[MEncoder-users] Call for video encoding settings

[Corey Hickey]

Guillaume POIRIER wrote:
> Hello folks,
> I'd like to add some encoding settings examples in our HTML
> documentation. Those settings off course highly depend on personal
> preferences, so highlighting a certain encoding setting as "very high
> quality", "high quality", "fast", and "realtime" won't probably make
> everyone happy, but I guess it'll still be better than having nothing.
> 
> Here is what I propose (for lavc MPEG-4, XviD and x264, but I'm also
> interested in MPEG-2, wmv... settings, also long as it's supported by
> MEncoder off course).
> 
>  * Very High Quality:
> lacv: ?

That's an interesting question... It's been a long time since I did any
big lavc comparisons, but I'll submit my personal favorite combination
and the reasons I use each option. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's
the best, but it's a path in the right direction. These are tuned
specifically for color non-animated video with low graininess. I don't
encode much else.

mbd=2:mv0:trell:cbp:precmp=2:cmp=2:subcmp=2:predia=2:dia=2:preme=2:vme=5:naq:v4mv:qns=2


----------------Justifications------------------

mbd=2:mv0:trell:cbp

Based on personal experimentation, these options should never hurt. Note
that in the (rather old) post linked below I say I like a certain set of
options; ignore that, the set above is much better.
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.video.mplayer.user/22016/

precmp=2:cmp=2:subcmp=2

Although *cmp=6 gave very slightly higher PSNR on my test clip, *cmp=2
looked very slightly better in a frame-by-frame comparison.

predia=2:dia=2:preme=2:vme=5:naq

All these individually gave slightly higher PSNR on my test clip, and
didn't seem to make a visual difference.

v4mv

Gave somewhat higher PSNR and looked a bit better.

qns=2

Qns lowers PSNR slightly but ends up dramatically reducing the amount of
ringing artifacts around sharp borders. This makes a large difference
when bitrate is low enough that ringing would normally be there, but
little difference when bitrate is already high enough to alleviate the
ringing. There doesn't seem to be any adverse effect to using it when
it's not needed, though.
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.video.mplayer.user/26054/
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.video.mplayer.user/26148/

-Corey