AVC/H.264 Blu-Ray Template for TMPGEnc 4.0 Xpress?

[CubDukat]

I was wondering if anyone has tried to create an encoding template for Blu-Ray that uses H.264/AVC instead of MPEG-2.

I'm doing a test encode of an episode of "ER" that I recorded OTA, and I want to do a side-by-side comparison of how it'll look under the two codecs. From the few MPEG-2 Blu-Rays I've rented, I've noticed that the picture does look very sharp compared to the VC-1/H.264-encoded titles I've seen, but it almost looks edge-enhanced.

If you could point me in the right direction of where to look to build such a template, I'd be most grateful. I'm surprised Pegasys didn't think of this right off the bat.

[PuzZLeR]

Pegasys probably did indeed think of it, but haven't nailed down the spec just yet. Not sure of the VC-1 streams, but the AVC streams are rather picky and need some sort of patch or flag within, among other things, like max buffer, # of b-frames, reference frames, etc, to be compatible, and accepted by Sonic Scenarist (and of course blu-ray).

This type of software at the consumer level still needs more time to develop, and even so, will still need a few versions till it's able to deliver a fully compliant and quality encode. Only professional-ware apps can do this effectively today, such as Cinema Craft Encoder HD or Sonic CineVision (both VERY expensive).

As for a template, I personally fully nailed down the blu-ray spec for x264 encodes using MeGUI, for HD and for SD, down to the fine details of resolution, fps and even pull-down, and even wanted to put together a guide for it, but don't have the good conscience to post it once I saw how it looked on the big screen. Yes, I too notice a "softer" look to AVC/VC-1 encodes myself too in comparison to MPEG-2, but the x264 encodes looked worse, kind of like a "smear" across the video. So I don't use it any more.

I'm playing with the decision to either wait or invest.

[CubDukat]

You know, I totally forgot about MeGUI. I used to use it to crunch down DVDs for my iPod, but this last version was way too fiddly. After I did an update, I'd be unable to use it because the executable would disappear, and I'd end up having to reinstall the whole thing again.

I'm gonna give it another try, though. Maybe that'll be just what I need. I'll have a while to work on it, as I still have to get the actual burner.

They (the industry) really needs to get hot on affordable BD authoring programs.

[PuzZLeR]

Yes, I too find MeGUI can be tricky at times, but it would be a good start. It's free after all. You can try the x264 blu-ray profiles available for it. You would need the correct resolution, fps, aspect ratio and SAR value to make it work, but the streams themselves should be accepted by Scenarist if you achieve this. And if you like the quality results, then why not?

I'd be fine with MPEG-2, since I love what CCE does. Unfortunately, it only does SD, not HD. However, CCE HD does it all with AVC.

Check this baby out:
http://www.omni-cinemacraft.com/products_cinemacrafthde.shtml

This beast of an app is a DREAM... and you don't want to know what they quoted me for it. I, along with another entity, am actually thinking of buying it still, ... boy I drool over it.

And there's no consumer application anywhere like it.

As for authoring programs, same thing. Nothing outside of professional-ware (such as the expensive Sonic Scenarist). TSMuxeR shows promise but needs more time. Nero, ArcSoft and CyberLink insist on re-encoding anything you load them with, compliant or not, and take forever and degrade quality. Forget it.

Still contemplating on either waiting or investing...

[CubDukat]

I'm actually trying out the Blu-Ray template for MeGUI as we speak on two HD streams--one of "Fringe" to test 720p, and an "ER" episode for 1080i. The version of MeGUI seems to be much better behaved than the last one after an update. The executable's actually still there.

[PuzZLeR]

For resolutions of 1920x1080 and 1280x720 use --sar 1:1. For 1440x1080, use --sar 4:3.

All HD aspect ratios should be 16:9. If your source isn't, then you may need to letterbox it.

Depending on the source of course, you're good with TIVTC with resultant fps = 23.976 and turn interlaced encoding off for HD encoding. It's a more efficient encode.

I'd also use CRF (one pass) since encoding may take a while.

If your source is SD, I would say you're wasting your time, and bitrate, if you're encoding to an HD rez. It's not like the "freckles" that weren't on someone's face in the source are going to suddenly appear with an encode to HD. Until the future when technologies like fractal compression become reality, for such sources we can take solace in the fact that Blu-ray does indeed support SD profiles, including those of DvD.

[deadrats]

Check this baby out:
http://www.omni-cinemacraft.com/products_cinemacrafthde.shtml

This beast of an app is a DREAM... and you don't want to know what they quoted me for it. I, along with another entity, am actually thinking of buying it still, ... boy I drool over it.

And there's no consumer application anywhere like it.

it's 70 grand, but on the bright side it does include less than 5 grand worth of hardware, LOL. of course, near as i can tell, it's one of the 2 or 3 pieces of software that the pros use, so it must be worth it.

[PuzZLeR]

Hi DR,

Yes it is actually about $75K at regular price, with indeed a beast of a computer (4-core I think) for stand-alone, and dedicated, encoding.

And yes, it's awesome. But as you probably already know the price is really that way since it's only meant for commercial use, not necessarily because the quality would be 750 times better than a $100 product. Professional-ware is a different marketing science altogether.

Along with another partner, I'm trying to use the recession to my advantage to get a deal with them.

BTW - I LOVE recessions....

[CubDukat]

Just a little update:

I found this site, http://netblender.ning.com/forum/topics/tutorial-full-working-avc, which claims to give the settings for encoding a BD-compliant AVC stream with TMPGEnc Xpress. Right now I'm crunching down an episode of "The Event" with it. Unfortunately, it's taking a long time; by the time it's finished, it'll have been encoding for ten hours. That's only slightly faster than MeGUI.

I haven't even tried searching for info on BD-compliant VC-1 settings yet, but I suspect that will be equally piggish CPU-wise. I recently had to step down for a quad-core to a triple-core because the quad burnt up and was discontinued, and the triple was the only thing I could use (95W TDP). Fortunately, thay may change soon, as I might be able to grab an AMD six-core at that power rating.

Fortunately, the wait's worth it. My preliminary results with MeGUI and the first couple episodes of "Nikita" are most encouraging. About the only thing I might need to do is bump up the average bitrate, but other than that I'm very pleased with the end results. The rendering time, not so much...