Compressor goes on for ever (H.264 multi-pass)

[Erik Norgaard]

Hi:

I am trying to convert my video to H.264 for vimeo with the settings listed below. Multipass is on, and it seems to be passing the same for ever: That is, at the time of writing, the third pass with out any output generated yet.

I had the same problem when trying to convert to HD DVD H.264 10.3Mbps. Eventually I canceled after some 10 hours converting 32min fottage.

How many times does H.264 converting need to go?

Thanks, Erik

Name: H.264 HD
Description: QuickTime H.264 video with PCM audio at 48 kHz. Settings based off the source resolution and frame-rate.
File Extension: mov
Estimated file size: 2.15 GB/hour of source
Audio Encoder
AAC, Stereo (L R), 48.000 kHz
Video Encoder
Format: QT
Width: 1920
Height: 1080
Pixel aspect ratio: Square
Crop to: Center crop for 1.778:1
Padding: None
Frame rate: (100% of source)
Frame Controls: Off
Codec Type: H.264
Multi-pass: On, frame reorder: On
Pixel depth: 24
Spatial quality: 75
Min. Spatial quality: 25
Key frame interval: 24
Temporal quality: 50
Min. temporal quality: 25
Average data rate: 5.12 (Mbps)

[Erik Norgaard]

Ok, I finally got some out put at the fourth pass, is this standard?

[James Brill]

I have been having problems like that a lot lately with compressor and h.264. I'm not sure what the problem is but recently I had a 6 minute short only take about an hour which is way better than how long it used to take.

[William Hohauser]

h.264 is preset for four pass encoding. This is one of the reasons it can look good with a small amount of data for a video file. You can set it for one-pass but the results may be not very good.

A rule with h.264; the larger the pixel dimensions of a file, the longer it takes to encode.

[Erik Norgaard]

Originally Posted by William Hohauser

h.264 is preset for four pass encoding. This is one of the reasons it can look good with a small amount of data for a video file. You can set it for one-pass but the results may be not very good.

Is it possible to set it to two-pass? Alternative is MPEG-4, but with VBR I can't set max/average bit rate as for MPEG-2 to limit file size. I'm not certain about the bit rate limit for H.264, if this is a constant rate or upper limit.

Coming from MPEG-2 (HDV) maybe the best (as in quality/MB) is to stick with MPEG-2?

thanks, Erik