v6134 discussion / Bitrate selection?

[MrGrackle]

I see we are greeted with an update today that addresses bitrate assignments and downloads. Has anyone downloaded it yet to see what it all encompasses?
Because there is no way to analyze individual episodes from within the program, what constitutes a match to what I want and how will the program match it the rest of the way?
On a 45 minute TV show of the same series, best quality in h265 varies from 1.3Gb to 4.3 Gb. Most episodes are around 2 Gb.
But because the program analyzes episode 1 by default, what if that episode was 1.29 Gb and the rest of the series in that season 2.5Gb. Then all of the downloads would be 1.3 Gb or so?
So the only bypass now is to do the pause trick on every episode, because the copy paste method no longer works, it still goes to episode 1 no matter what.

Am I overthinking this? The very top selection will not always be the same bitrate for other episodes.

(Oh, and of course we are always weary of late week updates because the weekend is here and no one around to address critical bugs)

[jpp72]

I see we are greeted with an update today that addresses bitrate assignments and downloads. Has anyone downloaded it yet to see what it all encompasses?
Because there is no way to analyze individual episodes from within the program, what constitutes a match to what I want and how will the program match it the rest of the way?
On a 45 minute TV show of the same series, best quality in h265 varies from 1.3Gb to 4.3 Gb. Most episodes are around 2 Gb.
But because the program analyzes episode 1 by default, what if that episode was 1.29 Gb and the rest of the series in that season 2.5Gb. Then all of the downloads would be 1.3 Gb or so?
So the only bypass now is to do the pause trick on every episode, because the copy paste method no longer works, it still goes to episode 1 no matter what.

Am I overthinking this? The very top selection will not always be the same bitrate for other episodes.

(Oh, and of course we are always weary of late week updates because the weekend is here and no one around to address critical bugs)

The copy paste for Amazon was fixed in 6.1.3.3 and still works in 6.1.3.4. Once again, very annoying that they don't list that in their release notes.

The problem with Amazon is that they always had overkill bitrates and they eventually wised up. So you have Episodes 1-10 at very high bitrates, then 11-20 are more reasonable.

You have a valid point about starting with a lower bitrate then going higher but so far, that is not what i have seen with APV. It's the other way around.

The biggest issue is they keep trying to guess. It freaking blows my mind.

If you tell me "Hey Jack, please go to the craft store and get me 10 blue pencils", would you rather tell me if there are only 6 blue pencils then get the other 4 in cyan and if there is no cyan just get the 6 blue or would you rather i guess and come back with 6 blue and 4 purple?

It just makes zero sense.

[MrGrackle]

The copy paste for Amazon was fixed in 6.1.3.3 and still works in 6.1.3.4. Once again, very annoying that they don't list that in their release notes.

The problem with Amazon is that they always had overkill bitrates and they eventually wised up. So you have Episodes 1-10 at very high bitrates, then 11-20 are more reasonable.

You have a valid point about starting with a lower bitrate then going higher but so far, that is not what i have seen with APV. It's the other way around.

I swear I tried copy to clipboard while running 6133 and it defaulted to episode 1. Maybe I should have to wait the 60 seconds for the preroll bullshit ads to complete first, then copy the url when the video itself plays?
Many of the TV series bitrates I have seen are shaped like a smiley face or the letter U. In the middle of the season we see a dip, but both ends are up there. I still think 2.5 Gb is a sweet spot for H265 with 5.1/640 audio. I almost feel like the new algorithm is going to create an extra step for me because it will select the bitrate from the first episode so now I need to copy the URL.

The pencils question, I suppose it depends on who is asking, LOL. It's sort of a lose:lose situation.

[jpp72]

I swear I tried copy to clipboard while running 6133 and it defaulted to episode 1. Maybe I should have to wait the 60 seconds for the preroll bullshit ads to complete first, then copy the url when the video itself plays?
Many of the TV series bitrates I have seen are shaped like a smiley face or the letter U. In the middle of the season we see a dip, but both ends are up there. I still think 2.5 Gb is a sweet spot for H265 with 5.1/640 audio. I almost feel like the new algorithm is going to create an extra step for me because it will select the bitrate from the first episode so now I need to copy the URL.

The pencils question, I suppose it depends on who is asking, LOL. It's sort of a lose:lose situation.

2.5 GB for a 45 minute episode in H265 is way overkill but to each their own. 2500kbps for the video is plenty unless you have a lot of fast moving action. For that you can do 3500/4000kbps in H265.

Anyway, i don't suggest you make StreamFab analyze an Amazon URL that has the autoplay enabled. Especially if there are a lot of seasons. If you do that, you will get the warning that your browser can't play HD and bla bla bla and everytime it has done that for me, i got those 240p files. Even if StreamFab has fixed it now, i got in the habit of removing that from the URL.

For example, let's say i want to analyze Season 2, Episode 4 of Good Omens.

When i right click on the play icon and copy the link, i get this URL:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0CBK8QNH7/ref=atv_dp_btf_el_prime_sd_tv_play_t1ADAAAAAA0wr0?autoplay=1&t=0

I will cancel the StreamFab prompt to download and edit the URL to be:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0CBK8QNH7/ref=atv_dp_btf_el_prime_sd_tv_play_t1ADAAAAAA0wr0

I copy that to the clipboard, click download on the StreamFab prompt, and StreamFab analyzes S02E04 without playing it.



As you can see, a 48 minute episode in H265 with 640kbps 5.1 Audio is just around 1 GB and it looks great on a 65 inch 4K TV without upscaling.

The bitrate labels are completely off and it seems Amazon just lowered the bitrates but never changed the names/labels. The competitor has the same issue so that is why i think it's an amazon problem and not Streamfab. I selected 9000kbps but in reality, it is



I downloaded all these with the S02E04 being analyzed i get somewhat consistant bitrates except for S02E02. When i scan that one, i get this:



If i select the 4000kbps, i get a file that is similar to the others at ~800 MB.

I will do some more testing to see if this new logic actually works or not.

[MrGrackle]

Thanks for the tip on the autoplay url cleanup. Is that why when it seems after I download something, the program analyzes what seems like 23 more times afterwards, even though I keep mashing the cancel button? Sometimes I have to kill the program because it seems like it never stops. It won't stop because it wants to scan the entire season, one at a time, but still default to the first episode.

And as far as bitrate, when I got started with all of this stuff, general advice was to let your eyes be the judge. I am not suggesting you are blind, but when I see the reduced bit rate stream of the show I am currently working on, it looks heavily scrubbed/dnr'd. The higher bitrate shows the filmed show the way it should look.
Good Omens was no doubt shot on digital and not so much affected by this issue as it is a very clean picture.

[Wilson.Wang]

Hi,

jpp72, it's better to download the full TV Shows or Seasons for testing the bitrate problem.

Wilson