Variable Frame Rate

[KevB]

Hi Guys, I have recently posted this on Winnydows forum, but as the issue may have been observed by other A110 users, I am also posting it here, Cheers

I have recently tried to switch from 'xvid4psp 5' to 'xvid4psp 6 Daily 74' as the enocdes seem to be significantly faster. Although my MKV encodes no longer work on my hardware decoder (Popcorn Hour A110), they work beautifully on my PCs.

I have recently trawled through a heap of various PCH-A110 forums to come up with a possible reason. After checking multiple files for encoder settings etc and trying to work out what should work etc, the encoder settings should be pretty good (unless someone wants to correct me), so the only thing left is the 'Frame Rate Mode: Variable'. I read somewhere the hardware encoders are pretty much 'allergic' to Variable frame rates.

In an attempt to get rid of this, or at least set it to 'Constant' (some of my investigations indicate 'Constant' might work), I am trying to remove the Frame Rate mode setting, but can find no way of changing it.I would have thought this should be a setting in the GUI somewhere, as I don't want to manually do anything more than adjust the GUI, as I a bit of a noob and don't want to stuff anything else up!

The following file DOES work:

General
Complete name : \\PCH-A110\share\Video\Working.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 1 001 MiB
Duration : 1h 52mn
Overall bit rate : 1 242 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2011-12-09 08:17:40
Writing application : mkvmerge v4.9.1 ('Ich will') built on Aug 10 2011 09:31:20
Writing library : libebml v1.2.1 + libmatroska v1.2.0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L5.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 52mn
Bit rate : 1 025 Kbps
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 264 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.253
Stream size : 827 MiB (83%)
Writing library : x264 core 116 r2074 2641b9e
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=18.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 1h 52mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 155 MiB (15%)
Default : Yes
Forced : No


The following file DOES NOT work:

General
Complete name : \\PCH-A110\share\Video\Broken.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 94.8 MiB
Duration : 14mn 19s
Overall bit rate : 926 Kbps
Writing application : XviD4PSP 6.0 / 53.6.0
Writing library : XviD4PSP 6.0 / 53.6.0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L5.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 3 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 14mn 19s
Bit rate : 715 Kbps
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 360 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.129
Stream size : 73.3 MiB (77%)
Writing library : x264 core 116 r2044M 392e762
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.20 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=230 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=18.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 14mn 19s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 19.7 MiB (21%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

If anyone has any suggestions, I would be truly grateful.

Cheers

[kryzchek]

That works on the PC, or the A-110?

I wouldn't expect it to work on the A-110 only because it is an L5.1 with 5 reference frame encode. The A-110 is not L5.1 compliant.

[KevB]

(03-11-2012 08:07 AM)kryzchek Wrote:  That works on the PC, or the A-110?

I wouldn't expect it to work on the A-110 only because it is an L5.1 with 5 reference frame encode. The A-110 is not L5.1 compliant.

I don't see how, the first file works fine. It is High@L5.1

Quote:The following file DOES work:

General
Complete name : \\PCH-A110\share\Video\Working.mkv

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L5.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 52mn
Bit rate : 1 025 Kbps
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 264 pixels

In fact all my MKVs are. My understanding is that the 5 Ref-Frames limit is only when you are encoding 1080 video streams and 9 Ref-Frames when at 720 video streams. My encodes are all 640x480 maximum, to save disk space. I do keep to 5 Ref-Frames even for this resolution, just to be safe.