"Auto" quality setting, better tuning

[Happy2Play 8296]

@softworkzwould have to break it down but the setup for the encoder to have a Maxbitate not a specific bitrate.  But will have to look as this has been brought up before on software vs hardware encoding.

-c:v:0 libx264 -g:v:0 72 -maxrate:v:0 49616000 -bufsize:v:0 99232000

cpb: bitrate max/min/avg: 49616000/0/0 buffer size: 99232000

And looks like it ends up being around kb/s:6965.34

[Luke 37116]

Right when you set the max quality you're setting an upper limit, not a fixed bitrate. It's something we are constantly working on improving though.

[softworkz 3341]

On 11/27/2022 at 9:23 PM, Happy2Play said:

@softworkzwould have to break it down but the setup for the encoder to have a Maxbitate not a specific bitrate.  But will have to look as this has been brought up before on software vs hardware encoding.

-c:v:0 libx264 -g:v:0 72 -maxrate:v:0 49616000 -bufsize:v:0 99232000

cpb: bitrate max/min/avg: 49616000/0/0 buffer size: 99232000

And looks like it ends up being around kb/s:6965.34

Currently, all hardware encoders are producing the output at the chosen (or determined) bitrate. Only the sw encoder (libx264) is run in a different mode where the bandwidth often stays way below the target value.

Bringing all to the same level is still an open work item, because it's not easy to do this without making things worse.

[archecon 11]

On 11/30/2022 at 12:53 PM, softworkz said:

Currently, all hardware encoders are producing the output at the chosen (or determined) bitrate. Only the sw encoder (libx264) is run in a different mode where the bandwidth often stays way below the target value.

Bringing all to the same level is still an open work item, because it's not easy to do this without making things worse.

I agree. HW encoding result matches the specification.
By experimentation I found that for SW the flow depends on and is controlled by the CRF setting. the lower the value the higher the flow of the SW encoder.
Well, at least it is clear. Mystery solved.

Actually Emby server still reported: Reducing bitrate due to quality setting.  It was in plain sight, just missed to associate this message with the CRF setting. And the fact that the client application settings are ignored.

In my opinion, this matter is not a high priority.
It is enough to describe the limitations of the SW encoder implementation /controlling the flow via CRF and not by the client/ somewhere in the release notes.
 

Thank you for your cooperation.
 

Edited December 1, 2022 by archecon