LSX vs. TMPGenc

[ablatt]

I have been using TMPGENC to encode the AVI files captured from my camcorder in Studio DV 7 to (S)VCDs.

I have been pretty happy except for some blockiness in fast motion scenes, tinny audio and some washed out colors.

Would it be worthwhile for me to try (buy!) something like LSX from Ligos? I have seen some people mention that it creates better video quality overall.

[Chubs]

I love the speed and quality of LSX I think it is very good. I don't like the 2GB file limit with it. I am trying to get a hold of them to get around this. I will let you know if I do. Outside of that I personaly think LSX is better but that is just my opinion.

[ablatt]

Are you sure the 2GB limit is not your hard disk being FAT(32)? NTFS would not have that limit.

[wildcatfan]

Well I think LSX doesn't macro block as bad as tmpgenc does but it bands the colors at low bitrates some. Also LSX does suck at low bitrates. If you are going to use Ligos stay over at least 1500 kbps. Otherwise use Tmpgenc.

[sue denim]

Hi!

Just to add some info .........
LSX has a big problem with 'padding' the lower bitrate in a VBR encode.
To quote an email I received from Ligos, ".... all current versions of the LSX MPEG encoder have a problem buffering the bitrate stream to the VBV ...."

Basically, what they mean by this is, if you set the min bitrate to 800Kbps in LSX, it will totally ignore it and the final encode may contain bitrates as low as 120Kbps!
If you are planning to playback your SVCDs on a standalone DVD player, check how it handles these bitrates before you spend your hard earned cash!
My Pioneer DV444 has all sorts of problems at anything lower than 350Kbps.

To add to this, the same email suggested that the company are seriously considering pulling out of the software MPEG encoding market because of increased competition from TMPGenc, and also because of all the 'piracy' of their software!!!
This, I think, is a bit of a shame as LSX is a good encoder that's not too expensive (like CCE!). But it is in need of some serious development to work out all the bugs, which it looks like it will not get now ...

Hope this info is of some use!

Sue xxx