Question on best encoder for making VCDs

[jcikal]

What is the best program to encode files (whether they be avi, mpeg,mov, etc or whether they come from DV camcorders) into VCDs? I've tried TMPEG Encoder but on some files, it encodes with no sound at all

If anyone out there can help, it'll be most appreciated. BTW, money is no object as long as the program is below $1,000 (I do want to get into professional video production but want to start with VCDs while I get my feet wet into the field.)

Thanks for any information.

[laspis59]

MainConcept Encoder is lightning fast and has always produced reliable results for me,whether I encode to DVD or VCD formats.It costs $150.

[jimmalenko]

Question: What is the best ?

Answer:
The best for me is TMPGEnc Plus.
The best for laspis59 is MainConcept.
The best for adam is CCE.


The moral of the story:
The best for you is the one that gives you the results you're trying to achieve

More than likely if TMPGEnc does not encode the audio, then you probably have AC3 or VBR MP3 audio, or some other obscure format that it can't pick up. Try extracting to WAV using this guide then feed that WAV back as your audio source and I bet you'll have better results with TMPGEnc.

[mats.hogberg]

Just adding that TMPGEnc is considered one of (if not the) best mpeg1 encoder there is. "Best" as in highest quality. Perhaps not "best" as in "accept most source formats". Definately not "best" as in "fastest".
I think you have to understand what audio and video formats TMPGEnc supports (when it comes to audio, AC3 and VBR MP3 is not anything I'd let on to TMPGEnc).

/Mats

[jcikal]

Actually I was quite happy with TMPEG until I encountered this audio problem. No matter what I tried settings-wise, I would get the same results, No Audio.

Reading the previous posts, I assume that what I need to do is feed the entire video into a program like Goldwave (which I do have), save the audio portion as a WAV file, then encode with TMPEG using the original video source, along with the newly created WAV source and everything should work out fine.

My question in this regard is, if I edit portions of the video with the newly created WAV file, will TMPEG properly encode the audio from those portions I want, leaving out the ones I do not want? Is this a correct assumption?

Thanks for posting.

[mats.hogberg]

feed the entire video into a program like Goldwave (which I do have), save the audio portion as a WAV file, then encode with TMPEG using the original video source, along with the newly created WAV source

if I edit portions of the video with the newly created WAV file, will TMPEG properly encode the audio from those portions I want, leaving out the ones I do not want? Is this a correct assumption?

Not sure I follow you, but you should do all your source edits before you separate the audio from the video. If you separate audio and video, then edit the video, you will get strange effects when you encode with your unedited audio and edited video as source.

/Mats

[jcikal]

Well what I'm talking about is since TMPEG allows you to edit portions of the video you do not want/need, I was wondering if I input both the unedited video and unedited audio into TMPEG then tell the program what sections of the video I do not need, when it encodes the video/audio, will it edit both at the same time, or only the video portion? Example: Say I extract the audio from a 1 hour video, then I input both the full 1hour video and 1hour audio into TMPEG, then tell TMPEG that I only need 45 minutes of the full hour. When TMPEG encodes the 45 minutes, will the audio be off? or will the audio be synchronized to the 45 minutes I told TMPEG to edit?

Thanks for any info.

[jman98]

No one seriously considers CCE for anything but MPEG-2 encoding. Every test I've ever seen has shown it to be inferior to TMPGenc and a few other encoders with MPEG-1 video. TMPGenc is considered by most people to be the best for MPEG-1 encoding.

jcikal - you can't do what you are suggesting in your last post. You need to edit your video prior to giving it to TMPGenc. I can't speak for current versions of TMPGenc, but in the past, some people had serious audio sync problems when using TMPGenc to edit. Some did not. If you are one of the unlucky ones that does have this problem, you will need to use another editor. I suggest MPEG2VCR (http://www.womble.com), but there are others.

Finally, NEVER EVER use TMPGenc for anything but video encoding. Those who use it for audio encoding live to regret it.

[jimmalenko]

Finally, NEVER EVER use TMPGenc for anything but video encoding. Those who use it for audio encoding live to regret it.

... unless you configure Lame, Toolame and SSRC to do the audio part, then it's fine to do audio

[jcikal]

OK, what is the best program that I can use for editing the video before feeding it to TMPEG? And that includes not only editing the scenes I do not want, but also changing the audio to be TMPEG compliant.

[mats.hogberg]

First, you can use the "Source range" feature of TMPGEnc to encode just a part of the source (be it AVI for both a+v or separate audio and video sources).
To edit AVI, use VirtualDub. VirtualDub can also extract audio to wav (mostly - VBR MP3 is a problem with VirtualDub too, just as with TMPGEnc)

/Mats

[jcikal]

VirtualDub can also extract audio to wav (mostly - VBR MP3 is a problem with VirtualDub too, just as with TMPGEnc)

Aaargh!!! isn't there a program that can deal with VBR MP3 video files? What about if I encode with a program like Ulead's Video Studio? Is Adobe Premiere a good encoder program?

[mats.hogberg]

No, VBR mp3 is a pain. Some even say that those who use VBR MP3 in AVI should be severely punished, and that it's not standard compliant. However, it can be easily dealt with, by extracting to wav, as we've already discussed.
You could even reencode the audio back to CBR MP3, and remultiplex it back with the video to create a more easily handled AVI.
Keep in mind that most encoders are professional tools, expecting professional source material, not something a proud kid has ripped from a DVD and managed to encode to some kind of AVI and made available thru KaZaA so he can brag about what a c00l DVD pirate he is (not that your AVIs are of that kind, but just as a general principle).

/Mats

[iThinkYouBrokeIt]

Using VirtualDub to extract the audio to WAV, then feeding the original AVI as the video source, and the WAV as audio source, should work perfectly. I have done this several times and very rarely get problems.

Yes, using TMPGEnc's "source range" feature will work perfectly for removing scenes from the film. This works perfectly for encoding captured television broadcasts while removing commercials. The audio shouldn't be off sync. In most cases it won't be.

[jcikal]

This works perfectly for encoding captured television broadcasts while removing commercials

Ooooh, someone just read my mind.

Yes, the video I'm trying to put on a VCD is a TV program (Simpsons episodes from current season if you must know). Problem is when I did it with TMPEG I got no audio on the video. As I understand it then, as long as I extract the audio with Virtual Dub and feed it to TMPEG everything should work out fine. I'll give it a try tonight and see how it goes.

(The world awaits in suspense for the outcome...Tune in tomorrow, same time, same channel) 8)

[pbhalerao]

TMPGEnc is almost an uncrowned king in MPEG1 arena (and possibly MPEG2 as well).

[vitualis]

I personally think that TMPGEnc is a very good MPEG-1 encoder... and considering that it's free, you can't really ask for much more.

Regards.

[canadateck]

vitualis you are so right. I tell many this,(Dont want to spend money) get TMpgenc..

[jcikal]

(The world awaits in suspense for the outcome...Tune in tomorrow, same time, same channel)

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have been informed that due to circumstances beyond our control, the program scheduled for today has been postponed until tomorrow. As a replacement for today's program, please enjoy a full hour of the Lawrence Welk Show....

[ronnylov]

In my opinion Canopus Procoder gives slightly better VCD quality than TMPGEnc.

[lordsmurf]

Procoder

[dinkob]

I think we all favor one or the other for some reason.

I did like TMPGEnc but eventually I turned to CCE Basic.

After experimenting with the quality TMPGEnc will not look as "dusty", grainy as CCE would but watching CCE over TMPGEnc or some other encoders the picture quality with CCE just looks "full of life" and more natural.

True, however, TMPGEnc will likely give you better picture on an average source (better stability) but with good source I preffer CCE.

B.T.W do some testing yourself.

Play your movie several times on different monitors, TV, LCD. Then determine what to use.

[Nelson37]

Just to bring up one no one has mentioned, back when VCD were more popular and SVCD was fairly new, quite a few posters were touting the Philips VCD encoder as superior to TMPgenc, CCE, and just about everything else. IIRC there was general agreement it was the best.

[adam]

I didn't know Philips even had an encoder. I always thought that Panasonic mpeg1 encoder did the best job with VCD.

For the record, I've never liked CCE for VCD I just prefer it for most other things. If you use a low bitrate matrix its not bad but out of the box it is just too tweaked for high bitrate encoding. But I see no difference between its mpeg1 and mpeg2 output.

My suggestions in this order are:

1) Panasonic
2) TMPGenc
3) Procoder

[Nelson37]

Was it Panasonic? Maybe I was thinking about the philips authoring software?

I have made very few VCD, I just remember that many who did were saying this alternate encoder was better than any of those so far mentioned, and that it did MPG1 only.

At that time, I don't think Procorder was around yet.

[adam]

Yeah I'm pretty sure you meant Panasonic and I remember that thread too. It really was a fantastic mpeg1 encoder.

[Cornucopia]

The Philips authoring package contained an encoder called "PINK". FWIW, I could never get it to work reliably. Who knows if it encoded well...

I did alot of testing and comparisons a couple of years ago (so things may have changed), but TMPGEnc was way ahead at the time. I've never been dissatisfied since.

Scott

[FulciLives]

Do the GOLDWAVE trick of saving the audio to a PCM WAV audio file. Then use AviSynth and VirtualDubMod for editing.

For example ... let's say the AVI file is called, "MOVIE.AVI" and you name the PCM WAV audio file, "MOVIE.WAV"

Here is your AviSynth script:

vid=AviSource("C:\DOWNLOADS\MOVIE.AVI")
aud=WavSource(C:\DOWNLOADS\MOVIE.WAV")
AudioDub(vid,aud)

This is just an example. Notice my files are on the C: drive in a DIR FOLDER called DOWNLOADS.

Anyways you open the AviSynth file into VirtualDubMod and do your editing ... import into the AviSynth file ... then open the AviSynth file into TMPGEnc Plus.

Here is a guide I wrote that explains the editing part: CLICK HERE

In the end your AviSynth script file should look something like this:

vid=AviSource("C:\DOWNLOADS\MOVIE.AVI")
aud=WavSource(C:\DOWNLOADS\MOVIE.WAV")
AudioDub(vid,aud)
Trim(195,42620)

I hope that makes sense

- John "FulciLives" Coleman