80-minute DVD, shot with Canon GL1, NTSC, edited with EditDV. I want to upscale to 720p, mp4, using Video AI 3.2.2. Need a straightforward way to improve resolution. Will improve color balance with Davinci later.
VOB parameters are:
if it’s interlaced video (the source), I would recommend starting with Dione:DV AI.
if it’s progressive scan, try Proteus.
you can give those presets a shot.
don’t try upscaling the entire video just to find out which one works best for you, it will take you ags…just run a 10-15 sec preview on a selected scene or number of scenes with different AIs and then compare the results.
you can use the Video-Compare tool to help you see the difference between AIs/Preset you use.
Well, I’m clearly doing something wrong. After making all selections and choosing the point where I want the 10 sec test to start, the blue Preview is clicked and nothing happens. Nothing! I’m running 3.3.2.
Never mind, I figured it out.
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I’ve got 80 minutes to convert with five VOB files. It looks like it will take about 6 hours per file with Dione. Does that sound right? Then I hope I can add those files, in order, on Davinci to produce one mp4 file for the program. Am I right about this? Or are there shortcuts?
Many thanks. Old guys take longer to learn but they rejoice more when they succeed!
Don
Video AI is a slow process, so this sounds reasonable .
do you have any reason why you importing it to Devinci, such as editing, color grading or any other video processing, or you purely importing it to devinci for combining the files into one video?
if it is the later (just to merge the files into one video), you better off using the LosslessCut, amazing free tool that does that. and it doesn’t re encode your videos while combining them, so you don’t lose quality.
Amen to that. so true.
Thanks again. Converting to 1080 took all night and looks great. However, it is a 6GB file per 23 minutes. With four and a half of those files, it’s just too large. I’m trying again at 720, and I’m reconsidering the Davinci step, although I may need to reduce the file size. Thanks for the Losslesscut idea.
Don
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either use lower bitrate in TVAI when you export or use Handbrake free tool to encode your processed TVAI video (prefered method) to a smaller size.
I would suggest the following settings to start with in handbrake. this would reduce your file size dramatically with hardly any noticeable quality lose
Constant Quality (RF): you can set the values between 0 and 51, where lower values would result in better quality, at the expense of higher file sizes. Higher values mean more compression, but at some point you will notice the quality degradation.
28 is the default for x265. 24 should be visually transparent; anything lower will probably just waste file size.
If you’re unsure about what CRF to use, begin with the default (28) and change it according to your subjective impression of the output. Is the quality good enough? No? Then set a lower CRF. Is the file size too high? Choose a higher CRF. and so on, until you find your perfect balance. A change of ±6 should result in about half/double the file size.
To avoid time consuming, do not encode your entire movie to find out the balance quality/file size and wasting tons of time.
Use LosslesCut tool and cut off like 1-to-3 min from the movie (creating a 1 min to 3 min clip from your original movie) and test your CRF/FR values on the 1-3 min clip. that way you will save tons of time.
You can also cut few 1-3 min clip sets from different sceneries in the movie (like night time, day time, slow moving scene, fast moving scene, etc) and run it on all clips. that way you will find what FR setting suits best for all scene type(s) of your particular movie (usually this RF settings you found would be suited for all your future movies).
You can use the Video-Compare tool (watch the video) to compare results easily.
could be Downloaded here.
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I find anything higher than CQ 25 will result in visible quality loss and anything lower than 22 is just a waste - so I mostly settle with CQ 24.
Hardware-encoding seems to have gotten better in the last updates (or is it due to the M2 vs. M1?) so I quite often use that now as it’s that blazingly fast and files with comparable quality are just a little bit larger.
P.s. why variable framerate and not constant?
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An excellent question.
there is a controversy between specialists what is best.
Variable frame rate is a feature in the video file format allowing timing between frames to be variable, e.g the first minute could be 25fps and the next minute 30fps. like slow movement scene or almost static scenes like dialogue, etc. don’t need high fps while others like a shoot out, car racing, etc. do. so those slow scenes the fps would be lowered down, that saves / reduces file size with no noticeable quality change. the Con is compatibility with certain devices, mainly old devices (PC always play it without an issue, so did my NVIDIA Shield).
There is no clear answer which one is better, it really depends what you aiming for. if you aiming for smaller file size with good quality, Vfr is better, if you looking for compatibility on older devices, then Cfr is probably a better choice.
Since the original poster main goal was to reduce file size with minimum quality lose as possible, i suggested Vfr.
I personally always use Vfr and i never had any issues on playback.
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My concern is not so much about file size but more about exact video/audio sync…
I do believe that is harder to achieve with variable framerate.
There are quite some videos out there (even „semi-professional“ ones) with audio ever so slightly out of sync and I absolutely hate that.
Selecting Same as Source allows you to select Variable Frame Rate (VFR), which instructs HandBrake to make your new video’s frame rate an exact copy of your Source frame rate. No frame rate conversion is performed.
Constant Frame Rate (CFR) makes your new video exactly one frame rate throughout. When used with Same as Source, HandBrake will detect the frame rate of your Source and make sure any variable portions are made constant at the same rate. When used with a specific frame rate, HandBrake conforms your entire video to the new frame rate. This method is not recommended except in special circumstances, such as encoding for import into an NLE or for extremely old devices.
Source:
https://handbrake.fr/docs/en/1.6.0/technical/frame-rates.html
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Thanks for the Handbrake settings. I will try that. I’m running one section as 720 with TVAI and will compare file size and playback to the earlier 1080 version.
I have many other personal travel DVDs to upscale, so I really appreciate the tips for improving quality yet keeping size reasonable. I upload some to Vimeo for sharing with family, and they downsize the file, too.
Don
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