Adobe Mainconcept Encoder

[michael28]

Hi,

I got a bit confused about the Mpeg Encoders. I already checked out the encoder tests here in this forum.
I might choose between ProCoder 2.0 and MainConcept.
As I am using Adobe Premiere and Encore so these Progs come with the MC Plugin. I have heart that the encoding quality of the Plugins vary form program to program and is different from the standalone version. Can this be possible???

And do you think it might be worth spending about 300 Euros extra for PC2.0 as I already have the MC-Plugins?

Thanks for your help!

All the best
Michael

[mpiper]

I have Premiere and Encore as well.

I got CinemaCraft's Basic encoder. It comes with a Premiere plug-in that works great. I prefer stand-alone encoding, but for custom videos, the Premiere plug-in provides better quality than the MC.

I tried the demo of Procoder and did not like it's look. CCE can be bad about mosquito noise, but careful setting of the Quantization to between 8 and 16 will eliminate the Mosquito noise at the slight expense of potential banding in solid color areas. The banding (visible borders instead of smooth gradients) was only (slightly) noticeable when paused, since 30 frames per second tends to blend the banding into a smooth color.

Hope this helps.
Mike

[lordsmurf]

CCE noise is bad on animation. Either noise or banding is easy to see.

MC is fine.

I prefer Procoder quality, but I do still use the MC a lot in Premiere.

Yes, the different MC flavors act different. The Adobe one I find is quite decent.

[michael28]

Thanks a lot for your comments, lordsmurf and mpiper!

I guess I will use the AP MC-Plugin then for a while and when it come to the point when have to do NTSC -> PAL conversions I have to buy Procoder 2.0 anyway and from then on use it for my Mpeg conversion.

All the best
Michael