What's the best variable bitrate mpeg-2 encoder?

[miggeth]

I did some tests and it turns out that encoding from Sony Vegas using Main Concept is not actually VBR, in fact the bitrate graph looks almost the same as if it was constant bitrate. Yes, I checked the two pass box, am I missing something else?

I also encoded the same file with tmpegenc and this WAS truely VBR, the graph fluctuated between max and min as you would expect. The problem with this is I've noticed some playback problems on certain hardware.

Is there a better encoder out there?

[guns1inger]

If you set minimums or maximum too close to the average you virtually nullify the VBR range and get close to CBR. I have never had problems with mainconcept up to Vegas 7 (not running 8), however I do most of my encoding with HCEnc.

[miggeth]

I used the standard template, minimum 192,000 bps, maximum, 8,000,000 bps, and average I changed to 4,500,000 bps.

Checked VBR and 2 pass, it even took twice as long as a CBR encode, which seemed evidence enough. Until I noticed the quality was off and the bitrate graph was flat.

It's a shame because my CBR encodes from Vegas are perfect.

I'll check out HCEnc, thanks for the suggestion.

[guns1inger]

If you use the Debugmode Frameserver you can frameserve directly from the Vegas timeline to your favourite encoder. Sometimes this is a bonus, although if you are doing multi-pass encoding and you have a lot of filters on the timeline it is usually more efficient to render to a lossless intermediate file, then encode to mpeg-2