New 2012 TV Scene Rules

Fri Feb 24, 2012 1:07 pm by Xmantium

This is an article from Wikipedia for anyone thinking why there's no new xvid videos for TV releases

[edit]x264 for television sources
February 20, 2012, the SD x264 TV Release Standards aims to bring quality control back to the SD releases. x264 has become the most advanced video codec and compared to Xvid it is able to provide higher quality and compression at greater SD resolutions. It also allows better control and transparency over encoding settings. With CRF it can be ensured that a diverse array of material will get the most appropriate bitrate and not arbitrary fixed file sizes. The video container must be MP4. This ruleset is also applicable for sport releases. Thirteen groups signed the document.

More information can be found here - http://scenenotice.org/details.php?id=2029

On this note I've noticed my Xbox 360, Serviio transcode these new files, but the Xbox 360 can play these natively using Twonky.
zip, can you look at this, Xbox profile needs to change as these files don't need transcoding on Xbox 360
They are in .mp4 container

Update: Checked PS3, cant be played natively. So users must use Serviio to play these files.

Fri Feb 24, 2012 2:04 pm by Cerberus

you cant trust open wiki that blindly, let wait and see what files come down form encoder then we can work out if changes need to be made to all device profiles not just the xbox360.

Fri Feb 24, 2012 2:35 pm by Xmantium

ive checked, all the tv scene files released now are in x264 format
check out last nights Mentalist or Big Bang Theroy episode release, no more xvid

Fri Feb 24, 2012 3:34 pm by Cerberus

Xmantium wrote:ive checked, all the tv scene files released now are in x264 format
check out last nights Mentalist or Big Bang Theroy episode release, no more xvid

thats one uploader out of hundreds, out there.

Mon Feb 27, 2012 1:08 pm by zip

Xmantium wrote:zip, can you look at this, Xbox profile needs to change as these files don't need transcoding on Xbox 360

Can you post ffmpeg -i of such file?

Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:11 pm by NX3

Xmantium wrote:ive checked, all the tv scene files released now are in x264 format
check out last nights Mentalist or Big Bang Theroy episode release, no more xvid

Loads of Xvid's still around, could be a while before they disappear

Sun Mar 04, 2012 1:38 am by Xmantium

Sorry about the late reply, theres only one group at the moment releasing TV releases in xvid format, all other major scene groups have agreed x264, mp4 container format.

Code:: ffmpeg -i Harry.Hills.Tv.Burp.PDTV.x264.C4TV.mp4 ffmpeg version 0.9, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers built on Dec 13 2011 20:46:11 with gcc 4.4.2 configuration: --enable-static --disable-shared --disable-ffplay --disable-ffs erver --enable-memalign-hack --enable-libmp3lame --enable-librtmp --extra-libs=' -lrtmp -lpolarssl -lws2_32 -lwinmm' --arch=x86 --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enab le-pthreads --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-mingw32- --pkg-config=pkg-co nfig libavutil 51. 32. 0 / 51. 32. 0 libavcodec 53. 42. 0 / 53. 42. 0 libavformat 53. 24. 0 / 53. 24. 0 libavdevice 53. 4. 0 / 53. 4. 0 libavfilter 2. 53. 0 / 2. 53. 0 libswscale 2. 1. 0 / 2. 1. 0 Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'Harry.Hills.Tv.Burp.PDTV.x264.C4TV.mp4' : Metadata: major_brand : isom minor_version : 1 compatible_brands: isomavc1 creation_time : 2012-03-02 20:23:35 Duration: 00:23:12.00, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 904 kb/s Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 704x396, 768 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 25k tbn, 50 tbc Metadata: creation_time : 2012-03-02 20:23:35 handler_name : Video Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: aac (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 132 kb/s Metadata: creation_time : 2012-03-02 20:23:36 handler_name : English

Sun Mar 04, 2012 1:45 am by Cerberus

Sorry about the late reply, theres only one group at the moment releasing TV releases in xvid format, all other major scene groups have agreed x264, mp4 container format.

sorry mate but thats rubbish, most uploaders are still using Xvid, very few use x264 and the ones that do offer both.

Sun Mar 04, 2012 1:56 am by Xmantium

For TV releases, this has changed towards x264. Movie releases still xvid
Check out the latest TV releases now, i only see 2HD & FQM doing Xvid.
ASAP BAJSKORV C4TV D2V DiVERGE FTP KYR LMAO LOL MOMENTUM SYS TLA YesTV moved to x264, others will follow

Regardless, thats not the main issue here, xbox 360 does play these files without transcoding on my slim xbox 360

Sun Mar 04, 2012 2:11 am by Cerberus

Thats rubbish as i know a few of those uploader and they still provide files in xvid, the fact that xbox360 plays mp4 with h264 and aac natively is not my issue my issue is the false information.

making them play natively wont be that hard, if i had copy of xbox profile i could do that in seconds.

Sun Mar 04, 2012 1:40 pm by Xmantium

Just trying to help other novice Serviio users who don't know how to edit their Xbox 360 profile since these files are becoming very common going forward.

I didn't make up the rules, most of the scene uploaders have come together to agree the new tv standards, this also happened many years ago when tv releases moved from VCD/SVCD to XviD.
Here's a few sites/forum so you can read on further:
http://scenenotice.org/details.php?id=2029
http://sickbeard.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3917
http://forums.thetvdb.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=9107
http://www.nsaneforums.com/topic/119495 ... dump-xvid/

Sun Mar 04, 2012 6:22 pm by zip

this file should not be transcoded, having looked at the xbox profile.... Are you sure it is?

Sun Mar 04, 2012 6:58 pm by Xmantium

I'll check it again, playing these files caused ffmpeg go to 100% cpu with serviio on my nas so assumed it's transcoding

UPDATE: Your right it direct streams! There was one or two x264 file that for some reason transcoded for my xbox 360, possible it was a different format or audio codec
I'll post the ffmpeg logs of any that do transcode

Fri Mar 09, 2012 3:03 pm by Evostance

All my shows are now coming down in .mp4's and i think its having to transcode them to play on the PS3 and our Sony TV which makes it completely unplayable.
Can't transcode them fast enough to "stream" it.

According to this: http://manuals.playstation.net/document ... types.html
The PS3 support H264, so it shouldn't be transcoding the file. Is that correct?

ffmpeg version 0.9, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
built on Dec 13 2011 20:46:11 with gcc 4.4.2
configuration: --enable-static --disable-shared --disable-ffplay --disable-ffs
erver --enable-memalign-hack --enable-libmp3lame --enable-librtmp --extra-libs='
-lrtmp -lpolarssl -lws2_32 -lwinmm' --arch=x86 --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enab
le-pthreads --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-mingw32- --pkg-config=pkg-co
nfig
libavutil 51. 32. 0 / 51. 32. 0
libavcodec 53. 42. 0 / 53. 42. 0
libavformat 53. 24. 0 / 53. 24. 0
libavdevice 53. 4. 0 / 53. 4. 0
libavfilter 2. 53. 0 / 2. 53. 0
libswscale 2. 1. 0 / 2. 1. 0
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'C:\Users\admin\Downloads\Alcatraz Season
1 Episode 10 Clarence Montgomery.mp4':
Metadata:
major_brand : isom
minor_version : 1
compatible_brands: isom
creation_time : 2012-03-05 23:07:23
Duration: 00:42:49.19, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 796 kb/s
Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 720x404,
666 kb/s, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 24k tbn, 47.95 tbc
Metadata:
creation_time : 2012-03-05 19:40:47
handler_name : GPAC ISO Video Handler
Stream #0:1(und): Audio: aac (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 125
kb/s
Metadata:
creation_time : 2012-03-05 23:07:27
handler_name : GPAC ISO Audio Handler
At least one output file must be specified

Fri Mar 09, 2012 8:36 pm by zip

yep, this file will not be transcoded when using the PS3 profile, unless the file is level 4.2 and higher. You can check that by looking at mediainfo output.

Fri Mar 09, 2012 11:39 pm by Evostance

It was being transcoded alright. I added in the mp4 h.264 tag to the PS3 profile and it started playing with no issues. CPU usage on the server was down while playing unlike before :s

Sat Mar 10, 2012 10:13 am by Xmantium

Evostance wrote:our Sony TV which makes it completely unplayable.
Can't transcode them fast enough to "stream" it.

What Sony TV are you using?
Ive got the 2010 model and no issues at all

Sat Mar 10, 2012 4:36 pm by Evostance

Xmantium wrote:
Evostance wrote:our Sony TV which makes it completely unplayable.
Can't transcode them fast enough to "stream" it.

What Sony TV are you using?
Ive got the 2010 model and no issues at all

Erm, is it a KDL 40 something. It's one of those Sony LED 3D ones

Tue Mar 20, 2012 5:59 pm by nickveldrin

Darn, just when Microsoft fixes the 360 by adding the xvid codec into their new "Metro" dashboard so we won't need to have a Live connected unit, we have to switch to a new video format that requires you to be on Live to get a signed codec package.

If we want to force transcoding of x264 to a native format that the 360 can take without having it be connected to live, what would we need to add/change in the profile? Or how can it be handled to match the xvid input/ouput?

So for example, here is a video format that works fine for Serviio to the 360:

Once.Upon.a.Time.(2011).S01E14.Dreamy.SD.TV.avi

Code:: General Complete name : Once.Upon.a.Time.(2011).S01E14.Dreamy.SD.TV.avi Format : AVI Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave File size : 350 MiB Duration : 41mn 56s Overall bit rate mode : Variable Overall bit rate : 1 166 Kbps Writing application : MEncoder SVN-r32669-4.3.2 Writing library : MPlayer Video ID : 0 Format : MPEG-4 Visual Format profile : Advanced Simple@L5 Format settings, BVOP : 1 Format settings, QPel : No Format settings, GMC : No warppoints Format settings, Matrix : Default (H.263) Muxing mode : Packed bitstream Codec ID : XVID Codec ID/Hint : XviD Duration : 41mn 56s Bit rate : 1 025 Kbps Width : 624 pixels Height : 352 pixels Display aspect ratio : 16:9 Frame rate : 23.976 fps Color space : YUV Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 Bit depth : 8 bits Scan type : Progressive Compression mode : Lossy Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.195 Stream size : 307 MiB (88%) Writing library : XviD 1.2.1 (UTC 2008-12-04) Audio ID : 1 Format : MPEG Audio Format version : Version 1 Format profile : Layer 3 Mode : Joint stereo Mode extension : MS Stereo Codec ID : 55 Codec ID/Hint : MP3 Duration : 41mn 56s Bit rate mode : Variable Bit rate : 128 Kbps Channel(s) : 2 channels Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz Compression mode : Lossy Stream size : 38.4 MiB (11%) Alignment : Aligned on interleaves Interleave, duration : 24 ms (0.58 video frame) Interleave, preload duration : 533 ms

However, new episodes of shows are x264 and they're erroring.

Code:: General Complete name : Once.Upon.a.Time.(2011).S01E15.Red.Handed.SD.TV.mp4 Format : MPEG-4 Format profile : Base Media Codec ID : isom File size : 289 MiB Duration : 43mn 5s Overall bit rate mode : Variable Overall bit rate : 938 Kbps Encoded date : UTC 2012-03-10 19:22:50 Tagged date : UTC 2012-03-10 19:22:50 Video ID : 1 Format : AVC Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec Format profile : High@L3.1 Format settings, CABAC : Yes Format settings, ReFrames : 8 frames Codec ID : avc1 Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding Duration : 43mn 5s Bit rate : 811 Kbps Maximum bit rate : 3 994 Kbps Width : 720 pixels Height : 404 pixels Display aspect ratio : 16:9 Frame rate mode : Constant Frame rate : 23.976 fps Color space : YUV Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 Bit depth : 8 bits Scan type : Progressive Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.116 Stream size : 250 MiB (87%) Writing library : x264 core 122 r2183 c522ad1 Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=8 / deblock=1:1:1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=20 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=19.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00 Encoded date : UTC 2012-03-11 17:36:01 Tagged date : UTC 2012-03-10 19:22:57 Matrix coefficients : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4 709, SMPTE RP177 Audio ID : 2 Format : AAC Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Format profile : LC Codec ID : 40 Duration : 43mn 5s Bit rate mode : Variable Bit rate : 122 Kbps Maximum bit rate : 147 Kbps Channel(s) : 2 channels Channel positions : Front: L R Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz Compression mode : Lossy Stream size : 37.6 MiB (13%) Encoded date : UTC 2012-03-10 19:22:55 Tagged date : UTC 2012-03-10 19:22:57

ffmpeg -i is below:
for the avi (xvid)

Code:: "c:\Program Files (x86)\Serviio\lib\ffmpeg.exe" -i Once.Upon.a.Time.(2011).S01E14.Dreamy.SD.TV.avi ffmpeg version 0.9, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers built on Dec 13 2011 20:46:11 with gcc 4.4.2 configuration: --enable-static --disable-shared --disable-ffplay --disable-ffserver --enable-memalign-hack --enable-libmp3lame --enable-librtmp --extra-libs='-lrtmp -lpolarssl -lws2_32 -lwinmm' --arch=x86 --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-pthreads --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-mingw32- --pkg-config=pkg-config libavutil 51. 32. 0 / 51. 32. 0 libavcodec 53. 42. 0 / 53. 42. 0 libavformat 53. 24. 0 / 53. 24. 0 libavdevice 53. 4. 0 / 53. 4. 0 libavfilter 2. 53. 0 / 2. 53. 0 libswscale 2. 1. 0 / 2. 1. 0 [mpeg4 @ 01828e00] Invalid and inefficient vfw-avi packed B frames detected Input #0, avi, from 'Once.Upon.a.Time.(2011).S01E14.Dreamy.SD.TV.avi': Metadata: encoder : MEncoder SVN-r32669-4.3.2 Duration: 00:41:56.13, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1165 kb/s Stream #0:0: Video: mpeg4 (Advanced Simple Profile) (XVID / 0x44495658), yuv420p, 624x352 [SAR 1:1 DAR 39:22], 23.98 tbr, 23.98 tbn, 23.98 tbc Stream #0:1: Audio: mp3 (U[0][0][0] / 0x0055), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 128 kb/s At least one output file must be specified

x264

Code:: "c:\Program Files (x86)\Serviio\lib\ffmpeg.exe" -i Once.Upon.a.Time.(2011).S01E15.Red.Handed.SD.TV.mp4 ffmpeg version 0.9, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers built on Dec 13 2011 20:46:11 with gcc 4.4.2 configuration: --enable-static --disable-shared --disable-ffplay --disable-ffserver --enable-memalign-hack --enable-libmp3lame --enable-librtmp --extra-libs='-lrtmp -lpolarssl -lws2_32 -lwinmm' --arch=x86 --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-pthreads --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-mingw32- --pkg-config=pkg-config libavutil 51. 32. 0 / 51. 32. 0 libavcodec 53. 42. 0 / 53. 42. 0 libavformat 53. 24. 0 / 53. 24. 0 libavdevice 53. 4. 0 / 53. 4. 0 libavfilter 2. 53. 0 / 2. 53. 0 libswscale 2. 1. 0 / 2. 1. 0 Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'Once.Upon.a.Time.(2011).S01E15.Red.Handed.SD.TV.mp4': Metadata: major_brand : isom minor_version : 1 compatible_brands: isom creation_time : 2012-03-10 19:22:50 Duration: 00:43:05.53, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 937 kb/s Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 720x404,811 kb/s, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 24k tbn, 47.95 tbc Metadata: creation_time : 2012-03-11 17:36:01 handler_name : GPAC ISO Video Handler Stream #0:1(und): Audio: aac (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 122 kb/s Metadata: creation_time : 2012-03-10 19:22:55 handler_name : GPAC ISO Audio Handler At least one output file must be specified

Wed Mar 21, 2012 1:03 pm by zip

you'd have to add matcher for mpeg4@h264 to the transcoding config like

Code:: <Matches container="mpeg4" vCodec="h264" />