Worthwhile to convert video to h.265?
#1
Thanks in advance to anyone who chimes in! I figured some folks on this forum might have thoughts on this...

So I noted this in XBMC's, ahem, I mean, Kodi's new feature list:
"FFmpeg upgrade, this means Kodi will now be capable of playing back h.265 (also known as HEVC) and VP9 video codecs"

I had no idea what that meant, so did a LITTLE reading on it. Apparently it's basically a great, new-ish video encode that supposedly results in great looking video (almost indistinguishable from lossless some say?) while taking up significantly less storage space than typical codecs.

I backup my movie collection (DVDs and Blu-rays) to my server for use with XBMC/Kodi with MakeMKV. I like it because it's simple AND I think it takes the video/audio from the disc without degrading the quality found on the original medium.

So, I guess my questions are...
1. If one was interested in benefiting from the quality and efficiency of the h.265 codec, does anyone more knowledgeable on the subject have any opinions on whether or not it would be worthwhile?
2. Are there specific drawbacks (besides the time sink!) to doing so I might not be thinking about?
3. What's the best way to do it? -any relatively simple software that anyone would recommend?
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#2
I'd suggest that, if you've never really had the urge to re-encode to H.264 in the past, then you're not really going to get anything (except 'older') by doing this in the future.

HEVC will save disc space, sure, but you will lose some minor quality versus what you have now. It'll also put a higher demand on your playback clients, since it's CPU-intensive to decode as well as CPU-intensive to encode.

I'm sure someone will leap in and cry BUT IT'S THE FUTURE!, and they'd be right - when we get there. For now, software is all in flux, hardware hasn't caught up, and I see no compelling case to re-encode what you have.

Opinion only, YMMV, your home is at risk if you fail to keep up repayments on a mortgage or other loan secured against it, etc., etc., etc.
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#3
If you don't run an i7 class processor, you will regret that choice Smile
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#4
Both good points... Thanks!
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#5
Makemkv rips in the same quality as the original DVD /bluray. Re-encoding will decrease that quality, besides what the other posters have said.
If I have helped you or increased your knowledge, click the 'thumbs up' button to give thanks :) (People with less than 20 posts won't see the "thumbs up" button.)
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#6
I seriously doubt that HEVC achieves 'Near Lossless' results. The human brain is just easy to trick, even 95% of people couldn't tell a decent h.264 re-encode from the original bluray... Or even the original uncompressed format that was given to the encoder when they were authoring the Blu-Ray disc.

In addition to that, making a lossy re-encode of a lossy file always adds more compression artifacts. It would also be a HUGE investment of CPU time.
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Worthwhile to convert video to h.265?0