Utility to compare quality of video files

[Caesar_091]

Hi all,

I'm trying to find the best preset to use to convert my BDs to mkv/m4v with Handbrake.

Does anybody knows a utility (any other idea is welcome of course!) to compare the quality of some video files (same source and resolution but different format, codecs or settings).

I'm actually using QuickTime ("play all" function) but is a really pain to scroll forward all the videos at the same time to see a particular scene of a movie

Any idea?

 

[Unami]

you could use the scopes of some professional video application, if you know how to read them. but you'd still have to scroll to the same frame to compare them.

so, just use your eyes - those are probably the best tools for the job anyway. look at different, hard to encode scenes in your videos and decide, what looks best.

e.g. dark scenes (like the opening credits on "alien), scenes with a lot of finely structured material in it (like mist, leaves on a tree) and/or a lot of motion (explosions come to mind). pause the video for close inspection. is it blocky? is there banding in gradients?

encoding will always be a compromise between file size and quality.

 

[Caesar_091]

I probably I wrong-posed the question that was on my mind

I was looking for a utility to compare the same frame of multiple video files in order to decide - with my own eyes - the best one in the most critical scene as you suggested. I was looking for a sort of video player that just help me to scroll to the same frame all the videos

 

[floh]

I use the amazing VLC player for all my playback purposes. It will not only play back virtually any codec you want, but offers some nice additional features that I wouldn't want to miss.

The one you are looking for is "jump to time", which has the shortcut Cmd+J and lets you jump to the exact frame you want. Is that what you were looking for? You can then even save a snapshot with Cmd+Alt+S and compare the snapshots afterwards.

If you have a huge amount of files, you could automate this from the Terminal, but I hope there are just a few options you are considering for codecs?