Question / Help YUVColor - 709/Full Recording Performance Impact?

PrinceVinc

Member
I record with x264 CRF23 FullHD@60FPS as .flv

A friend of my just showed me that the Color looks better when YUV is set from Partial to Full and the difference is quite noticeable.


My question is what impact will this setting have Overall on the CPU Usage if any?
What Problems could occur?
Does it affect Filesize in a Major Way?

Same goes for 601 and 709. I choose 709 cause it is used for HD Videos while 601 is used for SD
 

Suslik V

Active Member
The difference in quality easy noticeable if you trying to compare CBR videos at low bitrates. The video with Full Range has more compression artifacts than Partial Range video (part of the bitrate used to encode this "additional" bits of Full Range). In case of CRF - more data goes to output (bus usage and disk/network usage increases).

If videos playbacks by common TV set or video re-encoded by web service - then you may lost all your benefits from the Full Range.

Depending on video, it can cost +10...12% in size (Full Range larger).

709 vs 601 - no performance difference. Just "color" standard.

Before making any significant changes to your production and post-production take a look at: OBS Studio: Color Space, Color Format, Color Range settings Guide. Test charts.
 

PrinceVinc

Member
I found that Page but couldn't make Heads or Tails out of it.
He claims that he has less artifacts and more saturated color and sharpness overall.
By artifacts I mean the image get's blurry with a lot of grass and he says that is not the case anymore, I even told him that this can't be real.

Otherwise our settings are identical.

Or to put more simpel.
Does Full Range increase the overall Video quality on YouTube or is my friend experiencing Placebo?

I mean I want my Videos to be viewable in a good quality on all devices.
 

Suslik V

Active Member
Hmm... I just uploaded the sample videos (1280x720_420_709_pc_10sec+10sec.mp4 and 1280x720_420_709_tv_10sec+10sec.mp4 from the Guide mentioned earlier) to the YouTube (1280x720 because I don't have full HD monitor, so I cannot check larger resolutions at 1:1 scale).

The results based on .mp4 downloaded via semi-popular web service. At least, it is possible without remux to get .mp4 file up to 720p size from the YouTube (the full HD is other thing...)
Results (media info):
Code:
General
Complete name                            : I:\Temp\1280x720 420 709 tv 10sec+10secYouTube.mp4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID                                 : mp42 (isom/mp42)
File size                                : 1.52 MiB
Duration                                 : 20s 15ms
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 639 Kbps
Encoded date                             : UTC 2017-05-27 18:23:29
Tagged date                              : UTC 2017-05-27 18:23:29
gsst                                     : 0
gstd                                     : 20061

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP                     : M=1, N=60
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 20s 0ms
Bit rate                                 : 444 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                         : 1 959 Kbps
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                   : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 25.000 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.019
Stream size                              : 1.06 MiB (69%)
Tagged date                              : UTC 2017-05-27 18:23:29
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                           : LC
Codec ID                                 : 40
Duration                                 : 20s 15ms
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 192 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                         : 201 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L R
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 KHz
Frame rate                               : 43.066 fps (1024 spf)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 469 KiB (30%)
Title                                    : IsoMedia File Produced by Google, 5-11-2011
Encoded date                             : UTC 2017-05-27 18:23:29
Tagged date                              : UTC 2017-05-27 18:23:29
Code:
General
Complete name                            : I:\Temp\1280x720 420 709 pc 10sec+10secYouTube.mp4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID                                 : mp42 (isom/mp42)
File size                                : 1.54 MiB
Duration                                 : 20s 62ms
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 645 Kbps
Encoded date                             : UTC 2017-05-27 18:23:26
Tagged date                              : UTC 2017-05-27 18:23:26
gsst                                     : 0
gstd                                     : 20108

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP                     : M=1, N=60
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 20s 40ms
Bit rate                                 : 450 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                         : 1 965 Kbps
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                   : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 25.000 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.020
Stream size                              : 1.08 MiB (70%)
Tagged date                              : UTC 2017-05-27 18:23:27
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                           : LC
Codec ID                                 : 40
Duration                                 : 20s 62ms
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 192 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                         : 201 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L R
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 KHz
Frame rate                               : 43.066 fps (1024 spf)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 470 KiB (30%)
Title                                    : IsoMedia File Produced by Google, 5-11-2011
Encoded date                             : UTC 2017-05-27 18:23:27
Tagged date                              : UTC 2017-05-27 18:23:27
It seems like both videos has Partial range (Limited by the media info) after YouTube's re-encode.

So, just upload 1920x1080 709_pc and 709_tv videos from the Guide and try to playback it by your browser. If you notice significant difference at full HD resolution (between files marked as pc and tv), then maybe you should think about full range (aslo, check your editing tools, just in case).

You may send the Guide images to your friend - it can make few tests too. Then compare the results (it should be the same and identical).
 
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