Topic: Why h264?

[Tofusensei]

Maybe I'm spoiled by my 3.2 Ghz P4 :X

-Tofu

[Hirvine]

Oh I just found out something very awfull if you install h.264 codec.
So I want to warn people about it.

When you select NORMALIZE (standaard checked) in the install it will normalize your sound 500% (5 times louder) giving a heck noisy sound, change it back to 100% and all is good again.
I don't know why it's standaard on 500%, but it really sound like hell if you just install  and play movies with it without setting normalize back to 100%.

So you have been warned,

[dr_ishmael]

Anyway, all I am saying is, the idea of h.264 using an insane amount of CPU to render is a myth. It uses no more CPU than xvid :X

Hm, that's odd, because I got similar results to ladoga's.  I have an Athlon 64 3000+, and I tracked CPU usage in Task Manager while playing the intro of Tsubasa Chronicle 01 in both xvid (left) and h.264 (right) formats.  Noise (CPU usage when idle) is between 0-2%.



As you can see, h.264 used about 10% more CPU on average than xvid.  Now, the 3000+ only runs at ~1.8 GHz, so that would be a difference of ~180 MHz, with actual usage of around 900 MHz for h.264 playback.

I still agree with Tofusensei that h.264 doesn't take an *insane* amount of CPU, but based on my results, it does indeed take more than xvid.

[Tofusensei]

h.264 DVD version is encoded at a higher resolution than the xvid one. 

h.264 = 768 x 432 = 331776 pixels
xvid = 704 x 360 = 253440 pixels

332776/253440 =1.3130366

so, the h.264 has 31.3% more pixels to decode than the xvid. So according to my math, the h.264 actually uses less CPU to decode. Interesting, huh?

-Tofu

[Hirvine]

h.264 DVD version is encoded at a higher resolution than the xvid one. 

h.264 = 768 x 432 = 331776 pixels
xvid = 704 x 360 = 253440 pixels

332776/253440 =1.3130366

so, the h.264 has 31.3% more pixels to decode than the xvid. So according to my math, the h.264 actually uses less CPU to decode. Interesting, huh?

-Tofu

Sheesh you got me there. I will remember that little math!

[evil]

wondering if any1 could help me, I enabled the h.264 on my ffdshow then when i play tsubasa chro. dvd 1 it has gray screens flashing ... is it my hardware prob or wat?

[dr_ishmael]

h.264 DVD version is encoded at a higher resolution than the xvid one. 

Durrr...   ^^;;;;;  Can't believe I missed that...

[NagoyaX]

If I install CCCP will it work?
caz i cant get it to work using method shown?
will it also work on VLC w/o using setup?

[mikala]

it's working without any problem on a fresh install of windows XP 2 & vlc 0.8.2

[3sgte]

h.264 DVD version is encoded at a higher resolution than the xvid one. 

h.264 = 768 x 432 = 331776 pixels
xvid = 704 x 360 = 253440 pixels

332776/253440 =1.3130366

so, the h.264 has 31.3% more pixels to decode than the xvid. So according to my math, the h.264 actually uses less CPU to decode. Interesting, huh?

-Tofu

Thanks for the clarifications.

[kokuryu]

The reason H.264 does not currently work IS because of super buggy code that is out there.  There are only 3 H.264 decoding codecs that work.  There is only ONE H.264 ENCODING codec that works.  That being said, nobody bothers to follow instructions when doing these encodes either, so the third problem is invalid H.264 encodes all over the place.

So far only ONE fansub group has actually produced a PROPER H.264 encoded file.  Their normal XVID encodes were 220+Mb.  The H.264 encoded file was 85Mb.  Nearly a 3 to 1 ratio in file size difference - for higher quality video and better sound to boot.

That being said, there are some excellent instructions out there to produce a H.264 file PROPERLY and get all the space savings and great video and audio out of it.  If all the fansub groups would use it, then maybe people might take the time to find out what type of install they have to go through to get H.264 to work on their systems.

Here are some tips:
(1) The most recent version of ffdshow wont work properly with it - you need a specific version
(2) MKV requires it
(3) There is a great OGG package that will work properly - if all you ever watch is OGG files
(4) The Satsuki Decoder Pack will do it with a past version, but not a recent version - the ffdshow issue
(5) You need the Microsoft H.264 releases for both Direct Show and VFW - good luck getting them!
(6) Buy QuickTime Pro and let everyone switch to using .MOV files - you can encode H.264 correctly using QT Pro...

Anyway - have fun!  It's a pain in the rear, but you need to support all 3 versions of H.264 that are out there since you won't know which encoder the person used...  Check out the Animesuki forums for their H.264 discussion threads for some definitive websites to visit and directions for encoding.

[Shikyo-san]

I´m useing the new ffdshow and the MatroskaSplitter.
Since that i have no problems and for encodeing X264-Full_r291B / x264-274.