1 Topic by brazen1 (edited by brazen1 Yesterday 16:57:45)

Topic: How To: Retain Bitrate

I'm trying to retain close to the original file size and\or bit rate of original file after transcoding with SVP.

I'm using Windows 11 24H2 - RTX 5090 Liquid Suprim - i9-14900k - 64GB DDR5 @6400. After selecting a file to transcode, I've been selecting Rife Ai engine from the dropdown instead of Automatic. I've set mpv64 and FFmpeg paths in environment variables fwiw.

1st screenshot is SVP advanced settings I'm currently using - these have not failed and work ok. I've tried many, many others including lowering values of the ones listed and even removing some of them and replacing with others and/or omitting them altogether. Transcodes either fail or do not achieve a higher bit rate nor file size. I've not been able to raise 'maxrate' or 'minrate' any higher.

2nd screenshot is RIFE options. I've also tried other models. I've lowered GPU threads down to 1 but the transcode was slow and GPU usage was only 25%. Normally it is 73% so I put it back to 4. I did read somewhere 5090's require 1 or it would fail. Fwiw, mine doesn't.

3rd screenshot Topaz file size (52.2GB) and bit rate (59.3)

4th screenshot SVP's end result file size (38.2GB) and bit rate (43.4) That's the reduction I haven't learned how to cure.

I've completed a bunch of transcodes in the short while I've been amateur learning SVP from square one. All of them turn out similar to this one and all of them I've tried different things. I'm exhausted. I notice most people complain about file sizes and bit rates too large. My query is just the opposite.

Thanks for any help pointing me in the right direction others might offer.

Post's attachments

Screenshot (23) small.png 219.49 kb, file has never been downloaded. 

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Re: How To: Retain Bitrate

you set minrate to 43 and maxrate to 44, and got 43.4
sounds quite logical big_smile

Re: How To: Retain Bitrate

Yes, I agree but that's not the problem.
The problem is SVP will not accept higher values than 43 and 44 or it immediately fails.
The original file is bit rate 63.1 and I'd like to end up close to that.
However, no matter what I try, SVP will not produce anywhere near 63.1 for any of the files I've transcoded.
The best I can get it to produce is 42.6 using the advanced settings shown.
I would like to increase minrate=43 and maxrate=44 to something like minrate=60 and maxrate=63.
But once again, SVP transcode will fail every time if I increase either of those values.
I guess my question is... why is SVP transcode failing when I use minrate=45 and maxrate=46 for example?
Is there a better advanced code to try although I have tried quite a few others.
Thanks for your reply and help.

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Re: How To: Retain Bitrate

dunno, check the encoder log what is the error
it's just a ffmpeg parameters, SVP absolutely doesn't care if it's 44 or 63 or 187...

according to Wikipedia, "level=5.1 @main" limits maximum bitrate to 40

Re: How To: Retain Bitrate

When transcode fails, first thing I do is check the log.  No error shows other than something about "out of parameter (8)" if I recall correctly.
I feel SVP must somehow care because when I enter a higher value, it fails.  Enter the lower value, and it doesn't fail.
Yes, I too checked Wiki. One of the changes was to enter 6.1 but that made zero difference when I tried it.
Perhaps the Wiki is wrong as is Google Ai because you can clearly see from my Topaz output file screenshot (and the original disc file) they are level=5.1 with bit rates well above 40 - 63.1 to be exact.
Even the SVP output is higher than 40 - 42.6.
That's why I don't trust everything I read and show examples of real world results. This is why I am seeking help here. I know you are knowledgeable.
Thank you again for taking interest in helping me.

6 Reply by Chainik

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Re: How To: Retain Bitrate

> because you can clearly see from my Topaz output file screenshot (and the original disc file) they are level=5.1 with bit rates well above 40 - 63.1 to be exact.

on Topaz screenshot you have 5.1@high, not 5.1@main

> out of parameter (8)

yeaaaah big_smile

7 Reply by brazen1

Re: How To: Retain Bitrate

Ahhhhhh.  Good catch.  So do you think that Topaz retains high bit rate because it uses 5.1@high?  Fwiw, it gives 2 choices - Main and Main10. I use Main10 codec and a 'Target bit rate' setting I put at 60.

Do you think changing the SVP advanced setting 'level=5.1' to 'level=5.1 high' would let me raise to 'minrate=55' and 'maxrate=63' for a new video or what would you suggest?  I'm going to try that right now.

So I've changed to 'level=5.1 high'. I raised the minrate/maxrate... for a new Topaz video I completed and put into SVP.  It's 7% into the transcode... AND IT HASN'T FAILED!!!!!  So happy you caught that.

I won't know the final output until it's done and that is a couple hours from now.  It looks promising.

Thank you, thank you so much for helping me.  Can't wait to see the magic SVP at a high bit rate does for this fast paced action movie.  I'll report back with the results.

8 Reply by Chainik

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Re: How To: Retain Bitrate

> 'level=5.1 high'

if you press "?" button then it says that "Set the encoding tier -- tier=high"...