If you’re comparing codecs with video quality metrics, you should consider tuning for that metric. However, x264 and x265 don’t have a VMAF tuning option. According to my analysis, it appears that tuning for PSNR is the best option and one you should strongly consider. When working with VP9, there’s an additional complication; tuning for PSNR doesn’t appear to work. …
Read More »Search Results for: x265
FFmpeg to the Rescue: Decoding Files into RAM for Decode Testing
Open and Closed GOPs – All You Need to Know
This article defines open and closed GOPs, identifies why closed GOPs are better, and details how to produce closed GOPs in FFmpeg with x264 and x265. The level of testing and analysis detailed here is consistent with the instruction in my book, Learn to Produce Videos with FFmpeg In 30 Minutes or Less ($34.95), and my course, FFmpeg for Adaptive …
Read More »NETINT Transcoder Tops in Subjective HEVC Benchmark Comparison
On September 11, 2019, Streaming Media Magazine published an article entitled Hardware-Based Transcoding Solutions Roundup: Testing Performance, that compared various H.264 and HEVC encoders using objective and subjective testing. The HEVC encoders tested included Intel’s SVT (Scalable Video Technology)-HEVC, a software-based codec; NGCodec’s FPGA-based HEVC encoder (now owned by Xilinx) and x265 using the medium and veryfast presets. After the …
Read More »What Is VVC?
Versatile Video Coding (VVC) is a codec “drafted by a joint collaborative team of ITU-T and ISO/IEC experts known as the Joint Video Experts Team (JVET), which is a partnership of the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) and the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG),” as MPEG explains. The codec is designed to meet upcoming needs in videoconferencing, OTT streaming, mobile telephony, …
Read More »Choosing an x264 Preset
All codecs and encoding tools have a configuration option that controls the quality/encoding time tradeoff. With x264 (and x265) the preset controls that tradeoff. When choosing a preset you should consider 3 criteria: Overall quality – the overall quality produced by that preset Low frame quality – the quality of the lowest frame produced by that preset, which indicates the …
Read More »Here’s What I’m Teaching at Streaming Media West Next Month
Streaming Media West is coming up next month in the City of Los Angeles (as opposed to Huntington Beach where it’s been the last few years). Specifically, it’s at the Westin Bonaventure on November 19-20 (Tuesday/Wednesday) with pre-conference sessions on Monday the 18th. I’ll be my normal busy self with two pre-conference sessions and several presentations. Here are the dates, …
Read More »Buyers’ Guide to Per-Title Encoding
After three years or so in gestation, per-title encoding is becoming a required feature on most encoding platforms, whether in-house software or SaaS cloud providers. In this buyers’ guide, we’ll review a list of features to look for in per-title encoding offerings and present a testing structure to evaluate the contenders that make it to your short list. If you’re …
Read More »Benchmarking FFmpeg’s Hardware Codecs – Download Handout
Here’s the description; download handout here. SME-2019 – FFmpeg Hardware VES101. Benchmarking FFmpeg’s Hardware Codecs Tuesday, May 7: 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Hardware codecs in FFmpeg like those from Intel and NVIDIA deliver significant performance gains over x264/x265, but have a reputation for lower quality and use a completely different command set. This session benchmarks the performance and quality of …
Read More »Good News: AV1 Encoding Times Drop to Near-Reasonable Levels
When I first tested AV1 encoding back in August 2018 encoding times were glacial and seriously detracted from the potential usability of the codec. Table 1 from that story tells the tale. Unless otherwise indicated, all encoding times are on my HP ZBook notebook powered by a single 2.8 GHz Intel Xeon E3-1505M v5 CPU. In addition, LibVPx is the …
Read More »