AMV Encoders - A/V Sync Test

[Quu]

First 6 accounts are not real (phade is an AI), waldo was #1

[SailorDeath]

I didn't realise you intended to write an actual player of sorts. Really all that is needed is a build of mplayer-uau such as Kovensky compiles. The other important thing is to get con managers to enforce people use decent codecs/formats. The best possible setup would be x264 crf with FLAC in matroska.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA like you can ever expect people to do that.

[SailorDeath]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA like you can ever expect people to do that.

What I mean to say is that acen is one of the conventions that has some of the strictest rules when it comes to encoding. But if we were to dq even the slightest offender we'd have a contest for 5 to 10 entries.

[Zarxrax]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA like you can ever expect people to do that.

What I mean to say is that acen is one of the conventions that has some of the strictest rules when it comes to encoding. But if we were to dq even the slightest offender we'd have a contest for 5 to 10 entries.

I think it boils down to how difficult the process is.
For years, most everyone was told to use tmpgenc with a certain profile. The problem was tmpgenc expired after 30 days, so people would either have to buy it or pirate. Then it even became difficult to find a proper version of tmpgenc. Using other mpeg-2 encoders was a difficult chore, and even for those using tmpgenc, it was easy to mess up settings like the field order.

As long as people are given an easy way of making their video the correct format, there shouldn't be issues. For instance, at the time when it was still fairly difficult to encode to mp4 files, I released my Zarx264 encoding gui, and suddenly everyone was encoding their videos to mp4. A similar solution can get everyone encoding their convention videos to practically any specs you can come up with.

[Quu]

TMPGEnc was, sadly, the best option at the time

but times change, and we all adapt. Does the Zarx gui support presets? IE can there be a "Convention/Archive" preset and a "Web Release" preset? I have not played with it very much, since I am trying to avoid the "GUI"s in my testing, and focus on the components.

[SailorDeath]

TMPGEnc was, sadly, the best option at the time

but times change, and we all adapt. Does the Zarx gui support presets? IE can there be a "Convention/Archive" preset and a "Web Release" preset? I have not played with it very much, since I am trying to avoid the "GUI"s in my testing, and focus on the components.

I ususally just set the quantizer to about 10 and audio bitrate to the highest setting when converting an mp4 for convention purposes. TBH I'd like to find a compression scheme that has good video quality and takes up less space than the mpeg-2 archive we've been using. A 5 minute video takes approximatly 300 megs which I've seen 30 minute HD fansubs take up less space and have really beautiful picture quality. Though I admit to get that level of quality I may need to use more than Zarx but the whole technical aspect of video compression is not something I've been too interested in. No knock on Zarx intended, I love how it's simplified and the quality is good enough for me but I understand that if one manually sets their x264 settings and actually know what they're doing they can push a much better quality.

[Zarxrax]

but I understand that if one manually sets their x264 settings and actually know what they're doing they can push a much better quality.

Nah, that's mostly a myth really. There are tons of settings in x264, but most of them don't really make much sense to change outside of the presets. Almost every setting is simply a "this will make things slower but better" option. Other options which might have some effect, such as the psy settings are exposed in my gui for the user to tweak as they desire. But by using the presets (designed by the authors of x264, who would surely know what they are doing), you pretty much get the best quality.
I think the idea that there are some secret or nearly impossible to attain encoding settings that will magically make your encodes awesome, is an idea which is a throwback to the days of divx 3.11a and nandub, when the concept actually had a bit of merit.

TMPGEnc was, sadly, the best option at the time
but times change, and we all adapt. Does the Zarx gui support presets? IE can there be a "Convention/Archive" preset and a "Web Release" preset? I have not played with it very much, since I am trying to avoid the "GUI"s in my testing, and focus on the components.

It would definitely be possible for me to add a convention preset. But, it might be better to have a separate app altogether, specifically for conventions. Maybe it could even be crossplatform? For convention encoding, I think there's probably not really any need for having any options at all, save for maybe a "slow" and "fast" setting.

[Kionon]

Crossplatform please! Something I would be willing to test on Mac.

Also, sup Patrick?

[Quu]

I am primarily a java developer at work (at&t is a java house)... so I could write a cross platform GUI... would need some testing, but meh, that is what I do. I have been told that there is a jar2exe app for windows, and mac runs the auto execute jar files native. and if you run Linux, you already know how to do a command line. I have Windows and Linux covered, but don't have a mac to test with, if it came to that.

The first phase of the testing, is making sure the tools provide the proper sync and playback... which can be tested objectively... either it is in tolerances, or not. How do we do the second half, testing for quality? which encoder is best, etc... I am still thinking about that. I know some people say use APSNR or just PSNR, but to me, that leads to wrong results. Of course, based on our sync testing, it may not matter, if there is only one encoder that passes, not much cause for a check.

I wonder, what does the placebo setting on x264 mean, or is that identical to "very slow"

[Quu]

Crossplatform please! Something I would be willing to test on Mac.

Also, sup Patrick?

Hello, how are you doing?

I am liking cross platform, and for right now, it is one of my targets in testing.