Sony Vegas (MainConcept) vs. TMPGEnc

[tarrickb]

Hey guys...
Working with DV footage and was wondering what your opinions are about these two encoders. I don't really care about speed, just quality.
One thing I noticed...using both encoders default NTSC DVD templates, TMPGEnc outputted filesize half the size as Sony did!!!! (audio was set at the same bitrate).

Well...please let me know what you all think.
Thanks!

[edDV]

Default bitrates aren't any indicator of encoder quality. You need to set average bitrate to the length of your program. Use the bitrate calculator.

https://www.videohelp.com/calc

Next take a sample of the video you want to encode, and set both encoders to the same CBR or VBR (max, average, min) rate and then see which you like best.

Vegas NTSC default is what you tell Vegas it is. I think out of the box it was set to

720x480 29.97fps VBR, single pass, (8000/6000/192 Kb/s), 224 Kb/s audio.

Plug that into the calculator and you get 1 hr. 38 min to a single layer DVD.
Have fun comparing.


PS: For DV source and max quality you would choose the following for 1 hr.

CBR ~8225 Kb/s + 1.536 Kb/s for PCM audio, or
CBR ~9570 Kb/s + 224 Kb/s for compressed (MP2 or AC-3) audio

If going for 2 hours, I'd use

Two-pass VBR (8500/4850/192 Kb/s), 224 Kb/s audio.
Camcorder video will look best if you use a tripod and control your pans and zooms. If it is handheld shaky stuff, go back to 1hr CBR.