LSX Encoder is rated #1, TMPG #2, and Panasonic #3

[Blacklotus]

This is a very interesting comparsion which seems to update(?) the comments on this website regarding the comparative performance of encoders. Personally, I find that Tmpgenc had the sharpest picture, but the LSX was very quick for comparable picture. I like panasonic, but it crapz out on errors all the time with "illegal floating point yadda yadda". Im not sure what to think - I though tmpg was the best before, but now, i dont know what the hell to think! BTW i tried all 3 of them. And, of course we are talking VCD/MPG-1 format as panasonic only does that.

LSX is numero uno - TMPGenc is good - and Panasonic bleeds colour. Very interesting (and many more are reviewed and compared): I want to hear (errr read) what u think!

http://members.nbci.com/ksong1222/mpegenc.htm

[aldus4]

Very interesting test indeed and the author has tried to be as objective as possible. However all these programs have so many "extras" and settings that a true 100% objective test is impossible. Personally I have encoded DVD's via Smartripper, DVD2AVI and Panasonic MPEG Encoder and also tried the same thing with TMPGEnc. Result was that the VCD made (PAL) was much better with the Panasonic than TMPGEnc Encoder. I have tried TMPGEnc 12f and 12, but I did find the overall quality was better with the Panasonic. Far more important was, that various players wouldn't play the VCD made under TMPGEnc and only allowed the VCD made by my Panasonic encoder. The test from this website was done with an avi source file and not an mpeg2 (VOB), perhaps there the results would have been different - I don't know, but defintely an interesting read.

[disturbed1]

I agree with aldus4, PWI is a far better encoder than TMPGenc. TMPGenc just exhibits way too many problems to be compatible with standards. Everything from it's bit allocation (How can an I frame have 0 data?), broken VBR, put max bitrate @ 2376 and end up with an average of 2700 peaking above 3000!? It doesn't put time codes on the GOP either. And we all know about the audio.

I've been getting great results with BBmpeg and AviSynth here lately. Before AviSynth fps was 3-4, now using Avisynth my fps jumped to 12. I haven't come across any complaincy issues either. Image quality is pretty good too, after some tweaking

[vitualis]

In my experience for VCD standard MPEG-1 from a perfect source (i.e., DVD rip):

Both TMPGEnc are the Panasonic MPEG encoder are very good in terms of visual quality. I personally think that PWI is better (on standard settings -- i.e., no change from default) over TMPGEnc (on default settings -- high quality). However, many people will swear by TMPGEnc. I think that this has to do with different people's "perception" on what looks "better".

PWI has softer, smoother video with probably the least amount of blocking of any encoder (note: default settings -- once you start using filters, there can be less blocking but this is at the price of loss of detail).

TMPGEnc is sharper, but results in blockier video (note my comment on filters from above). TMPGEnc is definitely faster though...

However, in terms of the audio encoding, PWI has definitely better quality to TMPGEnc. Although TMPGEnc can use the toolame plug-in (with very good results), this is not a perfect system (perhaps I'm wrong but I don't think this works with frameserving from FlaskMPEG).

TMPGEnc, however, is much more configuarable and if you want to add in filters and adjust bitrates, it is much better than PWI. Furthermore, it has MPEG-2 encoding as well as a variety of additional MPEG tools. Furthermore, it is freeware.

PWI has the advantage of coming as an Adobe Premiere plug-in though -- which is absolutely fantastic if you work with Premiere or use FlaskMPEG.

The Ligos stnad-alone encoder is actually quite good. It is fast and very configurable. The quality is quite good also, but not at the same level as TMPGEnc or PWI, IMHO. The Adobe Premiere plug-in version of the LSX is surprising much worse than the stand-alone version.

Regards.