Post
by nosignal » Wed Jul 22, 2009 11:41 am
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Audio Details on the different Cameras:
OptioS4:8khz, 8bit, mono 16kbps
FZ3: 8khz, 8bit, mono 16kbps
a720: 11khz, 8bit, mono 20kbps
Ixus80: 44khz, 16bit, mono 64kbps
f30: 16khz, 8bit, mono 24kbps
- NOTE 32khz, ?bit, mono 48kbps - works better for some encoders (and is equivalent bitrate to "44khz, 16bit, mono, 64kbps").
NOTE: In VirtualDub, LAME needs 16-bit audio in order to be able to encode it.
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Comparing Video Codecs:
For VGA video, Use H264, Q60:
- not much bigger than Q55, and a little extra detail.
- not as blocky as MPEG2, which can be noticable.
- looses fine texture/detail compared to original and mpeg, but is acceptable.
--- this can also mean less noise - a good thing.
- Quality vs VBR: better all the time. Simple scenes are smaller too (4mb vs 10mb!).
- No XViD can compare in quality or usability (in Adobe products). Don't bother.
--- Besides, 2x 31% videos would defeat the purpose of re-encoding!
For qVGA video, probably also Use H264, Q60:
- untested.
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Comparing Audio Codecs (AAC for MP4):
All tests are H264, Q55 where possible.
Original
.avi avi 90,215 KB 16khz Quality: 50
Handbrake
aac 16b32Khz, 48k.mp4 mp4 10,276 KB audio lag: 0 frames at 0:06. 0 frames at 0:56 32khz Quality: 60? crisper, but more tinny and noise more irritating. Too much high tone? But turn down volume and its quite good.
- used vd to convert audio to 16-bit 32khz, then used this in handbrake
aac 32Khz, 48k.mp4 mp4 6,930 KB audio lag: -1 frames at 0:06. -1 frames at 0:56 32khz Quality: 35. a litte bit muffled. mutes first bit of audio. not too bad
- videos are 1 frame short
- appears to use FAAC for AAC - no better than MediaCoder
- 0.9.3 needs 16-bit (maybe even 32khz) audio or it corrupts
- 0.9.3 snapshot-svn2592-Win_GUI_CLI (fixed Audio, BUT BUGGY)
SUPER
4000kbps, AAC-LC 24k DS.MP4 mp4 39,058 KB audio lag: 0 frames at 0:06. 0 frames at 0:56 16khz Quality: 25. definitely more muffled
4000kbps, AAC-LC 24k.MP4 mp4 39,048 KB audio lag: 0 frames at 0:06. 0 frames at 0:56 16khz Quality: 25. definitely more muffled
- AAC with ffmpeg?
- no Quality option. So not worth it.
MediaCoder
FAAC 24k.mp4 mp4 7,637 KB audio lag: 0 frames at 0:06. 0 frames at 0:56 16khz Quality: 25. definitely more muffled
FAAC 48k.mp4 mp4 7,901 KB audio lag: 0 frames at 0:06. 0 frames at 0:56 16khz Quality: 45. almost identical to original
FAAC 32khz, 24k.mp4 mp4 7,861 KB audio lag: 0 frames at 0:06. 0 frames at 0:56 32khz Quality: 20. very muffled. not enough kbps
FAAC 32khz, 48k.mp4 mp4 8,093 KB audio lag: 0 frames at 0:06. 0 frames at 0:56 32khz Quality: 65? crisper, NOT tinny. noise bit more irritating. Too much high tone? But turn down volume and its quite good.
- perfect sync
- BUT audio quality is bad. Development has stopped on this codec.
Nero HE-AAC 24k.mp4 mp4 7,854 KB audio lag: 3 frames at 0:06. 3 frames at 0:56 8khz Quality: 38. a bit worse/duller
Nero LC-AAC 24k.mp4 mp4 7,857 KB audio lag: 3 frames at 0:06. 3 frames at 0:56 16khz Quality: 45. almost identical to original
Nero Auto 24k.mp4 mp4 7,856 KB audio lag: 3 frames at 0:06. 3 frames at 0:56 8khz = HE-AAC
CT aacPlus, 32khz noUS, 24k.mp4 mp4 7,853 KB audio lag: 1 frames at 0:06. 1 frames at 0:56 16khz Quality: same as with US (below).
CT aacPlus, 32khz, 24k.mp4 mp4 7,854 KB audio lag: 1 frames at 0:06. 1 frames at 0:56 16khz Quality: 60? crisper, but more tinny and noise more irritating. Too much high tone? But turn down volume and its quite good.
- This is a contender. 1 frame lag is not too bad.
- aacPlus needs 32khz or greater, and viable bitrate. If not, can get errors like:
--- "audio and video cannot be muxed"
--- "needs the WinAmp dll" (even if it already has it!)
CT aacPlus, 32khz, 48k.mp4 mp4 8,090 KB audio lag: 1 frames at 0:06. 1 frames at 0:56 16khz Quality: 61? maybe very slightly better than 24k. Maybe more noticable with better source audio.
CT LC-AAC, 32khz, 24k.mp4 mp4 7,850 KB audio lag: 0.5 frames at 0:06. 0.5 frames at 0:56 24khz Quality: 38. a bit worse/duller
CT LC-AAC, 32khz, 48k.mp4 mp4 8,085 KB audio lag: 0.5 frames at 0:06. 0.5 frames at 0:56 32khz Quality: 62? sounds like better hz than 24k?! I guess it needs 48k to go up to higher hz.
- This is a contender. 0.5 frame lag pretty good
Conclusion:
Bad:
- Handbrake. A hassle. Not great quality, maybe FAAC.
- SUPER. No Quality based. Audio sounds muffled.
- FAAC 24k. Keeps KHz and sync well. But at 24k sounds bad.
- Nero HE-AAC. Bad lag. Not great quality. down to 8khz!
- Nero LC-AAC. Bad lag. Quality is good - closest to original.
Good:
- FAAC 16khz, 48k. 0 frame lag. same as original. But some squelshing of background sound when foreground sound peaks. Legally free.
- FAAC 32khz, 48k. 0 frame lag. crisp. Not tinny. I deem it worth 48k for less lag and extra quality capacity. Legally free.
- CT aacPlus, 32khz, 24k. 1 frame lag. crisp.
- CT LC-AAC, 32khz, 48k. 0.5 frame lag. crisp at 48k. I deem it worth 48k for less lag and extra quality capacity.
Conclusion: Use FAAC 32khz, 48k:
- Legally Free
- no lag
- same quality as runner up (CT LC-AAC).
- 48k worth it - negligible compared to video (1600k to 4000k).
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Comparing Encoders:
Ideally, I would use just MediaCoder. It can
- Batch
- Rotate
- Colour Correct
- Encode with 'original' settings. E.g. fps, resolution, audio khz etc. Very Handy.
- Encode H264 MP4 correctly
--- Audio is now fine if encoded with FAAC.
----- See "MediaCoder MP4 Audio Sync Issue" below.
--- Audio drifts out of sync if using Nero.
--- I did not used to have a solution, so I though MediaCoder was unusable.
- Encode H264 MP4 with Quality-Based encoding - Q60 retains detail AND can be 4mb vs 10mb (c.f. 4000k CBR).
- Encode XViD correctly (Adobe products corrupt XViD export).
SO MediaCoder is now usable by itself.
Adobe Media Encoder CS4 (AME) can:
- Batch
- Export H264 MP4 correctly
- Keep audio sync.
BUT can't
- Rotate
- Colour Correct
- Encode with 'original' settings. E.g. fps, resolution, audio khz etc. Very Handy.
--- Can't encode at 14fps at all!
- Encode H264 MP4 with Quality-Based encoding - Q60 retains detail AND can be 4mb vs 10mb (c.f. 4000k CBR).
- Export XViD correctly (Adobe products corrupt XViD export).
AME Has a filters tab, but there does not seems to be any way to add filters too it.
- no filters online
- adding other adobe aex filters etc does nothing.
Apparently, can use Nikon Picture Project to rotate MOVs without re-encoding!
- maybe only Nikon MOVs?
- software hard to find - discontinued.
- apparently PP can cause problems.
Quicktime Pro can rotate MOVs easily.
- Info - Video - ...
- What about levels and color correction and NR?
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MediaCoder MP4 Audio Sync Issue:
"has lag" = audio 3 frames lagging, 20 seconds into the clip.
Start with AVI - mjpeg
Encode Original to H264 using MediaCoder - has lag
- changing source from auto to MPlayer or MEncoder makes no difference.
- Changing Nero profile settings to Auto, LC-AAC, HE-AAC makes no difference.
- Changing Encoder from NEro to FAAC fixes the sync problem!
--- BUT FAAC is not great audio quality.
Encode huffy to H264 using MediaCoder - has lag
Encode huffy to XViD using MediaCoder - has lag, and 5 frames shorter than original! Using XViD and Lame, just like VD (which works?!)
Encode Original to huffy using AME - no lag
Encode huffy to H264 using AME - no lag, BUT AME can't do quality based (can be 10mb vs 4mb!)
Encode huffy to huffy using VD (DS aud)- no lag
Encode original to XViD using VD (mp3) - no lag, BUT can't do H264, MP4
Encode huffy to XViD using VD (mp3) - no lag
Conclusion:
- In MediaCoder, it was the Nero audio encoder causing grief. Replaced with FAAC it is fine.
- Now has no audio sync issues.
- NOTE: XViD gets encoded to a different length, creating different sync issues.
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