[Topic] WSE Configure the HEVC/H.265 transcoder template

Configure HEVC/H.265 transcoding by editing the H.265 Transcoder template file. 

You can also configure the encoding presets and decoding presets in the H.265 Transcoder template via Wowza Streaming Engine Manager. For details, see Configure the Transcoder in Wowza Streaming Engine Manager.

1. Navigate to [install-dir]/transcoder/templates and open transcode-h265.xml in a text editor.  
2. In the <PostProcess> block, set the BufferSize to 5000. This helps to keep the audio and video synchronized in the transcoded output renditions, but it may also increase latency before playback starts. Adjust the buffer size as needed to maintain A/V synchronization while minimizing latency.
3. Edit the <Encode> and <Decode> blocks as desired. The H.265 template includes three encode profiles that you can enable, disable, or edit:

• A 720p high-definition, medium-bandwidth profile at 2,400,000 bits per second. This encoding profile is enabled by default.
• A 1080p full high-definition, high-bandwidth profile at 4,500,000 bits per second. Disabled by default.
• A 4K ultra-high-definition, high-bandwidth profile at 11,600,000 bits per second. Disabled by default.

4. Save your changes. 

Adjust CPU resources

Your video may require higher video quality and CPU usage than the default encoding configuration for H.265. To increase video quality and CPU usage, use the performance_level parameter. It controls encoding performance by balancing speed and video quality.

The performance_level parameter can be configured using a range from 1 (fastest) to 30 (best quality). By default, performance_level is set to 15, which allows for balanced speed and performance.

Note: These instructions apply to Wowza Streaming Engine instances that run Transcoder on a standard hardware configuration. If you run Transcoder on GPU-accelerated hardware, see any of the articles listed on the Hardware acceleration page and the documentation for your graphics card for recommendations on managing resources when transcoding using HEVC.

1. In transcode-h265.xml, add the performance_level parameter within the <Parameters> container element of all video encoding presets with <Codec> set to H.265.  

2. For <Value>, specify a value less than 15 for lower video quality and CPU usage. Some sample values include 1 (fastest), 8 (fast), 15 (balanced), 20 (better quality), and 30 (best quality).

    

   <Encode>
      ...
      <Video>
         <Codec>H.265</Codec>
         ...
         <Parameters>
            <Parameter>
               <Name>mainconcept-h265.performance_level</Name>
               <Value>8</Value>
               <Type>Long</Type>
            </Parameter>
         </Parameters>
      </Video>
      ...
   </Encode>
   

    

   Note: You may have to experiment to find the right value. If you set this parameter to a value higher than your available CPU resources can handle, real-time encoding will lag and eventually stop. When this happens, skip frame messages appear in the Wowza Streaming Engine logs.

3. Save your changes.