Unusual Problem with CCE

[smokin*1]

Hi there!

I have been using VDub and CCE without problems for some time now. However recently when frameserving to CCE with CBR settings it seems that CCE is not obeying the bitrate I specify. I set CCE toi 2300 and it runs at 4400-4500 almost doubling the intended filesize? Anybody else encounter this problem as I can't figure out what I am doing wrong! I even restarted and set everything up again and had teh same problem

[homerpez]

Well...

I can only say similar things have happened to me. If I don't use MPEG-2 VBR, it's very unpredictable.

During a short time when I used .avs project files, I had things like that happen 50% to 100% of the time.

Now, I've gone to a process of:

CAPTURE (OR RIP) -->

TMPGENC (filters/resize) -->

TMPGENC PROJECT FILE (.tpr) -->

VFAPI CONVERTER (changing.tpr to .avi) -->

CCE (VBR, MPEG-2)

Ever since I did it this way, I have had no problems. But I haven't experimented with MPEG-1, or CBR (CCE's CBR is not its strong point anyway)...

[Kooz]

that sounds like a sensible process to me.

what encode rate are you using in tmpeng? 2pass VBR or CBR or what? i assume you're parsing the video in the same format as original and allowing cce to convert?

how long does it take the resize etc?

[homerpez]

I'd better explain, since my was is a bit kooky.

I'm not encoding with TMPGEnc at all. The only thing I do there is resize the movie, set source range, framerate, field order, What have you. When everything is set, I save it as a .tpr project file for video only. (Then I do use TMPGEnc to encode my audio, according to the source range I set).

With that .tpr file, I can either batch encode with TMPGEnc, or send it on to be turned into a fake .avi file. I do the second.

All the encoding is done via CCE.

As for speed? CCE is far and away faster than TMPGEnc (I haven't used anything past TMPGEnc 2.0, since I only use it for frameserving and tools). Frameserving this way slows it down just a tad vs. AVISYNTH --> CCE method, but it is almost 100% stable when it comes to this CCE encoding "quirk". Using AVISYNTH --> CCE has given me one too many headaches...

[Kooz]

tried that this morning, and works a treat BUT

cce wont resize the video. I'm not understanding how you resize the video stream with tmpegenc and NOT encoding it.

are you running the filters with the encode settings set to DVD quality? ie. the DVD profile, then all the source range, resize etc changed?

getting desperate - i have 5 dvds to backup before the end of the month :)

[stanwebber]

i remember once i accidentally opened the vfapi reference .avi instead of the virtualdub .vdr/.avi signpost in cce. the cbr bitrate ended up being grossly inflated because of the unresized 720x480 video

[KoalaBear]

(CCE's CBR is not its strong point anyway)...

Would you mind clarifying this?

[Kooz]

the avi file already contains the resize, so telling cce to do it at 16:9 is what was my problem

SAR 1:1 solved it nicely :) silly me

[KoalaBear]

(CCE's CBR is not its strong point anyway)...

Would you mind clarifying this?

[therick]

@Koalabear- I think what homerprez meant was that CBR from CCE looks like CBR from Tmpg...at least that is what I think after having used both for a bunch of different stuff...what CCE is definitely better at than TmpgEnc is multi-pass VBR...I know that is why I use it over Tmpg...

[KoalaBear]

(CCE's CBR is not its strong point anyway)...

I believe CCE isn't Homerpez' strong point, and that's an entirely different issue. How about it, Homerpez? Care to elaborate on this one?

[stanwebber]

koala isn't here to actually help anyone, but rather to snipe at any stray comment he feels he can be contentious with

[KoalaBear]

Yes. It's The Jihad Against Perpetuation of CCE Ignorance.

That being said,

(CCE's CBR is not its strong point anyway)...

Would you mind clarifying this?

[homerpez]

...SINCE VBR IS CCE's strong point... CBR doesn't let CCE use it's major strength (multipass encoding)...

Now to have that talk with Baldrick...