Best MPEG2 Converter Codec

[Nickhamm]

What is the fastest, yet best quality, codec to encode any video format in or to encode in using Adobe Premiere? I found found slow good quality codecs, but I am looking for something that doesn't take 4 hours to convert 45 minutes of video in Premiere, but still looks as good as the original.

[holistic]

What is the fastest, yet best quality, codec to encode any video format in ...........

You want your cake AND eat it don't you.

It has been said many times before, CCE it appears is the fastest when compared to say TMPGEnc for the same passes. BUT (cavet) I and a few others seem to prefer TMPGEnc over CCE for the 2 pass "quality" (i say "quality" because it now becomes a personal visual decision here)

If you don't want to take 4 3/4 hours to do a video then perhaps get a faster processor.

QUALITY does not come WITHOUT bitrate. And to encode in a high bitrate ............well............ just takes time.

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[Nickhamm]

Okay, now can you tell me about what difference in time it would take to convert using a 866MHz Intel Celeron versus a 2.4GHz Pentium4? (like 2x, 10x, or 3 hours vs 1/2 hour).

[MrKGB]

take a look at standalone mainconcept encoder.
it encodes almost in real time on my machine (2 GHz Athlon) @ svcd resolution.