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Old 8th August 2012, 15:32   #11  |  Link
LoRd_MuldeR
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zerowalker View Post
So now i want to encode it as "lossless" as possibly, so that Youtube won´t Crush it more than necceserry.
Does youtube support lossless H.264, as created by x264, as input?

If so and if you have the required bandwidth, then going lossless is a good way, because it ensures there is absoloutely no quality loss, before Youtube starts to re-encode.

But on the other hand, I doubt you will be able to spot the difference from their final encode between a lossless H.264 source and a source that was compressed with CRF~16.

Quote:
Originally Posted by zerowalker View Post
oh, so GradFun2db() is wasted? if so i will just skip it.
GradFun2db() can improve things quite a lot. And probably if you take your source, apply some GradFun2db() and directly watch the result, you will be able to improve things.

But, as said before, once you pump the GradFun2db()-processed video through the encoder once, the effect will be pretty much gone - the dither simply won't survive when encoding with 8-Bit precision.

It might survive the encode if you really could use lossless H.264 or 10-Bit, but then the re-encode done by Youtube will kill it. After all, the only option is applying GradFun2db() when watching the final result.

(Of course this isn't possible with Youtube's player. But you can download the clip from Youtube and use your own player)

Quote:
Originally Posted by zerowalker View Post
I currently use Medium Preset, Tune Film, and CRF 16.
That sounds reasonable. Using a slower Preset would only mean that you might be able to get away with an even lower bitrate (after adjusting the CRF value accoridngly) for the same quality.

If you still see some degradation with CRF 16, try an even lower CRF value until you are happy with the result.

But always keep in mind that trying to retain tiny details, that Youtube is going to destroy with their re-encode anyway, is pointless. So don't be too pedantic

Or in other words: If you change your x264 settings, you always have to judge the difference after that video has been re-encoded by Youtube. If it makes no difference on Youtube, you don't need to care.

As long as the source doesn't show obvious artifacts already before the upload, it should be good enough...
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Last edited by LoRd_MuldeR; 8th August 2012 at 15:39.
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