Posted: 9/3/2012 3:43 PM
Post subject: x264vfw lives
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natt
Editor, Emulator Coder, Site Developer
Joined: 5/11/2011
Posts: 1108
Location: Murka
Thanks to turska for pointing this out... The latest x264vfw, released two months ago, adds 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 support, with the gbr hack. Combined with zero-latency mode and lossless encoding, this means that it can be used for TASVideos encoding purposes (ie, true lossless). Filesizes are quite small, and speed is quite fast, as expected with x264. However, you have to be careful with your VFW codec stack, as quite a few things can bid to decode it, and many do so incorrectly. In order to get full lossless decoding, you should have x264vfw itself do the decoding, and you must tell AviSource to request the right pixel type from it. Otherwise, AviSource (in 2.60) asks for YV24, which the decoder happily supplies (doing lossy colorspace conversions along the way). 
Language: avisynth
AviSource ("checksum-x264.avi", pixel_type = "RGB32")
I have tested this and it passed a checksum for exactly lossless.
Posted: 9/3/2012 8:54 PM
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EEssentia
Joined: 4/13/2009
Posts: 431
Is there a reason why x264vfw need be used instead of the CLI version, or does it work with both? I am aware of what vfw is, which is precisely why I ask...
Posted: 9/3/2012 9:05 PM
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natt
Editor, Emulator Coder, Site Developer
Joined: 5/11/2011
Posts: 1108
Location: Murka
as far as a lossless intermediate goes, you need to be able to interface the emulator directly. most emulators around here, only support VFW. In order to use command line x264 directly with them you need to use a creation of mine called pipedec, which has some downsides. x264vfw can be used directly in them, though.
Posted: 9/3/2012 9:16 PM
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gamerfreak5665
Player (202)
Joined: 8/3/2012
Posts: 116
Location: U.S.
Gamecube/Wii TAS of 2017
when encoding videos from an emulator (such as dolphin) is it better to use x264vfw lossless, or something like Xvid? I plan on posting an HD encode on Youtube, and in the past i have had trouble with the combination of x264 lossless mode and avi files. things such as discolorations and terrible playback lag.
Posted: 9/3/2012 10:13 PM
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natt
Editor, Emulator Coder, Site Developer
Joined: 5/11/2011
Posts: 1108
Location: Murka
i would not recommend uploading x264vfw directly to youtube, ever. i'd only use it as an intermediate, and even then only with zero-latency checked (which significantly hurts its value as a lossy codec). my uploads to youtube are generally avc+vorbis in mkv, and i have not generally had issues with them.
Posted: 9/4/2012 11:47 AM
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EEssentia
Joined: 4/13/2009
Posts: 431
natt wrote:
as far as a lossless intermediate goes, you need to be able to interface the emulator directly. most emulators around here, only support VFW. In order to use command line x264 directly with them you need to use a creation of mine called pipedec, which has some downsides. x264vfw can be used directly in them, though.
Ah, of course. Thanks.
gamerfreak5665 wrote:
when encoding videos from an emulator (such as dolphin) is it better to use x264vfw lossless, or something like Xvid? I plan on posting an HD encode on Youtube, and in the past i have had trouble with the combination of x264 lossless mode and avi files. things such as discolorations and terrible playback lag.
Xvid is based on an old standard and I don't know if there is any lossless option, so I would always recommend H264 (via x264). Be sure to recompress it with a lossy codec before uploading )like x264 with high settings).