[SOLVED] Custom Quantization Matrices?

[zakafreakarama]

Hi.

Still playing around with Avidemux 2.6.8. When using Xvid to encode, I see support for custom quantization matrices has apparently been dropped. Is that so or am I missing something like I did with the frame rate issue?

Thanks.

[AQUAR]

Xvid was added by request - but for advanced setup features you need to go back to the 2.5 branch.

[zakafreakarama]

That's what I assumed.

I'm still using 2.5.6 because of this particular feature, together with the bit rate calculator, which doesn't seem to work in 2.6.8. I know it's off topic, but I'm having many problems with the latest version (crashes, calculator not working, progress indicators not working in video only mode, MPEG-2 seems to give worse quality with same settings, etc.), so it won't be replacing the stable branch in my box in the near future.

Still like most of the changes that have been made to the program and I'll keep the latest version installed for further testing.

Thanks a lot for your quick reply.

[AQUAR]

I run both of them on the same PC.

2.6 branch for current codecs.
2.5 branch for older codecs (if I need the best result - else I just use 2.6).

[zakafreakarama]

So do I. But as far as I can see, both offer the same video and audio codecs. I assume the most modern ones (x264) are better implemented in 2.6. Or am I missing something and I could have more output formats if I installed more libraries (I'm thinking VP8/9 and HEVC, maybe)?

[Jan Gruuthuse]

2.5 branch is frame based, 2.6 is time based.
Newer codecs do have partial frames in between the key frames.
Avidemux: Help: Plugins: should show you what is internally available.

[mean]

Lack of time & interest in xvid
Now every devices support h264, so...

[zakafreakarama]

True. But my laptop is now 8 years old and lacks the processing power to make h264 encoding reasonable time-wise. Even playing some 1080p films is a strain. And I have no plans, at the moment, to replace an otherwise perfectly functional machine. That's where Xvid comes in: I encode my backups using Xvid or Libavcodec's Mpeg4 codec (depending on the source) at high bit rates and using some custom matrices I downloaded a long time ago. That saves time, and space is not a problem.  If the files are to be watched in the computer, I encode the audio with Vorbis -q5 using Audacity and later create a MKV file using Mkvtoolnix. For my standalone player, I still use AVI.

I'll keep using the 2.5 branch at the moment. Still playing around with 2.6, but it has a bad habit of crashing after a few minutes of encoding.

Thanks a lot for your replies.

[Jan Gruuthuse]

Check if you can replace/upgrade laptop memory (economically) (4GB/8GB). Depending your GeoLocation, it is sometimes posible to find an economical more recent laptop replacement. I'm thinking like Oxfam-Solidarity shop. (Desktops are even cheaper).

[zakafreakarama]

Thanks, but I think I'll pass at the moment. I think I fixed the crashing thing (setting threads to 2 instead of Auto seems to have done it), and I'm not messing with a laptop's components only for my scarce video encoding. Plus, at high bit rates MPEG-4 ASP (using a good custom matrix) seems to keep a sharper picture than h264 (for SD at least; HD hides the AVC blurring much better).

And anyway, I wouldn't be too surprised if my laptop died soon. I'd better wait for it to happen and just buy a new one.