The best format for HD and 5.1?

MRe wrote on 1/2/2008, 7:52 AM
Hi,
I got DVICO TViX 5100 mediaplayer as Xmas present (bought it myself ;) best way to get the presents you really like). Anyway, the beast can support almost every thinkable video and audio format and output to full-HD (1080p through HDMI). Now I've started wondering which would be the best format for replaying videos? The requirements are: HD and 5.1 surrounf sound (HD being 1080i PAL). That rules e.g. native m2t out. Or?

I've been testing with WMV (the default template, VBR 90) and AVCHD (15Mbps) and so far the WMV looks slightly better but shows some interlacing artifacts. AVCHD is crisp but all moving objects tend to stutter a bit. And its low light quality is worse (i.e. dim scenes have too much noise).

And for the tech savvy, here's the supported formats:
VIDEO:
Format :.wmv, .avi, .mpg, .vob, .mp4, .asf, .tp, .trp , .IFO, .ISO, .m2t,.m2ts , .mov(H.264)
Codec : MPEG 1 / 2 / 4, AVI, XVID, WMV9(MP@HL), H.264/ AVC(HD) , VC-1(MP@HL, AP@L3)
Resolutions up to 1920*1080P

AUDIO:
MP3, WMA, AAC, Ogg, PCM, M4A, AC3,FLAC, WAV

Comments

MH_Stevens wrote on 1/2/2008, 9:36 AM
Read the many threads about AVCHD; they will you a lot of insight. As well as AVCHD I use native .m2t data disks in my PS3 so that may work with your machine.

4eyes wrote on 1/2/2008, 10:50 AM
AVCHD is crisp but all moving objects tend to stutter a bit. And its low light quality is worse (i.e. dim scenes have too much noise).What is your source material that you are converting to h264. I don't experience this with AVC/H264 encoded from Vegas playing back on Blu-Ray players. What template(s) did you use in Vegas to create the avc/h264 video file.
Something does not sound right, of course moving objects should not stutter, could this be the player? Or, are your source videos de-interlaced already.
MH_Stevens wrote on 1/2/2008, 11:38 AM
I agree with 4eyes. My AVAHD was better that the .m2t, but bit rates and settings are real important. It took me a long time to get my AVCHD settings right. Read what 4eyes says in "Nero certified for Blu-ray Authoring" thread.
blink3times wrote on 1/2/2008, 3:25 PM
I tend to go with mpeg2 base (M2T). You can smart render it unlike AVCHD which requires a full re-encode every time you edit. I have also seen the AVCHD stutter a bit more with fast cam movements and pans.
4eyes wrote on 1/2/2008, 9:14 PM
I also go with mpeg2 (m2t) files native from my HC3 cam. Easier to edit/convert and all.
I also like the hd-mpeg2 video because my other P4 machines can playback these videos, my other P4's cannot playback avc/h264 video at high bit-rates.

I only use the AVCHD format for final distribution to dvd's or file playback.
It is nice to play them back on players using only dvd's and the smaller file sizes.
I have many AVC/h264 videos on the PS3's harddisk, works out nice for file playback along with being able to make avchd disks. Pretty much covers playing back HighDef for now.
MRe wrote on 1/2/2008, 10:46 PM
I tend to go with mpeg2 base (M2T).
That's my preference also but how would you encode 5.1 surround to m2t-stream?
MRe wrote on 1/2/2008, 10:49 PM
What is your source material that you are converting to h264.
Cineform AVI's (NEO HDV). Source comes from Sony A1E.

I do agree that there is something strange in my final video and I must investigate it further. I'm checking your advice on the other thread (for AVCHD).

Source video is not deinterlaced. "Reduce interlace flicker" is selected for each clip though.
blink3times wrote on 1/3/2008, 8:34 PM
"That's my preference also but how would you encode 5.1 surround to m2t-stream?"
================================================================

You can't.
Sorry, let me clear the misunderstanding...
I create HD DVD's. The mpeg's are broken into EVO files which will support 5.1 sound. Rarely do I do anything other than 5.1
MRe wrote on 1/5/2008, 6:29 AM
OK, now I have managed to produce AVCHD-files by following 4eyes' advice on that "Nero"-thread. And the end result is sharp as a knife. Much more vivid than wmv.

There is still one issue that bothers me: Vegas cannot always identify those m2ts-files afterwards (does not show properties; won't load those on the timeline) but they play OK in my mediaplayer. On the other hand: sometimes it identifies the files OK (especially very short clips). Go figure... I'm investigating this matter a bit further.

Thank you all for your help!
4eyes wrote on 1/5/2008, 10:10 AM
Yes, I have also encountered that Vegas doesn't always recognize it's own m2ts container.
When you look at the plugin that Vegas is using to read the files it's the wrong plug-in.
Yet, when it reads a m2ts correctly then it does use the correct plug-in which is the m2tsplugin.

I've taken the avc/h264 videos that Vegas cannot read, used MF6+ to create an avchd disk without re-encoding the Vegas avc/h264 videos. Then copy the files back to the computer and Vegas reads them properly. So, somethings up with the container format that Vegas is using for reading these videos, they appear to be written correctly. No problem using them in other programs or playback.

I just took a 1.4 gig avc/h264 file created from Vegas and loaded the file into another ulead product, trimmed a second from the end which forces a re-multiplex (instead of a file copy) but not a re-encoding of the video and smart-rendered the video back to the harddisk, then Vegas reads these files correctly. Although I don't trust smart-rendering avchd yet, Vegas does recognize the videos.
So the smart-rendering avchd was only a test and I delete these smart-rendered avchd files.