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- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- ¦ ¦
- ¦ The SD x264 TV Releasing Standards 2012 ¦
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- ¦ +---[ INTRO ]---+ ¦
- ¦ ¦
- ¦ x264 has become the most advanced H264 video encoder over the past few ¦
- ¦ years. Compared to XviD, it is able to provide higher quality and ¦
- ¦ compression at greater SD resolutions. It also allows better control and ¦
- ¦ transparency over encoding settings. With CRF in the mix, we can also ¦
- ¦ ensure that a diverse array of material will get the most appropriate ¦
- ¦ bitrate for them and not arbitrarily fixed sizes. This standard aims to ¦
- ¦ bring quality control back to SD releases. There are many standalone ¦
- ¦ players/streamers such as TviX, Popcorn Hour, WDTV HD Media Player, Boxee, ¦
- ¦ Xtreamer, PS3, XBOX 360, iPad, and HDTVs that can playback H264 and AAC ¦
- ¦ encapsulated in MP4. ¦
- ¦ ¦
- ¦ The SD x264 TV section was formed to separate releases from the ruleless ¦
- ¦ world of TV-XviD. This document will cover the rules and guidelines for ¦
- ¦ only SD resolution x264 television rips. ¦
- ¦ ¦
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- ¦ +---[ RELEASE RULES ]---+ ¦
- ¦ ¦
- ¦ Compliance with this document is optional as of its pre date, and ¦
- ¦ mandatory as of 2012-04-01 00:00 UTC. ¦
- ¦ ¦
- ¦ Video: ¦
- ¦ - Sources requiring resize are to be cropped and resized using sharp ¦
- ¦ resizers such as Lanczos/Lanczos4, Spline36, or Blackman. Bicubic is ¦
- ¦ 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. Approximate timestamps may be requested in the case that it would ¦
- ¦ assist in the verification that the source sample provided is the ¦
- ¦ source used for encode (e.g. include.banner.at.4m13s). 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 IVTC methods that result in jerky playback, such as Force ¦
- ¦ Film, are banned ¦
- ¦ - Interlaced 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 ¦
- ¦ - "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: ¦
- ¦ - Allowed audio formats are VBR AAC LC (Low Complexity). ¦
- ¦ - Average bitrate on AAC audio must be 96 - 160 kbps. ¦
- ¦ - AAC audio must be normalized and downconverted to stereo. ¦
- ¦ - Nero and Apple encoders are recommended. FFmpeg and FAAC are banned. ¦
- ¦ - Multiple language audio tracks are allowed and must be listed in NFO ¦
- ¦ - 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: ¦
- ¦ - Framerate must be constant. Variable framerate is banned. ¦
- ¦ - 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: ¦
- ¦ - Video codec must be H264 encoded with 8-bit depth x264. ¦
- ¦ - You will have 30 days from latest x264 rev date to update in order to ¦
- ¦ maintain all bug fixes and improvements in the x264 encoder. ¦
- ¦ - Stripping or falsifying encode information in the file header is banned ¦
- ¦ - Custom Matrices are allowed ¦
- ¦ - Encoded colorspace must be 4:2:0 (default). ¦
- ¦ - Deblocking must be used; values are at the discretion of the group. ¦
- ¦ (default is enabled, 0:0 settings) ¦
- ¦ - 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 ¦
- ¦ - Colormatrix must be set to source specification. If not specified by ¦
- ¦ source, bt709 must be used for sources with resolution greater than or ¦
- ¦ equal to 1280x720 (e.g. HDTV and some PDTV) and sources with lower ¦
- ¦ resolutions use 'undef' (default). ¦
- ¦ - Constant Rate Factor (--crf) must be as follows: ¦
- ¦ +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ ¦
- ¦ ¦ Compressibility ¦ CRF ¦ General Examples ¦ ¦
- ¦ +-----------------+-------+-------------------------------------------¦ ¦
- ¦ ¦ High ¦ 19-20 ¦ Scripted, Talk Shows, Poker, Animation ¦ ¦
- ¦ ¦ Medium ¦ 21-22 ¦ Documentary, Reality, Variety ¦ ¦
- ¦ ¦ Low ¦ 23-24 ¦ 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 19 and above 24 are never permitted. ¦
- ¦ - As a general suggestion, average video bitrate in excess of 1500kb/s ¦
- ¦ is a sign that a higher CRF value should be chosen, when possible ¦
- ¦ - Allowed parameters for --tune (optional) are film/grain/animation ¦
- ¦ - Level 3.1 must be respected. ¦
- ¦ - Suggested command line: ¦
- ¦ x264.exe --crf ## --preset slow --level 3.1 --colormatrix bt709 -o ¦
- ¦ out.h264 in.avs ¦
- ¦ ¦
- ¦ Container: ¦
- ¦ - Container must be MP4. ¦
- ¦ - MP4Box is the recommended muxer. ¦
- ¦ - Support for file streaming and playing from rars is strongly encouraged.¦
- ¦ Both features are supported with MP4Box. ¦
- ¦ - Custom muxing tools are permitted; however, output must be compatible ¦
- ¦ with standard demuxers to the same extent that files created with ¦
- ¦ MP4Box are. ¦
- ¦ ¦
- ¦ Source Naming: ¦
- ¦ - Valid source names are HDTV, AHDTV, PDTV, and DSR. ¦
- ¦ - WS and FS tags are banned. ¦
- ¦ - Source Definitons: ¦
- ¦ - 720p/1080i/1080p shall be tagged HDTV or AHDTV (depending on capture ¦
- ¦ method). In the case of upscaled content airing on HD channel, use ¦
- ¦ PDTV tag. ¦
- ¦ - 576i/576p shall be tagged PDTV. ¦
- ¦ - 480i shall be tagged DSR. ¦
- ¦ - HD video taken from the decoded HD output of a set-top box (e.g. ¦
- ¦ component, DVI, HDMI) must be tagged in dirname as AHDTV. Decoded ¦
- ¦ output of PDTV or DSR sources is banned. Releases taken from a natively ¦
- ¦ recorded transport stream shall be tagged as HDTV, PDTV, or DSR. ¦
- ¦ - AHDTV captures must be done at the native format of the channel, e.g. ¦
- ¦ 720p or 1080i. ¦
- ¦ ¦
- ¦ Resolution: ¦
- ¦ - HDTV and PDTV sources with greater than 720px horizontal resolution ¦
- ¦ must be cropped as needed and resized to 720px width and mod2 height to ¦
- ¦ maintain proper AR. ¦
- ¦ - PDTV sources with horizontal source resolution of 720-704px after crop ¦
- ¦ must be cropped as needed and only height shall be resized to maintain ¦
- ¦ proper AR using mod2. Upscaling/downscaling width is forbidden. ¦
- ¦ - PDTV sources with horizontal source resolution of less than 704px after ¦
- ¦ crop must be cropped as needed and resized to fit within 704x528 while ¦
- ¦ maintaining the proper AR using mod2. Largest possible resolution must ¦
- ¦ be used without upscaling in more than one dimension. ¦
- ¦ - DSR and any fullscreen source with greater than or equal to 640px ¦
- ¦ horizontal resolution after crop must be cropped as needed and resized ¦
- ¦ to 640px width and mod2 height to maintain proper AR. ¦
- ¦ - DSR sources with less than 640px horizontal resolution after crop must ¦
- ¦ be cropped as needed and resized to fit within 640x480 while maintaining¦
- ¦ the proper AR using mod2. Largest possible resolution must be used ¦
- ¦ without upscaling in more than one dimension. ¦
- ¦ - 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 ¦
- ¦ ¦
- ¦ Subs: ¦
- ¦ - Optional, but encouraged ¦
- ¦ - Text based format is preferred (e.g. SubRip, SubStation Alpha, etc). ¦
- ¦ - Subtitles must be muxed into the MP4. "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 may be in 15, 20, or multiples of 50 MB. 15 and 20 MB sizes must ¦
- ¦ contain 1-101 files. Multiples of 50 MB must contain 10-101 files. ¦
- ¦ 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 ¦
- ¦ ¦
- ¦ Propers: ¦
- ¦ - Propers are only permitted in the case of a technical flaw in the ¦
- ¦ original release (e.g. Bad IVTC, Interlacing, missing footage, 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.HDTV.x264-GROUP ¦
- ¦ - Show.Name.YYYY.MM.DD.Guest.Name.HDTV.x264-GROUP for daily or other ¦
- ¦ dated shows ¦
- ¦ - Episode title and guest name are optional ¦
- ¦ - Show.Name.PartXX.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.HDTV.x264-GROUP ¦
- ¦ - Competition.YYYY-MM.Event.EXTRA.TAGS.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.HDTV.x264-GROUP ¦
- ¦ - TNA.Impact.2010.03.02.HDTV.x264-GROUP ¦
- ¦ - WWE.WrestleMania.2010.PPV.HDTV.x264-GROUP ¦
- ¦ - Tennis.US.Open.2011.Final.Player1.vs.Player2.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, and AAC.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 and rerips must include detailed reason as to why it's ¦
- ¦ being repacked or reripped 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 ¦
- ¦ ¦
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- ¦ The SD x264 TV Releasing Standards 2012 (2012-04-01) ¦
- ¦ ¦
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- ¦ +--------[ GROUPS ]--------+ ¦
- ¦ ¦
- ¦ TVx2642012 rules created by the following groups: ¦
- ¦ ------------------------------------------------- ¦
- ¦ aAF ASAP BAJSKORV BARGE C4TV COMPULSiON D2V ¦
- ¦ DiVERGE FTP FUtV KYR LMAO LOL MOMENTUM OTV ¦
- ¦ RiVER SYS TASTETV TLA TRANSiENCE W4F YesTV ¦
- ¦ ¦
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- +----\ Thanks to the x264 developers for their /----+
- +----\ assistance in determining the best /----+
- +----\ mix of encode settings. /----+
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