AV1 lossless recording vs HEVC vs Simple Mode lossless.

I noticed that the nvidia AV1 encoder has a recording in lossless option and have been comparing it to the nvidia hevc lossless mode and the native OBS simple mode lossless quality setting. It seems the AV1 file size is about 1/10th that of the hevc file, and the hevc is only slightly smaller in size to the simple mode lossless setting. However, I did notice while playing these files back within VLC player, that my AV1 recordings lock up occasionally. Is this a known issue, and are AV1 'lossless' recordings truly lossless and 1/10th the size of the others?! If so, I'm definitely recording in that format, if I can sort out what's locking up the footage.
23 Replies
HunterAP
HunterAP14mo ago
As mentioned in general chat, I would recommend downloading the K-lite codec pack that comes with MPC-HC to make sure that it comes with the right codecs and such. The standard edition is fine: https://codecguide.com/download_k-lite_codec_pack_standard.htm
Download K-Lite Codec Pack Standard
K-Lite Codec Pack is a free software bundle for playing all your audio and video files. It supports all common file formats, such as AVI, MP4, MKV, and FLV.
HunterAP
HunterAP14mo ago
Otherwise use some video editing program like Adobe PRemiere or Davinci Resolve
Bald & Bearded
Bald & BeardedOP14mo ago
av1 files don't play within adobe premier
HunterAP
HunterAP14mo ago
ack forgot about that Would've thought they added support already
Bald & Bearded
Bald & BeardedOP14mo ago
one sec I'll test out the same footage within MPC-HC with the codec pack installed OK yeah it's just the VLC player having trouble keeping up with the AV1 footage.
HunterAP
HunterAP14mo ago
That sounds about right, VLC is great for some things but isn't perfect
Bald & Bearded
Bald & BeardedOP14mo ago
Now I need to figure out how to take my lossless av1 footage, and convert it to another lossless format that adobe premier can use.
HunterAP
HunterAP14mo ago
If you actually had issues with the recording, you would've noticed either encoding lag or rendering lag in OBS Thing to note is you probably don't even need AV1 with the lossless preset, you can easily afford to use CQP 20 and save on a lot of space with not difference to quality
Bald & Bearded
Bald & BeardedOP14mo ago
I notice the dif in quality for sure
HunterAP
HunterAP14mo ago
As for what format to convert to, ProRes is a good bet if you're willing to use FFmpeg
Bald & Bearded
Bald & BeardedOP14mo ago
ffmpeg.org?
HunterAP
HunterAP14mo ago
Yep I'm just going to link you to the download page: https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/ click the ffmpeg-git-full.7z text Extract it, navigate to the folder, and open a command prompt in that location
Bald & Bearded
Bald & BeardedOP14mo ago
powershell work?
HunterAP
HunterAP14mo ago
That's fine The command you're going to run will be ffmpeg.exe -i "PATH/TO/YOUR/VIDEO.mp4" -c:v prores_ks -profile 4444xq "PATH/TO/OUTPUT/VIDEOFILE.mov" Obviously replace the text there with the path to your video file - it can be easier to type up to the -i part and then drag your video file onto the powershell window, then type the rest out Note that ProRes is an actualyl lossless codec so the output file size will be huge
Bald & Bearded
Bald & BeardedOP14mo ago
yeah that's why I can't understand how this av1 file claims to be lossless it has to be compressed right
HunterAP
HunterAP14mo ago
Basically you have two types of codecs: compressed and uncompressed As the name implies, uncompressed have literally no compression Compressed codecs, even at the lowest level of compression, still natively do some form of compression to save space h264 / AVC, h265 / HEVC, VVC, and AV1 are compressed codecs - the "lossless" preset for them really mean "minimal compression"
Bald & Bearded
Bald & BeardedOP14mo ago
understood So the only actual lossless recording method within OBS is to use simple mode lossless?
HunterAP
HunterAP14mo ago
That's the easiest way to do it, yes Otherwise you would need to use the custom FFmpeg output in the advanced output mode
Bald & Bearded
Bald & BeardedOP14mo ago
alrighty I'll give that a shot and then try to convert those files to prores so I can edit them within adobe
HunterAP
HunterAP14mo ago
I wouldn't really recommend truly lossless recording though, it'll be even larger filesizes and you will most definitely not notice a quality difference You'll most likely run into issues with your recording drive not being fast enough to keep up
Bald & Bearded
Bald & BeardedOP14mo ago
I'm not worried about the size. I'm after least impact on my system during the process with highest posible image quality It's suitable for this. I've already done testing on all the formats with 30+ min recordings It's hooked up to a 20tb SSD NAS over 10gb
HunterAP
HunterAP14mo ago
That may run into issues like I mentioned, but do your own testing
Bald & Bearded
Bald & BeardedOP14mo ago
yeah it's been going well. I understand the appeal for something like av1 cqp20 i'll be using that for streaming for sure appreciate your time
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