No 2-Pass VBR option for H.265, even with Software Encoding?

[ThioJoe]

I noticed today that when I chose H.265 / HEVC for export, that even with Software Encoding enabled, there is only the option for 1-Pass VBR, not 2-Pass. I am using Premiere Pro 23.1.0 Build 86.

However, with software encoding, even with 1-Pass there is the additional "maximum bitrate" slider that does not appear when Hardware Encoding is chosen. Which I find strange, because with h.264 at least, usually the maximum bitrate slider only appears with 2-Pass.

Is this a bug, or does H.265 use a different method of encoding for which this makes sense? Perhaps someone could explain.

Also apologies if this has been asked before, but all the post I found seem to be talking about hardware encoding.

[ThioJoe]

Actually I just noticed that even with h.264 Software Encoding, there is still the "Maximum Bitrate" with both 1 and 2 Passes, unlike hardware. So what I showed above is actually consistent with h.264. But I am still wondering why I don't see an option for 2-Pass with Software Encoding.

(I seem unable to edit my original post, so this is a separate reply)

[Stan Jones]

ThioJoe,

No answer, but just to confirm what you are seeing:

For H.264, I have hardware for CBR and VBR1, both with only Target bitrate slider. If I switch to VBR2, I have only Software and I then also get the Max slider. And yes, Software VBR1 has the max slider.

For H.265, I have only CBR and VB1 for Hardware or Software (no VBR2), and for Software VBR1, I have a max slider.

Win 10; at the moment, I am in the Beta version, 23.2.0.59.

Stan