Contents
- 1Introduction
- 1.1Disclaimer
- 2Updates
- 2.1.1OBS V23 - 19th February 2019
- 3Contents
- 4VMAF
- 4.1History
- 4.2How it works
- 4.3Examples
- 4.4What to expect
- 5x264
- 5.1History
- 5.2Results
- 5.3Conclusions for x264
- 6x265
- 6.1History
- 6.2Results
- 6.3Conclusions for x265
- 7QuickSync
- 7.1History
- 7.2Results
- 7.3Conclusions for QuickSync
- 8NVENC part 1
- 8.1History
- 8.2Results
- 8.3Special note for NVENC Part 1
- 8.4Conclusions for NVENC Part 1
- 8.4.1Kepler
- 8.4.2Decisions decisions...
- 8.4.3Final thoughts on Maxwell and Pascal H.264 AVC
- 9NVENC Part 2
- 9.1History
- 9.2Results
- 9.3Conclusions for NVENC Part 2
- 9.3.1H.264 AVC and live streaming
- 9.3.2H.265 HEVC and offline encoding
- 10VP9
- 10.1History
- 10.2Results
- 10.3Conclusions for VP9
- 11AV1
- 11.1History
- 11.2Results
- 11.2.1Additional
- 11.3Conclusions for AV1
- 12Final thoughts
Final thoughts
Everybody’s situation may differ somewhat from others. Hopefully this information will help you to make an informed decision in codec selection. Live streaming, running a VOD service, or just archiving your DVDs and Blu-Rays. There’s a few options here and your specific requirements are yours alone.
Essentially, Turing is in such a good place now with their RTX 2080TI, 2080, 2070 and 2060 cards. The NVENC encoders for both H.264 AVC and H.265 HEVC are simply excellent. It’s the best H.264 encoder around now. Basically because it’s the newest at the time of writing, and x264 has been optimised into the ground. x264 will not get much better as an encoder, and will only increase speed with CPU improvements. Turing NVENC is already beating it on Slow for this test video, there’s no reason not to use it.
My prediction is that Turing will only be toppled as the all-round king of encoders when more sites make the switch to VP9 and the race starts again. VP9 does have an interesting ability to enforce real-time encoding at a set CPU usage. This will greatly ease the transition for average streamers by removing the need to find their perfect preset. But that is a story for another day.
Credits:
Featured image by Ultimatrium
Agamemnus has a passion for gaming and an eye for tech. You can see him streaming occasionally on twitch.tv/unrealaussies and catch him on the Unreal Aussies Discord. Evidence > Opinion.