QUEnc or HCenc for PAL DV?

[Bugsy]

Yesterday I encoded a small DV (16:9) PAL clip with QUEnc (default QUEnc settings from an Avisynth script). First I made some transitions in Movie Maker (PAL AVI export), and later authored the DVD with GfD.

It all apparently looks fine, but during play (on my standalone) some parts of the video 'lags' a bit (usually a few seconds ahead of transitions, and parts with a lot of shaking), and the transitions are slightly choppy. I know transitions can be a challenge for any MPEG encoder, but I expected better results...

Is there a way to avoid the lagging and the choppiness during transitions?
Is HCenc better in any way for this kind of source? (They are both great encoders!)
Any do's and dont's for this kind of work?

Any suggestions?

Best regards

Bugsy

[guns1inger]

Transitions, especially cross fades, and scenes of high action need higher bitrate than static scenes. This is independent of encoder used. Your issues sound like classic bitrate starvation.

That said, I believe HCEnc is now a better encoder than QUEnc.

What bitrate settings did you use ? What running time do you have ?

[Bugsy]

Hi!

The default bitrate setting in QUEnc is 8000 (video) and default for audio (don't remember the bitrate). This should be inside max bitrate for the DVD spec... The clip is only about 8 min long...

Bugsy

[guns1inger]

It is well within the bitrate, and should be high enough for your transitions.

Next question - how do the encoded videos, or better yet, the compiled DVD, play from your HDD ?

[Bugsy]

I didn't notice any lag in VLC, but that doesn't mean they are not there... The transitions doesn't look as professional as I hoped for, but maybe not as choppy as on the standalone...

This might indicate a bitrate overflow... I'm not sure... As the clipe is only 8 min I did not see the point in reducing the bitrate...

I used several different transitions in MM, but even 'fade to black' is choppy... The original AVI is smooth in VLC...

I dont mind the choppiness of the transitions as much as the lagging, as I can understand them...

Bugsy

[guns1inger]

Try HCEnc and see if you have more luck.

[Bugsy]

PS! I tried burning the DVD a second time using NERO at 2x speed (on 16x media), but the lagging is at the same place on both copies. So I don't think there is something wrong with the DVD-disc...

Appreciate your response! And I hope you ignore my spelling mistakes as english is not my native language...

Bugsy

[Bugsy]

Any tips for settings in HCenc, or should I go for default settings?

Bugsy