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.