ReFrames Encoding for MKV videos

[blinkmadden]

I'm fairly new to video re encoding. I've done a few re encoding using Xmedia recode for downgrading 10bit to 8bit anime videos. My setup is a toshiba 1080p plasma, a decent 3.0 ghz 4GB ram PC and play my videos through showtime on my PS3.

A problem I encountered was this video had "7" as ReFrame value and High4.1. Showtime cannot play any videos higher than "4" for 4.1 so my only option was to re encode it. I've done a couple of testing using Xmedia recode and I've seen some loss of quality but not too much and higher file size while the ReFrame value is just "1". I can't really find the setting where to increase the value of ReFrame so that at least I can maintain the same quality. My question is, does ReFrame value of "1" really matter? or a value of "4" should be better? Here is the mediainfo of the video before re encoding:


Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 7 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Width : 1 440 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Writing library : x264 core 104 r1703 cd21d05
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=7 / deblock=1:1:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=72 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=18.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Default : Yes
Forced : No


*Re encoding a 25min. video took about 20mins on normal settings using Xmedia recode.

I'm thinking of looking for other programs out there that has better and easier options to maintain the same quality and file size without doing so much. Ideas?

[Baldrick]

Try tx264 or tencoder and see if you can adjust the reframe.

[blinkmadden]

Thanks baldrick TENcoder seem to work just fine and has the same waiting time as xmedia recode.