Quote:
Originally Posted by Groucho2004
The bitrate is very low for 1280x544. That's most likely the biggest problem.
Without knowing your entire x264 command line it's difficult to suggest something since I don't know into which command line "Slow preset with MeGUI" translates.
Some general hints: - Increase bitrate to at least 2Mbps
- If the above results into a unacceptable file size, reduce frame size
- Use a slower x264 preset
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I know the bitrate is quite low. But I heard about popular Internet groups that encode movies at such bitrate or even lower.
And like I said, I used to do it with my own videos and I was satisfied with it, but not anymore now I got new settings and lost the old ones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by foxyshadis
What are you playing back to? If you're using PC only for now, would you be willing to switch to x265 instead? It's much slower, but even on medium preset would look better than x264 at these low bitrates. Otherwise, you're right at the point where reducing the resolution is beneficial, as Groucho said. Chopping the edges off and making it 16:9 would also help without sacrificing too much, relative to the quality gain. Try a scene with a couple different methods to see what you can tolerate best.
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I've tried it but it's way too slow. The quality is good though (to my standards), but it's too slow and my TV can't even play it. So I'll stick to x264 for now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hello_hello
I assume the slow x264 preset with MeGUI is literally the default x264 settings with the slow x264 speed preset? If so, that should be fine.
If the video isn't being resized or filtered in any way then it can only be the bitrate if you're not using "odd" encoder settings (noise filtering can blur a little as well as reduce noise so use it if you think it's necessary as that'll help keep the bitrate down but don't apply heavy noise filtering if it's not required).
CRF encoding is a better idea because you pick the quality and after a while you'll find a CRF value that gives you an average file size you're happy with and hopefully a quality you can live with. The file sizes will vary quite a bit which is why I say "an average" file size.
Maybe start with the default CRF value of 23 (lower values = higher quality) and check the resulting bitrate. If you're happy with the quality that might give you an indication as to whether your current bitrate is realistic.
You can encode small sections of video for testing rather than encode it all (although still encode a decent amount) by adding Trim() to the end of a script. For example to encode frames 1000 to 2000 you could use this:
Trim(1000,2000)
And I assume you're using "automated 2 pass" or "targeting file size" encoding (same thing for MeGUI) and not ABR (average bitrate) encoding in order to specify a bitrate, because especially at low bitrates, 2 pass would probably do a much better job.
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Yep, I'm talking about the Slow x264 speed preset. But I even tried Slower and Very Slow but it doesn't solve my problem and, remember, a few years ago I was using the Medium preset, with even lower bitrate and it was fine (to my standards). Maybe my eyes got used to the quality and I'm more demanding? But you know, in MeGUI, what the presets don't change is: the deblocking values, the psy-rd, the qmin/qmax and the AQ strength (maybe some others that I haven't noticed). So if using slower presets doesn't help, the problem must come from these values, no? (and the bitrate)
Yes, I'm using 2-pass encoding but I think you're right, I think CRF encoding is a better choice than picking bitrate in my case. I just need to find the right value for me.
Thank you all for your replies!