hex, try switching to Hexagon. You could also use Subpixel Refinement=5, disable pyramid b-frames and disable deblocking (use some slight filtering in your script instead).

[DigitalDivide]

Hi All,

I used DeathTheSheep's AVC high quality settings to encode American Beauty as a test. 12hrs later it was only 50% done! Ouch. I'll have to try his mid level AVC setting and see what that does.