[tential]

NickR
Did you also download the x264 version? Can you comment on the quality currently between the x265 encode vs x264?

Also, this was 1 month ago so a LOT has changed apparently. Moving into April things are supposed to change even more.

March 20th
"As x264 is the gold standard for production video encoders, and as we are porting and adapting x264 features into x265, we run extensive tests comparing the visual quality of x265 against x264 at the same bit rate. From an objective standpoint, x265 produces rate distortion curves that are substantially better (either with PSNR or SSIM) at any constrained bit rate. But the only thing that really matters is subjective visual quality. From a subjective standpoint, in our tests x265 produces better visual quality in the vast majority of test sequences. HEVC is especially stronger with respect to temporal noise. We're still working hard to fine-tune the encoding algorithms under all of the most challenging conditions (high motion with high detail at low bit rates), and we're still working to implement some x264 features like psy-rd.

So, the quick answer is - try it. Run x264 and x265 on the same clips at the same bit rate, play the video back and see what you think.

We've come a long way, but we're not done. You can expect a number of improvements that are focused on visual quality in the coming weeks.

Tom"

"x265 is ready to license today. We have been reaching licensing agreements with leading video hardware, software and service providers for many months.

We will reach the 0.9 tag in the next couple of weeks. I don't expect to hit the 1.0 milestone until late April, but this is just a number. Most of the key HEVC encoding features are already implemented in x265 (v0.8). As we continue our work it will just keep getting better with respect to features, performance and encoding efficiency (visual quality at a given bit rate).

Tom"

Also some 10bit encoding times:
"I have an i7 2700K @4.4GHz.

HEVC encoder version 0.8+185-27e0620327e5
build info [Windows][MSVC 1800][64 bit] 16bpp
using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 SSE4.2 AVX

Settings are --recon-depth 10 and the presets below.

720p
ultrafast: 38.39 fps
superfast: 33.24 fps
veryfast: 23.34 fps
faster: 19.04 fps
fast: 13.48 fps
medium: 8.84 fps
slow: 5.20 fps
slower: 2.72 fps
veryslow: 1.70 fps

1080p
ultrafast: 18.29 fps
superfast: 15.85 fps
veryfast: 10.65 fps
faster: 9.36 fps
fast: 6.24 fps
medium: 4.09 fps
slow: 2.39 fps
slower: 1.36 fps
veryslow: 0.86 "

Very interesting developments with more to come by next month. It's an exciting time we live in where advancements move so quickly.