Testing 265 encoding (cq 26 added, cq 30 deleted)

[ViRGE]

Quick note here as I'm busy with work this week and I saw that you're already releasing x265 releases (man, that was quick!).

If you want to keep releasing MP4 files instead of MKV files, that is trivial to do. Because you aren't using soft subs, the only real drawback of MP4 files (their limited subtitle support) isn't applicable here. MKV is well supported, but MP4 is still even more widely supported. So I would encourage you to keep your releases in MP4 to maximize compatibility (or rather, avoid any unnecessary compatibility loss).

Code: Select all

ffmpeg.exe -i input.mkv -map 0 -c copy output.mp4

This muxes the elementary video and audio streams into a MP4 container. The streams themselves aren't touched, so there's no encoding going on. And thus it also only takes a couple of seconds for the data to all be read/written.

Xmedia Recode (which is free) also makes this very easy if you just want to use a GUI.

And just out of curiosity, what quality setting/mode did you settle on?

[Kouryu]

Registered here so I can also give feedback on this new direction. How I miss the days when I posted on forums like this.

Anyways...

I also strongly suggest that you retain the MP4 format for your 1080p releases, even if they're now in the x265 format.

I'm not a video techie myself, but I think there's not much benefit from using MKV for this purpose since the only advantage of MKV over MP4 here is MKV's support for soft subtitles. Which, I assume, wouldn't matter if you're still doing hardsubs.

Besides, as mentioned previously, MP4 is much better supported than MKV when it comes to devices other than a computer. It's for this reason that I continue watching your releases, since I can watch them on my Smart TV with no issues.

So yes. I really hope that you re-consider using MKV for 1080p releases. Besides, I think x265 is still compatible with MP4?

Aside from that, everything else is good. I never watch in SD, anyway.

[HowlingSnail]

Yeah, I see no real reason to do MKV unless you were planning on switching to softsubs. It won't affect me, but I can see it affecting others.

And yeah, if people are still watching SD in this day and age, well, that's on them. Every modern device can handle HD content just fine.

[takenoko]

Ah good to know! I can repackage it into mp4s later. I should bug my other friend to see what else ffmpeg can do, since he's been bugging me to use it

>And just out of curiosity, what quality setting/mode did you settle on?

cq 25 slow. Maybe it's overkill considering the source, but I felt like I could tell there was stuff off in cq26. Probably will drop it to 26-27 for stuff like the tiktok which was low resolution/bitrate to begin with

[Chris Prime]

Long time European viewer who recently just registered here.
And I'm rather concerned with the tests here on my end.
Me and my friend had been watching via x264 mp4 for a long time, though it was 720p back then.

Though for the last few years we usually watched them via Samsung TV that I used from my family before moving out from apartment to apartment, and my Dad had given me a second hand Phillips tv to watch tv, though usually used it to watch either Tokusatsu or YouTube videos, mostly on x264 mp4 video files, since x265 doesn't work here.

I'm concerned about the changes given about switching and only a handful of x264 mkv files work on the old Phillips tv, to which most of the time, most of the other mkv files don't work due to file size, even if it is 1080p.

I'm not a tech savvy person, and all this jargon here in this thread makes no sense to me outside of: we have to find a better tv, but could take another year or so to obtain an affordable one.

All I mean to say is at least have the option for people like me and some of my friends to download a decent x264 mp4 file without having to resort to use other means, since the only device capable of playing the update is via my recent mobile phone that I got last Spring which took years for me to get at an affordable price.

[Kouryu]

Ah good to know! I can repackage it into mp4s later. I should bug my other friend to see what else ffmpeg can do, since he's been bugging me to use it

Now it's much better. Thanks for the hard work!

[takenoko]

Though for the last few years we usually watched them via Samsung TV that I used from my family before moving out from apartment to apartment, and my Dad had given me a second hand Phillips tv to watch tv, though usually used it to watch either Tokusatsu or YouTube videos, mostly on x264 mp4 video files, since x265 doesn't work here.

So the new mp4 versions didn't work? Do you mind telling me how you watch the videos? You mention the Blu-ray player/TV but how do you get the file on there?

If it's smart enough to have an internet connection, and your computer is on the same network, maybe you can have your computer run a media server. There's a few programs that can do that:

https://jellyfin.org/
https://www.ps3mediaserver.org/
http://tversity.com/

Once the media server is set up, you can open the media player on your TV/Blu-ray player and it'll play the file from your computer. I've been watching Elementary and reencoding it to x265 to have smaller files. I use Tversity to play them on my TV so I know that works at least

[ViRGE]

Ah good to know! I can repackage it into mp4s later. I should bug my other friend to see what else ffmpeg can do, since he's been bugging me to use it

Ha! Be very careful going down that rabbit hole. FFMPEG is incredibly powerful. You might lose yourself in it! (Since you use AVISynth, your entire encoding operation could be reduced down to a single command)

>And just out of curiosity, what quality setting/mode did you settle on?

cq 25 slow. Maybe it's overkill considering the source, but I felt like I could tell there was stuff off in cq26. Probably will drop it to 26-27 for stuff like the tiktok which was low resolution/bitrate to begin with

Makes sense. It may be a bit of overkill, but this codec upgrade has cut down on file sizes and improved on image quality, so I'm not going to complain.

All I mean to say is at least have the option for people like me and some of my friends to download a decent x264 mp4 file without having to resort to use other means, since the only device capable of playing the update is via my recent mobile phone that I got last Spring which took years for me to get at an affordable price.

Ultimately, even if the 1080p HEVC/H.265-encoded files don't work on your TV, the 720p files will. That compatibility edge case is why they're still being released.

[takenoko]

>FFMPEG is incredibly powerful. You might lose yourself in it! (Since you use AVISynth, your entire encoding operation could be reduced down to a single command)

Right now what I do is queue up the jobs in Megui and every week I use Notepad++ to update all the file names in the job files (so that I don't have to manually queue them up)

>Ultimately, even if the 1080p HEVC/H.265-encoded files don't work on your TV, the 720p files will. That compatibility edge case is why they're still being released.

Huh. is HEVC and 265 the same thing? I see the term sometimes like HEVC by itself or HEVC 265?

[ViRGE]

Huh. is HEVC and 265 the same thing? I see the term sometimes like HEVC by itself or HEVC 265?

HEVC and H.265 are the same thing, just as AVC/H.264 were as well. The naming is because it was developed by a joint ITU/ISO committee, each has their own naming sequence. So both names are thrown around interchangeably.

And x265 is the name of the popular open source encoder for H.265.

[Kouryu]

Though I would probably prefer it more if you just did this codec upgrading thing for a new series or something and still kept the 1080p H.264 codec for ongoing releases, just for consistency's sake.

But it's just me and my OCD, so just don't mind it.

[Chris Prime]

All I mean to say is at least have the option for people like me and some of my friends to download a decent x264 mp4 file without having to resort to use other means, since the only device capable of playing the update is via my recent mobile phone that I got last Spring which took years for me to get at an affordable price.

Ultimately, even if the 1080p HEVC/H.265-encoded files don't work on your TV, the 720p files will. That compatibility edge case is why they're still being released.
[/quote]

Okay, I may have gotten mixed up with x with the h words though.
So far, you're sorta right about the 720p mp4 still working, though my friend and I can't really understand all the tech speak as we're just wanting to watch downloaded anime/cartoons/British TV/Tokusatsu for most of the time alongside the usual recent big shows as we do tend to mix and match viewing order.

Still feeling concerned about the changes.

Though I would probably prefer it more if you just did this codec upgrading thing for a new series or something and still kept the 1080p H.264 codec for ongoing releases, just for consistency's sake.

But it's just me and my OCD, so just don't mind it.

Agreed to an extent due to m being an autistic person myself and the fast change can be kinda overwhelming for me.

[takenoko]

So the new files for the 1080 don't work still?

We all have different tech levels. It's nothing to be ashamed about

I guess my basic question is how you're watching the files on your TV? From there I can figure out what is and isn't working

[ViRGE]

I guess my basic question is how you're watching the files on your TV? From there I can figure out what is and isn't working

Most smart TVs have built-in video players. So it sounds like that's what they're using. Those tend not to support MKV containers, which is part of the reason that sticking with MP4 is beneficial.

[Kouryu]

I guess my basic question is how you're watching the files on your TV? From there I can figure out what is and isn't working

Usually, I just put my files on my USB flash drive and plug them into my Smart TV. I can then watch it from there.

I haven't checked yet with the newer files so I can't tell yet if it will work. But if it doesn't, it's fine.

I could screencast them over my phone.