My first impression of TMGEnc 2.59 plus

[SatStorm]

Yesterday was a Tom And Jerry Marathon on Boomerang, so it was a perfect opportunity to test the latest TMPGenc Plus version

First of all, I like to say that I hated versions 2.57 & 2.58. I don't know what to say, but for a PAL, I found both versions not good as the previus one (2.56 plus). That doesn't seem to affect NTSC users and DV users in general.
Then, I thought that it maybe soon or later gonna be a PAL optimisation version. Well, here we are...

The latest TMPGenc 2.59 plus version, is like the 2.56plus version, without those PAL "bugs" I noticed (expecially with colors...) with versions 2.57 and 2.58.

I noticed also two things (always mpeg 2 talking, I don't use mpeg 1 very often): First, the motion estimate search mode, works better than before. For me, now is equal to High quality mode. The second thing I notice, is that now TMPGenc share better the bitrate between min/max to 2-Pass VBR encodings (my favorite ones).

Another taste I made, was with a very difficult source from VHS. I encode the same clip with both CCE 2.5 and TMPGenc 2.59.

I think the difference between those 2 encoders are now minimal in quality. The speed different it is still huge from the other hand. The only way to make TMPGenc boost (and that boost a lot), is using the motion estimate search mode during the encoding, which takes about the same time with CCE's 2 Pass VBR (or it was 3 Pass VBR? I don't remember for sure, but I think it was 2 Pass VBR).
For most uses, this mode is enough, but I have to say that Highest quality mode is still better and maybe equal the 3 pass VBR mode of CCE. Unfortunatelly, this mode is slowwwwwwwww.

On my anime tests (Tom and jerry, very much action and fast moves as you know), I encode to CVD with 2000 average @ motion estimate search mode and I boost a bit the DC component precision to 9 bits. I didn't use filters but I used the animate GOP structure.
Well, the result was very good. It was a good suprice for me! Far better my tests with TMPGenc 2.56, 2.57 and 2.58 with the same source.
Also, I notice only a part which CCE 2.5 looked less blocky, but overall it was noticable blurry compared to TMPGenc. I using 2 pass VBR most of the times with CCE for your notice.

One final thing I notice, is that with 2.59 plus, the use of the sharpen filter is not any more a good idea. Sure, it sharps the picture, but it also sharps a LOT the noise (which is plenty on DVB transmissions in Europe). For CVD only slighty sharpness (less than 16) won't harm the video (on my tests ofcourse, other users may have other opinion)

Overall, the latest TMPGEnc 2.59 plus, is good. Better 2.56plus. So, I recomend to try it yourself, if you use olders versions (like 2.53 and 2.56), and post your thought and conclutions for it!

[snowmoon]

If you are starting with MPEG-2 DVB you should take a look over at the forums at www.kvcd.net/forum/ they have lots of infomation on de-blocking and de-noising mpeg-2 for low bitrate encodes.

I might have to try TMPGenc again, but multipass is a thing of the past based on avisynth single pass prediction scripts. It now take me a few minutes pre-endcode to determine at what level to set single pass to get the right file size on the output. My latest batch of cartoons were noisy cable source encoded down to 352x480 DVD with an average bitrate of ~1400 with no artifacting that I or anyone else could find.

[Xtasy2002]

Loading multiple segmented AVI files together to encode as a single MPG:

^ This feature alone is worth the upgrade. No longer any need to frameserve using avisynth or virtualdub unless you get all happy about filters.. Which I don't. :P

[SatStorm]

Snowmoon....
I am doing DVB stuff more than 2 years...
That's why I have the nickname SatStorm (Sat(ellite)Storm)

Thanks for the link. I now Kwag's work and his forum pretty well.
I have also some links for DVB enthusiasts: www.dvb2k.de, www.no-access.de and www.odsoft.org
For most of them you need a translator if your only language you use is english