My intention was to encode universally at a high enough resolution so that I wouldn't have to encode twice for different resolutions (from DVD sources), and to have a high quality encode that looked really good even in high motion sequences while still maintaining a low bitrate. Encode time wasn't really an issue for me, but on my sub-par system it runs at about 8.3 fps, a speed which I wouldn't dare go slower than (through using higher merange or subme for example). Three times real-time is my limit.
Code: Select all
cabac=0:ref=1:bframes=0:weightp=0:8x8dct=0:trellis=2:me=umh:subq=10:analyse=all:psy-rd=1.00,1.00:vbv-bufsize=2000:vbv-maxrate=1500CRF 18 capped at 1500 kbps to achieve high quality without over-using bits in areas that don't need it. Using CRF also means a faster one-pass encode as opposed to 1500 kbps two-pass.
You may be shocked at subq=10, but I've found it dramatically reduces bitrate in CRF mode as opposed to using subq=9.
You may also be shocked at the high psy-trellis value, but when psy-trellis was first released, 1.00 was the default, and the only reason it was turned off by default was because of claims that it wasn't beneficial on cartoon sources. On film sources, I've found it provides excellent grain and detail retention, while not noticeably reducing quality of the areas it takes bits away from.
Trellis=2 is required for subq=10, and since I was enabling such powerful mode decision, I decided I would utilize that to it's greatest extent by enabling all partitions.
Thoughts?
PS - remember to tick "iPod 5G Support"