What is the best internal encoder group(s)?

[Guest Mufasaxxx4]

When I want an encode for a movie I really like, I try to find a D-Z0N3 1080p encode at A-HD. I am curious as to what other internal groups produce the best 1080p encodes.

I used to download the Chinese encodes (i.e. HDC, CHD, etc.), but I generally find the too grainy.

I have heard that CTRLHD from HDBits.org is a good group, but I have not yet downloaded any of them.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Guest lawl]

Encode groups i personally like are these

hd-torrents - KRaLiMarKo

blu-bits.com - BluHD - i think theyre open signups atm, if not pm me

cnhd -beAst

bigkatslair.net - home of UNIQUE

[Guest Mufasaxxx4]

@stk - thanks for the response. I am a member of the first three trackers you mention, but I have never tried any of the internals you cite. I will do so.

I keep reading how hdbits.org has the best internal encoders. Could a member there tell me which of their encoders are the best so I can download a sample from another site? Is CTRLHD their best? I know CHDBiTS and ChinaHD have a lot of them.

Thanks.

[Guest lawl]

id like to hear from someone in hdbits.org also... ive heard they have lots of encoders there, chdbitsisnt too bad, also scenehd does amazing encodes, filelist has an encoder, most sites have one

[Guest SidBotox]

As an experienced encoder myself, my views might seem strange.

I'll try to make it short, as I could easily delve into too much technicalities..

1. Considering the size of the releases of most internal groups, it's hard no to get great looking video. I don't see how people could decide which are the best among those releases, and I spend a lot of times fine-tuning my releases so I know where to look for defaults. WiKi are a bit less size-infatuated than most so kudos for them.

2. In fact one doens't need such high bitrates to get great looking video (as good as the source in normal watching conditions).

3. Therefore, barring the occasional mess-ups from the big size release groups, it's just a question of who gives "perfect" quality without inflating size/ratios, and the only "game" I'm interested in as an encoder (I think it should be of interest to downloader, economists and ecologists too) is who gets the "right" size for the release.

In that "game" I haven't seen much to my satisfaction, tough FASM regularly is quite close, but may from time to time release a bit less than perfect-looking vids. PS3-TEAM work is interesting too, I haven't watched that much cause it seemed to miss the mark more regularly with just a bit under perfect looking releases and the usual "banding" problem.

I guess the ultimate release group would release in 10bit x264, I know there are many 10b in anime so I guess the best according to my taste would be an anime internal, but I don't "do" anime so I wouldn't know who.

[Guest TenatiousMelcamp]

HDB has some solid internals, but they're not quite as good as they're hyped up to be. For the longest time they were the only real game in town. But not any more.

IMO your best bets are HiDt, EbP, D-Z0NE. Each one of those is consistantly fantastic. CtrlHD is also good most of the time. Other HDBits internals are hit and miss. Most of AHD's internals are great, but some are bloated.

Sorry to argue Sid, but I thought 10bit x264 didn't do much for live action except with very specific types of sources and postpro? It's going to be moot anyways, once x265 becomes the norm ofc.

[xion]

Pixel hd has great releases and they are small in size and great in qualitty. Pixel Hd is open for applicatiions

[Guest SidBotox]

Sorry to argue Sid, but I thought 10bit x264 didn't do much for live action except with very specific types of sources and postpro? It's going to be moot anyways, once x265 becomes the norm ofc.

x265 is not much more right now than a declaration of intentions. Nothing is coded it's really vaporware, and anyway they say it could get twice less size for equal quality than H264 using massive computing power, and that's what you already have with x264 since it's that much better than some other H264 encoders.

As for 10bits it's crucial in fighting banding (problems with gradients of colors/light), it's not related to live action. Banding is more present in anime content, but it's not specific to a genre, but to the limitations of 8 bits color bitdepth.