4:4:4 enconding - which program, which method?

[waefwaeefwaefw]

Does somebody know a method or a programm that supports 4:4:4 encoding, yet!? Or what can I do to keep the luminance of the original source in the encoded video!?

[jagabo]

4:4:4 refers to subsampling of the chroma channels (in this case, no subsampling, the chroma channels are the same resolution as the luma channel) and has nothing to do with luminance levels.

What exactly is your problem?

[waefwaeefwaefw]

Yeah, you see I got that a little wrong...all I know is that the color space is wider. And so I would like to know if 4:4:4 encoding is an option and if I could use 4:4:4 ecoding even for files with a low target bitrate and target filesize.
Or is it predictable that 4:4:4 encoded videos had a higher filesize or need a higher bitrate? *.*

[poisondeathray]

Yeah, you see I got that a little wrong...all I know is that the color space is wider. And so I would like to know if 4:4:4 encoding is an option and if I could use 4:4:4 ecoding even for files with a low target bitrate and target filesize.
Or is it predictable that 4:4:4 encoded videos had a higher filesize or need a higher bitrate? *.*

Yes there is more information, so it requires more bitrate

x264 has a lossless mode which is 4:4:4, but only CoreAVC can decode it properly at this time.

[jagabo]

all I know is that the color space is wider

No, the colorspace is not wider with 4:4:4 subsampling. There is more color resolution. MPEG encoding on DVDs for example use 4:2:0 (which is really 4:1:1 subsampling) where the luma channel is encoded at 720x480 but the color channels are encoded at 360x240. 4:2:2 subsampling would encode the color channels at 360x480. 4:4:4 chroma sampling would encode the color channels at the same resolution as the luma channel. But neither of those is valid for DVD. There are no devices which collect YUV video with 4:4:4 subsampling. At best you get 4:2:2 subsampling. The closest you get to 4:4:4 subsampling is computer rendered RGB animation.

The only encoders I know of that allow for 4:4:4 subsampling are PicVideo MJPEG (they call it 1:1:1), Lagarith, and HuffYUV. But you only get 4:4:4 subsampling when working with RGB data.

x264 has a lossless mode which is 4:4:4,

Does it? I've only tried the VFW version in lossless mode and it converts RGB to YV12 (4:2:0 subsampling) before encoding "losslessly". Even if it can encode YUV with 4:4:4 subsamping what programs can feed it YUV 4:4:4 or deal with YUV 4:4:4 output from the decoder?

[poisondeathray]

I've only tried the VFW version in lossless mode and it converts RGB to YV12 (4:2:0 subsampling) before encoding "losslessly". Even if it can encode YUV with 4:4:4 subsamping what programs can feed it YUV 4:4:4 or deal with YUV 4:4:4 output from the decoder?

I haven't tried this, but apparently you can use ffmpeg to pipe a YUV 4:4:4 source to x264

I was unware of the internal RGB to YV12 (4:2:0) conversion that you mention for lossless mode? I took it at face value. Perhaps the CLI version is different?

[edDV]

What is your source?
What is your application?

RGB 4:4:4 is used for HDCAM-SR* field recording and for digital film transfer. Films and commercials are often edited in 4:4:4 RGB on Avids.

YCbCrA 4:4:4:4 also has a history for TV effects editing. The 4th 4 is for Alpha. It was possible to record this with two sync'd D1 machines as far back as 1985.


* HDCAM-SR uses 440 or 880 Mb/s bit rates.