Why does Encoder Tune: Animation cause issues on my iPod Classic?

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alissa914
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2017 11:41 am

Why does Encoder Tune: Animation cause issues on my iPod Classic?

Post by alissa914 »

I have an iPod Classic which I retrofitted with a large drive (328GB currently w/ room to expand another 800GB)

Anyway... I've been putting my DVD TV shows on it so that I can have them and watch them when I travel since the battery life is actually excellent on the device. With music playback and the 3000mAh battery, I get about 8+ days (24/7) on it w/ the micro SD card iFlash.xyz Quad device and that's really why I want to use it to carry my collection around.

BUT when I encode with my settings and change Encoder Tune to Animation (because these are South Park DVDs), the videos freeze on the iPod when I seek or navigate through the chapters on the videos. IF I turn that option off, they seek and navigate just fine. Purchased videos from iTunes play with no problems at all (no stuttering, no speed issues, etc.) so that should eliminate the iFlash Quad device since that seems to function about as fast as a hard drive does in the device.

Hope the config below helps to explain what I mean. This is with the settings that work. Basically, I use 22 in quality, H264 3.0 Baseline and always encode at 720x480 anamorphic which works great on the 4:3 DVDs and the 16:9 Blurays as well. I mean, it's not HD, but for 10 year old technology, it does a decent job. VFR (variable frame rate) is no problem on the device and neither is VBR.

I'm just trying to understand what this Encoder Tune option actually does that is causing it to have this issue.

[07:38:21] job configuration:
[07:38:21] * source
[07:38:21] + E:\
[07:38:21] + title 4, chapter(s) 1 to 6
[07:38:21] * destination
[07:38:21] + C:\Users\alissa914\Dropbox\Sp11 Disc3-4.mp4
[07:38:21] + container: MPEG-4 (libavformat)
[07:38:21] + compatibility atom for iPod 5G
[07:38:21] + chapter markers
[07:38:21] * video track
[07:38:21] + decoder: mpeg2video
[07:38:21] + bitrate 9500 kbps
[07:38:21] + filters
[07:38:21] + Detelecine (pullup) ()
[07:38:21] + Comb Detect (mode=3:spatial-metric=2:motion-thresh=1:spatial-thresh=1:filter-mode=2:block-thresh=40:block-width=16:block-height=16)
[07:38:21] + Decomb (mode=39)
[07:38:21] + Framerate Shaper (mode=2:rate=27000000/900900)
[07:38:21] + frame rate: 29.970 fps -> peak rate limited to 29.970 fps
[07:38:21] + Crop and Scale (width=720:height=480:crop-top=0:crop-bottom=0:crop-left=0:crop-right=0)
[07:38:21] + source: 720 * 480, crop (0/0/0/0): 720 * 480, scale: 720 * 480
[07:38:21] + Output geometry
[07:38:21] + storage dimensions: 720 x 480
[07:38:21] + pixel aspect ratio: 8 : 9
[07:38:21] + display dimensions: 640 x 480
[07:38:21] + encoder: H.264 (libx264)
[07:38:21] + preset: slow
[07:38:21] + profile: baseline
[07:38:21] + level: 3.0
[07:38:21] + quality: 22.00 (RF)
[07:38:21] * audio track 1
[07:38:21] + decoder: English (AC3) (2.0 ch) (track 1, id 0x80bd)
[07:38:21] + bitrate: 192 kbps, samplerate: 48000 Hz
[07:38:21] + mixdown: Stereo
[07:38:21] + encoder: AAC (libavcodec)
[07:38:21] + bitrate: 160 kbps, samplerate: 48000 Hz
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BradleyS
Moderator
Posts: 1860
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:16 pm

Re: Why does Encoder Tune: Animation cause issues on my iPod Classic?

Post by BradleyS »

Most likely too many reference and b frames. Try adding ref=5:bframes=5 to the additional options box on the video tab. If that doesn't work, try a lower number; I'm not sure exactly how many ref/b the Classic supports.
Deleted User 11865

Re: Why does Encoder Tune: Animation cause issues on my iPod Classic?

Post by Deleted User 11865 »

BradleyS wrote: Tue Sep 12, 2017 12:48 pm Most likely too many reference and b frames. Try adding ref=5:bframes=5 to the additional options box on the video tab. If that doesn't work, try a lower number; I'm not sure exactly how many ref/b the Classic supports.
0 bidirectional (but that's taken care of by the Baseline profile) -- not sure about the DPB, but 3 refs (ref=3) should definitely work.
alissa914
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2017 11:41 am

Re: Why does Encoder Tune: Animation cause issues on my iPod Classic?

Post by alissa914 »

OK. But you can't sync MP4 to an iPod Classic with B-Frames (I believe that's Main or High profile). The *only* difference I selected was Encoder Tune: Animation. If I set the encoder tune to None, it works just fine. Guess there's something in the encoder tune that goes against what I'm setting in the form.....

Anyway... I guess if someone can explain who compiled FFMPEG what this option actually does on a technical side, I'd be really curious. THe videos play just fine until you FF or rewind them.
mduell
Veteran User
Posts: 8187
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:54 pm

Re: Why does Encoder Tune: Animation cause issues on my iPod Classic?

Post by mduell »

Post your encoding log with tune animation.

This has nothing to do with compiling ffmpeg.

Per the x264 docs:
- animation (psy tuning):
--bframes {+2} --deblock 1:1
--psy-rd 0.4:<unset> --aq-strength 0.6
--ref {Double if >1 else 1}
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