A few queries regarding settings in 1.0.3

[jamieburchell]

Log: http://pastebin.com/BuUEk12Z

I was under the impression that Anamorphic: Loose, Mod 2 was "the best option" but now I see "Automatic" is the default and a note to say that the former may result in a slight difference in storage resolution. What does that mean? Having encoded all my previous DVDs and BDs as loose mod 2 I'm concerned. I appreciate this is a difficult topic and that the documentation isn't there for this yet.

I notice in the docs that it's suggested to leave the encoder profile to auto except when you need a specific profile and level for compatibility. Curiously this seems to get set to everything other than auto on each preset. I usually use High 4.1 as this is the maximum profile supported by the Raspberry Pi. Is there a particular reason why level 4.0 is now used over 4.1? I had thought 4.1 was the "standard" for BD.

Now that it's no longer enough to select "Same as source" for the framerate due to the reasons mentioned in the docs, it seems the onus is now on the user to guess at the best framerate to use. Could there be an automatic selection or indication of what the peak framerate is for the source?

Finally, I notice that the encoding speed has moved from Medium to Slow from the legacy High Profile to the new HQ 1080p30 Surround. It makes a big difference in encoding speed, but is it really necessary? I guess the logic here is that CPUs are getting quicker. Unfortunately, though, mine isn't

Love Handbrake, my goto tool. Thanks.

[mduell]

I was under the impression that Anamorphic: Loose, Mod 2 was "the best option" but now I see "Automatic" is the default and a note to say that the former may result in a slight difference in storage resolution. What does that mean? Having encoded all my previous DVDs and BDs as loose mod 2 I'm concerned. I appreciate this is a difficult topic and that the documentation isn't there for this yet.

What exactly is your concern about a slight change in storage resolution?

Now that it's no longer enough to select "Same as source" for the framerate due to the reasons mentioned in the docs, it seems the onus is now on the user to guess at the best framerate to use. Could there be an automatic selection or indication of what the peak framerate is for the source?

Sure, if you want to wait for HB to decode the entire video as part of the scan. I suspect that would be a very unpopular option to have a potentially multi-hour scan.

Finally, I notice that the encoding speed has moved from Medium to Slow from the legacy High Profile to the new HQ 1080p30 Surround. It makes a big difference in encoding speed, but is it really necessary? I guess the logic here is that CPUs are getting quicker. Unfortunately, though, mine isn't

Very little is 'necessary'; input and output location are the only two things I can think of. The built in presets are largely for providing a useful set of defaults for a variety of users. Feel free to make changes to the x264 preset to better suit your encoding speed preferences.

[jamieburchell]

What exactly is your concern about a slight change in storage resolution?

Well, if I knew what a change of storage resolution meant in real terms I might be able to answer. Since there is no information about that, I thought I'd ask. I'll phrase my question differently: why is the new default "Automatic" recommended over "Loose"?

I find your responses quite hostile; I often wonder when I encounter such people in forums why they bother to respond at all. Reading through the other threads here it seems there's a recurring theme of snide, self-righteous comments, with an attitude of disdain for anyone who isn't you.

[mduell]

Thanks for clarifying your level of understanding and scope of your concern. We see a wide variety of of knowledge-base on this forum, and it can be hard to tell what answer is relevant for a broadly scoped question.

I think you'll find https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphic_format and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphic_widescreen informative to learn about the differences between storage and display when dealing with anamorphic content.

The new automatic setting is designed to 'do the right thing' out of the box in most situations, and addresses a number of pitfalls the devs have noted for users in this forum over the years. Loose is still available for more advanced users with restrictive playback environments with specific anamorphic requirements.

[jamieburchell]

A cynical person might think you were trying to be patronising. I didn't ask what the difference between storage and display resolutions is. I was asking about the "Automatic" setting and why it is better and how it differs to Loose mod 2.

[JohnAStebbins]

Automatic attempts to maximize storage resolution (while *not* upscaling) on both the x and y axis.
For example, you have a source video that is 1920x1080 that is cropped to 1920x800 (for 2.4:1 display aspect). If your preset sets a max resolution of 1280x720 and uses automatic anamorphic. The result will be 1280x720 storage resolution with a pixel aspect of 1.35:1.

Loose attempts to stay as close as possible to the pixel aspect ratio of the original video.
So same scenario as above, but your preset specifies loose instead of auto. The result will be storage resolution of 1280x532 with a pixel aspect that is as close to the original 1:1 as possible. The pixel aspect will be a little bit tweaked because the height was adjusted down to 532 from 533 due to mod 2 setting.

[jamieburchell]

Understood. Thanks for the explanation.

[samven]

Thank you very much jamieburchell for asking the question. JohnAStebbins, thank you for detailed answer. It would be great to see this in the online support documentation still being developed.

[Tigershawk]

Now that it's no longer enough to select "Same as source" for the framerate due to the reasons mentioned in the docs, it seems the onus is now on the user to guess at the best framerate to use. Could there be an automatic selection or indication of what the peak framerate is for the source?

Given what the docs say, I believe the new default is a good direction to go. What if the peak framerate for the source is greater than what your device can decode? What peak framerate does, is define the maximum spec for the device you're going to decode with. If you figure your device can handle 120fps, set it to that. Its still variable, and the frame rate won't be upscaled. Its simply capped at a level where it won't crash or hinder your playback experience.

By the way, I had set my custom preset to the "Same as source" until I read your post, so I appreciate you finding the recommendation in the docs. I've changed to Peak frame rate at 30 now, for my android device.