I'm not sure if I ever posted this, but some might find it interesting. I rendered two videos with Voukoder using the default settings. One video was a static shot while the other included very much subject and camera movement.
BitrateViewer doesn't tell us much about HEVC renders.
This is exactly the reason I created the FFBitrateViewer :)
Cool, i use it since a few months, thanks!
It would be nice to always show the current bitrate value when i move the mouse horizontally, not just when i move it to the graph to the green line. So no need to move mouse up/down. Possible? :)
I only have the tools built into VEGAS and Voukoder. x264 has a lot more options than NVENC and I take advantage of that. NVENC rate controls are apparently handled in firmware so features may vary by GPU and firmware revision. (Is this rate control method new? If so from when?)
I suggest going to https://www.voukoder.org/ and asking what Voukoder Pro can do and with which GPUs.
I'm not sure that variable-cap bit-rate optimization, which was developed for Avc HD lossy camera footage, does much but lower performance and quality for 4k and above. 4k 10-bit avc is so large, slower editing, and lower in quality, I only shoot or render that as a last resort. Measurements I've done on my own 4k raw footage always yields both the best performance and quality with cbr hevc rendering. X265 gives me the highest quality, but unfortunately only via ffmpeg-direct. And not via any plugins to Vegas or even Resolve plugin or native. Same for ffmpeg-direct via Vegas frame-server. Hevc_nvenc via ffmpeg-direct is quicker but much lower in quality. I tend to use it more for test renders. So I use slower Vegas MainConcept native for delivery which comes pretty close to ffmpeg x265 quality and performance.
Keep in mind that Voukoder implements only a subset of ffmpeg library functions and parameters. For a better idea of what the h264_nvenc encoder is capable of, save a parameter listing with the following ffmpeg command:
Also, keep in mind that ffmpeg encoders themselves are not updated all that often. So some bug fixes and additions may need to be activated in the C-library output stream. Rigaya is another ffmpeg library-level developer who does all of that regularly in its own custom cli, often fixing stuff and adding capabilities the ffmpeg cli never seems to get around to. If you really want to see a more extensive Nvenc encoder capability listing, look here:
I've suggested to the Voukoder developer that he tap into both Rigaya and ffmpeg implementations, if locally installed. I understand Voukoder Pro will be doing that with the locally installed ffmpeg cli to avoid restrictions on using their code directly in a commercial app.
As of late, however, I've been seeing much better performance with close to x265 quality transcoding to Av1_nvenc with ffmpeg-direct. No corners cut there. But still the quality-hit via plugins, however. Also, I've already tried test uploads of av1_nvenc transcodes... YouTube ate em up and processed them more quickly than any other format. If Vegas ever implements a native AV1 Nvenc preset like that, I'd switch my YouTube delivery workflow in a heartbeat.
The option that seems most relevant is labeled "Target quality" rate control.
FFMpeg should be getting the latest support for the 50XX GPUs and I assume Voukoder Pro will inherent those capabilities, but not Voukoder which is discontinued.
Great post! I have been re-reading this post already a few times over and over again, and also over several days! I have recently removed Voukoder classic (which I used to use for rendering) and got me Voukoder pro. I am in the process of building Voukoder pro "scenes", so this post is helpful.