HC Encoder anyone else prefer 0.17 to 0.18?

[rahzel]

ive noticed that with smokey low bitrate scenes, 0.18 has a lot of blockyness in the smoke. its not pixelation really, i just notice a bunch of blocks. with 0.17 and CCE, i dont notice this. 0.18 does remove a little more noise, and it does look a little closer to the source, but the blocks are a big turn off for me, and also, its quite a bit slower than 0.17.

[BR7]

You could use DGDecode to deblock or you could use the DeBlock filter I am not sure how good deblock works I haven't had the chance to try it yet.But just for the record I got blockyness with 17 at low bitrates

[jdobbs]

ive noticed that with smokey low bitrate scenes, 0.18 has a lot of blockyness in the smoke. its not pixelation really, i just notice a bunch of blocks. with 0.17 and CCE, i dont notice this. 0.18 does remove a little more noise, and it does look a little closer to the source, but the blocks are a big turn off for me, and also, its quite a bit slower than 0.17.

Have you tried adjusting the bias?

[rahzel]

ive only tried 20 and 25, and the results are pretty similar. im guessing a larger bias would help reduce blocking? but the average bitrate is only like 3390, so raising the bias might worsen the overall picture.

ive also tried 20 and 25 with 0.17, and both show no blocking in the specific scenes i notice them.

maybe ill give the deblocking filters a shot.

[alan2990]

This is an old thread but I got the same results. There is more "blockiness" with 0.18 than compared to 0.17

I might have to revert back to using 0.17. I haven't really compared overall quality in detail yet between the 2, but the blockiness is a major point for me

[jdobbs]

You may want to try adjusting the bias setting for HC. If the blockiness is in high-motion/demand scenes, try adjusting it down. If it is in dark or fade-to/from-black scenes, try adjusting it up.

Please let me know what you find.