Anchor Settings for 1080p Delivery
Three anchor sets cover most 1080p work at the desk: a streaming set tuned for a broad audience, an archive set tuned for later reuse, and a low-motion set for talking-head and screen content. Pick the set that matches the source class, then move the rate factor until the distortion curve flattens.
Streaming 1080p
Tuned for a mixed audience where size matters and a little noise is acceptable. Use this set for general catalogue delivery at thirty frames a second.
| Codec | Rate factor | Effort | Key frame | Depth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H.264 | 22 | medium | 2 s | 8-bit |
| HEVC | 24 | medium | 2 s | 10-bit |
| AV1 | 30 | medium | 2 s | 10-bit |
Keep audio at a modest rate and a modern lossy form. Confirm the reconstruction against the source with the metric named on the measurement sheet.
Archive 1080p
Tuned for a master that may be re-encoded later. Detail is kept high and the key frame interval is longer, because seek speed is less important than quality per bit.
| Codec | Rate factor | Effort | Key frame | Depth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H.264 | 18 | slow | 6 s | 8-bit |
| HEVC | 20 | slow | 6 s | 10-bit |
| AV1 | 26 | slow | 6 s | 10-bit |
Low-motion 1080p
Tuned for studio and screen content: static framing, clean edges, little grain. The rate factor can rise a little because there is little fine detail to lose.
| Codec | Rate factor | Effort | Key frame | Depth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H.264 | 24 | fast | 4 s | 8-bit |
| HEVC | 26 | fast | 4 s | 10-bit |
| AV1 | 32 | medium | 4 s | 10-bit |
Reading the three sets
The sets differ in the budget they assume, not in the codec path. Streaming favours size, archive favours fidelity, and low-motion leans on the easy source. Every figure is a starting bracket: run the clip, plot the curve, then move the factor to the knee. The protocol explains how to record the run so the bracket can be checked by another operator.