Re your Q. 1: please check https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/video-editing/what-is-video-bitrate-and-how-change-easily/ (if you have not yet done that).

Generally, "a few" articles to peruse here https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/video-editing-academy/ , section "For New & Advanced Video Editors" (see to the end of that page).

See also this thread for some related comments.

1. What is CBR, VBR 1-pass, and VBR 2-pass (I want this explained in-depth)

This is as detailed as it gets. CBR files are bigger, VBR is more efficient. 2-pass is more precise than 1.

2. Which Intel Quicksync preset provides the best quality?

None of them provide the best quality. Software encoders are best for quality, hardware encoders are good for speed, but the QuickSync files can be twice as large.

3. Which NV Encoder preset provides the best quality?

Refer to answer #2.

4. Do the NV Encoder provide better quality than Quicksync?

Generally speaking, yes. ymmv

5. What is RC Mode?

RC stands for Rate Control. It is useful for containing bitrate spikes during internet streaming, which has a confined bandwidth.

6. What RC Mode with the NV Encoder provides the best quality

None of them provide the best quality. It is a playability feature, not a quality feature.

@Kanile-Scott Try Voukoder for Vegas and all your render questions are past.

"Best quality" in most cases depends on your goal for rendering, that you don't tell us.

I was referring to PSNR quality, SSIM quality, and the VMAF quality?

1. What is CBR, VBR 1-pass, and VBR 2-pass (I want this explained in-depth)

This is as detailed as it gets. CBR files are bigger, VBR is more efficient. 2-pass is more precise than 1.

2. Which Intel Quicksync preset provides the best quality?

None of them provide the best quality. Software encoders are best for quality, hardware encoders are good for speed, but the QuickSync files can be twice as large.

3. Which NV Encoder preset provides the best quality?

Refer to answer #2.

4. Do the NV Encoder provide better quality than Quicksync?

Generally speaking, yes. ymmv

5. What is RC Mode?

RC stands for Rate Control. It is useful for containing bitrate spikes during internet streaming, which has a confined bandwidth.

6. What RC Mode with the NV Encoder provides the best quality

None of them provide the best quality. It is a playability feature, not a quality feature.

What about in terms of PSNR quality, SSIM quality, and the VMAF quality?

@Kanile-Scott .......No Hi or Hello & No Please or Thankyou for the info you've been given,?? bit rude, this isn't Google.,

1. What is CBR, VBR 1-pass, and VBR 2-pass (I want this explained in-depth)

This is as detailed as it gets. CBR files are bigger, VBR is more efficient. 2-pass is more precise than 1.

2. Which Intel Quicksync preset provides the best quality?

None of them provide the best quality. Software encoders are best for quality, hardware encoders are good for speed, but the QuickSync files can be twice as large.

3. Which NV Encoder preset provides the best quality?

Refer to answer #2.

4. Do the NV Encoder provide better quality than Quicksync?

Generally speaking, yes. ymmv

5. What is RC Mode?

RC stands for Rate Control. It is useful for containing bitrate spikes during internet streaming, which has a confined bandwidth.

6. What RC Mode with the NV Encoder provides the best quality

None of them provide the best quality. It is a playability feature, not a quality feature.

What about in terms of PSNR quality, SSIM quality, and the VMAF quality?

Search the forum for posts where such statistics are listed.

@Kanile-Scott
Just to clarify @Former user's comments:
We are here a user to user forum, where users like to help each other in their spare time - so we are used to speaking to each other in a friendly manner.

@Kanile-Scott
Just to clarify @Former user's comments:
We are here a user to user forum, where users like to help each other in their spare time - so we are used to speaking to each other in a friendly manner.

Was I being rude in a way?

I didn't feel you were, but some are more sensitive than others.

We have a thread somewhere around here where Musicvid did a bunch of quality tests of the various formats to show which did the best... @Musicvid, do you happen to have that link?

I didn't feel you were, but some are more sensitive than others.

We have a thread somewhere around here where Musicvid did a bunch of quality tests of the various formats to show which did the best... @Musicvid, do you happen to have that link?

I understand--we all have different philosophies. I'll keep looking around and do more research.

What about in terms of PSNR quality, SSIM quality, and the VMAF quality?

They are separate metrics. What did you want to know?. SSIM and VMAF are perceptually weighted; PSNR is mathematically weighted.

fr0sty, Is this what you are remembering? It is a test of software intermediates: hardware encoders were left out of the tests purposely bc they do not pass muster as intermediates.

Ah, yes, sorry.

@fr0sty so I was using the UT AVI codec in OBS, for lossless captures, but it kept choking the Windows security scan (never-ending green bar) and would need a restart to even delete, so I gave up on that idea. OBS doesn't support Magic YUV, or I would be testing the compact 4:2:0 as an alternative.

So I have settled on x264 zerolatency, which is about the compression equivalent of XDCAM-EX, and has no b-frames. I've had no troubles with webcam, but have yet to try some high-motion video.

@Musicvid @fr0sty

I am actually using MagicYUV in OBS, as even after you had mentioned using UT AVI, I found the files about the same (size-wise), but with all the cores I have for my processor(s) (24C/48T 3960x on one machine; 16C/32T 2950X on another), I prefer MagicYUV. I can use the files in either VP 18/527 or VP 19/532. I have provided my screenshot of the settings:

MagicYUV version is 2.3.2 Ultimate

Wow, Thanks!

It works, going to enjoy testing. Must have appeared in a recent version.

It works at 1080 p60 screen capture on my i5 processor with Magic YUV. and it's 4:4:4, fwiw (my screen isn't).

@Chief24 thanks again for the tip!

@Kanile-Scott  So yeah, like the man says; please give it a try and give us a report back ;?)

1. What is CBR, VBR 1-pass, and VBR 2-pass (I want this explained in-depth)

This is as detailed as it gets. CBR files are bigger, VBR is more efficient. 2-pass is more precise than 1.

2. Which Intel Quicksync preset provides the best quality?

None of them provide the best quality. Software encoders are best for quality, hardware encoders are good for speed, but the QuickSync files can be twice as large.

3. Which NV Encoder preset provides the best quality?

Refer to answer #2.

4. Do the NV Encoder provide better quality than Quicksync?

Generally speaking, yes. ymmv

5. What is RC Mode?

RC stands for Rate Control. It is useful for containing bitrate spikes during internet streaming, which has a confined bandwidth.

6. What RC Mode with the NV Encoder provides the best quality

None of them provide the best quality. It is a playability feature, not a quality feature.

This is nice!

Sorry for hijacking an old thread, but I was wondering about RC Mode and yours's was the best answer I found. In VP 20, the RC Mode has three options: CBR, VBR-peak constrained, and VBR - latency constrained. If my goal is to reduce banding artifacts, what would you recommend? I understand peak-constrained, but latency constrained has me scratching my head. My footage is 4K 4:2:0 100 Mbps GoPro paragliding, lots of sky and clouds with panning movements. Quite challenging to render without banding artifacts. Target audience is YouTube. I've been trying a lot of different settings and not seeing much differences. Mostly using the Magix AMD VCE h.264 and h.254 formats.

Thanks,

Steve