Improve mp4 quality

Rank1

Newbie Joined: Jul 24, 2012 07:26 Messages: 35 Offline

Solved by

Aug 09, 2012 04:31

Hi,

I want to improve my 720p mp4 encodes as i believe i can get a bit better quality with the bitrate i am using.

I'll start with my specs first.

ASUS P9X79 PRO
i7-3930k
8gb Ram
GTX 580 DirectCU II
Win 7 64bit

The details on original video file.

Video: MPEG2 Video 1440x1080 (16:9) 29.97fps 25000kbps [Video - MPEG2, Main Profile, High1440 Level, 1440x1080, 29.970 fps, 25.00 mbit/s (0000,e0,00)]
Audio: MPEG Audio 48000Hz stereo 384kbps [Audio - MPEG1 - Layer 2, 48.0 kHz, 2 chn, 384.0 kbit/s

When i encode the file to mp4 these are the settings i am using.

1280x720
MPEG-4 AVC
Frame rate 29.97
Bitrate 5000kbps
High Profile
CABAC
Speed quality on high quality
deblocking is checked.

Fast video rendering technology "checked" with Hardware video encoder selected, can't select SVRT anyway.

Now once the file encodes it doesn't take very long maybe 10-15minutes? the quality is decent but i believe it can look better. I also don't want to change the bitrate as the file size is big enough and this is pretty standard bitrate for 720p.

I have also noticed that before i start encoding if i uncheck the "fast video rendering technology" which removes the hardware video encoder. I actually get better quality, i have compared both videos and the one without the fast video technology has much more clear detail, in fact i am happy with this quality, the only problem is, with this method i notice that some bits of the video get jittery and blocky at times?

Anyway i want to ask some of the experts if there is some other settings i can change that might result in better quality and why is some bits getting blocky when i uncheck fast video technology?

Thank you
Karaarslan

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Aug 09. 2012 04:32

Robert2 S

Senior Contributor Location: Australia Joined: Apr 22, 2009 05:57 Messages: 1461 Offline

Aug 09, 2012 07:02

During my testing over the years here are a few things I found.

1. The best results I have found start with getting the best raw footage in the first place. (I know it is pretty obvious but some people start out with Standard definition video and want to produce High Definition video)

2. Slightly increasing the bit-rate during producing slightly improves quality up to a point. I have found slight increase in quality with 12MBps raw video being produced at 17 MBps but no increase in quality over this other than just producing huge files.

3. Best results are achieved producing to the same format as the original video. E.G. Recorded using .mpeg4 produce to mpeg4. Recorded using H.264 produce to H.264.

4. if you have a GoPro video camera "Video Enhancement" 1/4-1/2 slider really makes a difference

Your findings about un-checking the "fast video rendering technology" has been reported here in the past.

Re the blocky video, sorry, I don't know why.

Cheers

Robert2 S

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Aug 09. 2012 07:50

My youtube channel====> http://www.youtube.com/user/relate2?feature=mhsn

stevek

Senior Contributor Location: Houston, Texas USA Joined: Jan 25, 2011 12:18 Messages: 4663 Offline

Aug 09, 2012 08:02

Quick question - why are you trying to encode to 720 when you are starting with 1080?

Are you making a blu-ray or AVCHD disc to play on a blu-ray player? Thos are really the only two ways of having high definition ; either 720 or 1080. If not, and if you are making a standard definition disc, then you don't have 720 but you have 480.

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Rank1

Newbie Joined: Jul 24, 2012 07:26 Messages: 35 Offline

Aug 09, 2012 09:28

Thanks for the reply guys.

The videos are being uploaded to a site and the original files are over 7gb. That is why i am encoding them to 720p to bring the file size down and keep the best possible quality within doing that.

I don't think there is enough options in PD, it seems a bit limited when it comes to encoding. I believe if i was able to encode at a slower speed with high settings, I'd get much better result rather than PD rushing the encoding process.

Carl312

Senior Contributor Location: Texas, USA Joined: Mar 16, 2010 20:11 Messages: 9090 Offline

Aug 09, 2012 10:30

Quote: Thanks for the reply guys.

The videos are being uploaded to a site and the original files are over 7gb. That is why i am encoding them to 720p to bring the file size down and keep the best possible quality within doing that.

I don't think there is enough options in PD, it seems a bit limited when it comes to encoding. I believe if i was able to encode at a slower speed with high settings, I'd get much better result rather than PD rushing the encoding process.

If you are uploading video you should check out the 720P WMV (WMV 9 HD Standard Quality).
(Turn off HA) (HA sometimes creates artifacts).

That produces the smallest 720p files for uploading, I don't think you can tell the difference between the MP4 720P and the WMV 720P video.

Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.