Vidcoder on 10bit to 8bit anime videos

[blinkmadden]

I have done a few encoding of animes that are originally 10bit to 8bit using Vidcoder with default high settings (H264, same fps as source, high profile lvl 4.2, rc-lookahead=50:ref=4:b-adapt=2, crf=16 and default video filters). Now, the results are not very satisfying because the video drastically deteriorates its quality.

I was thinking it has something to do with the video filters(detelecine, decomb, deblock, etc) settings that I haven't played with. I tried to research more into this but couldn't find an easy to understand wiki/guide.

Any suggestions on what I need to do? Any sources that are very to understand about video filters when using vidcoder?

[blud7]

I have done a few encoding of animes that are originally 10bit to 8bit using Vidcoder with default high settings (H264, same fps as source, high profile lvl 4.2, rc-lookahead=50:ref=4:b-adapt=2, crf=16 and default video filters). Now, the results are not very satisfying because the video drastically deteriorates its quality.

I was thinking it has something to do with the video filters(detelecine, decomb, deblock, etc) settings that I haven't played with. I tried to research more into this but couldn't find an easy to understand wiki/guide.

Any suggestions on what I need to do? Any sources that are very to understand about video filters when using vidcoder?

1. What's the source? I know you said 10 bit, but is it from DVD or HD?
2. What is the target device for the video?
3. Are you resizing the video?
4. What reduction in quality are you seeing? Banding? Just general degradation?

I'm guessing you have downloaded some modern anime, chances are it isn't interlaced so you won't need detelecine or decomb. If it's high quality you shouldn't need deblock either. If I'm right about your source and you're using vidcoder, disable all the filters.

Leave this: rc-lookahead=50:ref=4:b-adapt=2 alone.

CRF16-18, High@4.1, tune=animation, preset=very slow should give you the best possible results.
If you are resizing, you may have need of filters.

[blinkmadden]

I have done a few encoding of animes that are originally 10bit to 8bit using Vidcoder with default high settings (H264, same fps as source, high profile lvl 4.2, rc-lookahead=50:ref=4:b-adapt=2, crf=16 and default video filters). Now, the results are not very satisfying because the video drastically deteriorates its quality.

I was thinking it has something to do with the video filters(detelecine, decomb, deblock, etc) settings that I haven't played with. I tried to research more into this but couldn't find an easy to understand wiki/guide.

Any suggestions on what I need to do? Any sources that are very to understand about video filters when using vidcoder?

1. What's the source? I know you said 10 bit, but is it from DVD or HD?
2. What is the target device for the video?
3. Are you resizing the video?
4. What reduction in quality are you seeing? Banding? Just general degradation?

I'm guessing you have downloaded some modern anime, chances are it isn't interlaced so you won't need detelecine or decomb. If it's high quality you shouldn't need deblock either. If I'm right about your source and you're using vidcoder, disable all the filters.

Leave this: rc-lookahead=50:ref=4:b-adapt=2 alone.

CRF16-18, High@4.1, tune=animation, preset=very slow should give you the best possible results.
If you are resizing, you may have need of filters.

1. Yes mostly HD (1080p/720p) and a few 480p older animes
2. Ps3 using showtime. Only 8bit video & strictly follows http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Levels
3. No resize. Same as source.
4. It's mostly general degradation. My fault, actually I used CRF 22 instead of 16 as posted above. After using CRF 16 plus the settings you mentioned, the 8bit video is pretty much the same as 10bit. No noticeable difference. I guess the very slow preset + CRF = 16 fixed it.

How about for older animes which aren't modern? Any thoughts on what usually needs to be set on filters?
Thanks much!!

[blud7]

Vidcoder doesn't have much filters. Since your video I'm assuming is progressive (not interlaced) just leave it.
You can use a denoise filter, but then again Vidcoder's is rudimentary and destructive.
And if there isn't much noise, which is generally the case with anime, don't bother.

Basically, if you're just transcoding from one format to another, don't worry too much about filters.
If you want to enhance your old videos, that's another story and not a job for Vidcoder.

I'll just add that x264 has an internal deblock filter which is adjusted by tune=animation.
I'm not sure if Vidcoder's deblock filter is the same, it may not be.

(If your older videos have issues, they need to be treated with specifically, eg combing, colour washing etc. and you'd need to provide screenshots / what you wanna do.)