This finalizes merging of the work in the patches in ticket #2686.
Improvements to twoloop and RC logic are extensive.
The non-exhaustive list of twoloop improvments includes:
- Tweaks to distortion limits on the RD optimization phase of twoloop
- Deeper search in twoloop
- PNS information marking to let twoloop decide when to use it
(turned out having the decision made separately wasn't working)
- Tonal band detection and priorization
- Better band energy conservation rules
- Strict hole avoidance
For rate control:
- Use psymodel's bit allocation to allow proper use of the bit
reservoir. Don't work against the bit reservoir by moving lambda
in the opposite direction when psymodel decides to allocate more/less
bits to a frame.
- Retry the encode if the effective rate lies outside a reasonable
margin of psymodel's allocation or the selected ABR.
- Log average lambda at the end. Useful info for everyone, but especially
for tuning of the various encoder constants that relate to lambda
feedback.
Psy:
- Do not apply lowpass with a FIR filter, instead just let the coder
zero bands above the cutoff. The FIR filter induces group delay,
and while zeroing bands causes ripple, it's lost in the quantization
noise.
- Experimental VBR bit allocation code
- Tweak automatic lowpass filter threshold to maximize audio bandwidth
at all bitrates while still providing acceptable, stable quality.
I/S:
- Phase decision fixes. Unrelated to #2686, but the bugs only surfaced
when the merge was finalized. Measure I/S band energy accounting for
phase, and prevent I/S and M/S from being applied both.
PNS:
- Avoid marking short bands with PNS when they're part of a window
group in which there's a large variation of energy from one window
to the next. PNS can't preserve those and the effect is extremely
noticeable.
M/S:
- Implement BMLD protection similar to the specified in
ISO-IEC/13818:7-2003, Appendix C Section 6.1. Since M/S decision
doesn't conform to section 6.1, a different method had to be
implemented, but should provide equivalent protection.
- Move the decision logic closer to the method specified in
ISO-IEC/13818:7-2003, Appendix C Section 6.1. Specifically,
make sure M/S needs less bits than dual stereo.
- Don't apply M/S in bands that are using I/S
Now, this of course needed adjustments in the compare targets and
fuzz factors of the AAC encoder's fate tests, but if wondering why
the targets go up (more distortion), consider the previous coder
was using too many bits on LF content (far more than required by
psy), and thus those signals will now be more distorted, not less.
The extra distortion isn't audible though, I carried extensive
ABX testing to make sure.
A very similar patch was also extensively tested by Kamendo2 in
the context of #2686.
Since PNS generates coefficients it doesn't make sense to send
the predicted ones as well. Also the specifications explicitly
state to disable right channel IS predictors.
Signed-off-by: Rostislav Pehlivanov <atomnuker@gmail.com>
This commit adds a flag to use the pure coefficients instead
of the processed ones (sce->coeffs). This is needed because
IS will apply the changes to the coefficients immediately
before the adjust_common_prediction function and it doesn't
make sense to measure stereo channel coefficient difference
when one of the channels coefficients are all zero.
Therefore add a flag to use pure coefficients in that case.
TNS is the only thing touching the coefficients before IS
so common window prediction will not take that into account
but the effect of the TNS filter per coefficient can be small
(a few percent) so to some approximation it's fine to just
ignore that.
Also fixed a small error which doesn't alter the results
that much. pow(sqrt(number), 3.0/4.0) == pow(number, 3.0/8.0) !=
pow(number, 3.0/4.0).
Signed-off-by: Rostislav Pehlivanov <atomnuker@gmail.com>
This commit completely alters the algorithm of prediction.
The original commit which introduced prediction was completely
incorrect to even remotely care about what the actual coefficients
contain or whether any options were enabled. Not my actual fault.
This commit treats prediction the way the decoder does and expects
to do: like lossy encryption. Everything related to prediction now
happens at the very end but just before quantization and encoding
of coefficients. On the decoder side, prediction happens before
anything has had a chance to even access the coefficients.
Also the original implementation had problems because it actually
touched the band_type of special bands which already had their
scalefactor indices marked and it's a wonder the asserion wasn't
triggered when transmitting those.
Overall, this now drastically increases audio quality and you should
think about enabling it if you don't plan on playing anything encoded
on really old low power ultra-embedded devices since they might not
support decoding of prediction or AAC-Main. Though the specifications
were written ages ago and as times change so do the FLOPS.
Signed-off-by: Rostislav Pehlivanov <atomnuker@gmail.com>
This commit finalizes AAC-Main profile encoding support
by implementing all mandatory and optional tools available
in the specifications and current decoders.
The AAC-Main profile reqires that prediction support be
present (although decoders don't require it to be enabled)
for an encoder to be deemed capable of AAC-Main encoding,
as well as TNS, PNS and IS, all of which were implemented
with previous commits or earlier of this year.
Users are encouraged to test the new functionality using either
-profile:a aac_main or -aac_pred 1, the former of which will enable
the prediction option by default and the latter will change the
profile to AAC-Main. No other options shall be changed by enabling
either, it's currently up to the users to decide what's best.
The current implementation works best using M/S and/or IS,
so users are also welcome to enable both options and any
other options (TNS, PNS) for maximum quality.
Signed-off-by: Rostislav Pehlivanov <atomnuker@gmail.com>
