h264 encoding handbreak vs avidemux

[dave_van_damn]

Hello!

I'm currently in process of converting a bunch of PAL 4:3 DVDs to MP4 h264. The DVDs are of PAL VHS tapes I copied many moons ago.

I've ran a few tests comparing the "slow" preset of Handbreak to Avidemux 2.7.7 and I'm finding the picture produced by Avidemux to be lacking in detail and quite soft when doing A/B comparisons to the original dvd and the video produced by Handbreak.

It's my understanding that the presets for "slow" should be the same between programs so does anyone know why there's a difference? I've played around with the settings on Avidemux and can't figure it out.

Aside from "slow", the other settings for both programs are as follows:
"fast decode" unchecked
"main" profile
RF0
De-interlace Yadif BOB

I'd greatly appreciate any help with this because I'd far prefer to use Avidemux as I need to edit my clips.

Many thanks!

Avid screencap:
https://imgur.com/hyzCItz

Handbreak screencap:
https://imgur.com/NIgWBxi

Original DVD screencap:
https://imgur.com/DcUHXFQ

[eumagga0x2a]

Please make sure you have completely disabled post-processing in the Avidemux preferences.

[dave_van_damn]

Please make sure you have completely disabled post-processing in the Avidemux preferences.

Thanks - I've disabled them all but it's still occuring :/

[eumagga0x2a]

Please provide a short sample (worth ~ 2 minutes of video) of the source VOB via WeTransfer, Mega, Dropbox or Google Drive, saved in copy mode as mpg, i.e. MPEG-PS, containing the frame shown on the screenshots.

Apart from this sample, please provide a project script from the setup you used last to deinterlace and re-encode the source with still unsatisfactory results.

Finally, please provide the result of re-encoding the short sample mentioned above with Handbrake.

[eumagga0x2a]

"main" profile

Just noticed this. Why not "High"? Some ancient equipment around where the file needs to be playable?

[eumagga0x2a]

RF0

What does this mean? CQ with Q = 0 ( = lossless)?

[budda]

Check official rules for releases. (remove space before .org)
SD:      scenerules. org/t.html?id=2013_SDX264v1.1.nfo
HD:      scenerules. org/t.html?id=2020_X265.nfo
TV SD: scenerules. org/t.html?id=sdtvx2642k16.nfo
TV HD: scenerules. org/t.html?id=tvx2642k16.nfo

swsResize default method bicubic are outdated, must be lancsoz.   

[eumagga0x2a]

swsResize default method bicubic are outdated, must be lancsoz.

This is not what I know. Using Lanczos as default was a bug, now fixed, aligning Avidemux default with FFmpeg.

(oops, mixed up posters, please don't hijack other people topics)

[dave_van_damn]

RF0

What does this mean? CQ with Q = 0 ( = lossless)?

Whoops sorry, I meant CRF 0. Generally speaking, is CRF better for VHS transfers than CQ?

[eumagga0x2a]

At my level of ignorance, CRF is always better than CQ except for academic purposes. If quality needs to be maxxed out like for intermediate editing steps while storge space is virtually unlimited, there are good and fast lossless / intra-only codecs available (or use the "Mezzanine" preset in the x264 plugin).