Compression Settings - The Latest

Compression settings include different tabs which are Video, Muxer, Audio , Time Code , CC Settings, Video Filters and Streaming. Each tab has different kind of adjusting settings. At the right side, current details of compression settings can be seen as summary.

Video Settings

First of all, all profile settings are not identical. They are different due to their formats however they may have similar settings.

Quality Settings

Firstly, adjust your quality bar before making any changes at Video Settings. If quality bar moved after any manually changing, these changes made manually , probably get reset or change differently.

Most video formats have a quality setting bar and some of them have Online/Offline option. Online and Offline options refers to that the source is a living source (online) or just a video file at local machine or network (offline). Choose a mode wisely according to the source in use.    

• If it’s online, the bar refers to a CPU Load bar. As it is decreased, application works with better performance but may sacrifice quality.
• If offline is chosen, this bar refers to Quality this time since performance is not that important according to online sources. As quality bar increases, quality of encoding gets increase but may cause encoder to slow due to machine’s system.

Settings

In settings window, there are three tabs of setting which are Basic settings, Advanced settings and Miscellaneous. Detailed setting of a profile can be adjusted from this window. It should be considered carefully that not all adjustments are acceptable therefore user should have some knowledge about these settings. Settings window is shown below for Basic, Advanced and Miscellaneous Settings. You can adjust Video Format (resolution,frame rate, etc. ) Bitrate ( bitrate mode, target bitrate, etc.), Profile (Main, 4:2:2, High, Simple), Level(Main, High, Low, High 1440), GOP Structure, Picture Coding Style, Motion Estimation, Quantization Matrices, Input Format and Stream Structure settings from this window. 

White screen which is at the top of this window helps users while adjusting video settings. If an unacceptable action performed it warns user and writes what’s wrong and what should it be. For example , if you choose wrong level / frame rate combination it warns you as it seen below.

Another important thing about this window, do not go back to profiles window to edit anything before closing settings window.

2 Pass

“2 pass” is an option which helps to transcode files with better qualities. If “2 pass” option is checked, when transcoding started application does not start to transcode file immediately.

• Firstly, it scans the entire file from start to the end of the file and gathers some info from file. 
• After that with help of this info , application starts transcoding file meaning it creates the record file.

But obviously there are some conditions to use “2 pass” successfully. First of all, it can only be used while transcoding. This means while encoding online source, this option is not applicable. Another thing which should not be forgotten is that while encoding a file with this option you can manually stop or split encoding , its workflow is very different from other encodings. Still, you can enter in-out point to source file.

Deinterlace Source

Technically, this option deinterlaces an interlaced source before encoding. Deinterlacing may be required to display an interlaced video on a progressive scan display.

Muxer Settings

If you click Muxer tab this window appears which is shown below. Any muxer from the list can be selected here and some muxers have their own settings which users can adjust according to their needs.

Muxer Types are seen at the picture on the left.

MPEG TS:If you choose this muxer type , settings appear as it shown below.

Elementary:If you choose this muxer type, settings appear as it shown below.

MainConcept MXF: If you choose the muxer type as MXF for MainConcept supported profiles, VANC lines also can be added as it shown below. Image shows 3 VANC lines for capture because line 1, 2 and 3 is added in encoder source settings.

Settings

Muxer Settings window is shown below. It includes General , Delay , Pack , Video and Miscellaneous Options.

Audio Settings

Audio Settings tab has two selection for using audio. 

Use Audio:“Use audio” option allow user to enable or disable the audio of file. If it is disabled, for this profile, ingest will only encode video of this source file. Also other options of audio will disappear since audio is disabled.

Do not Use:If you choose this selection , no setting selection appears. 

If Exist:If you choose this selection  Type , Settings , Audio Process Settings appears. Destination audio type is chosen in here and a settings button appears below it.

Audio Types

AAC:If you choose AAC as audio type , Audio Settings window takes the form below. And you should choose AAC Type (LC , HE1 , HE2 ) , Bitrate Mode ( CBR , VBR ) , Sample Rate , Input Channels , Bit Count , Bitrate and Mpeg version.

Settings

Audio Settings window is shown below. You can adjust Audio Format Settings (Layer , Mode , Bitrate , etc. ) from this window.

Audio Process 

Audio process section is shown below .This is where user can adjust audio channels and streams.

There are two selection for audio process:

Use Audio Mixer:

If the profile is a one stream audio, “Use Audio Mixer” is the option that should be used. If you choose this section you can adjust Audio Mixer Settings. By default, ingest automatically assigns source channel to same destination source channel. As long as source and target audio channel count matches, this default assigning fits so every channel of source and target is used. If source and target audio channel count doesn’t match, ingest only assigns the source channel which has the same target source channel ,leaves rest as empty.  

            Use Channel to Stream:

There is another option as “Channel to Stream” which should be used when target stream is more than one. When this is selected, a new button appears as “channel to stream” and it pops up a new window for its settings. In this window, stream count can be adjusted. Ingest automatically assign only first stream same as audio mixer. All other streams start as empty. They should be assigned manually.

Time Code Settings

You can encode time code inside video file. Time Code Settings tab is shown below. There are four selections (Custom , System , VTR , Input TC )  for Time Code Source as it shown at the second picture.

If you choose Custom selection , you can enter TC manually as it seen above at the picture on the left.

CC Settings

CC Settings, simply stands for Closed Caption settings. If source has CC, user can use CC or choose not use CC by adjusting this settings. CC Settings tab is shown below. There are two selections for Use CC which are "Not In Use" and "Copy Source CC If Exist" . Please check the CC supported formats from HERE.

Video Filters Settings

Video Filter Settings tab is shown below. There are three filters which are

1-Aspect Ratio Corr.:When you choose Aspect Ratio Corr. , Video Filters tab appears like the following picture. When encoding, if source sizes and the target profile sizes are different, this option helps to chose how to change this resolution difference. These changes should not be changed if information of the source file is not known well. There are three conversion method for Aspect Ratio Corr. which are;

Do Nothing, simply extends video due to the target resolution.

Letter Box, adds black rectangular to rears or bottom and top of video due to target resolution.

Crop , simply crops from video’s rears or bottom and left side due to target resolution. Crop is recommended to use if the source video is already did “letter box” before. This way, black rectangular parts are removed.

Source Aspect Ratio

If you choose Letter box or Crop , one more selection appears as it seen in the picture on the right. You can choose Source Aspect Ratio from this selection. ( Square pixels , 4x3 , 16x9 , Custom)

Square pixels:It’s not true that all pixels are square; in some video format pixels are rectangular. So, for example a video with resolution 500x500 do not have square frames but rectangular. So, if user is sure that source video pixels are square than he/she can select square pixels from the list.

4x3 / 16x9:These are the most common aspect ratios. If the source video’s aspect ratio is one of these, user should select it.

Custom:If aspect ratio of the source is not one of these, user can write aspect ratio manually. When custom is selected, a text bar appears below and ratio should be written down here with a “x” in middle of it and without space. For example 4x5, 16x10 etc.

Sample 1:

            Let’s say, source file is a standard video while the profile is chosen as a widescreen. Suppose this is a frame from original source video. How these options will change this frame is shown below.

                        Frame of original video

            Do nothing:

            Do nothing option directly converts the frame to wide screen which may result in images getting larger horizontally. If any shape change is not wanted meaning all rates should  be  same  then  letterbox or  crop should be used.

            Letter box:

            Letter box option adds black rectangular at both side of video to change size as needed. So with this method, original video’s ratios are not affected.

            Crop:

            Simply crops equal parts from top and bottom side of video to change size as needed. This method requires sacrificing these parts of video so if these parts are essential this method should be used.

Sample 2:

This time, suppose that the original source is a widescreen and target profile is a standard video.

            Original frame:

            Do nothing:

In here, do nothing directly adjust the frame according to target resolution. This may cause images seems thinner. Letter box or crop should be used if images ratios are important.

            Letter box:

Letter box option, adds black parts to top and bottom side of frames to change the size as needed. Ratios of images do not change.

            Crop:

Crops equal parts from both sides of video to change the size of video as needed. This method requires sacrificing these parts of video so if these parts are essential this method should be used.

2-Cropping:Cropping is another option which is very different from crop option in aspect ratio corr. settings.Using this option, users can crop frames manually according to their needs. Sometimes, some videos have some unnecessary parts at their sides. With this option, videos can be cropped horizontally and/or vertically. Users should only need to type how many pixel rows or columns should be cropped. When you choose Cropping section Video Filter tab appears like the following picture.

3-Deinterlace:

4-Frame Rate Adapter:

One important thing is that if cropping and aspect ratio correction are used at the same time user is responsible for defining source aspect ratio due to cropping. Because cropping will be done first and after that aspect ratio correction is done and user should enter source aspect ratio of cropped video.

Stream Settings

Stream Settings tab is shown below. You can enable streaming by checking the box of “Enable”. After that , you can adjust Network Settings which are;

-Origin
-Destination
-Port
-Band Width

For more information about Streaming , please see Streaming .

Save Profile

All the default presets exist to help users to find their target profile easily. When a profile is edited according to user needs, it can be saved to be used ahead. At bottom of profile window, a name can be written to save your profile as and when clicked “Save As” a folder browser appears. In this folder browser, a new file can be created to hold saved information. A file name should be written and “Save” button should be clicked. Eventually, a new preset will be added to default one.