AVI conversion

[deleted]

Has SLR considered converting a few of the 'original' files into the AV1 codec? Correct me if I'm wrong, but there shouldn't be a reduction in quality and you'd save costs for bandwidth.

This film is 144 GB in H265
https://www.sexlikereal.com/scenes/my-dirty-laundry-2-28658

This film is 109 GB
https://www.sexlikereal.com/scenes/casting-couch-5-28925

This film is 112 GB
https://www.sexlikereal.com/scenes/gfe-octavia-treat-28478

Hairsational

AVI?? I was about to get real mad at that suggestion after reading the title.

I think most people are still using Q2's these days so they wouldn't be able to play those files if they were converted. Maybe it would make sense in a few years time when most people have headsets with AV1 support.

[deleted]

Conversion is done by your GPU, not the headset. We're talking about the 'original' files here. The original files are gigantic, so if you are copying files to your headset you aren't copying the 'original' files. There is a technical consideration, however, for whether VirtualDesktop needs to perform an additional conversion of the file. Yet I think many users would appreciate the option. Have you downloaded these files above 100 GB?

Hairsational

[deleted] Converting it to AV1 is no good if you can't play it on a headset 🙃 Most people aren't using computers for playback.

[deleted]

Did you not read my post? I wrote 'original' files. You cannot play the original files without a computer. Try to transfer above 20 GB to your Quest device. There's a limitation in Android that blocks large file transfers via a wire connection.

The 'original' files can only be played via a computer, and according to Nvidia's specifications 3000 series cards can decode 8K AV1, so the question is whether they also need to encode the format to send the videos over wireless. Although the 3000 series cards do not have encode capabilities, they are fairly fast and may be able to encode via software.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/gfecnt/202009/rtx-30-series-av1-decoding/

Hairsational

[deleted] You cannot play the original files without a computer.

Wrong

[deleted] Try to transfer above 20 GB to your Quest device. There's a limitation in Android that blocks large file transfers via a wire connection.

You can stream them via wifi

[deleted] according to Nvidia's specifications 3000 series cards can decode 8K AV1, so the question is whether they also need to encode the format to send the videos over wireless

No, other codecs can be used

SchnuppiLilac

[deleted] There's a limitation in Android that blocks large file transfers via a wire connection.

I understand this was a bug in the Quest OS and it has been fixed recently in build 60.

[deleted]

Hairsational You can stream them via wifi

To stream SLR films via wifi you must have a computer or a router that is functioning as a computer. Unless you mean just accessing the file through SLR's servers. Streaming is a process that re-encodes the file. When you are streaming a file from SLR's servers you are accessing a converted file. For instance, the file at the URL below is 144 GB 'original' file and 21 GB when converted for streaming, https://www.sexlikereal.com/scenes/my-dirty-laundry-2-28658. Obviously, the visual fidelity of a file at 144 GB is far higher than 22 GB. However, with the AV1 codec it should be possible to reprocess the file from the original into a size of, say, 75 GB. This is because the AV1 codec is more efficient than H235 for 8K video.

AverageVrEnjoyer

Speaking about new encodings, I have noticed a few changes to the SLR api
I believe SLR is instead opting to add ClearVR support for their videos
See https://api.sexlikereal.com/virtualreality/video/id/16390, look for "ClearVR" near the end of the document.
ClearVR is a technology where videos get split up into 2 streams, a high resolution and a low resultion one.
The video further gets split up into a grid of chunks, with each being a section of the video.
When looking at a particular point, the high resolution chunk of that point will be loaded, while all the rest will be low resolution chunks. This allows for having a high resolution when looking at something, and having lower resolution in your peripheral vision. It allows SLR to save bandwidth, while maintaining high quality.
I believe this is a better approach than to reencode every video with AV1, because of the high costs and low device support of AV1.

Unrelated, but SLR is also experimenting with AI interpolation for achieving higher framerates
Look for "Interpolated120" and "Interpolated90" here https://api.sexlikereal.com/virtualreality/video/id/18312

SchnuppiLilac

AverageVrEnjoyer experimenting with AI interpolation

18312 might be just one of those older videos that had additional higher FPS versions. I don't think they are doing this anymore.

[deleted]

AverageVrEnjoyer It allows SLR to save bandwidth, while maintaining high quality.

I am referring to the 'original' file option, not the file streamed from their servers. When you are streaming a video through the SLR app the visual quality is much lower than if you were to download the 'original' file. The reduction in quality isn't noticeable on Quest 2, but it is very noticeable on Quest 3 and other modern HMDs.

doublevr

SchnuppiLilac correct

Wendigo

[deleted] To stream SLR films via wifi you must have a computer or a router that is functioning as a computer.

[deleted] Streaming is a process that re-encodes the file.

I have original files on my computer. I stream them over wifi to Heresphere through a Samba share. No re-encoding, all work done by my headset. Computer is just acting as a fileserver.

doublevr

[deleted] obvious because of filesizes? Try doing a blind test.

We did so much testing of it. You see what you want to see. Remove the filesizes and you aren't going to see a any difference whatever logic you put into it.

Every advocate of quality difference because of filesize has failed so far after blind testing. Including me.

In reality you ask for bigger filesizes, not higher quality

Hairsational

doublevr Don't know how your testing was conducted but the difference between the regular streaming/download versions and original verions was visible to me when I tested. I wouldn't describe the difference to visual fidelity as "far higher" as @[deleted] did but certainly it was visible.

In my testing I noticed that often with the more highly compressed versions the image was softer and everything has a blur effect compared to the original. It is difficult to see the true difference if you don't know what to look for or test via bad methods like switching between videos though, so I can easily see how one would wrongly conclude that there is no difference.

doublevr

Hairsational that would be more accurate description, but overall it's still barely distinguishable with blind testing. Especially no difference if increasing bitrate for encodings from original file.

Hairsational

doublevr Especially no difference if increasing bitrate for encodings from original file.

The difference would be smaller than between regular file and original file but to say there is no difference isn't true. Enough difference to be worthwhile? That's more debatable. I should make a demo app for comparing quality so anyone interested can see for themselves and come to their own conclusions instead of being told that there is no difference.

doublevr

Hairsational no difference. Nothing

[deleted]

I see difference...

You will be adding Alpha channels soon, so the conversion to AV1 could be part of that process.

The difference is more noticeable on films with shadows (Witcher 3 parody) and earlier films.

There's no excuse for an original file at 144 GB. That's too large.

@Hairsational Most people own a modern & up-to-date computer. In my opinion, Quest 2 is worse than Gear VR. Quest 3 is a genuine HMD, capable of tasks like reading documents & browsing the web.