Is x264 a good alternative for real life footage?

[Chainmax]

As soon as I get my capturing gear (god knows when, I've been around getting it for over a year now :)) I am going to start capturing a really long TV series. Given the enormous amount of episodes, making actual DVDs of it is out of the question, so I'm going the MPEG4 route. I read a couple of times that people still prefer Xvid for high bitrate real life footage, but I was wondering if that still happens. In any case, what I actually want to know is if you would recommend x264 for 640x480 encodes @ 720kbps of real life footage.

[rushin_911]

I would recommend X264 for any low bitrate encode :)

[Sirber]

Well, bellow 1000kbps IMO. xvid can produce similar quality and will be lighter to decode over 1000.

[Japhsoncross]

here is a small test for real life footage, a little bit rough source.
the number after the x264***.png file name means the parameter of -f
bitraterate is 1800kbps.
x264 version 287A

[Chainmax]

If I encode to 512x384 and use x264 with the following settings:

5 reference frames; 2 bframes (pyramid, adaptive, weighted); deblocking=2,2; CABAC; RDO; Chroma ME; All macroblock options; Uneven Multi Hexagon search.

and taking into account that what I'd be encoding is mainly low motion (Beverly Hills 90210...yeah, you can start laughing) and that I might use LimitedSharpen, do you think I could get away using ~460kbps, given proper filtering? Maybe even lower? I'm asking because if I ever manage to capture the whole series, its 297 episodes would use about 25 DVD-Rs :eek:.

[rushin_911]

If I encode to 512x384 and use x264 with the following settings:

5 reference frames; 2 bframes (pyramid, adaptive, weighted); deblocking=2,2; CABAC; RDO; Chroma ME; All macroblock options; Uneven Multi Hexagon search.

and taking into account that what I'd be encoding is mainly low motion (Beverly Hills 90210...yeah, you can start laughing) and that I might use LimitedSharpen, do you think I could get away using ~460kbps, given proper filtering? Maybe even lower? I'm asking because if I ever manage to capture the whole series, its 297 episodes would use about 25 DVD-Rs :eek:.

I think that bitrate might be enough even for a 640x480 encode, but I mostly encode anime (it's simply a guess, I haven't really tried it :p)...

[Kostarum Rex Persia]

If I encode to 512x384 and use x264 with the following settings:

5 reference frames; 2 bframes (pyramid, adaptive, weighted); deblocking=2,2; CABAC; RDO; Chroma ME; All macroblock options; Uneven Multi Hexagon search.



Well,on my machine(Athlon XP 3200+,1 GB DDR400 RAM),I recently tried to record TV program directly in x264 codec,with 500 or 450 kbps and 96 kbps audio,from TV recording application WinVDR Pro 3.60. But,since x264 is extreme demanding codec,processor is ALWAYS on 95-100 % load.Of course,this lead to lose frames. I don't know what's situation on dual-core Athlon 64,but x264 is not reccomended for directly TV capturing.Resolution was 512x384,framerate 25,and other settings are default.

[rushin_911]

Well,on my machine(Athlon XP 3200+,1 GB DDR400 RAM),I recently tried to record TV program directly in x264 codec,with 500 or 450 kbps and 96 kbps audio,from TV recording application WinVDR Pro 3.60. But,since x264 is extreme demanding codec,processor is ALWAYS on 95-100 % load.Of course,this lead to lose frames. I don't know what's situation on dual-core Athlon 64,but x264 is not reccomended for directly TV capturing.Resolution was 512x384,framerate 25,and other settings are default.

I think when capturing from TV the preferred method is to use a fast loseless codec first and then convert it to x264,,,

[Chainmax]

...which is exactly what I meant. Sorry if I wasn't clear, but yeah, I'd be capturing with either HuffYUV or MJPEG @ q18 (depending on available HDD space). By the way rushin_911, I know that such a bitrate is good for 640x480 encodes on anime, but real life footage should be much more demanding (I assume).

[Kostarum Rex Persia]

...which is exactly what I meant. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

No problem at all,man.

rushin_911,can you tell me,please,what is the most optimal video bitrate in x264 codec,on resolution 640x480 with very little noise in source MPEG2 video,and what is optimal bitrate in 512x384 resolution.

[Sharktooth]

... most optimal = best -> Rule 12 ...

[Chainmax]

Well. I did phrase it appropriately and no one has answered yet...

[Kostarum Rex Persia]

... most optimal = best -> Rule 12 ...

Ok then.Can you,Sharktooth,tell me about my question,I really need to know that.

[Peter1234]

Kostarum Rex Persia:
There is no one answer. The bit rate depends on the quality of the source video and what video quality you are willing to accept. For 640x480 I have used bitrates as low as 600 kbps and as high as 3000 kbps. I hope that helps you.

[Chainmax]

My source would be episodes of a series captured from TV, resolution would be 512x384. Wanted quality isn't a factor in my opinion since I think that depends mostly on how you filter the source. I basically want to hear what other people have experienced with real life footage.

[Sirber]

Ok then.Can you,Sharktooth,tell me about my question,I really need to know that.He said it:
... most optimal = best -> Rule 12 ...
:readrule: :thanks: