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Final encoding: which software do you use?

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Please post here the sofware you use for final encoding.

I'd like to know the OS, the sofware, the optimal settings for maximum compatibility with hardware standalone disc players, and the encoder used (example: x264 for AVC, HCenc for MPEG2).

This is because I had some compatibility issues with my latest project, and still have not found where the problem lies... probably in the encoding process, but without some references, it's really hard to say.

Thanks in advance to everyone!

Sadly my projects are lost due to an HDD crash… 😦 | [Fundamental Collection] thread | blog.spoRv.com | fan preservation forum: fanres.com

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 (Edited)

I'm no expert, I could easily be doing something wrong, but...

For AVC:

x264 --preset=veryslow --tune=grain --bluray-compat --fps=23.976 --force-cfr --vbv-maxrate=25000 --vbv-bufsize=30000 --crf=18 --level=4.1 --keyint=24 --open-gop --slices=4 -o output.264 input.264

To be clear, I target BD25@1080p and this usually hits the target for a standard-length film (19-21GiB video--not much headroom for extras--I'd increase crf to make more room).  Also, the vbv-maxrate could be unneccessarily low but I've heard about burned media sometimes needing lower peak rates--maybe this is unsubstantiated.  Either way, I do know my encodes work across a wide range of media and players, so that's the test I'm most concerned with, and the results are generally pretty good-looking, so I'm happy.

For MPEG-2:

I use the HCEnc GUI, targetting DVD9@720x480 avg bitrate 6500, max bitrate 8000, pulldown yes, profile best.  This usually gives you ~5.5GiB video files and lots of headroom for extra audio and subtitle streams.

All Windows for now, although I'm making plans to jump that ship.

Project Threepio (Star Wars OOT subtitles)