Hardsubbing and Keeping The Quality...?

Any hardsubbing experts out there?

I watch anime hardsubs sometimes and I never see pixelation in their hardsubs.

When I'm hardsubbing an episode, I select the same codec it was encoded in, and the same bitrate it was encoded in, yet I still come out with a slightly lower and pixelated (during fast moving scenes) quality video. Oh and if I originally used a 700MB file, I would get a file that is around 600MB after finished encoding.

Any ideas, or tips on how I can retain (or try to) highest quality, and same file size at the end of hardcoding an episode?

Thanks to anyone who can help. Much appreciated.

Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 5:29 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

^^... I'm not an expert...a rookie myself...
but I'm satisfied with the quality of my hardsub using VirtualDubMod...
1. I change the "Color deph" to 32 bit
2. filters: HSV adjust(only add, not change anything)... and of couse a filter for subs (subtitler, textsub, etc)

3. I change the compression to XviD~ i thnk it's much better than divx^^
.. done
Smile

Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 5:31 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Woot

, thanks Nadil. WIll give it a try.

Yes, I'm kinda hounding the forums hoping for a reply. Whistling

If anyone has any other suggestions, please let it be known! We are all here to learn from each other. Smile

Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 5:38 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Do you encode with single-pass or two-pass?

Since you ended up with a smaller and pixelized file I get the impression you're encoding with single-pass...

Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:22 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Hmm, I didn't see an option for double-pass.

Would love that 'how to', didn't seen any e-mail, but would appreciate it if you could send it to me when you can.

Thanks all for your replies! Hopefully it will help in the future releases. ;)

Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 11:08 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

OK, I see why I didn't have a 2-pass option.

I was encoding in the same exact codec that was used to encode the original video and there is no option for Divx4 Low-Pass codec. Looking at Nadil's chosen codec, there is an option for 2-pass.

---

After attempting to do a 2-pass encode.. I get this error. Any help on this?

1. statsfile not found! first error
2. Cannot start video compression: second error
The operation is not supported.
(error code -1)

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:33 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Nevermind, I think I figured it out. I need to do a first pass first...

2-pass is going fine now, currently encoding... about an hour to go.

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:51 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Anyone know when i can dl VirtualDubMod software for fee

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:55 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Hi jenny99,

It is free. Here is a direct link to download it.

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/virtualdubmod/VirtualDubMod_1_5_10_2_All_inclusive.zip?download

The "VirtualDub" software is not free, I think. But the "VirtualDubMod" software is... at least I don't notice any restrictions.

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:06 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I use single pass and change the file to from Xvid to divx and I get the same file size and quality. What program are you using to get your bitrate? I use Gspot because I find it when I use divX calculator the file size comes slightly smaller not accurate at the end of encoding.

edit:
- I forgot to mention it also depends on the length of you video clip if it over 1 hour of play time I would normally use pass 2 to get looking better with less loss of pixilation.

P.s. I’m no expert, a rookie myself hopefully aNTok see this message and can input some handy advice, he’s the expert. Smile

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:24 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Thanks Kaz!

Well, I've just tried a 2-pass encode. Quality is nice, but audio is out of sync, and filesize is still lower at around 637MB.

Anyway, will continue with the test runs. If everything looks good, you'll see my result in the next hardsub release. ;)

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:43 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Umm... Simple way of doing it? Install AutoGK.It will also install AVISynth 2.5, VirtualDubMod, Vobsub 2.23, and the Koepi Xvid codec. During the Vobsub install, check the textsub and vobsub options and point it at virtualdubmod.exe in the subfolder of the Autogk folder in your program files.

Create a shortcut on the desktop for virtualdubmod.exe so you can find it later...

open your vid in VdubMod. Select the Textsub filter (if .srt) or the VobSub filter (if idx/sub). Choose your subtitle file in the window. Right above that, add a mild denoising filter (cleaner vids compress better).

Set your compression option to either Xvid or Divx one-pass and the quantizer at 1 (file will be a gig or two, but no worries...)

Select save and let vdubmod do it's thing.

After that, take your new file and use AutoGK to shrink it to bite-sized or larger size. Keep using the same codec as in the virtualdubmod step. All done!

(btw, the audio sync issue is probably because vdubmod doesn't like variable bitrate input. Best to rip audio from vid first and convert it to either wave or cbr mp3. Disable the current audio stream in the streams menu. Add the wave or constant br mp3 file into vdubmod via the streams menu) Don't worry about the filesize of the audio file in vdubmod. AutoGK will select and transcode the audio depending on what filesize you want.

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:48 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

btw, the above isn't exactly what I'm doing these days, but it's simple and will produce decent files.

For really nice vids at smaller bitrates, I'm finding that AVISynth and MEGui with a multi-pass H.264 codec encode is really, really nice!!!!!

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 4:44 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Agh, thanks Antok.

You've just flipped upside-down my entire thinking and encoding steps.

I have fixed the out-of-sync, in my last encode, but filesize still remains around 600MB.

Doing one last encode and hoping it will be around 700MB size.

All-in-all, everything is looking great so far.

If it turns out incorrect this last time, I will move on ahead with your steps.

Thanks again!

-T