DVD2oneX 1.1 - Slow???

[Rayz]

Version 1.0.1 did its thing in 25-35 minutes. The new version is taking 1 hour or more. Is anyone else experiencing a major slowdown with the new release?

[Ladd]

Version 1.0.1 did its thing in 25-35 minutes. The new version is taking 1 hour or more. Is anyone else experiencing a major slowdown with the new release?

The new version of DVD2oneX (1.1.0) now allows you to select between "Variable" bit rate and "Constant" bit rate.

Which one were you using?

[Rayz]

Ladd,

I believe that Constant is what I used. I relooked at the help file after reading your question and apparently Variable is the older engine and Constant is the new one. Assumption would be that Variable would be quicker. Looks like some testing (while I'm paying attention to what I'm doing) may be in order.

Before I try and track this down, is there something I should have read/understood about the 2 choices? Given the pace of things going on around me lately, I have been in a bit of a ready-fire-aim mode. I'm guessing there is a faster speed or better quality choice now

[Ladd]

You are correct that Constant is the new option, the past versions of DTOX had only Variable. As you have noticed, Constant also takes considerably longer.

There is CONSIDERABLE debate over on the DVD2one board as to when is the best time to use the Constant bit-rate compression scheme or the Variable bit-rate compression scheme and the only good answer seems to be "try both and see which one works better for the particular movie with which you are working". This answer, because of the technical logic behind it (not repeated here) is acceptable to the more technical readers but is frustrating the folks who want a "one-click" solution.

The only general advice being offered is if the movie is long, go with the Constant option as this will eliminate "blooming", a visual side-effect of the Variable compression scheme that might happen with some movies.

"Long" is also a variable, defined as being in excess of 2.5 hours or even perhaps as little as 2 hours. Depending on the movie, of course.

My take is that the authors of DVD2one have added an option that is useful, but that there are sufficient variables out of their control as to make its use difficult for the non-power user.

Each movie can be encoded differently "from the factory", hence re-compression can have differing results. Is the movie an "action" film or a "quiet" film. Additionally, what is the quality of your TV? And your eyes? How picky are you regarding video-quality matters?

You can see how this gets complicated quickly. It's simply not conducive to a "push this button to get the best results" solution.

Like many folks, I probably won't DTOX twice, once for each bit-rate option, then burn each version, then watch each movie to see if there are any differences. But there are people to whom this is important and now they have a tool to satisfy that need. If they are kind enough to share their findings that with a certain movie in a certain scene the differences in quality are obvious, I'll check it out personally, but I won't be going out of my way looking for those scenes.