CCE SP2 number of VBR passes

[DRP]

When using CCE SP2 v1.00.01.02 what happens when you insert 3 for the number of VBR passes? I've read that you always get one more pass that what you enter with CCE. So entering 3 actually means in reality the program makes 4 passes, and 2 gets you 3 etc.

I've read that there is a significant law of diminishing returns in effect with the number of passes CCE makes and that there really isn't any point in going beyond 3. That being the case, what is the correct number to enter in the program dialog? 2 or 3?

[redwudz]

The first pass is usually just to gather compression data for the next 'real' passes. I used 5 passes when I used CCE to encode SVCDs, but 3 actual passes should be more than enough. Probably depends on the quality of your source media and how much compression you are using.

You could always make up a short representative clip of 5 - 10 minutes and experiment with different numbers of passes. That won't take too long.