Convert 1080p videos

What is a good bitrate to convert my 1080p movies to? I want to keep the size close to or under 10 GB each.

Is 8000 kbps quality enough to play on a 40'' LED TV? It seems that a near 3 hour movie (Avatar) came out at 9.45 GB with 8000kpbs, and 320kbps audio on 2 Pass. Would that play in great quality?

What is the minimum bitrate I could have and keep good 1080p quality.

I recommend the following...

Use the x264 container.
Audio Bitrate no lower than 640 kbit
Video Bitrate no lower than 8000, no higher than 14000...
Good rule of thumb = Source-2000

6.1) First pass:
x264.exe --pass 1 --level 4.1 --stats .stats --bitrate 8000 --threads auto --bframes 3 --me dia --ref 1 --subme 1 --no-dct-decimate --partitions none --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --output NUL movie.avs

6.2) Second pass:
x264.exe --pass 2 --level 4.1 --stats .stats --bitrate 8000 --threads auto --bframes 3 --b-pyramid --weightb --me umh --ref 5 --mixed-refs --subme 7 --trellis 1 --analyse all --8x8dct --no-fast-pskip --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --output movie.mkv movie.avs

Click to expand...

Your movies are likely going to stick in the area of 10GB for 1080p. You can see returns of 7 GB with 720P but 10GB is about the low end with 1080.

BTW, Those are the official rules for scene rips, granted they're criminals but they tend to know what they're doing so following their advice isn't a bad idea when it comes to av conversion.

If you want the entire set of rules: http://paste2.org/p/807118

My mediaInfo from a 10.9 GB movie that I watch on my 40" LCD (before hard-code)

It had a very nice picture, even after having to hard code the subs. I am not too informed on settings for encoding, I just used MKV2VOB to hard code with highest quality, and I am still liking the picture, and now I don't have to use PS3 Media Server to encode the subs on the fly, giving my CPU a break.

I agree with Notsogreymatter. 8000 is about the lowest you want to go. Looks great, but lower file size.


ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Muxing mode : Container [email protected]
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 2h 41mn
Bit rate : 7 972 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 8 171 Kbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Resolution : 24 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.160
Stream size : 8.99 GiB (82%)
Writing library : x264 core 93 r1542 5b86182
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:0:0 / 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=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / wpredb=1 / wpredp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=30 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=8171 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

Audio
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 2h 41mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 510 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 24 bits
Stream size : 1.71 GiB (16%)
Title : English DTS 1509kbps
Language : English

Depends on the source.
If theres alot of Action & complex scenes, no. 8000 is far to low.
But for the most part, its fine.

IMHO, On a 40" screen, youd likely be better off downsizing to 720P and use higher bit rates.

From my experience, a 720P @ 6500-7K or so bitrate just looks better than 1080P @ 8K.

It will be hard to see the difference between 720 & 1080 anyway unless 50" or larger.

For Audio, I would keep either AC3 640 or use AFTEn to make it 448 AC3 5.1. I wouldnt go any lower than 448.
Some people can tell the differnce between 640 and 448, others cant.
I am one that cant really notice much difference. But I can tell the difference going below 448 (If 5.1).
This part really depends on how much of a audiophile you are I suppose..

If you have a powerful CPU, and don't mind some extra encoding time, best settings IMHO are:
NO Turbo Mode
Automated 2 Pass
Bitrate= 6500-7500 (for 720P)
ref=4 -- bframe-3 --deblock= -1, -1
Adaptive I-Frame=YES
Use MBTree = YES
Trellis = Always
PsyTrelles Str = .6
No Fast P-Skip - Checked
ME = MultiHex
Sub = Lvl9
ME Range = 24
Lookahead = 60
--slices 4 --aud --nal-hrd --b-pyramid strict --keyint 24 --min-keyint 2 --vbv-maxrate 14000 --vbv-bufsize 14500

Resizer: Lanczos4 (if resizing to 720)

These settings work great for 1080 as well. Keep in mind not using Turbo will make 1st pass slower. equal to the second pass. but, it also help the x264 encoder make more acurate decisions. Enabling the Turbo will cut the 1st pass time in 1/2, at the cost of a small quality loss.

I prefer leaving it off.

These are the settings I have found to produce excellent results, and smaller file sizes.