Best Settings for DVD rip to H.265

[The_Jackal]

Hi all,

After some reading I am stuck and having doubts regarding what are valid settings, quality-wise, for ripping 9 seasons of TV Series to mp4 with H.265 codec. Your help would be much appreciated. Some years ago (almost 15 ), I used to rip dvds to Divx & Xvid with Gordian Knot and later on with AutoGK (both excellent tools). Now I decided to use either Handbrake or Vidcoder with 10 bit for the H.265 codec.

Back in the day I used to specify the exact file size I wanted and the bitrate was calculated accordingly. Now I see in most articles that these codecs specify the Quality factor, an integer value between 18-25, but then the file size can vary a lot between episodes. Finally, I also stuck to Anamorphic, Strict or Loose or None? Any valuable comments here?

The series I will be ripping is this [X-Files Complete Seasons], although I believe that all seasons are in 4:3 Frame

Thanks in advance

[davexnet]

Years ago, the file size was important, because making it fit on a 700MB CD was the goal;

If you still have a need for a specific size use 2-pass, otherwise use CRF and allow the encoder
to use the bits it needs for the value you specify

[pepegot1]

I use HD Video Converter Factory Pro and it does a good job.

[Zero-11]

my standard setting was anamorphic: none, quality factor 19, x265 medium
now I mostly go with a bitrate or nvenc hevc

[The_Jackal]

Years ago, the file size was important, because making it fit on a 700MB CD was the goal;

Indeed, back then that was the goal ... to fit the movie in a CD-ROM...

However this CRF seems a bit strange to me... I will try it though and get back with results!!!

[The_Jackal]

my standard setting was anamorphic: none, quality factor 19, x265 medium
now I mostly go with a bitrate or nvenc hevc

I just realized that with anamorphic: none, it still encodes after many hours.

nvenc uses the GPU for the encoding, and it is command line if not mistaken?? I do not feel that confident at the moment

[jagabo]

Back in the day I used to specify the exact file size I wanted and the bitrate was calculated accordingly. Now I see in most articles that these codecs specify the Quality factor, an integer value between 18-25, but then the file size can vary a lot between episodes.

Different videos require different bitrates to achieve the same quality. For example, a still shot of a bowl of fruit will require very little bitrate. A high motion action movie will require a much higher bitrate.

When you use bitrate based encoding you know what the final file size will be (size = bitrate * running_time) but you don't really know what the quality will be. When you have a size requirement (eg, 700 MB to fit on a CD) you want to use this type of encoding to get the best quality at that size.

With quality based encoding (CRF in x264 and x265, called RF in Handbrake) you know what the quality of the video will be but you don't know what the final size will be. The encoder just encodes every frame at the quality you specify (that's a highly simplified explanation). You want to use quality based encoding when you want to be assured of the quality of the final result and don't care about the exact file size.

You should encode a few short test videos at different CRF settings to get a feel for what value you find suitable. Low CRF values give high quality and large files. High CRF values give small files and low quality. Think of the CRF values as the amount of detail you are going to throw away. At 12 quality is about the same as the source even if look at still frames and zoom in. At 18 videos look about the same as the source at normal playback speed. At the default 23 videos are noticeably worse but are watchable. At 30 it becomes very obvious the video is degraded. Of course, the other settings make a difference too. These crf settings are with x264 encoding and the slow preset with SD material. x265 isn't too different. Also you can typically get away with slightly higher crf values with HD material. SD video is magnified more (making some of the flaws more visible) than HD material when you watch them full screen.

Finally, I also stuck to Anamorphic, Strict or Loose or None?

It depends on your playback device. Some don't support anamorphic video. In that case you want None. Strict uses very precise values but may have to cut a few pixels off the edges of the frame (in addition to removing black borders) or will leave some small black borders. Loose gives you approximately the correct aspect ratio but doesn't cut off part of the active picture or leave black borders (the small AR error isn't noticeable).

[Zero-11]

nvenc isn't command line, there is a graphical option in handbrake

[The_Jackal]

nvenc isn't command line, there is a graphical option in handbrake

Thanks for letting me know!!!

[The_Jackal]

Back in the day I used to specify the exact file size I wanted and the bitrate was calculated accordingly. Now I see in most articles that these codecs specify the Quality factor, an integer value between 18-25, but then the file size can vary a lot between episodes.

Different videos require different bitrates to achieve the same quality. For example, a still shot of a bowl of fruit will require very little bitrate. A high motion action movie will require a much higher bitrate.

When you use bitrate based encoding you know what the final file size will be (size = bitrate * running_time) but you don't really know what the quality will be. When you have a size requirement (eg, 700 MB to fit on a CD) you want to use this type of encoding to get the best quality at that size.

With quality based encoding (CRF in x264 and x265, called RF in Handbrake) you know what the quality of the video will be but you don't know what the final size will be. The encoder just encodes every frame at the quality you specify (that's a highly simplified explanation). You want to use quality based encoding when you want to be assured of the quality of the final result and don't care about the exact file size.

You should encode a few short test videos at different CRF settings to get a feel for what value you find suitable. Low CRF values give high quality and large files. High CRF values give small files and low quality. Think of the CRF values as the amount of detail you are going to throw away. At 12 quality is about the same as the source even if look at still frames and zoom in. At 18 videos look about the same as the source at normal playback speed. At the default 23 videos are noticeably worse but are watchable. At 30 it becomes very obvious the video is degraded. Of course, the other settings make a difference too. These crf settings are with x264 encoding and the slow preset with SD material. x265 isn't too different. Also you can typically get away with slightly higher crf values with HD material. SD video is magnified more (making some of the flaws more visible) than HD material when you watch them full screen.

Finally, I also stuck to Anamorphic, Strict or Loose or None?

It depends on your playback device. Some don't support anamorphic video. In that case you want None. Strict uses very precise values but may have to cut a few pixels off the edges of the frame (in addition to removing black borders) or will leave some small black borders. Loose gives you approximately the correct aspect ratio but doesn't cut off part of the active picture or leave black borders (the small AR error isn't noticeable).

Thanks for the information. I did try and converter one episode with the quality factor at 18. The file size ended up being around 600 MB. I find it a lot for a single TV episode. I will try in the next couple of days with values 19 & 20 & 21. Although Vidcoder (I guess Handbrake too) allows one to use float numbers e.g. 19.4, I do not think this is a good idea, is it?

[jagabo]

Nothing wrong with using floats for crf.

[glenn1962]

For DVDs I'd suggest the following settings while using preset slow and CRF 23

In more settings add the following

strong-intra-smoothing=0:rect=0:aq-mode=1:ctu=32:merange=27:subme=4:rd=5:qg-size=16:deblock=-3,-0 

Audio, its up to you but ACC 128 Stereo, or even old fashioned MP3 is enough.


[Attachment 56644 - Click to enlarge]

[The_Jackal]

Nothing wrong with using floats for crf.

Thanks for the reassurance. I am doing tests now with different quality values to explore the produced file size and the quality.

I had forgotten how much time it takes if you do not own a fast machine

[The_Jackal]

Nothing wrong with using floats for crf.

Thanks for the reassurance. I am doing tests now with different quality values to explore the produced file size and the quality.

I had forgotten how much time it takes if you do not own a fast machine

[The_Jackal]

For DVDs I'd suggest the following settings while using preset slow and CRF 23

In more settings add the following

strong-intra-smoothing=0:rect=0:aq-mode=1:ctu=32:merange=27:subme=4:rd=5:qg-size=16:deblock=-3,-0 

Audio, its up to you but ACC 128 Stereo, or even old fashioned MP3 is enough.

Thanks for the settings that you provided. I have no idea what they mean but I will try to find out. I just had a look at the settings used for a TV Series from the WEB H.264 RIP and I was amazed with the amount of settings they mentioned.

Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=abr / mbtree=1 / bitrate=1100 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

[davexnet]

For DVDs I'd suggest the following settings while using preset slow and CRF 23

In more settings add the following

strong-intra-smoothing=0:rect=0:aq-mode=1:ctu=32:merange=27:subme=4:rd=5:qg-size=16:deblock=-3,-0 

Audio, its up to you but ACC 128 Stereo, or even old fashioned MP3 is enough.

Thanks for the settings that you provided. I have no idea what they mean but I will try to find out. I just had a look at the settings used for a TV Series from the WEB H.264 RIP and I was amazed with the amount of settings they mentioned.

Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=abr / mbtree=1 / bitrate=1100 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

These parameters are not usually specified individually, Once a preset is picked, ("slow", "medium", etc) all those things are set automatically

[blud7]

I just had a look at the settings used for a TV Series from the WEB H.264 RIP and I was amazed with the amount of settings they mentioned.

1. H264 has different settings from H265
2. As said above, most of those settings are automatic when you select profiles and presets
3. WEB H.264 RIP is WaReZ and against the rules?