r/VideoEncoding

I am trying to encode footage that I captured with my action camera (DJI Action 5 Pro), but the bitrate on the encodes is much higher than the original files. Are there settings/tweaks I can use with x265 to get my bitrates down to 15-25 MB/s while preserving most of the detail and avoiding heavy artifacts?

I have tried CRF values from 18 to 26 and still get huge encodes, bigger than the original. At CRF 26 I am starting to notice quality degradation and the bitrate is higher than the source. I have also tried 2-pass, with ABR between 15 to 30 MB/s. Even at 30 MB/s there are noticeable artifacts and quality degradation.

Here is a short sample of the footage I am trying to encode.