Which TMPGenc is the best/to get?

[kreg]

Well, I just use 12a to make all my SVCD's. I've used regualr 12 too, but i'm not sure I can claim one being better then the other. I just figure 12a is better then 12, cuz it's newer and likey fixed a bug or two.

Kreg

[AP Enterprises Ltd]

Uhh....

What about 12h?

[Braindrain]

I've tried 12h and the MPG2 is visibly improved. As to whether it's better than the early versions (12, 12a), I haven't made that comparison yet.

[JJamez]

I did a few tests the other day, so I might as well post my findings...

Using a random movie trailer about 1:30 long, 2pass VBR (AVG 2000), SVCD specs, blah, blah, blah. Done on a Duron 800, 256MB RAM, etc..

TMPG Version Encode time File size
----------------------------------------------
12BETA 14:16 14.4MB
12A 15:45 17.7MB
12E 12:30 17.2MB
12H 12:16 17.2MB

Using 12h as the 'standard' since its the latest release, 12BETA is 17% slower, which adds about 10 minutes to every hour of encoding - but the file sizes are 16% smaller, giving you roughly 125MB more per 80 min CD-R - not too shabby. And although it wasn't a huge difference, to my eyes 12BETA gave superior quality. 12A, 12E, and 12H were roughly the same - similar in quality and file size, although E and H are obviously faster - 12A was almost 30% slower than 12H for whatever reason. I don't imagine these results hold true for every encode, but they give a rough idea.

Now I need to go and get myself a life... lol...

JJ