[Question] Regarding Video Encoding

[TheFluff]

Originally Posted by HauntingShock

If I just remux it I would not be able to hardsub it, right?

don't hardsub

Originally Posted by HauntingShock

Edit: Isn't 2-pass recommendable? I saw threads saying it was good?

"I heard it on the internet, so it must be true"
2-pass is "good" if you want to spend 25-50% more time on an encode just to hit an exact filesize. if you don't care about the exact filesize (hint: you almost never do, or at least you almost never should), use crf. it's the same quality as 2-pass, but runs much faster (since it's only one pass).

[HauntingShock]

Okay, I did my research and I somehow understand it now a bit better



I'll experiment with the settings I would prefer for the meantime.

[HauntingShock]

I'm satisfied with crf 20 slower....but it's really tiring to wait it finish encoding...


is it alright if it's just the "slow" preset? and will there be any significant results if I changed the default "20" value of crf? is it better if I raise it or lower it?

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by HauntingShock

I'm satisfied with crf 20 slower....but it's really tiring to wait it finish encoding...


is it alright if it's just the "slow" preset? and will there be any significant results if I changed the default "20" value of crf? is it better if I raise it or lower it?

Like I said in my response above: Changing the number higher = smaller file size, worse quality. Lower = bigger file size, better quality. 14-16 = near flawless, 17-22, high quality, 23-28 medium quality... would be a rough guide.

The "preset" is what governs the encoding time. Changing that to, for example, medium or fast will give bigger file sizes, faster encode times, and keep the quality about the same at the same crf.

[HauntingShock]

Originally Posted by Quarkboy

Like I said in my response above: Changing the number higher = smaller file size, worse quality. Lower = bigger file size, better quality. 14-16 = near flawless, 17-22, high quality, 23-28 medium quality... would be a rough guide.

The "preset" is what governs the encoding time. Changing that to, for example, medium or fast will give bigger file sizes, faster encode times, and keep the quality about the same at the same crf.

So the quality depends on the "value" while the "presets" have nothing to do with video quality but plays a role in maintaining file sizes?

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by HauntingShock

So the quality depends on the "value" while the "presets" have nothing to do with video quality but plays a role in maintaining file sizes?

The presets basically tell the encoder how hard to work. The slow the preset the more searching the encoder does to find the perfect compression method.
The longer it searches, the better the compression, hence, the better the quality per filesize.

[HauntingShock]

So it's just a matter of combinations...


I guess I'll stick with my current settings

[HauntingShock]

Guys, another question, how do you soft sub? I mean, when I use scipts with MeGUI, it produces hardsubs, so I tried mkvmerge to merge the .ass file with the video but there's still no sub whenever I view the video with VLC player...


Edit: and what code should I use to resize a video to 1280x720 ? I don't want to use the script creator...

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by HauntingShock

Guys, another question, how do you soft sub? I mean, when I use scipts with MeGUI, it produces hardsubs, so I tried mkvmerge to merge the .ass file with the video but there's still no sub whenever I view the video with VLC player...


Edit: and what code should I use to resize a video to 1280x720 ? I don't want to use the script creator...

You've got a plethera of resizing functions in Avisynth:
http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Resize

Read up.

[HauntingShock]

Originally Posted by Quarkboy

You've got a plethera of resizing functions in Avisynth:
http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Resize

Read up.

Thanks! I chose Lanczos4Resize cause it looks like it's the best for downsizing

Originally Posted by HauntingShock

Guys, another question, how do you soft sub? I mean, when I use scipts with MeGUI, it produces hardsubs, so I tried mkvmerge to merge the .ass file with the video but there's still no sub whenever I view the video with VLC player...

Now all that's left is this...


Edit: lol another thought came to my mind...though it's unrelated to those topics...

Let's say I have a 55mb video, and I will reencode it using lossless settings....is the maximum file size I would be able to get only limited to 55mb?

[sneaker]

Originally Posted by HauntingShock

Guys, another question, how do you soft sub? I mean, when I use scipts with MeGUI, it produces hardsubs, so I tried mkvmerge to merge the .ass file with the video but there's still no sub whenever I view the video with VLC player...[/size]

It should be as simple as dropping the subtitle onto mkvmerge and muxing it. Try again (and make sure you're mkvmerge version isn't outdated, there was a version with broken subtitle muxing some time ago.)

Originally Posted by HauntingShock

Let's say I have a 55mb video, and I will reencode it using lossless settings....is the maximum file size I would be able to get only limited to 55mb?

No. Lossless codecs don't further compress the already compressed data, but instead the uncompressed data that comes from the lossy video decoder. Resulting file size could be several gigabytes.

[HauntingShock]

My Mkvmerge' version is 5.4.0 ....

I tried it again but the subs doesn't really show up...

What I did:

• Open Mkvmerge
• Drop in Filename.mp4
• Drop in SameFilename.ass
• Mux

Nothing happened.

I tried doing the same thing but used a different filename for the .ass file.

Nothing happened.

[DreGon45]

It's either your media player's settings or you have them toggled off. What media player are you using.

[HauntingShock]

Originally Posted by DreGon45

It's either your media player's settings or you have them toggled off. What media player are you using.

I use VLC Media Player.

Here's some pics so you could help me better.


Pic showing the supposedly subtitle file


Muxing the files


Playing them in VLC Player


Hope you could help...

[Desbreko]

Try moving the video track to the top. On a couple occasions, I've had subs not display when the video wasn't the first track.

[HauntingShock]

Originally Posted by Desbreko

Try moving the video track to the top. On a couple occasions, I've had subs not display when the video wasn't the first track.

Didn't work...


Edit: lol just recently read this at aegisub site

Softsubbing

Softsubbing a video can be done in several ways. On Windows using a DirectShow player, such as Media Player Classic, ZoomPlayer or even Windows Media Player, you need VSFilter installed to view the subtitles. If you use MPlayer, you need libass and FontConfig compiled to correctly view all the formatting. Please note that VLC does currently not support softsubs very well; it is strongly recommended that you avoid it for viewing softsubbed files.

Gotta try other players


Edit 2:

Guys what players are you using? I really like how WMP handles my videos so I really don't feel like changing to other players...but I heard that the CCCP pack isn't recommendable...

[Desbreko]

VLC still isn't recommended, but the latest version should be able to display soft-subs okay.

I use MPC-HC included in the CCCP with LAV decoding H.264 instead of ffdshow and xy-vsfilter replacing the included version of vsfilter. madvr is also nice if you care to take the trouble to get it working right, but it can be finicky depending on your video card and drivers.

If other media players also don't show the subs, I'd try using a different version of mkvtoolnix. The latest is currently 5.6.0, so you're a couple versions behind.

[sneaker]

Yes, VLC has become relatively decent for ASS subtitles.
The only problem I could see is the subtitle track not being pre-selected by VLC. If it isn't selected automatically, it won't be displayed because its starting time code it 0 and has already passed when you switch to it. (Though I think mkvmerge will mark the subtitle track as "default" by default, so VLC should automatically select it as well, unless someone fiddled with its settings.)

[HauntingShock]

I downloaded the latest version of VLC, and it finally worked! and it has a better interface so I might stick to this one instead of WMP

But I'm just wondering... how come I could see the softsubs of videos I download with my old VLC, but whenever I'm the one who would put a softsub, I can't see it...

Does it have anything to do with the attached fonts inside mkvs? How do I attach one? and What's the need for that?

[sneaker]

Originally Posted by HauntingShock

How do I attach one? and What's the need for that?

If you want to redistribute files and users don't have the fonts you want to use for your subtitles, you obviously need to provide them along with your video files.
Just add them as attachments in mkvmerge GUI. (You might want to revert to "application/x-truetype-font" MIME type though, as some older splitters might not detect the one mkvmerge uses by default as of late.)