CCE not as fast as I thought

[Matryx]

I was encoding a avi file to dvd and it wasn't as fast as I thought. I encode faster with Mainconcept for some reason. Maybe I got the settings wrong but I followed the settings for the guide on doom9 website. I'm using CCE 2.67. Takes around 4-5 hours. Mainconcept usually around 2-3 hours. Maybe its my system.

System Specs:

AMD Athlon XP 2500
1024MB RAM
Sapphire Radeon 9800PRO

[guns1inger]

Without knowing more about the source and the settings it's hard to say why the large difference. Having used both, I would expect to see them much closer, although the settings and the source would influence which came in first.

That said, quality should always be the no. 1 priority where possible, and for my money CCE produces a better output than the standalone version of mainconcept, which always seems to produce soft output.

[Matryx]

Well I'm using Multipass VBR I think it was set to 3 passes.

[guns1inger]

If I remember correctly, mainconcept only goes up to a 2-pass vbr, so you aren't comparing apples with apples anymore. Bring CCE back to 2 passes and you will find the numbers get a lot closer. CCE is one of the few encoders that actually allow the user to set the number of passes higher than 2. Some people swear you can get better quality from using 5 - 9 passes, at the cost of time. Personally, I haven't seen a need to go above 3 passes as any difference in quality is so slight as to not make it worth the time.

[lordsmurf]

I'd have to say it's pretty much unuseable as a 1-pass encoder, and still has noise in 2-pass. I'm still of the opinion that quality is sacrificed for speed. Not to mention that sometimes it's simply NOT a faster encoder, though sometimes it is.

Anything beyond 3 passes is silly. Even 3 passes should not REALLY be needed, but it helps curb the well-document mosquito noise issue of CCE.

MC is a soft encoder. I agree with that assessment.

Procoder is often just as fast as CCE often is, and it has a much crisper and cleaner output. It's neither soft nor noisy.

[hrlslcbr]

Procoder is often just as fast as CCE often is, and it has a much crisper and cleaner output. It's neither soft nor noisy.

Maybe, but Procoder increases contrast, modifying the original video, and in the Mastering quality option it is SLOW.
And I don't get noisy or unusable 1-Pass encodes with CCE (just MY opinion, I don't want to start a war here).

@Matryx: How long is the video you're trying to encode? What options did you change in CCE?

[BJ_M]

Procoder is often just as fast as CCE often is, and it has a much crisper and cleaner output. It's neither soft nor noisy.

Maybe, but Procoder increases contrast, modifying the original video, and in the Mastering quality option it is SLOW.
And I don't get noisy or unusable 1-Pass encodes with CCE (just MY opinion, I don't want to start a war here).

@Matryx: How long is the video you're trying to encode? What options did you change in CCE?

we went over this one already when i posted the output of test equipment showing if you know what you are doing , procoder does not change the output ..

also you should contact Visible Light , your dealer , and get the newer CCE

[hrlslcbr]

we went over this one already when i posted the output of test equipment showing if you know what you are doing , procoder does not change the output ..

also you should contact Visible Light , your dealer , and get the newer CCE

Oh, I was wrong. Sorry

Yes, the new CCE SP 2.7 is much faster (at least the trial when I tried it. I bought the Basic version).

[adam]

The passes you set in CCE are in addition to the creation of the .vaf, which would basically be the equivalent of the first pass in any other encoder.

So if you wanted to compare CCE to Mainconcept's 2 pass VBR then you would need to set CCE to 1 pass VBR. You'll see that the speeds are much more comparable now. I think you'll agree that CCE is in fact very fast.

[Matryx]

So if you wanted to compare CCE to Mainconcept's 2 pass VBR then you would need to set CCE to 1 pass VBR.

Why is that. Wouldn't I need to set CCE to 2 pass VBR also to compare not 1 pass VBR.

[adam]

Well like I said, the amount of passes you set in CCE doesn't include the making of the .vaf file, which is the first pass.

If you set CCE to 1 pass VBR (under the multipass option, not the OPV option) then it will perform 1 pass first to make the vaf and then perform 1 more pass. This is 2-pass VBR equivalent to what MainConcept does when you set it to 2-pass VBR.

[Matryx]

Oh I see. Thats good to know

[Wile_E]

we went over this one already when i posted the output of test equipment showing if you know what you are doing , procoder does not change the output ..

I assume you mean the posts about adding the 601 colorspace correction filter? I contacted Canopus about this issue. The filter is unfortunately not available with Procoder Express. They apparently don't think people are using their "express version" to convert to DVD. Either that or they think most people are dumb and won't see a difference in output. I personally don't like it, how the output is changed, without my permission. It should be up to the user. Same thing with my Canopus ADVC-300. It's auto gain and white peak defaults are set to allow up to 105-106 IRE. This is out of spec, and Canopus should know better. I'm having to shut off auto gain, since it is broke, and manually lower white peaks.

This is why I chose CCE Basic. On my AMD64 3200+, I'm getting near real-time conversion of DV sources to MPEG2. 1 hour = about 1h10min. This is with using the 2D spatial filter of CCE.

I'm finding that output is fast, and true to the original source. Plus it works in YUY2 colorspace, and has an adaptive 2D spatial (low-pass) filter. You can turn it off completely, or adjust it like you like it, using a simple slider control. Turn it up completely, and it will give you pretty smooth output, even with VHS sources. No need to use that slow Convolution3D. Canopus Express does not have option to turn off their low-pass filter.

[whitejremiah]

hehe, i know this is completely INSANE, but i did it anyhow, just for kicks...take a dvd of say around 100 min long, rip it to svcd using dvd2svcd and cce as the encoder, set the number of passes to 50 (YES, I SAID 50) and set the bitrate to fit one disc.......the quality is astounding and you can fit a movie to a single cdr......i know this isnt the most efficiant way of encoding, but trust me, you can get a VERY nice output that way at a minimal filesize....

[BJ_M]

sure - if you want to wait 4 days .. and what you consider ''very nice"

actually after even the 3rd pass - not much changes and nothing changes really after 5 passes at all except in the most minute amounts ..
even after 2 passes (which is really three) is there in truth much diff. on dvd type bitrates ...