Does anyone know of a current, active solution to encoding x264 videos across many computers (via the network) to increase encoding FPS?
Brownie points for cross-platform and open source, but just so you all know, I usually use Windows.
Programs that I have heard of, and why I do not believe they are suitable:
- x264farm: Not actively developed. Good interface, but does not support two-pass encoding, and fails with newer x264 builds.
- ELDER: Again, not actively developed, but my issue was that it didn't work with new x264 builds, and it was very difficult to configure (read: randomly stopped working).
While I don't absolutely need a program which is being actively developed, I would like one that supports two-pass encoding, and works with new(er) x264 builds.
Additional information:
So far, I've offered (and awarded!) two separate bounties on this question since I first posted it over two years ago, and I still haven't found a solution to this problem. What I'm looking for basically is a simple program to allow me to encode x264 videos using the processing power of multiple computers connected over a LAN. Furthermore, it would be nice if it worked with new(er) x264 builds, and supported two-pass encoding.
If at any time someone has an updated answer, or a new solution to this problem, please post it and it will be given some consideration.
2016 Update:
After much of my work experience with computer/machine vision, I've come to realize that the overhead associated with the large amount of shared data/memory, and the potential bottleneck it presents, might outweigh the potential benefits.
While I would still love to find something that would allow me to harness the idle computing power of several devices, for now, modern GPGPU-based encoders are a much better approach if you need improved/real-time encoding. This is what most cloud-based video encoding platforms provide (which another alternative if you're into SaaS or cloud computing), albeit on a larger scale.
Best Answer
You could render separate chunks of the video, and use VirtualDub to stitch it all together with its Copy mode (where it does no encoding). It's not real distributed encoding or anything, but simplest solutions sometimes work the best.