Top Gear H.264

[TYC]

After reading a few threads about the quality of the Top Gear releases, and the complaints about the size and format issues, I've decided to make a poll on whether people would actually appreciate H.264 releases of Top Gear or not.

I would take the liberty of converting them using Quicktime.
They are a pain to do, since they take up to 24hrs to complete, but I will tell you this:
THEY ARE WORTH IT.
The filesize is about 350mb with a res of 640x352 - and the quality is incredible.

How I Do It:
I download the 700mb Release of the Top Gear Episode.
I convert the XVID-AVI into an MP4 file - so Quicktime can read the file.
I then use Quicktime to convert the MP4 file into a MP4-H.264 file.


-----------------------
If this idea flies...
I would prefer to encode to H.264 directly from higher-quality source. (I don't care if I have to download up to 1.5GB)
Having the source release in a heavily compressed XVID format does loose some quality.

But that can be decided at a later date.

 

[ESPNSTI]

I have no doubt that this is the format of the future, but IMHO, it's too soon:

- More than a few people will have a PC that doesn't have enough power to play it back smoothly.
- It's not mainstream enough (yet).

 

[TYC]

It plays fine on my other P4 1.6GHz - 512mb Ram Computer...
And all you need is VLC or Quicktime or Media Player Classic (and the x264 codec) to play it.
(which almost everybody has already)

 

[ryosuke]

if it can be opened with MPC i'm for it.

 

[TYC]

if it can be opened with MPC i'm for it.

as long has you have the x264 codec - it works perfectly.

 

[No Boss]

Bear with me cause my computer nerd talk is limited.

If we do this, does that mean the video is only playable in Quicktime??

 

[TYC]

Bear with me cause my computer nerd talk is limited.

If we do this, does that mean the video is only playable in Quicktime??

In Answer I Quote Myself:

all you need is VLC or Quicktime or Media Player Classic (and the x264 codec) to play it.
(which almost everybody has already)

 

[Buba]

No, any h.264 codec would do... Basically ffdshow which lots of people already use can decode it. For PAL resolutions anything with more than 1,2 Ghz should be fine...

I'm against it, because at times I wanna watch it on my small 32" TV via a DVD Player.

Plus we recently had this discussion in the 425MB thread. Just leave it. When the scene switches over (and I don't count the THOR HD rips as scene...) VUK could follow, I guess... For now we really don't need it.
Nobody wants a season where the first 3 are in Xvid and then we change to h.264...

 

[TYC]

Nobody wants a season where the first 3 are in Xvid and then we change to h.264...

I've already converted the first 3 to H.264 for myself...

 

[Buba]

I see... So don't wuss around, upload them to mininova, pm viper and promise him you'll keep up doing this, and maybe he'll do an option on the mainpage so that people can choose...
Or let a mod sticky a thread where you'll post the links to the reencs!

 

[TYC]

I'm actually in the process of uploading right now. - to a fileserver.
(Unfortunately my upload speed is not so great.)

 

[Cruzz563]

I've been messing around with the conversions with this little app, MainConcept H.264 Encoder v2. But I can't find the option in Quicktime for h.264 conversion. Are you on a Mac? I have Pro btw.

 

[TYC]

I'm on a Mac

 

[Giwrgos]

I dont know much about codecs but as a user-viewer i find quite good the rmvb format. Even though i voted Yes, can rmvb be taken into consideration by vuk?also the 350 traditional release would be great.(does that extra 70M make so much difference?)

thnx anyway keep releasing i'll keep seeding,
George

 

[TechZ]

George

Since the thread was made, we've firmly decided on a few things

a) It's going to be XviD
b) 425MB per ep
c) RM anything is the devil's work.

 

[STrRedWolf]

I'm a bit late in the game, but then, a few points:

http://www.doom9.org/codec-comparisons.htm has comparisions between XVid, atream's H.264, x264, and Divx 6.1. The winner is XVid and Atream.

If you're running MacOS X, you're running a BSD, so you get to play with MPlayer/MEncoder and can forget about QuickTime.

 

[Dygear]

Re: Top Gear H.264

I download the 700mb Release of the Top Gear Episode.
I convert the XVID-AVI into an MP4 file - so Quicktime can read the file.
I then use Quicktime to convert the MP4 file into a MP4-H.264 file.

Don't bother re-encoding, it ruins the flavor. Encode from the source or don't encode at all.

 

[hokiethang]

This thread is old...

Things won't change.