For those of you that torrent video files this question is geared toward you. I’m looking for a sweet spot between quality, size & speed for HEVC encoding. I’m using FastFlix and seem to be getting really wide and varying speeds.

I’m not really literate on all this video lingo but I can, at least, get it going. Most files take anywhere from 5-17 mins for a 30-40 mins clip. I have a AMD Radeon RX 470 graphics card but when I try and use the VCEEnc it won’t let me use CRF which I’ve heard it the best way.

Anyway, if you’re willing to share knowledge or what settings you use when you convert video to HEVC that might help me speed up my processing, I would be eternally grateful.

  • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
    9·
    2 days ago

    Are you short on disk space? Personally I’d just buy enough storage that I don’t even need to care

    • Rodrigo_de_Mendoza@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      4·
      2 days ago

      Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. I only have two 2Tb drives and they are about full so I’m looking to downsize my files. Someone recommended buying a USB hub and several 16Tb Seagate drives to accomodate but I’m not sure if that’s the best option.

      • rumba@lemmy.zipEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        Different people have different needs.

        If someone has a lot of time and not a lot of money re encoding video is a decent answer.

        I’ve been there and done that before.

        Replacing (or adding a 10TB USB to your ) single 2 tb drive isn’t a horrible idea. It’ll take you quite a while to go through that 10 tb. In the meantime you look toward getting an old case and some kind of modest motherboard and setting up an Unraid. It’s a journey, and unless you are made of cash you’re not going to get to your endpoint all in one jump.

        Unraid is budget friendly because you can add whatever size disc you want to do it, It supports a parity drive so you have some support against failure. The only truly difficult part is that the parity drive must be as big as the largest drive in the box.

        In the end only you can decide what works for you. If you want to re-encode your stuff, 2 pass is best. You are going to lose quality, that’s unavoidable, But if you’re watching it on a TV 12 ft away, You’re going to forget about any quality as soon as you get in grossed in anything you’re watching.

        • Rodrigo_de_Mendoza@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
          1·
          1 day ago

          Thank you so much for your input. I’m so glad someone understands my point of view and doesn’t keep telling me DON’T REENCODE. I know that but we do what we have to when we’re not made of $$$. So, you’re saying in re-encoding to let it select it’s bitrate and use 2-pass and be done with it. That’s actually helpful because FastFlix will only allow CQP or Bitrate encoding when using the AMD hardware acceleration VCEEnc. Again, thanks for the advice!

          • rumba@lemmy.zipEnglish
            2·
            23 hours ago

            It’s your media you do what you want with it.

            Pick a busy movie with a bunch of stuff going on, and then pick a really dark movie.

            Try different encodings with each one of those. You’re playing a game of time versus quality. And you keep in mind, the electricity for those encodes isn’t free either.

            Try them with a fixed bit rate, try them with the two pass. If the fixed rate doesn’t look good try bumping the rate up. You’ll get a feel for it eventually.

            Back when I was hard up for disc, I made everything 1080p HEVC single pass constant rate. I don’t even remember exactly what the bit rate was but I would just encode everything and then watch a sample out of it. If one of them turned out bad I would reincode it with better settings.

            Dual pass will get you a little smaller and better output, But it takes forever, and you’re sitting there burning watts all night long.

            In the end you just need to fiddle with it, and weigh the output versus your resources.

            • Rodrigo_de_Mendoza@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
              1·
              23 hours ago

              Thank you for your input and understanding my situation but I’ve been fiddling around so much I’ve haven’t gotten even one series or movie encoded. I’m about ready to just pirate a commercial product and see if that will do what I want it to but I probably still wouldn’t find a product that would do everything I want, I’m afraid. Thanks again for your time & input!