Zero Latency Preset for Voukoder x264

Musicvid wrote on 12/7/2022, 7:10 AM

This is very similar to --tune zerolatency in Shutter, Handbrake, and HOS. Since I use it a lot, I wish it were a native tune in the Voukoder dialog. @Vouk

It is very fast, high quality, and gives slightly larger file sizes. You could think of it as dumbed down Main Profile. Good for computer and home media server delivery, as well as streaming.

Since it uses no b-frames, quality and speed are comparable to mpeg-2.

Download and place in C:\Users\Computer-name\AppData\Roaming\VEGAS\Render Templates\voukoder

https://drive.google.com/open?id=12hEYVGaqpE1_69PlnQHlz7hT02VCixuG&authuser=musicvid%40gmail.com&usp=drive_fs

Comments

john_dennis wrote on 12/7/2022, 10:57 AM

@Musicvid

I'm still wading in the Kiddie Pool. I've been using a slight modification to the Voukoder Default; CRF22 (instead of 23 for FHD), GOP30, KeyintMin15, No B-Frame.

Download Link Here

I altered my usual preset to CRF20 from CRF22 to compare to yours. I ran quickly (every fourth fame) through HOS Render Quality with these results.

Why GOP set to 300? Do you navigate or just watch the output?

Musicvid wrote on 12/7/2022, 2:14 PM

Thanks for your tweaks, John. The 300-length GOP was a nod to streaming environments -- I'll try some shorter values [EDIT /] Handbrake and OBS default is 300, Shutter is 250 [/] Would like to get the SSIM a little higher without worrying too much about the size. With both x264 and especially x265 it seems, Fat=Fast.

I haven't tried preview and ease of navigation in Vegas but I will, probably using my pinwheel benchmark.

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/can-your-players-handle-4k-60p-without-dropping-frames--138210/

Musicvid wrote on 12/7/2022, 3:23 PM

Musicvid wrote on 12/8/2022, 6:34 AM

Turns out my pinwheel test is brutal on RQM benchmarks. An uncompressed AVI gives a 53.4 SSIM. Haven't figured out why.

john_dennis wrote on 12/8/2022, 12:00 PM

@Musicvid

Strobe effects from dissimilar frame rates? 60p video. 59.97p display frame rate.

john_dennis wrote on 12/8/2022, 12:01 PM

Then, my vision frame rate is about 7 fps.

Musicvid wrote on 12/9/2022, 3:38 PM

Strobe effects from dissimilar frame rates? 60p video. 59.97p display frame rate.

Nup, first thing I checked. But the cause is quite interesting, and it is a real sleeper in Vegas Full Range Projects, so I thought I'd share it.

  • Spoiler: My Chroma Levels exceeded 235 in my original 709 render of the pinwheel, although Luminance was OK at 192. Viewing them in a Full Range Project of course cloaked the differences, so it fools our sensibilities.
  • PSNR ~24, SSIM ~0.540 😲
  • Viewing the differences in a Legacy 8 bit Project revealed the Levels shift, and that is what caused every SSIM I ran to (correctly) report only about 50% Structural Similarity. Another Gotcha to add to the list for enthusiastic testers and and recognize our well-meaning misutilization of metrics tools, among others. This one was total PEBCAC.
  • Actual Source Levels as seen in Legacy Project 😲
  • Output Levels as previewed in Full Range Project (8 bit)
  • The blanket solution, of course, is to view and render files for 8 bit Render Quality comparisons in Legacy Projects only. The devil is in the fact that if the Luminance of the Source is above 235, the RMQ data will be invalidated. In light of the banks of suspiciously low (below 0.800) RQM data that has been posted over the last couple of years, this should raise some eyebrows.
  • Correct! PSNR ~42, SSIM ~0.990 🙂
  • To quote no one in particular, "This is a BFD." It looks like the topic for my holiday tutorial has found me this year...

Of course I'll check these results again this weekend.

More to come. @john_dennis