720p x264 TV Releasing Standards
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Jump to navigationJump to search┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ The 720p x264 TV Releasing Standards 2011 Update 2 │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Requirements: Notepad with terminal font or any other ascii viewer. │ ├──────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬──────────────────────────────┤ │ └───[ INTRO ]───┘ │ │ │ │ This standard aims to produce consistent quality releases. If consistent │ │ release size doesn't matter, but consistent quality does, this is for you. │ │ │ └───────┬┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬┬───────┘ ┌───────┴┴─────────────────┬───────────────────────┬─────────────────┴┴───────┐ │ └───[ RELEASE RULES ]───┘ │ │ │ │ Compliance with this document is optional as of its pre date, and │ │ mandatory as of 2011-08-15 00:00 UTC. │ │ │ │ Video: │ │ - 1080i/p sources are to be cropped and resized using sharp resizers such │ │ as Lanczos/Lanczos4, Spline36, or Blackman. Bicubic is banned. │ │ - Video taken from the decoded HD output of a set-top box (e.g. │ │ component, DVI, HDMI) may be used as a source; source must be tagged │ │ in dirname as AHDTV. Releases taken from a natively recorded transport │ │ stream shall be tagged as HDTV and do not dupe AHDTV releases. AHDTV │ │ releases do dupe HDTV. AHDTV captures must be done at the native format │ │ of the channel, i.e. 720p or 1080i. │ │ - Sources that sideconvert 1080i to 720p (such as BellTV) are banned │ │ - If there is a question as to the validity of a source, the release │ │ may be nuked source.sample.requested_<reason.for.nuke> (e.g. │ │ source.sample.requested_suspicion.of.analog.source) within 24 hours of │ │ pre. The group has 24 hours from the nuke to pre a RARed SOURCE.SAMPLE │ │ that is at least 10 seconds in length in order to document that the │ │ source is valid. Failure to provide source proof or providing bad │ │ source proof shall result in the release remaining nuked, and it may │ │ then be propered. │ │ - Improper methods of IVTC that result in loss of half the fields │ │ (SeparateFields.SelectEven, YV12InterlacedSelectTopFields) are banned │ │ - Improper IVTC methods that result in jerky playback, such as Force │ │ Film, are banned │ │ - 1080i video sources must be deinterlaced with a smart deinterlacer such │ │ as Yadif. FieldDeinterlace is banned. │ │ - Group watermarks of any kind on the video are banned │ │ - Intros, outros, betweenos, or any other form of defacement of the │ │ episode are banned │ │ - Upconverted sources must not be done as 720p.x264. See notes regarding │ │ HR.PDTV.x264. │ │ - "Native" refers to the standard in which the video was produced (e.g. │ │ NTSC or PAL). NTSC produced video is native to NTSC, PAL produced video │ │ is native to PAL. PAL produced video that is broadcast in NTSC is │ │ converted. NTSC produced video that is broadcast in PAL is converted. │ │ - Converted video that has significant artifacting (e.g. blended frames) │ │ and cannot be reversed to native must use CONVERT tag │ │ - Converted video that does not have significant artifacts does not need │ │ convert tags and may not be nuked for the conversion │ │ - Native releases are allowed after those tagged CONVERT. Use NATIVE tag. │ │ │ │ Audio: │ │ - Must be original source audio, AC3 if available. Transcoding audio that │ │ is already in a consumer-grade format (AAC, AC3, MP2, etc.) is banned. │ │ Minor adjustments to audio (channel count, adding/removing frames) in │ │ order to prevent issues with playback or sync are permitted. │ │ - Dupes based on audio format are forbidden and must be tagged INTERNAL │ │ - Multiple language audio tracks are allowed and must be listed in NFO │ │ - Dupes are not allowed based on multiple audio tracks │ │ - Severe audio drops resulting in one full missing word or otherwise the │ │ inability to understand material dialogue is considered to be a │ │ technical flaw and may be propered │ │ - Audio that is 120ms or more out of sync or drifts more than 120ms │ │ between any two points (e.g. needing -80 at one and +40 at another) is │ │ considered to be technically flawed and may be propered │ │ │ │ Framerate: │ │ - IVTC or deinterlacing must be applied as needed │ │ - 50/60fps video may be released at 50/60fps or 25/30fps. Releasing true │ │ 25/30fps video at 50/60 is considered a technical flaw. │ │ - In rare cases, 25/50Hz sources should be IVTC'd to 24 or 30 fps. │ │ - In rare cases, 30/60Hz sources should be IVTC'd to 25fps. │ │ Failure to apply IVTC when needed is a technical flaw. │ │ │ │ Codec/Container: │ │ - Must be x264 (8-bit depth). │ │ - Must use Matroska (.mkv) for container │ │ - You will have 30 days from latest x264 rev date to update in order to │ │ maintain all bug fixes and improvements in the x264 codec │ │ - Stripping or falsifying encode information in the file header is banned │ │ - Custom muxing tools are permitted; however, output must be compatible │ │ with standard demuxers to the same extent that files created with │ │ MKVToolnix are. │ │ - Custom Matrices are allowed │ │ - Encoded colorspace must be 4:2:0. │ │ - Deblocking must be used; values are at the discretion of the group. │ │ (default is enabled, 0:0 settings) │ │ - Sample Aspect Ratio (--sar) must be square (1:1). │ │ - No setting can go below what is specified by --preset slow. │ │ - Keyframe interval (--keyint) must be at least 200 and at most 300. It │ │ is recommended to be 10*framerate (film=240, PAL=250, NTSC=300). │ │ - Minkeyint must be 30 or less │ │ - Constant Rate Factor (--crf) must be as follows: │ │ ┌─────────────────┬───────┬───────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Compressibility │ CRF │ General Examples │ │ │ ├─────────────────┼───────┼───────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ │ High │ 18-19 │ Scripted, Talk Shows, Poker, Animation │ │ │ │ Medium │ 20-21 │ Documentary, Reality, Variety │ │ │ │ Low │ 22-23 │ Sports, Awards, Live Events, Competitive- │ │ │ │ │ │ Reality │ │ │ └─────────────────┴───────┴───────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │ - x264 parameters shall not vary within a release │ │ - Zones (--zones) are forbidden. │ │ - Any deviation in CRF from given examples must be specifically justified │ │ in the NFO. Use discretion when deviating CRF by matching the │ │ compressibility of the show to a corresponding CRF value. CRF values │ │ below 18 and above 23 are never permitted. │ │ - As a general suggestion, average video bitrate in excess of 5000kb/s │ │ is a sign that a higher CRF value should be chosen, when possible │ │ - Allowed parameters for --tune (optional) are film/grain/animation │ │ - Level 4.1 must be respected. │ │ - Suggested command line: │ │ x264.exe --crf ## --preset slow --level 4.1 -o out.mkv in.avs │ │ │ │ Resolution: │ │ - 1080i/p sources must be cropped as needed and resized to fit within │ │ 1280x720 with width=1280 and/or height=720. Never upscale, never add │ │ borders. Resolution must be mod2. │ │ - 720p sources may optionally be cropped to the nearest mod2, or may be │ │ left at mod16 │ │ - When cropping, remove everything that is not actual picture, including │ │ black or other colored borders, duplicate lines, and full-time tickers. │ │ Removing or retaining fading edges is at capper's discretion and shall │ │ not be considered undercropped or overcropped. │ │ - In the case of varying crops, crop to the most common frame size (e.g. │ │ pitch/primary view in sports). │ │ - Actual picture area may be over- or under-cropped by 1px maximum per │ │ side. More than 1px on any side is considered a technical flaw. │ │ - Encoded Video resolution must be within 2% of the original aspect ratio │ │ To calculate AR error (%): (Original AR - Release AR)/Original AR * 100 │ │ OAR = (SourceWidth-CropLeft-CropRight)/(SourceHeight-CropTop-CropBottom)│ │ Release AR = EncodedWidth / EncodedHeight │ │ - 720p sources shall never be resized │ │ │ │ Subs: │ │ - Optional, but encouraged │ │ - Text based format is preferred (e.g. SubRip, SubStation Alpha, etc). │ │ - Subtitles must be muxed into the MKV. "Subs" directories are forbidden. │ │ - Burned subtitles will only be allowed when the source exhibits such │ │ subtitles in the picture itself │ │ - Subtitles cannot be used as a basis for a dupe │ │ - Group marks in subtitles are banned │ │ │ │ Packaging: │ │ - Releases must be packed in RAR file format. │ │ - Rars must be in multiples of 50 MB, no more than 101 files (.rar-.r99) │ │ if using old-style naming, or 99 (.part01.rar-.part99.rar) if using │ │ new-style naming. 1MB = 1,000,000 bytes │ │ - Multi-episode releases with no clear delineation such as credits must │ │ not be split │ │ - RAR Compression must not be used │ │ - Recovery and MD5 record are optional │ │ - Encryption or password protection is forbidden │ │ - Must have SFV and NFO │ │ - RAR, SFV, and sample files must have unique, lowercase filenames with │ │ the group tag. │ │ - Missing SFV or RAR(s) on all sites is considered a technical flaw. │ │ Corrupt RARs (errors on extraction) are considered technical flaws. │ │ SFVFix and RARFix are not permitted. Uploading a missing SFV or RAR to │ │ all presites after pre is not permitted. Release REPACK. │ │ │ │ Credits/Previously On: │ │ - Previously on footage is optional, but suggested to be included │ │ - Full end credits must be included if they contain show content or │ │ outtakes/bloopers. End credits are optional and suggested if they are │ │ clean, and purely optional in other cases. │ │ │ │ Samples: │ │ - REQUIRED! │ │ - 50-70 seconds in length and in a separate folder marked as Sample │ │ - Must be taken from the episode, not encoded separately │ │ - Stream samples are recommended for any questionable issue with the │ │ source, e.g. no IVTC possible, IVTC to 24.975fps, etc. │ │ │ │ Propers: │ │ - Propers are only permitted in the case of a technical flaw in the │ │ original release (e.g. Bad IVTC, Interlacing, missing footage, resizing │ │ 720p source, bad crop, commercials, bad x264 settings used, bad source, │ │ etc.) │ │ - Scrolling or other alert messages added by a station (e.g. weather, │ │ Amber alerts) must be at least 30 seconds in length in order to │ │ nuke/proper │ │ - Drops with missing footage but no missing dialog must be at least 2 │ │ seconds long in any one instance to be considered a technical flaw │ │ - Proper reason must be clearly stated in nfo, including timecodes and │ │ extent of the flaw when appropriate │ │ - Sample of propered release is encouraged │ │ - Qualitative propers are not allowed │ │ - Flaws (such as drops) present in any optional content are not a flaw │ │ and shall not be nuked or propered. │ │ - Propers based upon the rules set forth here are allowed only on │ │ releases that come after this document goes into effect │ │ │ │ Internals: │ │ - Internals are allowed to be pred for any reason, including releases │ │ with technical flaws or those done with alternate codecs, containers, │ │ or settings for experimental purposes │ │ - Any severe technical flaws or deviations must be mentioned in the NFO │ │ - With the exception of the following rule, internal releases may only be │ │ nuked for severe technical flaws or deviations that are not mentioned │ │ in the NFO │ │ - Using DIRFIX.iNTERNAL to avoid a dupe nuke is banned, and such │ │ dirfixes shall be nuked fix.for.nuke │ │ │ │ Directory Naming: │ │ - Show.Name.SXXEXX.Episode.Title.720p.HDTV.x264-GROUP │ │ - Show.Name.YYYY.MM.DD.Guest.Name.720p.HDTV.x264-GROUP for daily or other │ │ dated shows │ │ - Episode title and guest name are optional │ │ - Show.Name.PartXX.720p.HDTV.x264-GROUP for miniseries │ │ - ALL others are FORBIDDEN. (e.g 0x00 000 EXX.EP.TITLE PART.VI) │ │ Sport: │ │ - League.YYYY.MM.DD.Event.EXTRA.TAGS.720p.HDTV.x264-GROUP │ │ - Competition.YYYY-MM.Event.EXTRA.TAGS.720p.HDTV.x264-GROUP │ │ Using just the year is only permitted if the event is once per year │ │ (e.g. a WWE PPV). In the case of leagues which have seasons that span │ │ multiple years, it is permissible to tag the release with just the years│ │ of the season. Inclusion of MM and DD is mandatory for all constantly │ │ running shows (e.g. WWE). │ │ If there is no league, the sport needs to be used instead │ │ The following are some examples of correct directory names: │ │ - EPL.2010.01.01.Manchester.United.vs.Arsenal.720p.HDTV.x264-GROUP │ │ - TNA.Impact.2010.03.02.720p.HDTV.x264-GROUP │ │ - WWE.WrestleMania.2010.PPV.720p.HDTV.x264-GROUP │ │ - Tennis.US.Open.2011.Final.Player1.vs.Player2.720p.HDTV.x264-GROUP │ │ - Different shows that have the same title in different countries (e.g. │ │ The Marriage Ref) must have the ISO 3166-1 alpha 2 country code in the │ │ directory name, except for UK shows (e.g. The.Marriage.Ref.UK not │ │ The.Marriage.Ref.GB). ISO country code is not needed for the original │ │ show (e.g. The.Marriage.Ref.US is forbidden). │ │ - Different shows with the same name in the same country produced in │ │ different years must have the year of the first season in the directory │ │ name, e.g. Human.Target.2010 and Doctor.Who.2005. Year is not needed │ │ for the first show with a particular name. │ │ - Channel name (e.g. National.Geographic, History.Channel) shall not be │ │ tagged on any normal series starting after this ruleset's effective │ │ date. Miniseries and single-episode docus may optionally be tagged with │ │ the channel name. │ │ - The use of audio format tags such as AAC, AC3, and AC3.x.x is FORBIDDEN │ │ - READ.NFO tag is allowed; however, discretion is recommended │ │ - PROPER.READ.NFO is NOT allowed. The NFO is REQUIRED to have a reason; │ │ therefore, the tag is redundant. │ │ - All repacks must include detailed reason as to why it's being repacked │ │ in the nfo │ │ - Other permitted tags are: PROPER, REPACK, RERIP, REAL, UNCUT, DUBBED, │ │ SUBBED, iNTERNAL, OAR, PPV, CONVERT, NATiVE │ │ - Acceptable characters in naming a directory include (NO spaces or │ │ double dots - single dots ONLY): │ │ │ │ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ │ │ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz │ │ 0123456789._- │ │ │ │ Nukes: │ │ Releases must be nuked for any of the following reasons: │ │ - Any valid proper listed in the propers section │ │ - Missing nfo, or missing Sample │ │ - Invalid directory naming format │ │ - Mislabeled directory that could prevent finding the release in a │ │ dupecheck, including incorrect season/episode/date or incorrect title │ │ - Dupe │ │ - Releases may not be propered for bad tagging or missing nfo/sample │ │ │ │ Fixes: │ │ - The following fixes are allowed: NFOFix, SampleFix, DirFix, SyncFix, │ │ ProofFix │ │ - DirFix requires NFO and NFO must state which release is being fixed │ │ - The original release shall be unnuked when a valid fix is released │ │ - A proper may not be released for an issue that was fixed, unless the │ │ fix does not completely correct the issue │ │ │ └───────┬┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬┬───────┘ ┌───────┴┴───────────────┬────────────────────────────┬──────────────┴┴───────┐ │ └───[ NOTES TO THE RULES ]───┘ │ │ │ │ HR.PDTV.x264: │ │ - HR PDTV x264 encodes are allowed for non-HD shows airing fully │ │ upscaled on HD channels. Windowboxed (with large black bars on all │ │ sides) content lacks sufficient source resolution to warrant releasing │ │ in HR format and is therefore banned. │ │ - Video shall be cropped and resized to fit within 960x544 following │ │ standard crop and resize rules listed above │ │ - Directory tags shall be HR.PDTV.x264 for 4:3 shows, and HR.WS.PDTV.x264 │ │ for 16:9 shows │ │ - All other standard rules apply │ │ │ └───────┬┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬┬───────┘ ┌───────┴┴───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴┴───────┐ │ The 720p x264 TV Releasing Standards 2011 (2011-08-07) │ │ │ └───────┬┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬┬───────┘ ┌───────┴┴───────────────┬──────────────────────────┬────────────────┴┴───────┐ │ └────────[ GROUPS ]────────┘ │ │ │ │ TVx2642011 rules created by the following groups: │ │ ───────────────────────────────────────────────── │ │ 187HD 2HD aAF BAJSKORV BiA C4TV DAH DiCH DHD │ │ DIMENSION DiVERGE FTP GNARLY IMMERSE KYR │ │ LOCATiON LMAO MiNDTHEGAP MiRAGETV MOMENTUM │ │ NGCHD ORENJI PREMiER RIVER SFM SiTV SYS W4F │ │ xD2V YesTV │ │ │ │ Dedicated to Spatula (RIP 2010-11-22) who made the first ever scene TV-x264 │ │ release: The.Unit.S01E04.HD720p.x264-MiRAGETV. │ │ │ └──┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬──┘ └─┴──\ Thanks to the x264+matroska developers for their /──┴─┘ └────\ assistance in determining the best mix of encode settings. /────┘ └────\ /────┘
