AutoMKV x264 Encoding

Website: Doom9

We tested x264 compression using AutoMKV version 0.97.1 and x264 to to compress a 1.1GB DVD VOB file into 350MB MP4 file using a two-pass encode and we used a 112kbps LAME encoder to compress the audio. The whole process is dependent on both single and multi-core performance and the entire encoding time was recorded.

There's quite a shift to using MKV or MP4 wrappers for x264 content now, especially for movie content and those in the large anime fansubbing community. x264 doesn't have the same SSE enhancements as DivX 6.8, but the benefits of extra cache and better memory performance should still show notable improvements.


Again the Core i7 920 at 4GHz provides fantastic relative price : performance value here with a 94 percent increase over the baseline 100 value, although the overclocked Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 with DDR2 or DDR3 isn't far behind. The overclocked Phenom X4 9850 is a solid 45 percent into positive CPU value, although all the AMD CPUs have a good value.

In fact, the AMD CPUs, while generally lower performing are better value because they simply cost much less than the Core i7's, which generally trounce them in direct performance comparisons. The rest of the current Intel Core 2 line-up fritters at the lower end of the table because they tend to be more expensive, and offer less extra performance to compensate.


In total platform value, the Core i7 920 at 4GHz again heads the table here by a convincing margin - an 87 percent increase in value compared to the baseline E8500 CPU with DDR2 is a considerable benefit. The inexpensive AMD platforms again resides in very positive values near the top of the table again, and the Core i7's, despite the much more expensive total platform cost still hit a solid 29-35 percent relative positive price : performance margin.

For an inexpensive, high value platform though we'd still have to go for the Core 2 Quad Q6600 at 3.6GHz which is a solid 66 percent into the relative positivem, and is only second to the overclocked Core i7 920. If you've already got a Q6600 overclocked to the brim - you'll be glad to know you've made a great investment for video encoding.