x264 Help

[rorzg0d]

Hello. I'm trying to render a video which I recorded with Fraps and trying to keep as much of the quality as possible. I'm using x264 in sony vegas but I'm not sure of the best settings. I don't really care about the size or how long it takes, I just want it to look good.

I've tried using lossless but it keeps saying something about not having a codec which is capable or whatever...

Lastly, what should I put for these settings: http://prntscr.com/9t65t8

Sorry if this is in the wrong place or if this has been answered before.

[jagabo]

Set Rate Control to Constant Rate Factor (CRF). Then set the rate factor to 12 to 18 (the lower the better). Set Preset between Medium and Veryslow or Placebo, as slow as you can stand (the slower the better).

[KarMa]

Lossless x264 can cause some problems, or may it's the 999,999 bitrate you set which is causing problems. I would use CRF instead of ABR. A CRF of 18 is usually considered transparent but you can drop it down even further, with a CRF of 0 being truly lossless. I've just had trouble in the past with a CRF of 0 so would suggest something higher.

[LigH.de]

But this may still not be enough: x264 is optimized for natural video content, but PC games may have

a) sharper and more detailed content than real life (the 4:2:0 chroma subsampling is a sensible reduction of chrominance resolution for natural content but may smear the color of e.g. sharp narrow fonts and symbols of HUDs), and

b) a wider range of luminance and chrominance than natural content (so originally extremely saturated colors may not look just as saturated in the encode, except you add parameters to tell x264 to respect full range input).