Craig: x264 encoder implementation in Compressor?

[Craig Seeman]

[Paul Figgiani] “Is there something else needed other than what’s already supported?”

MyCometG3 ended development of x264 Quicktime Component around November 2011. Quicktime itself is fading fast. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s gone by OSX 10.9 this summer but if not then maybe 10.10 (or would that be 11) in mid 2014.

There should be “native” support for the codec as done in Telestream Episode or Sorenson Squeeze. That requires a commercial license.

Compressor 4 supports H.264 .mp4 but it’s very limited in its feature set and it’s still Apple’s H.264 codec. I’ll be polite but it’s not known as one of the better implementations. Sure the MyCometG3 x264 Quicktime Component still works but development on the component ended and Quicktime Component architecture is likely EOL.

[Rafael Amador]

[Craig Seeman] “MyCometG3 ended development of x264 Quicktime Component around November 2011.”
Craig,
Do you think that the x264 QT Component needs further development?

[Craig Seeman] “Quicktime itself is fading fast. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s gone by OSX 10.9 this summer but if not then maybe 10.10 (or would that be 11) in mid 2014.”
[Craig Seeman] “Quicktime Component architecture is likely EOL.”
So what do you thing is the future?
What Apple gonna bring to replace the “.mov”?
What people gonna do with all that stuff and what manufacturers that are using “.mov” based recording formats will do?
Before the release of FCPX, many people was speculating with Apple support to MFX, but this didn’t happens.
Which do you think is the future standard for Apple “ecosystem”?
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Paul Figgiani]

[Craig Seeman] “MyCometG3 ended development of x264 Quicktime Component around November 2011.”

[Raf]
Craig,
Do you think that the x264 QT Component needs further development?

I’m curious about this as well. I wonder if the Telestream/Sorenson x264 support is updated and/or different than the last version of the publicly available QT Component?

thx.

-paul.

[Jeremy Garchow]

You might want to have a look here for x264 in Compressor:

https://library.creativecow.net/lawrence_david/Video-Purifier_and_x264/1

[Rafael Amador]

[Paul Figgiani] “Do you think that the x264 QT Component needs further development?

I’m curious about this as well. I wonder if the Telestream/Sorenson x264 support is updated and/or different than the last version of the publicly available QT Component?”
The possibilities for development for top profiles are huge.
Of course, my question is around the Main/High Profile (YUV/420-8b) that most of us are using for web video.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Craig Seeman]

[Paul Figgiani] “Craig,
Do you think that the x264 QT Component needs further development?”

Why? QT Components will be dead soon. That’s my point. QT is EOL on the Mac I suspect.

[Paul Figgiani] “I wonder if the Telestream/Sorenson x264 support is updated and/or different than the last version of the publicly available QT Component?”

They certainly are. x264 continues to advance. The QT Component version is dead though. It hasn’t been touched in a year and there’s no motive to given QT Components may no longer be supported.

I’m not sure how closely you follow this forum but permeated throughout is that AVFoundation is replacing Quicktime.

[Craig Seeman]

Apple’s own H.264 implementation does not allow the user to set High Profile or CABAC encoding.

What I find so incongruous in Apple’s approach is that the company that pronounces optical disk is dead has the weakest implementation of H.264 for file based delivery. That’s why it’s on my Feature Request list. Of course maybe we’ll see Apple implement the new H.265/HEVC in a big way so they have no interest in improving their H.264 implementation or paying for a commercial x264 license.

[Walter Soyka]

[Craig Seeman] “Of course maybe we’ll see Apple implement the new H.265/HEVC in a big way”

Craig, you’re our resident compression expert. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?

I know HEVC is promising larger rasters, higher frame rates, and lower bitrates, but that’s about it. Can I think of the difference between HEVC and AVC as roughly analogous to the difference between AVC and MPEG-2? Could you please you describe a bit about where in the industry HEVC is likely to be adopted first, or maybe point me to some good reading?

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Rafael Amador]

Craig,
For de little I know about HVEC (Wikipedia), is a delivery codec, thought i guess will have good options for acquisition too.
But, what about production?
How you see the future for a “virtually uncompressed” codec/format for production and high quality archiving?
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Craig Seeman]

[Rafael Amador] “But, what about production?
How you see the future for a “virtually uncompressed” codec/format for production and high quality archiving?”

A lot depends on how the market moves and why. There are so many dominos that need to hit that it could wind up in any number of directions.

It’s hard to give a short answer but ultimately people will want to edit with it real time and as chip makers build in decoding (one hopes as that’s critical in the market) people will need to upgrade their computers.

As to archiving, it depends what you consider “archive.” I’m not necessarily going to say your camera master files will be smaller because, with higher efficiency comes the push to more data. 4K might become a bit more reasonable in file sizes for example.

It took a while for H.264 to get into the acquisition and post production workflow. HEVC (H.265) might move a bit faster, but only a bit, given a lot has to happen on encode and decode.

If you think H.264 encoding is slow, wait ’till you deal with HEVC encoding (wait being the operative word). No doubt they’ll be those trying to accelerate it of course (one hopes).

Personally I think HEVC stands a very good chance in the market place. I think they’ll be a big push in the mobile arena given online content providers are up against end user/viewer data speeds and data caps. I understand cable operators are interested because it can free up bandwidth… but they seem much slower to move.

Visually it’s probably the same quality of H.264 High Profile at a reduction of nearly half the data. I think the near future post workflow won’t make it a pleasant archival format. Heck I’m half suspecting Apple is going to do something to follow ProRes at some point.