iPhone/iPod Touch high quality H.264 Encoding Profiles

[thkbrew89]

After much tweaking I've finally created a Mediacoder profile that will convert any video (that MEncoder can decode at least) to super high quality H.264 MP4s playable on an iPod Touch or iPhone. I have all the video set to 23.976 fps and audio set to 128 kbps. I also have the scaling set to make videos wider than the iPhone screen scaled to 320 pixel height and videos taller than the iPhone screen scaled to 480 pixel width. This means if you use the iPhone's built in zoom function the screen will still play the video at native resolution. Of course all of these options can be changed to suit personal preference.

Like I said, these profiles are extremely high quality, so don't start encoding a movie and expect it to be done anytime soon. With that said, here are some options that will decrease encoding speed without a large loss of visual fidelity: Use 2-pass or Bitrate-based encoding in the "Mode" drop-down menu instead of 3-passes. Click "Format" next to H.264 and change "Fullpixel motion estimation algorithm" to something other than "Exhaustive". Also, I have motion search radius at 20, but you can change that as you like (16 is the default). Here are the profiles for your downloading pleasure:

384 kbps super-high quality 3-pass H.264 480x360 [4-3] 23.976 fps video, 128 kbps audio
384 kbps very high quality 2-pass H.264 480x360 [4-3] 23.976 fps video, 128 kbps audio
512 kbps super-high quality 3-pass H.264 568x320 [16-9] 23.976 fps video, 128 kbps audio
512 kbps super-high quality 3-pass H.264 592x320 [1.85-1] 23.976 fps video, 128 kbps audio

Enjoy

[SirAuron]

Don't know how long the files will last on that one click file host. I suggest you copy the text into this topic. That way it would exist as long as this forum and users could just create a xml with a random text editor.

And of course: Thank you for your contribution!

[thkbrew89]

Good idea SirAuron. Here's the profile for 512 kbps 3-pass 592x320 (1.85:1 aspect ratio) but obviously it can be changed based on the user's needs. I just didn't feel like copying the xml text for all the profiles:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
- <MediaCoderPrefs>
- <node key="overall">
<node key="generic" />
- <node key="ui">
- <node key="mode">
<value>Advanced</value>
</node>
- <node key="optionTab">
<value>3</value>
</node>
- <node key="param">
<value>1280,920,299,0</value>
</node>
- <node key="noWelcome">
<value>3905</value>
</node>
</node>
<node key="task" />
<node key="output" />
<node key="tagging" />
<node key="subtitle" />
<node key="decoding" />
- <node key="audio">
- <node key="autoSource">
<value>false</value>
</node>
- <node key="encoder">
<value>Nero Encoder</value>
</node>
</node>
- <node key="video">
- <node key="mode">
<value>Three-Pass</value>
</node>
- <node key="bitrate">
<value>512</value>
</node>
- <node key="quality">
<value>90</value>
</node>
- <node key="format">
<value>H.264</value>
</node>
- <node key="autoSource">
<value>false</value>
</node>
- <node key="source">
<value>MEncoder</value>
</node>
</node>
<node key="container" />
<node key="mplayer" />
<node key="plugin" />
<node key="presets" />
</node>
- <node key="audiosrc">
<node key="mplayer" />
<node key="winamp" />
<node key="lame" />
<node key="wavefile" />
</node>
- <node key="audioenc">
<node key="lame" />
<node key="vorbis" />
- <node key="aacplus">
- <node key="bitrate">
<value>128</value>
</node>
- <node key="mode">
<value>Stereo</value>
</node>
- <node key="type">
<value>LC-AAC</value>
</node>
</node>
- <node key="nero">
- <node key="format">
<value>LC-AAC</value>
</node>
- <node key="mode">
<value>Streaming (CBR)</value>
</node>
- <node key="bitrate">
<value>128</value>
</node>
- <node key="hint">
<value>true</value>
</node>
</node>
<node key="helix" />
<node key="helixmp3" />
- <node key="faac">
- <node key="mode">
<value>Bitrate</value>
</node>
- <node key="objectType">
<value>Main</value>
</node>
</node>
<node key="speex" />
<node key="musepack" />
<node key="ffmpeg" />
<node key="aac3gpp" />
<node key="amr" />
<node key="wavpack" />
<node key="flac" />
<node key="ape" />
<node key="tta" />
<node key="als" />
<node key="ofr" />
<node key="pcm" />
<node key="cli" />
</node>
- <node key="videosrc">
<node key="avisynth" />
</node>
- <node key="videoenc">
<node key="xvid" />
- <node key="x264">
- <node key="level">
<value>30</value>
</node>
- <node key="qp">
<value>0</value>
</node>
- <node key="frameref">
<value>6</value>
</node>
- <node key="bframes">
<value>0</value>
</node>
- <node key="b_pyramid">
<value>true</value>
</node>
- <node key="cabac">
<value>false</value>
</node>
- <node key="qpmin">
<value>1</value>
</node>
- <node key="qcomp">
<value>100</value>
</node>
- <node key="direct_pred">
<value>Auto</value>
</node>
- <node key="allpart">
<value>true</value>
</node>
- <node key="me">
<value>Exhaustive</value>
</node>
- <node key="me_range">
<value>20</value>
</node>
- <node key="subq">
<value>7</value>
</node>
- <node key="mixed_refs">
<value>true</value>
</node>
- <node key="bime">
<value>false</value>
</node>
- <node key="fast_pskip">
<value>false</value>
</node>
- <node key="dct_decimate">
<value>false</value>
</node>
</node>
<node key="mencoder" />
<node key="ffmpeg" />
<node key="theora" />
<node key="dirac" />
<node key="vfw" />
<node key="dumper" />
<node key="wm" />
</node>
- <node key="container">
<node key="avi" />
<node key="matroska" />
<node key="mp4box" />
<node key="mp4creator" />
<node key="atom" />
<node key="pmp" />
<node key="vcd" />
</node>
- <node key="audiofilter">
<node key="resample" />
<node key="equalizer" />
<node key="channels" />
<node key="volume" />
<node key="surround" />
<node key="compressor" />
<node key="delay" />
<node key="extraStereo" />
<node key="extra" />
<node key="shibatch" />
</node>
- <node key="videofilter">
- <node key="scale">
- <node key="enabled">
<value>true</value>
</node>
- <node key="width">
<value>592</value>
</node>
- <node key="height">
<value>320</value>
</node>
</node>
<node key="crop" />
<node key="expand" />
- <node key="frame">
- <node key="fps">
<value>2997</value>
</node>
- <node key="fpsScale">
<value>125</value>
</node>
</node>
<node key="eq" />
<node key="postproc" />
<node key="rotate" />
<node key="itf" />
<node key="denoise" />
<node key="delogo" />
<node key="screenshot" />
<node key="thumb" />
<node key="extra" />
</node>
</MediaCoderPrefs>

[techstyled]

Super High 3 pass 480x360:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<MediaCoderPrefs><node key="overall"><node key="generic"><node key="priority"><value>Normal</value></node></node><node key="ui"><node key="mode"><value>Advanced</value></node><node key="verbose"><value>true</value></node><node key="optionTab"><value>2</value></node><node key="param"><value>1280,920,299,0</value></node><node key="noWelcome"><value>3905</value></node></node><node key="task"/><node key="output"/><node key="tagging"/><node key="subtitle"/><node key="decoding"/><node key="audio"><node key="autoSource"><value>false</value></node><node key="encoder"><value>Nero Encoder</value></node></node><node key="video"><node key="mode"><value>Three-Pass</value></node><node key="bitrate"><value>384</value></node><node key="quality"><value>100</value></node><node key="format"><value>H.264</value></node><node key="autoSource"><value>false</value></node><node key="source"><value>MEncoder</value></node></node><node key="container"/><node key="mplayer"/><node key="plugin"/><node key="presets"/></node><node key="audiosrc"><node key="mplayer"/><node key="winamp"/><node key="lame"/><node key="wavefile"/></node><node key="audioenc"><node key="lame"/><node key="vorbis"/><node key="aacplus"><node key="bitrate"><value>128</value></node><node key="mode"><value>Stereo</value></node><node key="type"><value>LC-AAC</value></node></node><node key="nero"><node key="format"><value>LC-AAC</value></node><node key="mode"><value>Streaming (CBR)</value></node><node key="bitrate"><value>128</value></node><node key="hint"><value>true</value></node></node><node key="helix"/><node key="helixmp3"/><node key="faac"><node key="mode"><value>Bitrate</value></node><node key="objectType"><value>Main</value></node></node><node key="speex"/><node key="musepack"/><node key="ffmpeg"/><node key="aac3gpp"/><node key="amr"/><node key="wavpack"/><node key="flac"/><node key="ape"/><node key="tta"/><node key="als"/><node key="ofr"/><node key="pcm"/><node key="cli"/></node><node key="videosrc"><node key="avisynth"/></node><node key="videoenc"><node key="xvid"/><node key="x264"><node key="level"><value>30</value></node><node key="qp"><value>0</value></node><node key="frameref"><value>6</value></node><node key="bframes"><value>0</value></node><node key="b_pyramid"><value>true</value></node><node key="cabac"><value>false</value></node><node key="qpmin"><value>1</value></node><node key="qcomp"><value>100</value></node><node key="direct_pred"><value>Auto</value></node><node key="allpart"><value>true</value></node><node key="me"><value>Exhaustive</value></node><node key="me_range"><value>20</value></node><node key="subq"><value>7</value></node><node key="mixed_refs"><value>true</value></node><node key="bime"><value>false</value></node><node key="fast_pskip"><value>false</value></node><node key="dct_decimate"><value>false</value></node></node><node key="mencoder"/><node key="ffmpeg"/><node key="theora"/><node key="dirac"/><node key="vfw"/><node key="dumper"/><node key="wm"/></node><node key="container"><node key="avi"/><node key="matroska"/><node key="mp4box"/><node key="mp4creator"/><node key="atom"/><node key="pmp"/><node key="vcd"/></node><node key="audiofilter"><node key="resample"/><node key="equalizer"/><node key="channels"/><node key="volume"/><node key="surround"/><node key="compressor"/><node key="delay"/><node key="extraStereo"/><node key="extra"/><node key="shibatch"/></node><node key="videofilter"><node key="scale"><node key="enabled"><value>true</value></node><node key="width"><value>480</value></node><node key="height"><value>360</value></node></node><node key="crop"/><node key="expand"/><node key="frame"><node key="fps"><value>2997</value></node><node key="fpsScale"><value>125</value></node></node><node key="eq"/><node key="postproc"/><node key="rotate"/><node key="itf"/><node key="denoise"/><node key="delogo"/><node key="screenshot"/><node key="thumb"/><node key="extra"/></node></MediaCoderPrefs>