I'm choosing a video codec for storing of my family videos (and sharing some of them in the Inernet as well) which format provides the best compression? I don't care about processor time and the quality should be avarage or just below (I have a cheap cam)
a. x246 (which is h.264 implementation) would be my recommendation for quality, it is possible to encode (mp4) in sort of quicktime compatible way, you will just need to tell ppl to install qt then, and add some server mime types for mp4 (video/quicktime qt mov mp4).
b. Another option is flash video, using vp6 video codec, quality is not on par with x264, but it should be supported better on the web (has better 'penetration'), there are free flash players which can be used for embeding on the page.
pretty cool solution for vp6 encoding:
http://sh0dan.blogspot.com/2006/09/command...v-encoding.html (http://sh0dan.blogspot.com/2006/09/command-line-flash-8-flv-encoding.html)
smok3
Thanks a lot. What about file sizes in both cases?
What is the best x246 codec? Where can I find it and read how to encode with it?
erm. x264 is an encoder. H.264(or AVC) is the standard. as for where you can find it, http://www.videolan.org/developers/x264.html (http://www.videolan.org/developers/x264.html)
MusicLover, file sizes are directly proportional to the selected bitrate (thought there is another quality based way of encoding with x264).
here you should find plenty of info (including latest windows builds):
http://forum.doom9.org/forumdisplay.php?f=77 (http://forum.doom9.org/forumdisplay.php?f=77)
command line overview (bit out of date):
http://somestuff.org/x264_qt/h264_in_quicktime7.html (http://somestuff.org/x264_qt/h264_in_quicktime7.html)
(you can skip -hint mp4box command)
and some batch scripts iam using most of the time:
http://somestuff.org/bat/index.php?path=x264_ng_batch/ (http://somestuff.org/bat/index.php?path=x264_ng_batch/)
smok3
Thanks again! So, all the x264 encoders are about the same? Or are there some that are much better than the others?
x264 is only one (the implementation of h.264), h.264 is the standard (another encoder is ateme for example, build into nero recode...).
which one of h.264 encoders is the best for low bitrates?
well, i cant speak generally, with my tests, and with my material ; x264 with medium encoding speed delivers decent or good results at 500 kbps - 512x384/25 fps. For very low bitrates i imagine that higher inloop filtering would be helpfull.
edit: generally speaking h.264 (and x264) is designed to scale well, i do use it for low-res web clips and also for HD.
i'd personally say x264 even though there are a couple of other H.264 encoders. the ammount of commandline options that x264 has is just enormous.
you cant beat the price anyway.
edit: just playing around, here is a random clip from my disk encoded with 100 kbps (that would be super-low-bitrate), mute:
http://tmp.somestuff.org/random.mp4 (http://tmp.somestuff.org/random.mp4)
well, hard to say it looks great, but one can still see whats going on i guess
full log:
started ned 22.04.2007 / 11:04:51,50
ECHO is off.
x264 0.54.600
x264 --pass 1 --bitrate 100 --stats "F:\DIPLOMA\HD\prezentacijaHD_Diploma_spica.stats" --bframes 1 --subme 1 --analyse none --me dia --progress --no-psnr --filter "-2,-1" --output NUL "F:\DIPLOMA\HD\templateWEB_prezentacijaHD_Diploma_spica.avs"
x264 --pass 2 --bitrate 100 --stats "F:\DIPLOMA\HD\prezentacijaHD_Diploma_spica.stats" --ref 5 --bframes 1 --subme 6 --b-rdo --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,p4x4 --progress --no-psnr --filter "-2,-1" --output "F:\DIPLOMA\HD\prezentacijaHD_Diploma_spica.avi.mp4" "F:\DIPLOMA\HD\templateWEB_prezentacijaHD_Diploma_spica.avs"
MP4Box - GPAC version 0.4.1-DEV Jun 12 2006 compiled by Kurtnoise
GPAC Copyright: (c) Jean Le Feuvre 2000-2005
(c) ENST 2005-200X
ended ned 22.04.2007 / 11:06:55,64
Some info about the 1st track in container, usually video:
Track # 1 Info - TrackID 1 - TimeScale 25 - Duration 00:00:19.000
Media Info: Language "Undetermined" - Type "vide" - Sub Type "avc1" - 475 samples
Handler name: GPAC ISO Video Handler
MPEG-4 Config
Visual Stream - ObjectTypeIndication 0x21
AVC/H264 Video - Visual Size 512 x 288 - Profile Main @ Level 5.1
Decoding Buffer size 2838 - Average bitrate 95 kbps - Max Bitrate 228 kbps
No stream dependencies for decoding
StreamPriority 0
Computed info from media:
Total size 233187 bytes - Total samples duration 19000 ms
Average rate 95 kbps - Max Rate 228 kbps
Some info about the 2nd track in container, usually audio:
No track with ID 2 found
WOW! that's cool! now I only need to master comandline parameters of x264
PS maybe its possible to use some graphic interface? Megui?
yes, megui is one of them (comes with some nice command line presets).
I'm now using SUPER... Megui refused to work somehow... Nero recode didn't want to encode... So now I'm using SUPER - the results are very good.
I'm now using SUPER... Megui refused to work somehow... Nero recode didn't want to encode... So now I'm using SUPER - the results are very good.
what license is that under? (i cant find any sources...)
http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html (http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html)
smok3
how do you find it?
I'm puzzled: I cannot encode Sony DV files in AVI container with StaxRip... It cannot read them... Which program should I use?
The h264 section of this guide is very good:
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/ (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/)
the man pages for mencoder have a lot of info as well. You have to try it for yourself to come up with a good combination of speed and what is acceptable quality to you. I've just finished a full 22 episode season of a show onto a single DVD-R, and I could never have dreamed of doing that with XVID and still have watchable files.
My problem is that none of the programs that encode h264 recoginzes DV files in avi container. However, Windows media player plays them ok.
Done! Nero Recode regonizes it! I'm happy!
it is explained on the link i posted few posts up (it is actually a dv example), but Nero is pretty user friendly if you are a noob to video compression (and gives good results without a lot of thinkering).