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I'm trying to encode video with MF H.265, and no matter what I try, the quality is always lower than the same-settings video procuded by non MF encoders, like what VideoPad uses (say, ffmpeg) at the same 4000 bitrate.

Videopad produces this video of a swimming boy. My app produces this video. The sky in my app is clearly worse at a 6K bitrate, where the VideoPad is at 1K. 

pMediaTypeOutVideo->SetGUID(MF_MT_MAJOR_TYPE, MFMediaType_Video);
pMediaTypeOutVideo->SetGUID(MF_MT_SUBTYPE, MFVideoFormat_HEVC);

pMediaTypeOutVideo->SetUINT32(MF_MT_AVG_BITRATE, 4000000);
MFSetAttributeSize(pMediaTypeOutVideo, MF_MT_FRAME_SIZE, 1920,1080);
MFSetAttributeRatio(pMediaTypeOutVideo, MF_MT_FRAME_RATE, 25, 1);
MFSetAttributeRatio(pMediaTypeOutVideo, MF_MT_PIXEL_ASPECT_RATIO, 1, 1);
pMediaTypeOutVideo->SetUINT32(MF_MT_INTERLACE_MODE, MFVideoInterlace_Progressive);
pMediaTypeOutVideo->SetUINT32(MF_MT_VIDEO_NOMINAL_RANGE, MFNominalRange_Wide);



CComPtr<ICodecAPI> ca;
hr = pSinkWriter->GetServiceForStream(OutVideoStreamIndex, GUID_NULL, __uuidof(ICodecAPI), (void**)&ca);
if (ca)
{
    if (true)
    {
        VARIANT v = {};
        v.vt = VT_BOOL;
        v.boolVal  = VARIANT_FALSE;
        ca->SetValue(&CODECAPI_AVLowLatencyMode, &v);

    }
    if (true)
    {
        VARIANT v = {};
        v.vt = VT_UI4;
        v.ulVal = 100;
        hr = ca->SetValue(&CODECAPI_AVEncCommonQualityVsSpeed, &v);
    }

    if (true)
    {
        VARIANT v = {};
        v.vt = VT_UI4;
        v.ulVal = eAVEncCommonRateControlMode_Quality;
        ca->SetValue(&CODECAPI_AVEncCommonRateControlMode, &v);
        if (true)
        {
            VARIANT v = {};
            v.vt = VT_UI4;
            v.ulVal = 100;
            ca->SetValue(&CODECAPI_AVEncCommonQuality, &v);
        }
    }
}

No matter what, the quality at 4000k remains inferior to what ffmpeg produces. Also the eAVEncCommonRateControlMode_Quality and CODECAPI_AVEncCommonQuality does not seem to take effect (it works in H.264). The only way to see better quality is to raise the bitrate.

Also, the speed parameter does not seem to affect the quality or the encoder speed.

Even at 1000k Videopad produced video does not have pixelizing in the sky. Of course, its speed is 1/100.

Is the Media Foundation encoders worse than ffmpeg's? What am I missing?

Edit: Rendering with software (MF_READWRITE_ENABLE_HARDWARE_TRANSFORMS to FALSE) is also equally bad.

Update: Tried it ot my laptop with an AMD hardware encoder. Similar problem, when the bitrate is low the quality is awful.

Michael Chourdakis
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  • Can you compare the files produced by Nvidia encoder and other encoders with MediaInfo to see what other differences they might have? – VuVirt Jan 19 '20 at 10:15
  • @VuVirt question edited to include videos. – Michael Chourdakis Jan 19 '20 at 17:23
  • What is the transform you are using? On my system, I only see a Intel and nVidia MFT for H265, and both are hardware based. Using topoedit, I can see the CodecApi properties for the Intel MFT are AVEncCommonBufferSize, AVEncCommonQualityVsSpeed, etc. Can you provide all the CodecAPI properties and current values for the transform you are trying to use? – Mike Jan 21 '20 at 23:29

2 Answers2

0

I checked the two videos with MediaInfo and it is obvious that they use different HEVC profile, which should be the main reason that affects the quality of the NVidia encoded video. Here is the comparison screenshot:

enter image description here

You can try setting the MF_MT_VIDEO_PROFILE in your input IMFMediaType to eAVEncH265VProfile_Main_420_8. Additionally the MF_MT_MPEG2_LEVEL should be set accordingly as well. For instance to eAVEncH265VLevel4_1.

You might also consider using IClassFactory approach in order to guarantee the correct order of calling the ICodecAPI methods.

VuVirt
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  • It's still the same media info after setting profile. Always left at Main@L0.4@Main – Michael Chourdakis Jan 19 '20 at 19:36
  • How about setting the MF_MT_MPEG2_LEVEL ? – VuVirt Jan 20 '20 at 12:43
  • You might also check this out: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/53291761/mediafoundation-hevc-h265-encoding – VuVirt Jan 20 '20 at 12:58
  • I updated my answer: you can set the profile to eAVEncH265VLevel4_1. – VuVirt Jan 20 '20 at 13:00
  • I set the profile with MF_FT_MPEG2_LEVEL and now the Main@L.0 is changed. However I don't see a quality difference. Perhaps the main problem is that the stuff in ICodecAPI does not respond no matter what I set. – Michael Chourdakis Jan 20 '20 at 15:03
  • Do you check each hr result of ca->SetValue calls? – VuVirt Jan 20 '20 at 16:57
  • Yes, everything is S_OK. – Michael Chourdakis Jan 20 '20 at 16:59
  • It is possible that ICodecApi is called too late/early with SinkWriter though. You might need to call it after SetInputType or use the IClassFactory approach: https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsdesktop/en-US/6da521e9-7bb3-4b79-a2b6-b31509224638/win7-h264-encoder-imfsinkwriter-cant-use-quality-vbr-encoding?forum=mediafoundationdevelopment – VuVirt Jan 20 '20 at 17:03
  • https://stackoverflow.com/questions/56431535/set-attributes-via-icodecapi-for-a-h-264-imfsinkwriter-encoder?rq=1 – VuVirt Jan 20 '20 at 17:12
0

Perhaps simply because software encoders are better than hardware encoders.

If i take a look at this : https://www.techspot.com/article/1131-hevc-h256-enconding-playback/page7.html, I also would confirm hardware nvidia encoder is bad, comparing to x265 (date 2016).

I can't investigate a bit more, but from what I see about your Post :

  • pMediaTypeOutVideo->SetUINT32(MF_MT_VIDEO_NOMINAL_RANGE, MFNominalRange_Wide); -> Why not MFNominalRange_Normal ?
  • Are there others ICodecAPI from NVidia encoder, than CODECAPI_AVLowLatencyMode/CODECAPI_AVEncCommonQualityVsSpeed/CODECAPI_AVEncCommonRateControlMode...
  • Where is the 2 passes encoding parameter ?

I found at least three forums saying NVidia HEVC encoder blurs images. And you confirm this, so... Fake news or not, (date 2018/2019)..

From NVidia https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-video-codec-sdk#NVENCFeatures (date undefined).

enter image description here

I don't understand nothing about this diagram, but NVidia seems to pretend they are the best... So Fake news or not.

EDIT

Rendering with software (MF_READWRITE_ENABLE_HARDWARE_TRANSFORMS to FALSE) is also equally bad.

Can you confirm in software mode, the H.265 / HEVC Video Encoder used ?

If so, did you play with Codec Properties ?

  • CODECAPI_AVEncCommonRateControlMode
  • CODECAPI_AVEncCommonMeanBitRate
  • CODECAPI_AVEncCommonBufferSize
  • CODECAPI_AVEncCommonMaxBitRate
  • CODECAPI_AVEncMPVGOPSize
  • CODECAPI_AVLowLatencyMode
  • CODECAPI_AVEncCommonQualityVsSpeed
  • CODECAPI_AVEncVideoForceKeyFrame
  • CODECAPI_AVEncVideoEncodeQP
  • CODECAPI_AVEncVideoMinQP
  • CODECAPI_AVEncVideoMaxQP
  • CODECAPI_VideoEncoderDisplayContentType
  • CODECAPI_AVEncNumWorkerThreads
mofo77
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