Current Hybrid x264 setting recommendations?
 

I’ve been lurking/learning here for a long time, but this is probably my first public question.

Recently I’ve been learning to use Hybrid to make mp4 files to share some NTSC VHS captures with family. I’ve been able to get most of the settings dialed-in based on discussions here and some settings screenshots LS posted a while back. There are a few items I’m not sure of though, either due to varying recommendations or new options in later versions of Hybrid. I’ve attached a few screenshots of my current settings with the items in question circled.

(base.png): I’ve been using a profile/level of High/4.1 (4:2:0 & 8-bit) as I’ve found some PC players don’t like 4:2:2 or 10-bit files. Since I don’t know what the file recipients will be using, are these the best options to get reasonable compatibility and quality?

(qtgmc.png): In QTGMC there is a new option to use Neo-FFT3DFilter which defaults on. Is that the best option now?

(quantization.png): In the quantization settings, I’ve seen different recommendations for the trellis setting (always vs. disabled.) What is the best option for my use case?

(frames.png): In the frames tab, there is a new option “adjust max gop to output fps”. Should this be on or off? The settings I’ve seen here have “fast p-frame skip” on, but the help file says this may lower quality. Is leaving this on the proper choice? Same question on noise reduction, seen both 0 and 1 recommended.

If anyone sees something else in my settings that should be changed for compressing NTSC captures, please let me know. I’ve learned a lot from these forums so thank you.

4:2:0 can be forced due to dumb hardware. We have no choice. 4:2:2 is mostly for archival, not really distribution.

Trellis is mostly about efficiency in encoding, at a trade-off for time of encoding. When offline encoding, for offline viewing, this doesn't really matter. But for online viewing (non-Youtube/etc), or even just online transfer, it's better. Playback/decoding doesn't have the same complexity issue, unless you get crazy with other settings (causing severe bottlenecks, or even outright playback failure).

Adjusting max GOP to fps is probably fine. GOP isn't a fixed value with scene change detections turned on, so this may not have much actual effect. Longer GOP can increase efficiency of encoding, but it can also lead to "breathing" of the encode decay.

^ I've not had the need (or time) to delve into Hybrid much lately. I just use my presets for projects. Because of that, I may have forgotten some facts, or become overly outdated. So I asked Gemini to review my comments. Nope, I'm accurate! See attached. :)

BTW, I'm in the middle of creating my masterpiece AIW capture + encode/restore system, and plan to revisit the latest version of Hybrid in January. My current settings are based on the last Win7 version.

Thanks for the feedback and explanations. It seems like I mostly have things correct already and I have been getting good results from Hybrid so far. I will just leave things as they are for now.
Understood. Since this is just for distribution, I won't worry about using 4:2:0.
Looking forward to any updates on settings as you build this system. Thanks again and happy new year!

Bill