Tested out the new divx H.265 encoder on my Mac. Room for improvement.
The folk that could probably push this technology the most would be anime fansubbers and AMV makers. They’ll probably wait for x265 though. These tools don’t offer anything more than the most basic of controls over the encoding.
Disappointingly, the only way to encode H265 in this is by using the DivX Converter app. Although a divx encoder/decoder “plugin” is supposedly installed, it’s the OLD divx (v6.8), so no MPEGStreamClip for you. Where’s the H265 encoder “plugin” that the divx installer specifically asked me to install?
The DivX Converter app is also very simplistic. You drag your raw into the program, set either the desired bitrate or a file size limit, and that’s about all it lets you do.
Interestingly, divx has ditched their own “.divx” file format and is now using MKV which is a nice plus. Unfortunately, most MKV players and tools (VLC, MPlayerX, MPEGStreamClip, MKVtools) didn’t recognize the H265 video stream. Not totally surprising since H265 is so new, but I ask again, where’s the H265 decoder “plugin” that the divx installer specifically asked me to install?
Anyway, I made a test encode of a 720p 30fps video (using clips from “Downfall”). I made one H265 and one H264 file, both using the DivX Converter app. The H265 was 19% smaller than the H264, and quality appeared to be similar. Not a huge size savings, but respectable.
So that’s the Mac experience. Has anyone tested on PC?