Vidcoder setup

[Evil_Burrito]

If you still need a smaller file you can turn denoising on (try weak setting first) and raise crf higher by 2. If is a very grainy (or dirty) source denoise will help lower the size.

Trim your video to the first 10% (total frames /10), then test your settings on the new sample. Then you can estimate roughly estimate size x10. It is always a good practice to create test encodes for large sources to check speed vs quality and it can help you estimate the file final size; plus you can determine the threshold of your denoise and chosen crf. Thus balancing quality vs filesize.

It is simple stuff once you get the hang of it.

[carlmart]

I am not yet testing options in small excerpts, as was very nicely suggested by Evil_Burrito, but went for the whole thing to see how long it took with Handbrake.

In fact, when you use 2-pass conversion and better choices quality-wise, things get a lot slower. Around 23 hours as you can see.

Have a look at the specs I have chosen.

[carlmart]

I'm resurrecting this thread because I have just used Vidcoder to convert another file, with pretty good results I think.

My main concern, as always, is to be able to fit the 1080p mkv file into an 8Gb size. As you had recommended I used a 2-pass encoding, with turbo first pass. And things went pretty quick, lasting less than an hour.

But as I know the devil is on the details, I would appreciate for you to see the "small print" data in the Encoding settings.

Original on the left. Converted on the right.

Please tell me what values I should pay attention to. Thanks.

[carlmart]

OK, I am trying to make things easier and encourage some help.

So I proceeded to put encode settings side by side and eliminate those that were the same.

Then I ended up with the list below. If you can't help me can you suggest where could I go get some help?

Of course, what I aspire to would be to have the same specs of the original (on the left) when I convert it (on the right).

That may involve additional conversion time, so it would help to understand what is what.

[carlmart]

I just found a very interesting Vidcoder high-profile tutorial here:

http://digiex.net/guides-reviews/guides-tutorials/media-guides/10725-vidcoder-settings...-encoding.html

Problem is it takes a lot of time with XP to process. I might have to try it with Windows 7, as then I can use my whole 8GB ram.

[Evil_Burrito]

I am not really sure what the question is, but what I see is: those are "loose" (quick) settings. Unless you have a slow old single core cpu, I would raise several of those settings. 1='ref'erence frame works, but more (5 for film and 10 with anime) will compress a little more efficient. Deblock=0 is standard/good, but -1:-1 is slightly better for film. me=hex (motion estimation=hexagonal) is okay [for standard resolution], but high resolution (1080) video has more pixels, thus should get more analysis; typically use umh "uneven-multi-hexagonal" with decent subme like 7-9 (10 is basically overkill and is slow slow).

If you don't understand a setting look on this page for definitions.
http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings

What is stopping you from using the same encode settings as the original? btw, there is a program that can extract x264 settings for reuse (or just copy/paste).

Having lots of memory is good and all, but vidcoder doesn't need and won't use 8 gigs. It is likely to utilize less than 2gb even with 1080. Excluding filter operations, it simply doesn't need large amounts of memory.

[Evil_Burrito]

I forgot to say, if you are trying to make videos compliant for a specific device, raising certain setting too high will make it unplayable. For example bluray, if you raise B-frames above 3 it is no longer compliant. But if you are saving to a portable hard drive to watch on a laptop 5 B-frames would be a better choice, because it will encode slightly more efficiently. Understand?

[carlmart]

Thanks, I opened another thread to deal with high profile settings in Vidcoder, perhaps luring someone that might be more interested on that than on more basic things we were talking at the beginning.

In my case I will always be saving to DVD, DL or SL. That's why my 8Gb limit for the files.

The new encode settings list looks quite similar to the originals I was using, but I would like to extract the original settings and just change the bitrate, which is what affects size. What program is that? How do I load all the specs into Vidcoder?

Now I'm processing within Windows 7 64, using all the cores. But I wonder if it's different from XP, as I think W7/64 just enables using all the memory I have. If Vidcoder is not using it, then maybe it's the same.

But I did have a problem on the third conversion I made overnight, as the program did not obey the size I asked to go for (7400MB) and created a smaller one (4533MB). How can I force the program to do what I ask?

[Evil_Burrito]

Info tidbit: profile high is the same thing as profile 4.x. Profiles simply limit encoder settings in an effort to maintain playback compatibility. The lower the profile, the broader range of compatible devices.

You still haven't said what the device is! DVD-DL is a medium not a device. So are you just trying to make back-ups without any specific device in mind?


To your last question, if you would take the time to read the link I posted, you can answer this question yourself. Pay extra attention to the sections near "rc-lookahead."

After that document, this page has further details that should be helpful to you.
http://git.videolan.org/?p=x264.git;a=blob_plain;f=doc/ratecontrol.txt;hb=HEAD


That program I mentioned.
https://www.videohelp.com/tools/Mis2x264

[carlmart]

Sorry about not providing the name of the player device I use: it's an LG BD390 bluray player.

At the time I bought it, 2009, there were very few that played MKV files, and all had some sort of restriction, particularly in not using NTFS files.

Now that has changed, and the other brand I was considering then, Oppo, has now several players that will play anything. In fact that's the player I would buy now if I have the chance.

The LG seems not too caring for the former customers, and the BD390's firmware was not updated since early 2010. Oppo places much more importance on their models, even if they are old.

Anyway, I learnt quite a lot on mkv files and they do seem to be tricky and demanding, even for PC players.

Tomorrow I will look carefully at all the info you are suggesting. I just wanted to provide the missing information.

[carlmart]

Does anyone know how to import presets to Vidcoder or how they should be?

Don't tell me it's just using the import tool inside, because I already tried that. On all the cases I tried I got error, and they were presets saved from Vidcoder itself. There seems to be some bug there.

[mike20021969]

Does anyone know how to import presets to Vidcoder or how they should be?

Don't tell me it's just using the import tool inside, because I already tried that. On all the cases I tried I got error, and they were presets saved from Vidcoder itself. There seems to be some bug there.

In that case, maybe you should ask RandomEngy himself.

http://vidcoder.codeplex.com/discussions
or
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=154179