2-pass or not 2-pass? that is the question...

[dizidave]

Has anyone done any real testing on 2-pass VBR in TMPGEnc?

Can anyone say for definate that 2-pass produces significantly better output than 1-pass?

I know it should/does in theory. Can anyone confirm actuals?

[SatStorm]

What you mean "one pass" with TMPGenc?
If you mean CBR, then the aswer is 2PASS and CBR are equal if you set the maximum and average of 2 Pass in the value you set to CBR
If you mean CQ_VBR, then no. CQ_VBR is better 2 Pass VBR.
BUT (and there is always a "but"), 2 Pass quality can be equal to CQ_VBR with smaller lenght files , if you know how to set TMPGenc.

Generly, you don't use 2 PASS VBR for total quality. You use it for smaller files with the better possible quality.
If you want total quality, go CBR (or CQ_VBR), but this gonna make the files bigger in lengh.

Personaly, I made 2 PASS VBR mpegs, equal to CQ_VBR mpegs with much more bitrate. I never mess up with CBR, it is a waste of MB

[Truman]

It is very hard to compare TMPG's VBR 2pass to VBR_CQ, because in VBR_CQ mode you don't have control over the average bitrate.
It is simply not true, that one is better than the other. It depends on the bitrate resp. Q settings.

[plg-tae]

um cq vbr is basically 1 pass vbr...quit fooling yourself into thinking 1 pass is better than 2 and just do it...of course 2 pass is better...better yet....get cce and do 5 pass....lazy lazy....

[dizidave]

does lazy really come into it?

anyway...

ive only just got CCE working properly but its still not what i want....hopefully with the info ive got today i can finally get the output.....then i can see what multipass is like.

[Truman]

um cq vbr is basically 1 pass vbr...quit fooling yourself into thinking 1 pass is better than 2 and just do it...of course 2 pass is better...better yet....get cce and do 5 pass....lazy lazy....

Actually I don't like to echo myself.......
Use the same min and max bitrate (for example 0, 2500) for a VBR1pass encode and for a VBR2pass encode.
Do you think VBR 2pass avg bitrate=1500 will give you a better quality than VBR 1pass Q=90 ?
>>>see my post above.

[SatStorm]

@ plg-tae
if you give plenty of space to CQ_VBR (1 Pass VBR if you prefer to call it), then TMPGenc gives better quality than 2 Pass vbr. This is normal.
Let me express it better:
Let's say that a SVCD CBR at 2600 is the default file. CBR is the best possible quality you can go.

If we set 2 Pass VBR with Average and Maximum at 2600, we get CBR quality and only a bit smaller file
If we set CQ_VBR with Maximum 2600/100%, we get CBR quality and only a bit smaller file.

That because we force 2 Pass and CQ_VBR to act as CBR

If we set smart 2 Pass VBR, then we can get CBR's quality, in much smaller lenght.

If we set CQ_VBR with a miximum 2600/75 %, we get less than CBR quality, but the file is smaller.

Why then CQ_VBR is better for me? Because you can have a standard value for your encoding, and get acceptable file size. If you increase the bitrate higher (let say 3000/65%) then you get almost CBR Quality and still smaller file. That's fair for me and that make it better 2 Pass VBR.

2 Pass VBR is superior in one certain thing for sure: Scence changes...