MKV Video Encoded In H264 Suddenly Worse Quality?

[Buu]

I have a few videos in .mkv format downloaded, which were encoded in h.264 and they had wonderful quality. I backed them up on my external HDD and eventually had to reinstall Windows on my laptop. Now I copied the backups from my external HDD back to my laptop and the videos suddenly have worse quality than they did before.

It's more blurry and unsharp than it was before, but I made sure that I have the same codec packs installed than before I had to reinstall Windows.

Does anyone know what's going on?

[redwudz]

What software player are you using? Codec packs often mess up playback. Try VLC as it uses it own codecs. If the video looks better, get rid of the codec packs.

[Buu]

That was the media player I was using all the time, even before having to reinstall my OS.

I deleted the DivX and K-Lite Codec Pack and then tried reinstalling VLC but it didn't work. Isn't it possible that the video could have lost quality during the transfer from laptop to external HDD and vice versa? :/

[jagabo]

Isn't it possible that the video could have lost quality during the transfer from laptop to external HDD and vice versa? :/

No. Update your graphics card's drivers to the latest WHQL certified version. If that doesn't work try VLC's different output device settings. Tools -> Preferences -> Video -> Display -> Output...

[yoda313]

Also try windows media player classic home cinema. That operates like vlc as well.

[creamyhorror]

What software player are you using? Codec packs often mess up playback. Try VLC as it uses it own codecs. If the video looks better, get rid of the codec packs.

VLC's video output has always looked worse than MPC's for me. I think it's because of poor levels (the image looks washed out) and a lousier scaler. Not to mention that VLC is slow at HD H.264 decoding.

OP, you might want to post a short sample of a clip and show a screenshot of how it looks on your PC. Then we can see what the actual problem is.

[Buu]

@jagabo: Alright, I downloaded the latest driver and nothing changed at all.

@yoda313: It looks the same like in VLC.

@creamyhorror: Here is a screenshot: http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd303/Buu-Huu/sample.png
It used to be much much sharper than this. Also, what do you mean by a sample clip?

By the way, I do have other videos encoded in h264 here aswell and those are very sharp. I wonder why only these particular videos are affected...

[jagabo]

The subs are nice and sharp. The only conclusion is that the particular video is not sharp. MKV does support the ability to suggest a display size different than the video's frame size. That could result in a less sharp picture.

[Buu]

I know that but the video USED to be sharp, and how sharp it was!

I really have no idea how I can fix this. Isn't there something else I need to have installed? Something like a h264 codec or anything of that sorts? I have no clue why the videos were amazingly sharp before I reinstalled Vista. It makes no sense...

[jagabo]

Open the file with MediaInfo. What does it say about the video stream? VLC doesn't use installed codecs. It has its own h.264 decoder. If anything, the output device settings might cause your problem but since other files don't have the same problem that can't be the cause.

[Buu]

1 video stream: AVC

I hope that's what you are looking for.
e: Can it be that not having .NET Framework 3.5 installed is also having to do with this issue?

[jagabo]

1 video stream: AVC

I hope that's what you are looking for.

No. We already know it's AVC. Post all the information MediaInfo gives about the video stream. And of one of your "sharp" files too.

e: Can it be that not having .NET Framework 3.5 installed is also having to do with this issue?

No. VLC doesn't use .NET.

[Buu]

Bad quality file:

General
Complete name : C:\Users\*\Desktop\Anime\Clannad - After Story\[SS-Eclipse] Clannad After Story - 01 (1024x576 h264) [2A6CBFE1].mkv
Format : Matroska
File size : 174 MiB
Duration : 24mn 9s
Overall bit rate : 1 009 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2008-10-29 21:11:04
Writing application : mkvmerge v2.1.0 ('Another Place To Fall') built on Aug 19 2007 13:40:07
Writing library : libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1
Cover : Yes / Yes / Yes

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L5.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 8 frames
Muxing mode : Container profile=Unknown@5.1
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 24mn 7s
Bit rate : 829 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 857 Kbps
Width : 1 024 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.059
Stream size : 143 MiB (82%)
Title : Clannad After Story - 01
Writing library : x264 core 60 r899 f8428ed
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=8 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=7 / brdo=1 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=4 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / bframes=5 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / wpredb=1 / bime=0 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40(pre) / rc=2pass / bitrate=857 / ratetol=1.0 / rceq='blurCplx^(1-qComp)' / qcomp=1.00 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=2:1.00
Language : English

Good quality file:

General
Complete name : C:\Users\*\Desktop\Anime\Read or Die\Read_Or_Die_TV_06.DVD(H264.HE-AAC-5.1)[KAA][FE4538B9].mkv
Format : Matroska
File size : 321 MiB
Duration : 23mn 41s
Overall bit rate : 1 892 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2005-07-21 16:46:32
Writing application : mkvmerge v1.4.2 ('Jimi Thing') built on Apr 16 2005 13:58:15
Writing library : libebml v0.7.4 + libmatroska v0.7.6
Cover : Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 6 frames
Muxing mode : Container profile=Unknown@4.0
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 23mn 39s
Width : 704 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Original display aspect ratio : 3:2
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Original frame rate : 11.988 fps
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Title : x264
Writing library : x264 core 33 svn-275

[poisondeathray]

The "good" video use 2x the bitrate, so it's not surprising it looks better if the content is similar (e.g both anime). Are you sure you aren't mistaken regarding how "sharp" it used to look?

[Buu]

I'm most certain that the "bad" anime had an even better quality than the "good" one. My friend is going to give me a few of the episodes I gave him before the wipe, tomorrow because the quality is very good on his laptop, unlike on mine.

Meh, can't do anything else besides that anyway...

e: Could it be that there's something with my laptop that's blocking h.264 from working properly? I've seen a thread from another user who had the same problem but with Windows 7. Shall I try formatting my laptop and reinstalling Windows Vista again?

e2: Okay, I took a closer look at all my videos encoded in h264, and not only does the anime you've seen in the screenshot before have lower quality. No, all the others have too. It's like this h264 just won't work properly...

[Buu]

Trash this thread, apparently there's no single clue why weird stuff like that happens to me. I should get used to the fact that my life consists of one failure after another. >.>

e: Some guy on IRC said something about tft panel and then stopped responding. Could that be an issue aswell? I'm using a laptop, if that helps in any way.

[shawn2333]

I know what you need to do, and it's definitely not thinking you life is tragic and that's why your video doesn't look as good as it can. I very particular about my video quality, probably much more than you. If I even get a micro-HD video and the bitrate is lower than 1800 kbps, I will trash it and get something that is mkv at least 2000 kbps or 1900 as a general minimum. However if the video used to look better, your setup can be better, and no quality gets lost in transferring the exact same data from one driver to another. I store most of my videos on my external hard drive so I can play them on video game consoles using homebrew. The only way it can lose quality is if you encoded it to lower quality, and you didn't do that. So it is either the codec, media player application, or the settings in that media player. I used to use VLC, it's nice that it uses its own codecs, however it's not nice that those codec usually produce a video quality that is less sharp. If you absolutely need a player with a ton of settings, SMplayer is a good option, it also uses its own codecs and has probably even more options than VLC, while producing much shaper video quality. However SMplayer is also a player I used to use, or seldom use. In experimenting with every know media player and codec, I have found nothing produces better quality than a combination of using these:

- Use (Haali Media Splitter) as your codec for playing .mkv videos
- And ready to be shocked? Use (Windows Media Player) to play the video and WMP will use Haali Media Splitter to process the mkv and it looks better than any other combination I have tried, including K-lite codec pack, and CoreAVC.

I know you will probably hesitate to believe it's that simple, but trust me it is. Haali Media Splitter and Windows Media Player. It looks great and if you are using memory and cpu doing other tasks, media player classic, VLC, SMplayer, Kplayer, and any other player will most likely lag, while for whatever reason good old Windows Media Player never lags. I know most would tend to believe one of the players I mentioned would work better, for whatever reason, but in the end it just doesn't. So just install Haali Media Splitter, restart, then open your video in Windows Media Player, and let me know if it's sharp enough for you, I bet it will be. And if it still isn't, well then your video just isn't good enough quality for you. Search for a 720p x264 version with a large bit rate if it's the video's quality itself. Also, you might want to include a snapshot of a video that isn't anime, it's a lot harder to distinguish video quality in anything animated versus live action. Hope this helped.

[jagabo]

Haali isn't a codec, it's a file reader and file splitter for MKV, MP4, and MPEG transport stream containers. He still needs an h.264 decoder to decompress the video (Windows 7 includes one, earlier versions do not). It's the display device (I'm not talking about the monitor but software display device driver that the media player connects to) that determines the sharpness of the video (unless the player is filtering the video after decompression, WMP does not) because that's where the image scaling and processing takes place. All players have access to the same output devices as WMP.

[deadrats]

@Buu

this has to be a joke, right? it should be obvious that they are not the same file:

file name of "bad" file:

Clannad - After Story\[SS-Eclipse] Clannad After Story - 01 (1024x576 h264) [2A6CBFE1].mkv

file name of "good" file:

Read_Or_Die_TV_06.DVD(H264.HE-AAC-5.1)[KAA][FE4538B9].mkv

file size of "bad" file:

174 mb

file size of "good" file:

321 mb

the duration, resolution and bit rates are likewise completely different between the 2 files.

[RabidDog]

Nobody is pointing out that the bad file is encoded with a completely nonsensical high resolution 1024 , higher than the source. ALso its avc @l5.1 with 8 ref frames. And a pathetically low bit rate. oh dear oh dear.
Top one .. requires too much grunt to playback without additional gfx power (ur CPU?? ur GFX?? Ur ram ???)
bottom one.. plays back by CPU alone, just about.
Get Gspot, install on your PC, and your mates PC, then check out the render path on his PC, playing bad video. Then emulate his set up on your PC