DVDFab 12.0.0.4 Lowers Quality of Converted Videos Compared to 12.0.0.3

[kevinfritz]

I routinely convert PAL encoded videos to NTSC using 2-pass software encoding for maximum quality. 12.0.0.3 and also the various version 11 updates would use "HIGH" as the H264 profile to use when making this conversion. I noticed after installing 12.0.0.4 the resulting video has been converted with the "MAIN" profile, which is a lower quality, as confirmed by MediaInfo.. I suspected something had changed because the conversion finished much quicker for a movie of that length than it would have in prior versions. To confirm this I reinstalled 12.0.0.3 and the conversion took the original longer time that I was expecting, and MediaInfo confirmed that the resulting video was encoded with the HIGH profile.

Please return DVDFab back to using HIGH for 2-pass encodings of high definition video. It ensures maximum quality and it is worth the somewhat longer conversion duration. I've returned to version 12.0.0.3 for now.

[Mona]

Please zip the whole log folder and send it to us to help check the issue. Thanks.

[kevinfritz]

Please zip the whole log folder and send it to us to help check the issue. Thanks.

Mona (DVDFab Service Team),

I sent the requested zip file of the log folder via the message center to "Mona" and "DVDFab Service Team." Please let me know if you do not receive it. Note that before I could do the comparison again 12.0.0.5 was released so I performed it with that version instead of 12.0.0.4 and received the same results. I also found that the audio was converted to a variable bitrate AAC format instead of the constant bitrate format that had been used. I preferred the constant bitrate format as it prevented any lip sync issues when converting from PAL to NTSC when the original audio in the PAL clip had variable bitrate.

To be clear, when I said the DVDFAb had gone from using the "HIGH" (quality) profile to "MAIN," it is the profile of the underlying x264 encoder. If you look at my message from June 2017 about version 10 revisions after 10.0.3.9, there was a big slowdown that was the result of DVDFab switching from BASE to MAIN quality x264 profile. Once I realized that I was getting higher quality, I was happy with the longer conversion time, but the x264 standard for HD video should be HIGH, not MAIN.. Now that I have a more powerful computer, the HIGH quality only takes slightly longer than the MAIN x264 quality. It would be great if DVDFab would revert back to the default HIGH quality that version 11 and version 12 prior to 12.0.0.4 had been using for clips that are higher resolution than standard definition, and also return to constant bitrate by default on converted audio, or let the user control the parameters that are passed to the x264 conversion engine.

Thanks,
Kevin

[kevinfritz]

I forgot to provide the MediaInfo information for the same exact PAL clip converted to NTSC with 12.0.0.3 vs 12.0.0.5 (or .4), both with the exact same DVDFab settings. See the attached text file, or body of text below. Note the use of "Main" x264 format profile in newest versions vs. "High" of 12.0.0.3, and the use of variable bitrate AAC audio instead of the constant bitrate audio that had been used as expected per the DVDFab bitrate selection.

With DVDFab 12.0.0.3:

General
Complete name : D:\Output\Movie.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size : 4.92 GiB
Duration : 2 h 4 min
Overall bit rate : 5 664 kb/s
Movie name : Movie
Recorded date : 2020
Writing application : DVDFab

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3.1
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 4 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 2 h 4 min
Bit rate : 5 524 kb/s
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.200
Stream size : 4.78 GiB (97%)
Writing library : x264 core 155 r2917M 0a84d98
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / 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=18 / lookahead_threads=3 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=25 / keyint_min=2 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=29 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=5524 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=5524 / vbv_bufsize=5524 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Codec configuration box : avcC

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 2 h 4 min
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 160 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 142 MiB (3%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Alternate group : 1



With DVDFab 12.0.0.5:

General
Complete name : D:\Output\Video\Movie.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42 (mp42/isom/avc1)
File size : 4.92 GiB
Duration : 2 h 4 min
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 5 656 kb/s
Movie name : Movie
Encoded date : UTC 2020-11-07 07:14:11
Tagged date : UTC 2020-11-07 07:33:42
Writing application : DVDFab 12.0.0.5
Cover : Yes

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L3.1
Format settings : 1 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, Reference frames : 1 frame
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 2 h 4 min
Bit rate : 5 524 kb/s
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.200
Stream size : 4.77 GiB (97%)
Writing library : x264 core 148
Encoding settings : cabac=0 / ref=1 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=umh / subme=7 / psy=0 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=12 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=24 / keyint_min=13 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=20 / rc=2pass / mbtree=0 / bitrate=5524 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=5524 / vbv_bufsize=5524 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date : UTC 2020-11-07 07:14:11
Tagged date : UTC 2020-11-07 07:33:41
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Codec configuration box : avcC

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 2 h 4 min
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 160 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 164 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 142 MiB (3%)
Title : English (aac 2.0)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Alternate group : 1
Encoded date : UTC 2020-11-07 07:14:11
Tagged date : UTC 2020-11-07 07:33:41