x264vfw configuration in VirtualDub- please help

[ofir_a]

Hi to all,

I have an annoying problem.

I'm trying to configure my x264vfw compression in VD but all the guides i came across on the web are for a different version of x264vfw then i have.
1. I have tried to download from the guides page
2. I have tried to remove all compression applications from my PC and install only from the guide page

Noting helped, i keep coming to another version, please see attached pic



in case that my version in newer- where are all the other options?

Thanks!!!

[LigH.de]

Looks like they stuffed the content of three tabs in the old codec (May 2009) into one flat dialog in the current (March 2013).

The only way to have access to all encoder options is not to use a VfW codec, but a standalone x264 encoder.

The AVI container can't handle the advanced features of AVC video anyway (e.g. B-frames with multiple references, or references across I frames; can't separate I and IDR frames).

[ofir_a]

OK Thanks!

Can anyone please provide a guide to that version?

thanks again!

[LigH.de]

The most important change since 2009 was the introduction of the Preset + Tuning system. It's much easier now than ever before.

• Select a "Preset", depending on how much time you are willing to spend/waste. General recommendation: Not much slower than "slow".
• If you have a special kind of video material, select a "Tuning" which matches that (usual grain: "film"; as heavy as in 300: "grain"; clean CG: "animation"; not certain: none)

I will refuse to recommend any values for any other option. I do not even recommend using x264vfw at all.

[ofir_a]

So what do you recommend?

I'm making video of diamonds and my use is to upload to Youtube (need to be in the best practice for youtube)

Thanks

[El Heggunte]

Given that YouTube recompresses everything (and therefore, makes quality worse),
you'd better use a lossless codec (for example, UT Video) and uncompressed audio.

But if you insist on using x264VfW, then you should specify a non-AVI output in the Extra Options textbox

(I've got the build 2245 by Komisar, but I use it only for decoding & previewing in VirtualDub).

More info: http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings

[LigH.de]

I have no idea what "diamonds" means.

If you want to upload a video to YouTube, you can use MKV or MP4 instead of AVI as container. So you can use e.g. StaxRip (or MeGUI) as a modern converter which supports containers recommended for AVC video content.

Uploading lossless videos is quite a waste of bandwidth and will take ages if you don't have VDSL upload speed. Encoding with x264 to AVC using a rather small CRF value (~15-18) will be a sensible compromise.

[ofir_a]

I'm having a bit of hard time to follow your comments, i'm kinda a newbie.

"Diamonds"= real diamonds CHECK UP MY YOUTUBE ACCOUNT

[LigH.de]

Ah, OK, sorry. I thought "Diamonds" is a game, like "Candy Crush", and you are trying to encode "Let's Play" videos of screen recordings.
__

The current x264vfw seems to have several "Output mode" options. So I guess it is also able to write an additional H.264 video stream (outside of the AVI file VirtualDub would create), which you could multiplex into an MP4 or MKV file, together with an audio stream encoded to e.g. MP3 (using LAME) or AAC (using NeroAacEnc or QAAC).

[_Al_]

So you have that first picture available for settings? edit: I see the other pic, but never mind, it is all the same, go with defaults, change only that is described below,

Just set rate control single pass CRF , set to 18,

then you can check "use command line" and put extra commands in that extra option box, like:

--crf 18 --preset medium  --tune film --ref 3 --profile high --vbv-bufsize 35000 --vbv-maxrate 34000

where you might not even do that because hopefully x264vfw sets defaults if not stated , exactly what x264 does, and those defaults make sense in x264
x264 defaults:

-preset medium is default,
-tune none is default,
-profile and level will most likely be high @ 4.1 - I found those defaults always correct depending on video
-to set reference frames does not hurt like --ref 3 , because you might set preset slow and that will change number of reference frames, you want to keep in check that number (it is for youtube but it never hurts to make a decent encoding that you actually are able to play on hardware devices)
-those buffers is never a bad idea to set, to give your encodings some bitrate limit, even high, these values might set your default profile and level accordingly too, if not set otherwise (if I'm not mistaken), level depends on bitrate, frame rate, size of video, but nevertheless, your video will not reach 30.000 anyway, judging your samples

[DarrellS]

You are best off using the external encoder feature of the latest Virtualdub builds.

The command argument would be...

--crf 18 --preset medium --tune film --demuxer raw --input-csp i420 --input-res %(width)x%(height) --fps %(fpsnum)/%(fpsden) -o "%(tempvideofile)" -

copy and paste into the encoder profile

Here is a guide for using the external encoder feature...

http://forums.virtualdub.org/index.php?act=ST&f=3&t=18840&