H265 v H264 Encoding on handbrake

techdiver

Hi,

I'm not an expert when it comes to video encoding and compression, but I understand the basics and have been shrinking bluray rips for years successfully using h264 on handbrake without any noticable degredation in quality. I usually have the following settings:

All Filters: Off

Video:
Codec: H.264 (x264)
Framerate: Same as Source
Encoder Present: Slow
High Profile 4.1

Constant Quality 18

These produce good results and decent file sizes depending on source (high grain, high motion movies will have higher bitrate and file size).

I decided to experiment with H265 to try and save file sizes etc. I went with the exact same setting above and experimented with CRF setting.

What I noticed is that, H265 has a long was to go before it can be considered superior to H264. Yes you will save file size, but I noticed that even in identical bitrate sizes there were "noticeable banding" on the H265 video that was not present in h264, (ok, I do have to look closely, but on my 65" TV it is noticeable, and I would rather high file sizes and better quality).

For any expert here, is there anything I can change/tweak to improve this?

ScumLord

Codecs are a dark art. Handbrake is supposed to make it easier to do but there are so many setting that need to be controlled in the background it's not surprising things can go wrong.

There are a number of things to try first to make sure it's not a wrong setting. Is handbrake up to date? Is the software you're using for playback up to date (maybe even including updating the TV)?

Also check you have a proper codec, if the codec itself is out of date it could be causing problems.

It seems this new codec has a number of new features like being able to do 3D and 4K, make sure there isn't something to do with those new features left on.

I don't know handbrake so I can't really advise on the software itself.

techdiver

Thanks for the reply.

I have the latest version of all the software in the chain.

Latest Handbrake and Latest VLC player. I've also tested it directly on my TV with the same degradation present.

ScumLord

techdiver wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

I have the latest version of all the software in the chain.

Latest Handbrake and Latest VLC player. I've also tested it directly on my TV with the same degradation present.

Did you try a different player? I've had issue with VLC before, I can't run it alongside some programs.

After that finding a dedicated handbrake forum would be the next best place to look, it's very likely someone else has already had this problem and found a solution.

techdiver

ScumLord wrote: »

Did you try a different player? I've had issue with VLC before, I can't run it alongside some programs.

After that finding a dedicated handbrake forum would be the next best place to look, it's very likely someone else has already had this problem and found a solution.

Yeah, tried a few players, as well as playing directly on my TV's player and the same result.

grogi

techdiver wrote: »

Hi,

I'm not an expert when it comes to video encoding and compression, but I understand the basics and have been shrinking bluray rips for years successfully using h264 on handbrake without any noticable degredation in quality. I usually have the following settings:

All Filters: Off

Video:
Codec: H.264 (x264)
Framerate: Same as Source
Encoder Present: Slow
High Profile 4.1

Constant Quality 18

These produce good results and decent file sizes depending on source (high grain, high motion movies will have higher bitrate and file size).

I decided to experiment with H265 to try and save file sizes etc. I went with the exact same setting above and experimented with CRF setting.

What I noticed is that, H265 has a long was to go before it can be considered superior to H264. Yes you will save file size, but I noticed that even in identical bitrate sizes there were "noticeable banding" on the H265 video that was not present in h264, (ok, I do have to look closely, but on my 65" TV it is noticeable, and I would rather high file sizes and better quality).

For any expert here, is there anything I can change/tweak to improve this?

H.265 has the capability to encode in better quality. However your results depend on many things. Try encoding in 10 bit, it's there to counter the banding...

I would however skip H.265 completely, due to licensing issues. VP9 is freely licensed...

techdiver

grogi wrote: »

H265 has the capability to encode in better quality. However your results depend on many things...

Try encoding in 10 bit.

If the source is 8 bit 4:2:0 (Bluray), would that not be redundant though?

grogi

Don't think so.