Settings for good quality, small file on convert

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michaeljc70

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Settings for good quality, small file on convert

#1

Post by michaeljc70 » Sun Nov 04, 2012 10:47 pm

When I download a tv show (bit torrent), the files seem to be good quality and small file size. When I try to convert my SD WTV files, they are always huge or very poor quality.

I've tried several programs and codecs and settings. I am more interested in the settings than the program since most seem to use ffmpeg or mmencoder on the backend anyway.

I've seen some MKV that are quite compact and couldn't tell a difference in quality. I haven't been able to reproduce that in my conversions.

Anyone care to share settings they've had good results with?

choliscott

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#2

Post by choliscott » Mon Nov 05, 2012 4:55 am

I'm in the same boat as you in regards of trying to find the perfect file size & quality. Can I ask what programs have you tried to convert? I know there isn't too many programs that convert from the WTV format. The ones I have found is MCE Buddy, VideoRedo, HandBrake & MC TV Converter.

I took a SD 1 hr 5 min video (977 MB file size) & had it converted to Mp4 H264 video format, with AAC 128 Kbps audio. Using MCE Buddy & MC TV converter, the file size ended up being around 700 - 750 MB. When I used Handbrake, the video size ended up being 440 MB.

Mind you I should mention that I didn't remove any commercials from the original source

michaeljc70

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#3

Post by michaeljc70 » Mon Nov 05, 2012 2:59 pm

MCE Buddy, Handbrake and FreeMake are hte ones I can remember. I tried some others that were not worth remembering.

I think for an hour long show, SD, without cutting anything out, I am looking for something in the 300-400MB range. That is what I typically see in bit torrent.

I've matched the resolution (which they seem to be the same as my original recordings), so it must be in the audio or video bit rate.

I like MCE Buddy and would prefer using that. It has a lot of options for monitoring folders, ripping out commercials, etc.

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holidayboy

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#4

Post by holidayboy » Mon Nov 05, 2012 3:17 pm

Have you tried using MediaInfo to have a closer look at the codecs and bitrates used in your (legal!) torrent files?

http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en
Rob.

TGB.tv - the one stop shop for the more discerning Media Center user.

foxwood

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#5

Post by foxwood » Mon Nov 05, 2012 3:28 pm

choliscott wrote:I'm in the same boat as you in regards of trying to find the perfect file size & quality. Can I ask what programs have you tried to convert? I know there isn't too many programs that convert from the WTV format. The ones I have found is MCE Buddy, VideoRedo, HandBrake & MC TV Converter.
The open-source libraries that most encoders use have supported WTV for over a year, so most up-to-date tools can read WTV files, though the user interface may not make that obvious.

The key to getting a good quality small file is a 2 pass conversion, and it will take time - even on a fast CPU you have to put a lot in to get something little out! Those torrents don't show up an hour after the show is broadcast.

michaeljc70

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#6

Post by michaeljc70 » Mon Nov 05, 2012 3:36 pm

holidayboy wrote:Have you tried using MediaInfo to have a closer look at the codecs and bitrates used in your (legal!) torrent files?

http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en


I have. In MCE Buddy there are profiles and maybe one does what I want. I guess I'd have to dig into the config file to see the actual details (it just has a quality slider in the app).

michaeljc70

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#7

Post by michaeljc70 » Mon Nov 05, 2012 3:42 pm

Looking at the profiles in MCE Buddy, they are basically just command lines for the encoder. I am clueless though as to how to make them do what I want. Here is an example:

ffmpeg-video=-ss 3 -vf yadif=0:-1,hqdn3d -vcodec libx264 -b 2000k -flags +loop -cmp +chroma -deblock -1:-1 -bt 256k -refs 8 -bf 3 -b_strategy 2 -coder 1 -me_method hex -me_range 16 -subq 8 -partitions +parti4x4+parti8x8+partp8x8+partb8x8 -weightb 1 -mixed-refs 1 -8x8dct 1 -g 25 -keyint_min 20 -level 41 -trellis 2 -sc_threshold 40 -i_qfactor 0.71

I can pick out a few of the parameters, but the rest are Greek to me.

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#8

Post by crawfish » Mon Nov 05, 2012 3:50 pm

michaeljc70 wrote:Looking at the profiles in MCE Buddy, they are basically just command lines for the encoder. I am clueless though as to how to make them do what I want. Here is an example:

ffmpeg-video=-ss 3 -vf yadif=0:-1,hqdn3d -vcodec libx264 -b 2000k -flags +loop -cmp +chroma -deblock -1:-1 -bt 256k -refs 8 -bf 3 -b_strategy 2 -coder 1 -me_method hex -me_range 16 -subq 8 -partitions +parti4x4+parti8x8+partp8x8+partb8x8 -weightb 1 -mixed-refs 1 -8x8dct 1 -g 25 -keyint_min 20 -level 41 -trellis 2 -sc_threshold 40 -i_qfactor 0.71

I can pick out a few of the parameters, but the rest are Greek to me.
I would stick with Handbrake if possible and play with the Constant Quality "RF" value on the Video page. It's pretty much what they recommend you do. Setting it to higher values loses quality and gets you a smaller file size. You can use the "Preview" function to convert (say) 30 seconds to video and assess the quality and estimate file size for the entire video.

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