Fastest MPEG2 Software encoding?

[pharries]

I love TPMGendPlus, good results but so Sloooow
What is the best value fast MPEG2 encoder out there that produces excellent results relatively quickly?
Thanks :
:P

[BJ_M]

main concept or ligos go ..

i would pick Main Concept first

[kitty]

CCE apparently is fastest but it is not a good value for home use.

[pharries]

I am using Cinestream so I am starting with apple movie files - neither main concept or ligos go will work for me in the absence of Premiere.
CCE as you say is very expensive! Any other suggestions?
Thanks :P

[MrKGB]

pharries,
have you tried CQ mode of tmpgenc?
On my 2000XP PC I am encoding 1 min clip in 2.5 min even with high quality motion search. This time can be reduced even further if to use normal or fast motion search.
The only drawback of the CQ method is that you will never be able to predict file size, but the quality will always be predictable, which I think is better!

[BJ_M]

TMPGENC will make a project file of the mov file and VFAPI will make a frame serve avi file of the project file ... take about 10 sec or less total..

MAIN CONCEPT will encode this file pefectly very fast ... i just tried it to make sure ... i used the QT blackmagic codec and also cinepak


but you could use any mpeg encoder i blieve at this point that reads VFAPI codec avi file (some dont -- but its the most compatable)

[BJ_M]

i just tried ligos also -- works fine with this method ... no premier required (same w/ MC)

[Roland187]

I use dvdx 2.0 which i have found to be very easy to use. No difficult rules to it. Mpeg 1 and Mpeg 2 encoding in 1 big file or whatever size incredments you specify. It takes me about 4- 41/2 hours to encode a full length flick in Mpeg 2 SVCD quality. Best encoder out there to me! Others take 8-24hrs.[/b]

[pharries]

Will I get a drop in quality going to vi and back?
I allways thought of AVI as being based on anlogue technology vs pure digital, or am I just mistaken about that?

[BJ_M]

Will I get a drop in quality going to vi and back?
I allways thought of AVI as being based on anlogue technology vs pure digital, or am I just mistaken about that?

your not going to avi its just a pointer to your mov file ..

anything on your computer is digital one way or another .. non the less , not to worry..

[pharries]

Ok I feel stupiud now!
Two questions
1) How do I save as a frame serve AVI from TPMG
2) How do I then use VFAPI?
I have most of the VFAPI installed, what am I missing here?

[BJ_M]

load your mov into tmpgenc ..

set all setting in tmpg you want / as in : filters , and output size, cropping and set correct input format ...

hit-> "Control S" and name your project file ..

open VFAPI reader .. and drag the project file you made in step above (rememeber where you saved it) .. at this point do not move any files ..

hit convert on VFAPI reader convertor .. -- 1 sec later when bar finished moving ..close it ..

you will see a *.avi file in same dir as where you saved project file ..

load that file (it will be small) into your encoder ..

tmpgenc can be closed any point -- not needed.

that avi pointer file can also have audio ..


this works on all mov QT files i tried it on but i dont know if every codec in QT is ok to use ...

[pharries]

OK found it
It was hard to find a download site for the VFAPI Reader Codec
I got version 1.05 is that the latest?
Thanks

[BJ_M]

i use 1.04 .. so i guess ...

[BJ_M]

yea it is -- this is the official page btw http://www.yks.ne.jp/~hori/VFAPICodec.html

[pharries]

Thanks for the above. I have tried all of them and found that TMPGplus gave the best quality result but it was slow.
Anyone know an ything about good quality hardware solutions to MPEG2 compression?
Thanks again.

[BJ_M]

to get the quality of tmpgenc or main concept you will have to spend a lot of money on a hardware solution ... put it this way , i have hardware encoders costing over 10grand and the quality is no better .. though very fast and consistant ..

hardware encoding is just software encoding with the software hard coded into the hardware ..

the better hardware encoders do a nice job of VBR multipass , accually reading and re-playing the source tape several times (beta sp or d-beta most often and hdcam and d5 for HD). plan on spending a 100,000 grand or more on this setup (200,000 + with tape player) ..

[pharries]

Thanks
I suspect hardware encoders are coming down in price soon.
Sony release their stuff first in Singapore very ofte and I see that there even the DV camcorders come with on board MPEG2 compression and down;load to a PC over USB. I do not know what the results are like mind.