*Updated August 14th, 2010*

*NEW & RECOMMENDED* 2.0 Package. Click here to download

^Already updated and loaded with all pre-sets. Thanks to Nvinc1ble, we now know how to encode Halo videos without getting the "color loss problem". This new package includes the commands within the avs files.

I've also included pictures in the tutorial, and a preset for Youtube.

Something to note when interpolating: The higher the quality of the source file, the better the result.

Any who, off we go into the world of Quality. The following tutorials explain how to interpolate 720p footage to 1080p using Red Giant Instant HD 1.1, and how to encode to x264 using Megui. If you don't want to interpolate your footage and only want to encode your video, skip to Part B.

note: You can use Instant HD 1.1 to interpolate any footage into any resolution, but 720p to 1080p is most common, so that is what the first part of this tutorial is for specifically. If you want to see the comparison pictures of 720p vs interpolated 1080p using the methods below, check out these comparison pictures:

Raw 720p before encoding: http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/3226/720pb.png

After 1080p interpolation and before encoding: http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/6...terpolated.png

Interpolation to 1080p and x264 Encoding Guide for Windows Users

by: FraGTaLiTy

Download the 2.0 Package at the top of the page, then check out the tutorials below

Click here to Interpolate your footage to 1080p

Click here to encode your video with x264

I'd recommend .mkv as it seems to be more stable. I've been exporting mastroska only for over a year now.

Originally Posted by Crest

I'd recommend .mkv as it seems to be more stable. I've been exporting mastroska only for over a year now.

Yeah, people just tend to be scared of file types they aren't familiar with.

If anyone has my Instant_HD AE script it would be helpful if you'd upload it.

Originally Posted by RoboSteeze

If anyone has my Instant_HD AE script it would be helpful if you'd upload it.

that would be pretty leet.

Frag, I wanted to try Constant Quality, but I'm wondering what I should use. I have a mostly static video, with slight grain, basically dolly movements in a game. 1080p24. This is single pass right? It's 2:25 long, and at 8 Quant with the HD balanced preset.

Also, I can put a .flac in a mastroska right? My audio source is in flac, and it's been exported and stuff a few times in vegas but it's been in 44.1khz 16bit wav the whole time, so it's still lossless right?

Originally Posted by Crest

Frag, I wanted to try Constant Quality, but I'm wondering what I should use. I have a mostly static video, with slight grain, basically dolly movements in a game. 1080p24. This is single pass right? It's 2:25 long, and at 8 Quant with the HD balanced preset.

Also, I can put a .flac in a mastroska right? My audio source is in flac, and it's been exported and stuff a few times in vegas but it's been in 44.1khz 16bit wav the whole time, so it's still lossless right?

CRF is single pass, but that's not because it's not doing as good of a job. That's just because that's how CRF works. You sacrifice having an exact file size, that's about it.

Grain is going to make your file size huge because it's so random when using CRF's, so try a CRF value of 22ish.

I have no idea if you can embed FLAC to a MKV file, but you can include the flac file in the same folder as the mkv with the exact same name. If they names match and they are in the same folder, media player classic will use the FLAC file while you're playing the video.

Think you made a boo boo. CRF doesn't care about details like grain as much as VBR.

For no perceptible compression, what kind of filesize might I expect. The video is very low motion except for the slight grain. I figured under 350mb. I"m doing the same thing, 18Q with the HD Insane on Very Slow. SO many weird presets in this program now. Projects 150mb after about 20% in the video, compared to about 700mb with it on Balanced.

I'm using Constant Quality Mode. Is that different : |

Man, quality means like 90% of the video for you guys. Not saying it's bad thing, because I never worked with picture perfect crystal clear HD 1080p but damn. You take a class on this?(Pointed to either of you 3)