question about cce multi-pass encoding

[prey]

okay, when i go to the encode settings menu, if i click on multipass the advanced tab next to multipass will appear. it seems that it requires a *.vaf file in order for me to access it.

thus i encode a single pass *.vaf file. afterwards, i realised that i can now access the advanced tab. the question is, does it matter what the first encode is like? by that i mean does the settings of average, max bitrate have to be the same in both instances? should i set my first encode to cbr or vbr?

finally are the options inside the advance tab worth fiddling with?

any input appreciated

ta

[stanwebber]

i doubt it matters whether the first pass is cbr or vbr; however, the bitrate setting will matter so match the range or set cbr to your target avg. i set bias to 0 to distribute the maximum bits to complex scenes as my bitrates are typically high enough so i dont have to worry about starving low motion scenes. the other useful thing is being able to manually control the bitrate for either very high or low priority scenes, credit sequences being a prime example. if left to its own devices the encoder will spend significant resources determining how low a bitrate it should use & then will probably end up allocating more than you'd choose yourself

[prey]

i see, thanks for that

just one more thing. if i encode with max bitrate larger than svcd compliant max bitrate will i still be able to burn 800megs on 80min cd?

btw, i thought bias was the fluctuation of bit allocation. ie 100 = CBR
is that true (read that somewhere but dunt know how reliable)

thanks again

[stanwebber]

the avg bitrate determines filesize. set the max bitrate as high as your standalone supports if you want. your description of bias is more or less straight out of the cce manual itself, which i'd say is fairly reliable