[x265] information about --hevc-aq

[nalla shanaha]

Hello,

Perhaps I am doing something wrong, but for me , x265 3.0 (the cli as
well as ffmpeg+libx265)  with defaults settings ( --crf 28 --preset
medium) is consistently producing output files that are 10-20% larger
than the 2.9 release (or even the 2.8 release). I can achieve similar
bit rates only by reducing crf by 1 step ( i.e x265 3.0 crf 29 ~= x265
2.9 crf 28 when all other parameters are the same)

However , using the  --hevc-aq experimental flag dramatically reduces
the bitrate (sometimes by upto 25%). Unfortunately, it seems  to add
'pixellation' to the output. Are there any additional flags/options
that I can change to reduce this 'pixellation' ? Does
--qp-adaptation-range apply to --hevc-aq as well ? I can post samples
of this kind of 'pixellated' output if that would be useful.

Is there any forum/issue tracker where an ordinary user can post
questions? Using the developer mailing list for clarifications does
not seem like the best idea.