H.264 vs AVCcoding

[tunafish]

I am doing tests to compress .mp4 movies for HTML5 video.
First I used Adobe Media Encoder and also Sorenson Squeeze Desktop Pro.
The visual results are almost exactly the same.

Than I remembered Handbrake!
Gave it a shot with the preset > regular > high profile
This looks like its sets the encoder options to profile:high and level:4.1
Changed the Bitrate to 2000kbps, 2-pass encoding.

To my surprise the image quality is much higher than previous mentioned software, for the same filesize and bitrate


The only thing I don't understand is that if I open the file in QuickTime, looking at the info
- for the Handbrake file: Format H.264
- for the Media Encoder and Squeeze file: Format AVC coding

Is there any difference codec-wise?
I thought H.264/AVC coding are exactly the same codec, or am I mistaken?

[Ritsuka]

It's the same format, but each encoder can be decide better or worse what to do with the bits.

[arcuser]

I am doing tests to compress .mp4 movies for HTML5 video.

Sorry it's not answering your question, but the amount of detail being lost in the new encode is awful, particularly since it is already only a small picture size!

I would guess that by changing the bitrate you are negating a lot of the good work the high profile was doing.

Maybe it would be worth trying some CRF settings rather than a fixed bitrate to see if the quality is improved?

[tunafish]

That's awesome, so open-source Handbrake gives me better files than the big boys!

@arcuser: left is Handbrake, right Adobe Media Encoder.
Same bitrates, same filesize.
What is CRF?

[arcuser]

That's awesome, so open-source Handbrake gives me better files than the big boys!

Left hand side is great, right hand side has lost an incredible amount of detail.

@arcuser: left is Handbrake, right Adobe Media Encoder.
Same bitrates, same filesize.
What is CRF?

In Handbrake, Video tab - look to the right... Quality Constant Quality: (number) RF and uses a slider

[tunafish]

I just installed ffmpeg to get more info about the file with

Code: Select all

$ ffmpeg -i filename.mp4

Can anyone maybe enlighten me about the differences?

ADOBE MEDIA ENCODER
Metadata:
major_brand : mp42
minor_version : 0
compatible_brands: mp42mp41
Duration: 00:00:10.00, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2011 kb/s
Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, smpte170m), 960x540 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 1987 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 25k tbn, 50 tbc (default)

HANDBRAKE
Metadata:
major_brand : mp42
minor_version : 512
compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
Duration: 00:00:09.96, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2046 kb/s
Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, bt709), 960x540 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 2042 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 90k tbn, 180k tbc (default)

@arcuser, thanks but I am looking at a certain Bitrate setting (2000kbps) and I can not target that using CBR.
also the image I posted is just a cropped region to show the difference in my 540p video