[MEncoder-users] lavc or xvid

[Vladimir Mosgalin]

Hi Alex Samad!

 On 2007.08.30 at 08:58:50 +1000, Alex Samad wrote next:

> This was my original thought, but a few emails, have suggested that xvid blurs 
> stuff...

It depends on what are you trying to get. If you are aiming at
low-bitrate encode and will use postprocessing on playback, use lavc. If
you want to preserve a lot of detail, you'd have to use high bitrate, no
postprocessing and definitely xvid..

xvid has a few very nice features like working (and useful) B-frames,
which aren't recommended for lavc for some reasons, so don't forget to
utilize them.

Also don't forget that 1-pass xvid encodes are absolutely useless. xvid
ignores bitrate on first pass, so never ever compare 1-pass xvid encode
to anything..

Try these xvid settings:
pass=1:bitrate=2000:min_iquant=1:max_iquant=3:min_pquant=1:max_pquant=5:min_bquant=2:max_bquant=8:me_quality=6:quant_type=mpeg:trellis:chroma_me:chroma_opt:max_bframes=2:hq_ac:vhq=1:bvhq=1:keyframe_boost=15

Note that you'll probably have to increase max_ parameters if you set
bitrate much lower. However, these settings aren't really suited for
bitrates lower than 1200-1500 (for dvd-sized video). You don't necessary
need 2k bitrate to get high quality encode, though.. On the other hand,
some material (esp. noisy one) needs even more if you want it to look
really good.

-- 

Vladimir