TBS2603 - General Question

Jad C

Thank you for this very useful forums, i am learning new things every time i read the forum, I have a general question related to hardware encoders, the area where i live does not allow for satellite installation therefore i am stuck to cable services, using HD encoder to watch one channel. again this is only for education purpose.

I purchased TBS2603 encoder, I used the HDMI input to attach it to my cable provider, no matter what combination of parameters i used for H.264 or H.265 i am not getting good HDMI picture, mainly for sport channels (other movies or documentary channels are fine). i started suspecting that TBS2603 is not the proper option to be used for sensitive action/sport channels (although it uses LAN port which is suppose to be faster than USB (not sure about PCI encoders)).

any help or advise on this, any comments about the TBS2603 performance? recommended HDMI encoder brands for sport channels - maybe my parameter setup is wrong.

Regards

Saen Acro

Share settings you use to see where is errors witch create "artefacts" on picture.

Jad C

Dear,

i tried several combination without success - mainly used H.264 instead of H.265 below are some of them

H.264/5 = H264
H.264 Level = high profile
Encoding frame rate = 30 (also tried up to 60 frame rate)
Birate control= CBR
Bitrate interval = 10
bitrate= 5000 Kbps
encoded size = 1280X720
Pakcage = A
deinterlaced mode = A
=====================
H.264/5 = H264
H.264 Level = high profile
Encoding frame rate = 60
Birate control= VBR
MinQp= 18
MaxQp= 23
Bitrate interval = 10
bitrate= 5000 Kbps
encoded size = 1280X720
Pakcage = A
deinterlaced mode = B
=====================
H.264/5 = H265
H.264 Level = baseline profile
Encoding frame rate = 30
Birate control= VBR
MinQp= 18
MaxQp= 23
Encoded size = auto
Bitrate interval = 10
bitrate = 4000 Kbps
Pakcage = A

deinterlaced mode = B

The best picture for sport channel is below, which is very very low resolution 850X480 :)

H.264/5 = H264
H.264 Level = high profile
Encoding frame rate = 30
Birate control= CBR
Bitrate interval = 10
encoded size= 850X480
bitrate = 1024Kbps
Pakcage = A

deinterlaced mode = A

Thank you in advance
Regards

Saen Acro

http://blog.mediacoderhq.com/h264-profiles-and-levels/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding_tiers_and_levels

leave de-interlacing to client.

Why not use Nvidia GPU for transcoding
old GT640 2GB can handle 2 HD and 8 SD streams in same time.

Jad C

Thank you for provided details, i will go through them to try to figure out if anything can be done to improve the picture using tbs2603, as a conclusion - the tbs2603 cannot give clear HD resolution for action or sport channels,*appreciate your confirmation on this*

The reason i am not using Nvidia GPU (old GT640 PCI card) because i do not have a local server for transcoding, i am using Amazon cloud vps (with tvheadend installed) to test and learn about this domain.

Also, if i opted to use Nvidia GPU, i will need a local server with USB/or PCI tuner,correct?

Regards

Saen Acro

Guess most seen "artefact" in picture can be seen in fast moving.

for this must be set "Keyframe Interval" 60-150 but this require more bitrate.

H264
~2200kbps SD
~3500kbps 720p
~5000kbps HD

H265 ~30% less

Am not play with this transcoder but is there some advanced settings etc.

Jad C

Thank you, will test by the next 3 hours and come back to you. i appreciate your knowledge and help

There is no advanced setting at all, it is very limited to below selections and inputs:

choose between H.264/5
choose between H.264 profiles (baseline,main and high) - by the way there are missing profiles from what you provided me in your link (Hi10P,Hi422P,Hi444PP and XP)
Encoding frame rate [selection between 5 to 60]
Bitrate controller VBR/CBR
Key interval [choose between 5-200]
Encoded size [several resolutions options including 720P & 1080P]
MinQp & MaxQp in case of VBR
Bitrate [choose between 16-12000]
Package A,B or C

Deinterlaced A,B or C

I have attached the data sheet for your reference

Regards

Jad C

Dear saen acro,

unfortunately no success even after increasing the key interval to 200 and the bitrate to 12000 Kb, i attached the picture what i mean and how the videos appears for your reference (the moving objects - ball and players are keep having shadows)

H264 high profile
encoding frame rate 60
bitrate control cbr
key interval 200
encoded size 1280X720
bitrate 12000 (k)
package A
Deinternaced mode A

time stamp mode original

Regards

Saen Acro

For sport and other fast motion video key interval less then 120 will improve motion artefacts.
30Fps is enough for progressive 60 is for interlaced video

Jad C

Okie, so following below parameters i am getting best possible picture using tbs2603, thank you for your help i learned new things today from you,appreciated

H.264/5 = H264
H.264 Level = high profile
Encoding frame rate = 30
Birate control= CBR
Bitrate interval = 10
bitrate= 3500 Kbps
encoded size = 1280X720

Package = A

Regards

Saen Acro

Use VBR 800-3000 profilemain this will save bandwidth
High profile is for more then 5Mbps streams and 1080p/i
Use table from upper post presents from 3 to 4.1 /table show minimal values/

Profile 3.1 is recommended.

audio AAC 96k

this is review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syJClL6zKbs

Why on audio is set video settings maby fixed in newer firmware
https://www.tbsdtv.com/download/index.html?path=0_5

Jad C

i am using latest firmware 1.1.87, when using VBR the system is asking for MinQp [1-51]and MaxQp [MinQp-51] not sure what is the use and what should be used for these parameters

i noticed that the picture quality is better when using CBR, attached is the video and audio parameters as per your advise (main profile level 3.1) and also the latest firmware version and picture quality for your reference

Regards

Saen Acro

Image is blurred
use sharpening option

Jad C

you are using keyframe interval= 250 frames with video frame rate = auto, i do not have the auto option for frame rate, i fixed it as per your advise to 30 frames.

i fixed The keyframe interval =10 frames that means (if i am not mistaken) the I frame will be generated every 0.3 second, as you mentioned this will need more bitrate so i fixed the bit rate to 3500kbps for encode size 720P.

following your suggestion i got the best possible picture till now, however i am still far from watchable video for sports (other channels are fine - like slow moving videos).

can you please help me how to fix the sharpening option? i am limited to the parameters i shared above and could not find any option for sharpening.

I noticed that you are using key interval = 250 frames and assume the setup is for progressive (30fps), that means the I frame is happening every 8 seconds! wow that is too much,right?

Regards

Saen Acro

You have sharpening options in audio options ;)
keyframe 60
auto frame rate mean in my case =input framerate

Jad C

you are the best! will try it today after coming back from office (approx 8 hours) will let you know.

by the way thank you for sharing your configuration as well

Regards

Jad C

Dear,

yes you are right, there is an image quality section under audio node, i activated sharpening option and select strength 4 (the configuration allows selection between -4 to +5), there are also some other parameters related to image quality (screenshot attached for your reference).

Regards

Saen Acro

Designer of this device need to rearrange all menus and put tool-tips to all fields

this is my settings from gpu transcoder
1080i -> 720p


General
Count                                    : 331
Count of stream of this kind             : 1
Kind of stream                           : General
Kind of stream                           : General
Stream identifier                        : 0
Count of video streams                   : 1
Count of audio streams                   : 1
Video_Format_List                        : AVC
Video_Format_WithHint_List               : AVC
Codecs Video                             : AVC
Audio_Format_List                        : AAC LC
Audio_Format_WithHint_List               : AAC LC
Audio codecs                             : AAC LC
File name                                : rec.mpg
File name                                : rec
File extension                           : mpg
Format                                   : MPEG-PS
Format                                   : MPEG-PS
Format/Extensions usually used           : mpeg mpg m2p vob vro pss evo
Commercial name                          : MPEG-PS
Internet media type                      : video/MP2P
File size                                : 15063040
File size                                : 14.4 MiB
File size                                : 14 MiB
File size                                : 14 MiB
File size                                : 14.4 MiB
File size                                : 14.37 MiB
Duration                                 : 90560
Duration                                 : 1 min 30 s
Duration                                 : 1 min 30 s 560 ms
Duration                                 : 1 min 30 s
Duration                                 : 00:01:30.560
Duration                                 : 00:01:30.560
Overall bit rate mode                    : VBR
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 1330657
Overall bit rate                         : 1 331 kb/s
File creation date                       : UTC 2019-04-01 18:27:56.267
File creation date (local)               : 2019-04-01 21:27:56.267
File last modification date              : UTC 2019-04-01 18:29:13.294
File last modification date (local)      : 2019-04-01 21:29:13.294

Video
Count                                    : 374
Count of stream of this kind             : 1
Kind of stream                           : Video
Kind of stream                           : Video
Stream identifier                        : 0
StreamOrder                              : 0
FirstPacketOrder                         : 0
ID                                       : 226
ID                                       : 226 (0xE2)
Format                                   : AVC
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format/Url                               : http://developers.videolan.org/x264.html
Commercial name                          : AVC
Format profile                           : High@L3.1
Format settings                          : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, RefFrames               : 4
Format settings, RefFrames               : 4 frames
Internet media type                      : video/H264
Duration                                 : 90560
Duration                                 : 1 min 30 s
Duration                                 : 1 min 30 s 560 ms
Duration                                 : 1 min 30 s
Duration                                 : 00:01:30.560
Duration                                 : 00:01:30.560
Width                                    : 1280
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                   : 720
Height                                   : 720 pixels
Sampled_Width                            : 1280
Sampled_Height                           : 720
Pixel aspect ratio                       : 1.000
Display aspect ratio                     : 1.778
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : VFR
Frame rate mode                          : Variable
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Scan type                                : Progressive
Delay                                    : 580.000
Delay                                    : 580 ms
Delay                                    : 580 ms
Delay                                    : 580 ms
Delay                                    : 00:00:00.580
Delay, origin                            : Container
Delay, origin                            : Container
Color range                              : Full
colour_range_Source                      : Stream

Audio
Count                                    : 277
Count of stream of this kind             : 1
Kind of stream                           : Audio
Kind of stream                           : Audio
Stream identifier                        : 0
StreamOrder                              : 1
FirstPacketOrder                         : 1
ID                                       : 192
ID                                       : 192 (0xC0)
Format                                   : AAC
Format                                   : AAC LC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Commercial name                          : AAC
Format version                           : Version 4
Format_AdditionalFeatures                : LC
Muxing mode                              : ADTS
Codec ID                                 : 2
Duration                                 : 90418
Duration                                 : 1 min 30 s
Duration                                 : 1 min 30 s 418 ms
Duration                                 : 1 min 30 s
Duration                                 : 00:01:30.418
Duration                                 : 00:01:30.418
Bit rate mode                            : VBR
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Channel(s)                               : 2
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L R
Channel positions                        : 2/0/0
Channel layout                           : L R
Samples per frame                        : 1024
Sampling rate                            : 44100
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 kHz
Samples count                            : 3987434
Frame rate                               : 43.066
Frame rate                               : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay                                    : 501.722
Delay                                    : 502 ms
Delay                                    : 502 ms
Delay                                    : 502 ms
Delay                                    : 00:00:00.502
Delay, origin                            : Container
Delay, origin                            : Container
Delay relative to video                  : -78
Delay relative to video                  : -78 ms
Delay relative to video                  : -78 ms
Delay relative to video                  : -78 ms
Delay relative to video                  : -00:00:00.078