Understanding my options - HEVC to h.264 - New camera, old computer...

[EmilSonne]

Hi guys!

Just registered to the forum - it seems you guys know what you are talking about

Recently got the new GoPro Hero 6, being amazed by its 4k capabilities and size. However i did not research how my computer would handle the footage

My old mac simply can not handle the HEVC "format" so i started looking into software like HandBrake and Adobe Encoder.

What are my options here? Can i transform my HEVC footage into h.264 without noticeable quality loss?

I tried reading other threads but being a complete tech-noob, it quickly became hard to understand.

I would love to really get the most out of this tiny camera and shoot in 4K 60fps, 2.7K 120fps and 1080p240.

[videobruger]

My old mac simply can not handle the HEVC "format"

Playing? Why not change player? eg. VLC.

[LigH.de]

In general, yes, it is possible to convert the MPEG HEVC (H.265) video format into MPEG4 AVC (H.264) format. Probably even without noticeable loss of quality. But that may require a larger output file, more average bitrate.

If the file size is not your primary concern, you should try to use a converter which supports the x264 encoder, so you can select the "Constant Rate Factor" mode (CRF) with a value between 18 (good compromise) and 12 (archival quality but even larger). HandBrake should be a good choice for a Mac. For a Windows PC, the software selection is a lot wider.

P.S.: A different player than Apple's defaults may be able to play the video faster. But anyway, decoding HEVC in UHD resolution is quite an effort, and as long as we don't know details about your CPU and GPU, we may not easily guess whether there is hope or not.

[pandy]

You can use ffmpeg to transcode H.265 to H.264. You can use different player albeit you may be dissented as H.265 require more computing power (approx around 1.5 this required to decode H.264) and if you multiply this by increased resolution (4 times more than HD) then efficiently you may need faster computer anyway (6 times faster than power required to decode HD H.264).

[EmilSonne]

My mac specs are:

2,6 GHz Intel Core i5
8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Intel Iris 1536 MB

I have had no luck with HandBrake yet - it just outputs another laggy file (maybe wrong settings?). However Adobes Encoder have seem to work "great", eventhough my CPU runs at 80-90% and it takes quite some time, even for small clips.

So converting to h.264 with no possible quality loss is possibly, but a pain in the ass? What software do you guys recommend?

[LigH.de]

it just outputs another laggy file (maybe wrong settings?)

Don't blame the software as long as we don't know your settings yet. Correctly used, it should work quite well with HandBrake. But one of many reasons can also be your player, especially Apple default software on MacOS X (QuickTime) is known to be limited, in comparison to independent decoder software.

[pandy]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_HD_and_Iris_Graphics#Hardware-accelerated_algorithms

[EmilSonne]

Ran some tests with Handbrake today!

My settings were:
Video Codec: H.264(x264)
Framerate: Same as source with a Constant Framerate
Quality: Constant Quality RF22 at 2K120fps and RF24 at 4K60
Encoder Preset: Faster
Resolution: Same as Source
Cropping: Automatic

It seems like i can't go any lower than RF24 with 4K60 - I have tried 22, 23, 23,5... at these RF values i can't playback the file properly.

Are the qualityloss at these RF values significant? I plan on downscaling the 2K/4K footage to 1080, which to my understanding gives more detail (and editing options) than regular 1080

[LigH.de]

Quality: Constant Quality RF22 at 2K120fps and RF24 at 4K60

Nope.

I would not expect "hardly noticeable quality loss" with a Rate Factor larger than 18, maybe 20 (depends on your personal tolerance). But at such resolutions (FullHD .. UHD), that can easily produce bitrates too high for smooth playback from a device which is slow to read from, like a rather cheap USB stick.

So, which kind of device did you store your video on, to play it back from?

And the other limiting factor is the decoding speed of the player chipset.

[EmilSonne]

Hm :/ a new computer? haha ...Right now it is stored on my MacBooks SSD. I have noticed Final Cut Pro handles the Handbrake encoded footage way better than Adobe Premiere Pro..

[_Al_]

try to download and unzip latest mpv player, it is 2x, 3x faster than default settings with VLC or MPC-HC etc.
https://www.videohelp.com/software/mpv-media-player
drop your video onto a player

[EmilSonne]

I really want to edit as well and not just playback the footage - but thanks! Ill check it out _Al_

[_Al_]

you might get an extra hardisk,
make some almost lossless formats like Cineform, ProRez, or truly lossless like utvideo, store those files on that extra hardisk, load hem into videoeditor, export MP4, with HEVC in it or H.264. Then you might delete those intermediate files.
You'd get problems editing those 4k H.264 files anyway.

Choose a software that would batch transcode those GoPro files into those intermediate files. Handbrake would not do that. GoPro has bought Cineform owner (almost lossless format made up just for your purpose , edit a video), do that conversion, that software might come with your camera or download a free version. You could use ffmpeg to set it up to encode ProRez or maybe some ffmpeg front-ends GUI's (look here on the forum) might have those capabilities. But I'd prefer that Cineform.

[pandy]

Key to smooth playback is HW decoder - that's why i provided you link to Intel Graphics capability. Focus on verifying your HW capabilities and try to squeeze as much as possible.