x264 to x265 - general advice - RF Value, Filter (Denoise)

General questions or discussion about HandBrake, Video and/or audio transcoding, trends etc.
Post Reply
l0wcrow
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed May 05, 2021 8:34 am

x264 to x265 - general advice - RF Value, Filter (Denoise)

Post by l0wcrow »

Hey there!

I just started using Handbrake encoding all my files to x265 to save some diskspace. Already saved roughly 1TB on Movies by just encoding all 10GB+ 1080p files. All went pretty good but now I got to TV-Shows and things get a bit more tricky finding the right RF value.
From my experience good 1080p x265 quality and size ranges between 2500-5000 considering a decent source

I encode with following settings using a 4790k:

- Video (x.265 mkv - same as source - medium - tune (none) - profile (main) - level (auto) - RF 19)
- Filter (all off apart interlace/deinterlace on default decomb) as far as I understood it does no harm having it enabled and its only used when needed - everything else I think is smart to keep off because I think it does more bad than good if you dont know what you doing, ride :P)

Ive got a 83" projector screen and I am actually pretty close (about 3,5m) why I think decent RF value is important to counter that - correct me if I am wrong :P New TV Shows end up usually around 3500 kbps which is great. Great Quality and lots of diskspace saved! Some others bit higher which is fine but then there are a few others especially the older they get a.e. I ran into "Battlestar Galactica".

Gonna throw you some numbers now so you guys can follow: Average x264 source S01-S04 is all between 11.000-11.400 kbps. No Chance with RF 19 - thought RF 21 could be okay - ended up S01 (5357), S02 (6036), S04 (6253)! Bit high but still lots saved. Problem Ive got was somehow with S03 which averaged (9013) - some episodes almost or equal to source bitrate. Even RF 23 which is the lowest 1080p quality recommended and it was still (5722) and thats where I thought about "Denoise"

Few weeks back I experimented a bit with Denoise. Ultralight should reduce noise without loosing quality. Seemed true to me but it didnt seem like a good trade. About 10% reduced filesize but about 30-40% slower. Light and Medium reduce a lot, light already up to about half but looking at some samples especially on Medium picture definetely lost sharpness, almost blurry, less colors and vibrant.

I really want to get a system for me before I really dig into my TV Shows. How would you encode the show I mentioned above and have similar good quality through all seasons and still get decent file reduction. RF 21 and S03 is way to big, only 80% of source which misses the point of encoding - should be at least 1/3 reduction, ride. So RF 22 and drop quality on S01,S02,S03 but I end up with total average of around 5k which seems reasonable or is Denoising worth it and well go for RF 20 Light and also end up probably around 5k.

I hope someone can give some advice and or share experience how to encode TV Shows in regards of reasonable RF value, bitrate for 1080p for my 83" screen, if denoising is worth or not and whatever else you might can share. If I got a new show which has 3k or even less at RF 19 you push more? Personally I think the gain beyond RF 19 is not worth loosing the file reduction.

Big thanks in advance for reading my essay, hope my english is fine - not native english speaking ;)
mduell
Veteran User
Posts: 8187
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:54 pm

Re: x264 to x265 - general advice - RF Value, Filter (Denoise)

Post by mduell »

If your content is already progressive, the decomb is a pointless slowdown with some risk of misidentifying content.

Different series, and even different episodes, are going to vary in bitrate. If you want more consistent bitrates while allowing for some variation in extreme cases, look at what Don Melton's Video Transcoding setup does. It's a slightly insane abuse of the x264/5 settings, but it does what he wants.

Also, disk space is cheap.
rollin_eng
Veteran User
Posts: 4840
Joined: Wed May 04, 2011 11:06 pm

Re: x264 to x265 - general advice - RF Value, Filter (Denoise)

Post by rollin_eng »

As said above, for maximum quality just stick with your original rips.

Encoding costs money for electricity that people often forget, disk space can often be cheaper but it obviously depends on lots of factors.
l0wcrow
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed May 05, 2021 8:34 am

Re: x264 to x265 - general advice - RF Value, Filter (Denoise)

Post by l0wcrow »

@mduel

Makes sense to disable deinterlacing then and simply enabled it then when needed which is basically never in my case.
The fact that different seasons or even episodes can vary a lot I know thats why calculate after encoding multiple episodes which gives quiet a good look what the average gonna be. Gonna look later at "Don Melton's Video Transcoding setup" but seems very time intensive to get into. Regarding diskspace - Im pretty sure its gonna be worth for me. Ive got terrabytes of wasted space in x264 files.

Another question. Ive read both sides about encoding 8 bit and 10 bit. Some say 10 bit would be better even if its 8 bit because 10 bit would more efficent meaning better compression also less banding some other stuff I forgot. Personally I think thats bs - why would 8 bit data look any different saved in 10 bit or bigger/smaller?I

@rolling_eng

I dont go for absolute maximum quality. Ive encoded Caprica before in RF 21 which was 124GB source only one season and after encoding 40 GB. Quality is about the same! Also got subs nicely added as .srt and merged with mkvtoolnix. Totally worth it and Ive got plenty similar stuff.


I honestly think its a lot of trial and error and everyone has different preferences. I will get there ;)
rollin_eng
Veteran User
Posts: 4840
Joined: Wed May 04, 2011 11:06 pm

Re: x264 to x265 - general advice - RF Value, Filter (Denoise)

Post by rollin_eng »

Could you please post your HB logs, instructions can be found here:

https://handbrake.fr/docs/en/latest/hel ... y-log.html
Post Reply