
X265 3.0 released - htfy96
https://bitbucket.org/multicoreware/x265/src/46b84ff665fd301e384328972d3d1312a8c74599/doc/reST/releasenotes.rst?at=default&fileviewer=file-view-default
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userbinator
Having spent time reading the standards recently (and implementing some toy
decoders) I've noticed a pattern in video codec designs, starting from the
very first one:

    
    
        H.261 - simple, not much more than MJPEG with P-frames.
        MPEG-1 - basically '261 with B-frames, pretty simple
        MPEG-2/H.262 - MPEG-1 with more complex interlacing stuff
        H.263 - no more interlacing, better low-bitrate performance
        MPEG-4 - absurd complexity that no one turned out to use most of anyway (3D scenes, face animation(!?), etc.)
        H.264 - back to regular video, with better I prediction
        H.265 - complex again?
    

Of course they do get more complex over time, but it seems like a cycle that
alternates between incremental-yet-significant changes and huge redesigns that
don't seem quite worth it.

~~~
ksec
Yes they are all built on top of previous innovation and work. So it is a long
evolution in terms of video codec. And there is H.266 coming in 2020.

~~~
speedplane
It is an evolution, but technological evolution doesn't necessarily follow an
exponential curve. It took many years for H.264 and it looks like many more
for H.266. The next version may take even longer. Innovation is slowing, and
it has pretty profound effects for a variety of industrial sectors.

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Havoc
Must say I'm massively surprised at how low adoption of 265/hevc is in ahem
the eyepatch wearing part of the internet.

~~~
kristofferR
It's only recently been possible to actually use x265 for transparent encodes,
previous versions of x265 removed film grain/digital noice to such a degree
that the quality was worse than x264 at equivalent bitrates. Combine that with
the massively increased costs in both encoding/decoding time (and worse x265
encoding tools/knowledge), x265 simply wasn't worthwhile except for crappy re-
encodes at super low bitrates for people with crappy internet.

Recently you've begun to see a lot of x265 releases though, usually with HDR,
the only significant feature x264 can't provide.

For sub-4K SDR content there's really no incentive for pirates to switch to
x265, it's just a nuisance. With torrenting people don't pay for the extra
bitrate x264 requires, unlike hosting services like Netflix, the ~20% bitrate
savings of x265 are not important at all, especially compared to the other
"costs" of compatibility issues and 10X longer encode times.

~~~
tracker1
It's actually closer to 50% unless you are using hardware assisted encodes
which aren't great currently... though I haven't tried on an RTX card yet,
which is supposed to be better. So it does come down to time though.

~~~
IntelMiner
Anecdotal evidence. But doing H.264 to HEVC encodes on my GTX 1080 result in
significantly smaller files than Blu Ray rips

I purchased the X-Files Blu Ray Box Set. Ripping it all to my hard disk
resulted in roughly 1.7 terabytes of footage

Encoding them with a likely higher than needed bitrate to preserve quality
shrank them to a much more palatable 237GB (with subtitles)
[https://i.imgur.com/eJFuxaV.png](https://i.imgur.com/eJFuxaV.png)

Bar removing the film grain (which I prefer, but not everyone does) I think
the quality looks absolutely spectacular
[https://i.imgur.com/xlWJEol.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/xlWJEol.jpg)

~~~
ComputerGuru
The image you linked to exhibits _horrible_ artifacts - but then again, you
saved the screencap as a JPEG then uploaded it to a service that likely
further butchers the image.

~~~
IntelMiner
It looks like VLC at saved it as a 1.5 meg PNG, then Imgur chewed it up and
spat out a JPEG, irritating

Here's a shot from a discussion a few weeks ago on HN I took of Star Trek: The
Next Generation. It seems to have survived Imgur-ification much better

[https://i.imgur.com/VklppOK.png](https://i.imgur.com/VklppOK.png)

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atilimcetin
I wonder if there is an article that compares X265 and
[https://github.com/intel/SVT-HEVC](https://github.com/intel/SVT-HEVC) (in
terms of speed, feature set, required hardware, software license, etc..) ?

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muizelaar
The best I've seen is
[https://twitter.com/fg118942/status/1092045469981671424](https://twitter.com/fg118942/status/1092045469981671424)

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shmerl
Can't wait for fast AV1 encoders, and especially hardware support.

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nisten
From completely personal opinion and that of close friends:

x265 movies look way cleaner while having way smaller file sizes.

Also it's the best tradeoff between quality/filesize by factor of 2 or more.
I'd personally notice artifacts in x264 movies unless they were over 7gb in
size. With x265 i'll grab a 3gb version of a movie in a heartbeat (well a few
heartbeats on gigabit fiber :) and not worry about picture quality at all.

at 15gigs or more for a 1080p movie x264 is pretty much perfect, unless you
really want to see the film-grain.

~~~
ddalex
I'm re-coding all my drone footage from H.264 (hardware encoders on the drone)
to x264. It's about 1/4th size with the same visual quality, so it's win-win

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Gys
x265 HEVC Encoder

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mrmondo
Great to see Dolby Vision in the features there - I've been very impressed
with it vs HDR10.

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orastor
Why not admit AV1 is all around better and work on it instead

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qualityfirst
In the end AV1 will likely have about the same level of adoption as VP9 ...
pretty much googe/youtube only. Allowing Google to monopolize video standards
is not something that the hardware world is going to accept. HEVC already has
near universal hardware support. Why bother with supporting AV1?

~~~
clouddrover
It's not just YouTube. Netflix uses VP9:

[https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/more-efficient-mobile-
en...](https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/more-efficient-mobile-encodes-for-
netflix-downloads-625d7b082909)

[https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/performance-
comparison-o...](https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/performance-comparison-
of-video-coding-standards-an-adaptive-streaming-perspective-d45d0183ca95)

Twitch uses VP9:

[https://blog.twitch.tv/how-does-vp9-deliver-value-for-
twitch...](https://blog.twitch.tv/how-does-vp9-deliver-value-for-twitchs-
esports-live-streaming-35db26f6322f)

Both Twitch and Netflix will use AV1 in the future.

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AceyMan
Am I the only one who came to TFA looking for a screaming ThinkPad with a
7-row keyboard? _< snaps fingers>_

(downvotes—rly? That really was my first thought when I saw the title ...)

