Where do I get H.264 compression?

[jettman]

I have just heard about H.264 compression. Where do I get a tool to turn a DVD or MPEG-2 into H.264 compression?

[SHS]

QuickTime, WMV, DivX and XviD

[jettman]

I think I don't understand what H.264 is.
So is it the same thing as Divx, Xvid, etc.? Are there any differences?

[PGPfan]

If I'm not mistaken, H.264 is for all intent and purpose the latest and greatest of the Mpeg-4 codecs. It is capable of the highest quality/most compression currently available. The downside is that it takes a lot of horsepower from your CPU to both encode and decode the format. No hardware H.264 encoder exists as far as I know.

-PGPfan

[SHS]

No hardware H.264 encoder

There is some out there but mostly only found in surveillance market applications
http://www.dspr.com/www/products/vid...oder_v640x.htm

[lobosrul]

Nero is the easiest way to encode to h.264 AVC. Try out their demo. Also theres a free codec called x.264. The best gui ive found for it is called Staxrip (http://www.planetdvb.net/staxrip/) , buts its not for newbies.

[dvd_maniac]

Nero is the easiest way to encode to h.264 AVC. Try out their demo. Also theres a free codec called x.264. The best gui ive found for it is called Staxrip (http://www.planetdvb.net/staxrip/) , buts its not for newbies.

I agree that Nero is easiest, but I think Staxrip is for newbies.
It pretty much tells you what to do on the bottom left and pops-up a message if you need something else installed.

The deciding factor for me was when I went Dual-Core. X264 is a SMP optimized encoder where Nero will only utilize one core. So I get twice as many FPS using X264 then Nero. X264 also uses the "High Profile" version of H2.64. Nero uses the older "Main Profile".
Translation: Better quality and faster encoding. Worth the little extra learning curve IMHO.

[jettman]

Originally Posted by dvd_maniac

I agree that Nero is easiest, but I think Staxrip is for newbies.
It pretty much tells you what to do on the bottom left and pops-up a message if you need something else installed.

The deciding factor for me was when I went Dual-Core. X264 is a SMP optimized encoder where Nero will only utilize one core. So I get twice as many FPS using X264 then Nero. X264 also uses the "High Profile" version of H2.64. Nero uses the older "Main Profile".
Translation: Better quality and faster encoding. Worth the little extra learning curve IMHO.

dvd_maniac,
I downloaded StaxRip and got all of the programs installed.
I have a general question. Under Profiles|Encoder, there is Divx Pro, Xvid, and X264. What is the differece between X264 and Divx Pro or Xvid?
Also, as far as dual core, is it the program (staxrip) or the codec (ie. Divx Pro, Xvid, X264) that allow it to use the dual core?

[dvd_maniac]

Staxrip only supports Xvid in ASP(Simple) or H.263 (Comparable to Divx) Xvid only recently started coding for AVC(Advanced) or H.264. Divx Pro is IMHO not even as good as xvid. X264 High Profile should give you roughly the same quality at HALF the bitrate as Xvid or Divx Pro would.

What I recommend you use is X264 CE-HighProfile with HE AAC 50-70 audio.
You can also edit the Audio profile for lower bitrates if you want. I use 40kbps myslef Giving you a little more for video quality.
Once you have picked the profiles and set the bitrate for what you usually use click on file: Default Project: Save...
This will save you from doing it everytime you open a file.

Another thing you can do to save time is if you are doing the same TV show to get the whole series, Once you run compressability Test a few times note the resolution, bitrate to get the optimal quality and AR. The same series usually gives you the same compressability so you can skip the Comp test after doing a show a few times.

As far as the Threads click on Codec Configuration, Advanced Tab, Input/Output and change threads to 2. (!!!Do this before you save the default project or it will convert back to 1 when you import another video!!!)

The SMP support is built into the Codec, not in Staxrip. So you can use another front-end like MeGUI or even CLI if you want. But I find Staxrip to be a lot easier to work with.

Good Luck!!!

[jettman]

dvd_maniac,
I tried the settings you said and it worked great.
I converted a DVD. The output size would essentially fit on a DVD.
I used the X264 encoder.
Is there a way to control the output size?

[dvd_maniac]

when you open the program on the right under target you should see where it says ""SIZE" and next to it it says "VIDEO BITRATE"?

Just change the size to what you want in MegaBytes.

The output size would essentially fit on a DVD.

This would be a huge waste of time. It wouldn't really look any better then if you shrink a movie to fit on a CD-r. I typically shrink a 90 minute movie down to 400MB and it looks great on my 57" HDTV hooked up with S-Video.
If you have, or plan to have your HDTV hooked up with HDMI, DVI or Component then you might want to up it to like 700MB and that will allow you to keep a decent resolution. (somewhere near 528x416) and still have the quality between 65-70%.

Hope this helps out...

[jettman]

Sorry, I meant that it would fit onto a CD.

Thanks, that helps.

[lobosrul]

dvd_maniac, is there a way for staxrip to read individual titles off a DVD (like nero does). Thats the one feature i feal its truely lacking.

For instance, on any firefly DVD the VOB's are a bit jumbled. There will be some menus in between episodes, and on some DVD's i want to keep some special features, or none at all. This is much easier to do in nero. However staxrip is definantly 15-20% faster even with a single core cpu. That and nero may have some compatibility issues if sage ever has h.264 support.

One other thing i dont like is staxrips chapter support. I want to put a chapter beggining at each episode/special feature of a DVD (a movie with special features i dont much care about the chapters). However thats fairly easy to accomplish with YAMB.

[dvd_maniac]

I have done very little encoding with Staxrip and DVDs. I usually rip with Stream Processing enabled under IFO mode and demux Audio/Video and have it create a chapter file to import into Staxrip. I also disable file splitting for simplicity, and finally I rip one Episode at a time. You could also do the same for the extras as they are not that big and will import quickly. Open the Crop dialog to make sure you have the right extra. I understand that Nero is easier and Staxrip will not always work for every situation.
I stated this somewhere before that I still use Nero Recode for my DVD's because of the added tasks of ripping Subtitles, finding out which title I want etc... But I do use it for all my Sage recordings. If I had more free time though I would definitely take advantage of the superior quality and speed of X264 & Staxrip.
So to answer your question "NO" staxrip will not read the individual titles of a "FULLY" ripped DVD. You have to rip it correctly for import into Staxrip. Most episode discs have an extra COMBINED title that has all the episodes together though. Do you have much ripping experience or do you usually rip full disc in FILE mode?

[lobosrul]

Ive pretty much always just ripped with default settings. I know i tried IFO mode or some such once but could not playback (i cant check what i did now im at work).

Nero ALWAYS does one title to one seperate file, a bit annoying sometimes, but again, with YAMB putting all the mp4's back together is no problem.

[dvd_maniac]

I prefer each episode or extra to be in it's own file myself.

Ripping in IFO mode usually saves time as it only rips what you want it to rip.