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+--- Thread: [XBOX] HOW-TO encode videos in H.264 to be able to achieve playback on the Xbox (/showthread.php?tid=33429)
- JPSiemer - 2008-05-28 22:24
Chinese talking when skipping through scenes? Witchdoctor, I think your problem is that you are encoding more than 1 audio track. On the main screen of MeGUI, make sure that there is only a tab titled "Track 1", if you see "Track 2" or "Track 3" or more, then turn those tracks off by pressing the "X" button under the track's tab.
And about not being able to skip scenes... I had the same problem you are experiencing when trying to skip scenes with the .MP4 container. Looks as though my settings do not play well with these older containers, probably due to the fact that we are encoding our files with advanced settings.
Anyways, the good news is you don't have to re-encode, you can just remux the file to MKV with a program called "MKVMerge" and deselect the Audio tracks you don't need (just need one English track). Remuxing only takes a matter of a minute or so, even with 2GB files. The bad news is that it looks like you can't use a MKV with your UpNp, so I'm not sure what to tell you...
Usage with HandBrake - geosmack - 2008-05-29 00:15
Great work on finding these settings.
My fastest computer is Linux only so I wanted to use the HandBrakeCLI to encode. I rewrote the command line for HandBrake and was able to create an MKV file with no problems. I prefer to just pass through the AC3 audio instead of transcoding to aac, but either way works fine.
Here is my HandBrakeCLI command
~/HandBrakeCLI -f mkv -e x264 -b xxxx -E ac3 -U -F -N eng -x ref=5:mixed-refs=1:bframes=4:direct=auto:b-pyramid=1:weightb=1:brdo=1:bime=1:me=umh:8x8dct=1:trellis=1:no-fast-pskip=1:vbv-bufsize=1500:vbv-maxrate=5000:nr=0:subme=7:no-psnr=1:no-ssim=1:ratetol=4.0:nf=1:subme=7:partitions=all l -i DVD.ISO -o movie.mkv
This will encode the main movie to MKV format. I ran some test encodings with a couple of chapters from a movie and it played fine on XBMC.
So far it looks great, seeking is much improved over my previous set of options, and I get to use the original AC3 for sound.
Please let me know if I missed anything. Thanks.
- JPSiemer - 2008-05-29 01:29
Geosmack, you are missing: keyint=480:min-keyint=24. Not sure how much of an effect it has, but if it's not neccessary then let me know... Also, you didn't use the custom CQM, and opted for Trellis=1 ... I wonder how much of a difference there is? I heard the EQM_AVC_HR.cfg CQM is really efficient...
I like how you pass-through the original AC3, is there a way to do this in MeGUI? The only option I have seen is to actually re-encode the AC3 to AC3, which to me seems like an unneccessary step...
Also, amazing how you were able to get my settings to work on Handbrake. I never used the CLI version, but I used the GUI for Windows and my videos were coming out all skippy... That is why I switched over to MeGUI.
Anyways, thanks for the report... Good to see its working well for others... Now, only if we could get the scene to make it a standard! I am thinking of coining the name "xBox264" for Xbox-compatible H.264 videos encoded with the x264 encoder. What do ya guys think? Lets get the ball rolling on this...
Handbrake - geosmack - 2008-05-29 02:18
I added these options in and ran a test encode. There was heavy stuttering and jerkiness to the picture. After a couple of tests I found keyint=480:min-keyint=24 to be the culprits. I removed them and everything seems to work just fine. I am not sure if these are needed or just need to be adjusted.
Here is my final command line:
~/HandBrakeCLI -f mkv -e x264 -E ac3 -U -F -N eng -x ref=5:mixed-refs=1:bframes=4:direct=auto:b-pyramid=1:weightb=1:brdo=1:bime=1:me=umh:8x8dct=1:no-fast-pskip=1:vbv-bufsize=1500:vbv-maxrate=5000:nr=0:subme=7:no-psnr=1:no-ssim=1:ratetol=4.0:nf=1:subme=7:partitions=all:cqmfile=/path/eqm_avc_hr.cfg
-i DVD.ISO -o movie.mkv -b xxxx
Also, I think your suggested naming standard is great.
- JPSiemer - 2008-05-29 04:57
Well, I believe that most encoding programs default to keyint=240:min-keyint=24 & keyint=250:min-keyint=25, depending on your framerate -- usually 23.976 (24) or 25 FPS... Handbrake automatically sets it to one of these two based on your framerate.
I set mine to keyint=480:min-keyint=24 & keyint=500:min-keyint=25 because it sets double the keyframes... Again, i'm no expert on what it does, but I think it adds a lot more information to the file, and that might be why you are experiencing the jerkiness.
Again, thanks for your input Geosmack... i might do a couple tests with and without this set and see if it changes anything for me... Also, did you find that using the CQM was any better than setting Trellis?
What do other people think about setting the keyint value? does it work better or worse for you guys?
Info about the Upnp... - Witchdoctor - 2008-05-29 06:51
JP I still don't know why I get sync issues with the Neroaac. But any video I encode using the original sound I get perfect sync. Now for the Upnp issue I figured that one out. There seems to be an issue with XBMC when using the skipping options using Upnp sources. However if you connect via SMB everything works fine. So with that said the container can be MKV, AVI, or MP4 (MKV) being the favorite here
as long as you use SMB.I want to try those settings for Handbreak... Megui is not newb friendly lol.
- JPSiemer - 2008-05-29 10:54
Witchdoctor, ya if the original AC3's work for you, then great! I only prefer AAC because it is supposedly better and compresses smaller... well, at least I read that it was better! I don't mind compressing something if I don't notice the difference...
Let me know what kind of progress you get with Handbrake... they aren't using the latest x264 version, but my xBox264 settings should still get you good results according to Geosmack's report!
- JPSiemer - 2008-05-29 10:57
Oh, I wanted to ask you guys... how are my suggested bitrates holding up? Obviously, I didn't test each and every one, so I would like to know if they are working out or if they need adjusting...
- geosmack - 2008-05-29 17:02
I did a couple of encodings with my settings from above and I think they looked great. I have an older 50" HDTV and I would say the mkv looked 99% as good as the DVD (played both through XBMC).
Also, has anyone else noticed a slight shift to the green in the picture of the encoded file? I'm not sure if it's just my imagination or a real issue.
- geosmack - 2008-05-29 17:09
Regarding the bitrate question, I used bitrates between 1100 and 1200 and it seemed fine to me. I did some tests at higher bitrates and any noticeable difference wasn't enough to warrant the extra space. A 90 minute movie with AC3 sound and a 1200 bitrate comes out to just under a gig. I like this since this will fit onto a cheap 1 gig flash drive and gives a great picture. For longer movies, I would probably go to 1.4 gigs.