What's the Best MPEG-2 Encoder? And other...

[Eshpo86]

Hi!
I need to convert some PAL DVD's to S-VCD. I need to know what's the maximum bitrate allowed by the SuperVCD standard. And then, what's the best Mpeg-2 encoder on the market? Cinema Craft Encoder 2.5 SP or the latest version of TMPGEnc? And then, what's the difference between the "Plus" version of TMPGEnc and the "standard" version? I have a registered version of CCE.

Thanks very much to all and... happy easter .
See you soon.
Daniele Esposito.

[Greg12]

Plus has some features standard doesn't.

Look up ur player for the max bitrate.

I believe SVCD only has one bitrate but XSVCD has many and u can use VBR to improve quality.

If u don't know, VBR scans each frame (up to 9 passes with CCE) and allocates the avalible bandwith best it can.

So a scene with ppl talking might get 500kps while a scene with someone fighting might get 2 mgs

[Chemcat]

Most people opt for CCE over TMPGenc for SVCD if they have a choice, it gives extremely good results and usually quicker than TMPGenc for the same quality. The SVCD spec for maximun bitrate for video + audio is 2748 bps. Since you have CCE 2.5 you should try DVD2SVCD for DVD rips, it automates the entire process from ripping the vobs to creating images ready for burning. It uses the best programs there are for SVCD creation: Vstrip, Smartripper,DVD2AVI,BeSweet(using Azid and tooLame for the audio), vobsub for subtitles, bbMPEG for muxing and cutting, and VCDImager or VCDXbuild for imaging. You can get it and a great guide for using it at http://www.doom9.org.

[poopyhead]

Most people opt for CCE over TMPGenc for SVCD if they have a choice,

not sure about that....you may wanna do a poll, i personally use tmpgenc because 1) it's freeware 2) it has more features 3) CCE may be faster, but it also hogs more CPU power, so you won't be able to do anything else on your comp while you're using CCE

while both encoders have their good and bad points, i'm more used to tmpgenc...

[MOVIEGEEK]

I'm with you poopyhead,I vote for TMPGEnc.

[SatStorm]

CCE is faster and the quality is the best on standard SVCD bitrates (~2600). The quality also is the best possible for DVD (full CCIR - 601) creation.
TMPGEnc is overall better. It is very flexible and have extra features. The produced picture quality is about 90% of CCE and with low bitrates, it produce better results than CCE. It is ideal for XSVCD creation for example.
Also, with CCE you need always a frameserver and most users use other programs for the audio and the multiplexxing.

[Chemcat]

CCE may be faster, but it also hogs more CPU power, so you won't be able to do anything else on your comp while you're using CCE

I've found just the opposite, I use CCE with idle process, don't even notice it's running. I download, surf, etc while it's running, but usually I just let it encode over night while I sleep. It does pay to have a fast processor though and lots of ram.

Also, with CCE you need always a frameserver and most users use other programs for the audio and the multiplexxing.

That's why i use DVD2SVCD, it automates all the processess + you have all the great filters, resizers, and IVTC solutions available for Avisynth and the program automatically selects them for you based on the d2v file DVD2AVI creates. You can edit the .avs file if you want. I do use TMPGenc too, but not much for DVD rips and when I do I still don't use TMPGenc for the audio, I use tooLame.

[SatStorm]

Yeh, dvd2svcd is a very good program (or is better say fronter?)
CCE is better and faster for SVCD and DVD
But again, for xSVCD like Sefy's SxVCD (or mine, LP SVCD, very similar), which suprisely is much more compatible than I expected (almost 75% of the players I tried it deal with that "format" with no problem! Amazing for an -X- media...), TMPGenc is better.
Also, there are users creating CVD or D2/DVD files. I thing that for 352 X 576 and an average bitrate of 1900, TMPGenc is better! (new 2 pass fuction)
Finally, let me mention (once again) something most users here don't even know, but it is the future:
DVB /s -c -t: Digital video Broadcasts, satellite/cable/terrestial.
There are pure mpeg2, there looks like DVD - Video, but they have plenty of resolutions and other secondary differencess.
It is possible to simply a DVB transmission on DVD-Rs as it is, using programs live DVD patcher, but you can dramaticaly increase the compatibility and low the file size, if you re - encode them to CVD or D2 DVD (352 X 576 (480) with an average bitrate of 1900. There, comes something you can't do with CCE...
Batch encoding...
Imagine: I grabb 8 hours of a music channel from satellite. That is about 11GB! Then, I choose what I want to keep and I can choose: Keep them as there are, in BQ quality or re-encode them to xSVCD or CVD and increase the compatibility/time per disk.
That can be done easy only with the compination of DVD2AVI and TMPGenc only.

DVD2SVCD boost CCE to its limits. It is amazing for DVD backup. But encoding is not only DVD backup.
The future is DVB. No DVD, no Asf, not even Divx.. It is DVB! Try to understand that as soon as possible and prepare for it!

[deltaboy]

I've found just the opposite, I use CCE with idle process, don't even notice it's running. I download, surf, etc while it's running, but usually I just let it encode over night while I sleep. It does pay to have a fast processor though and lots of ram.

hey CHEMCAT... i was wondering how you switch CCE to idle process. i have a dual PIII 866 / 512 RAM and i still find it to be a resource leecher.

any help would be great. THX!

[Chemcat]

There is a drop down selection box for process priority in the Misc. tab of DVD2SVCD. If you weren't using DVD2SVCD and you had Win2k or XP you could do probably do this from the process tab of the task manager. Highlight the program, right click , select process priorty and click low.

[poopyhead]

Chemcat, i'm guessing lower priority takes longer time to encode right?

all i'm saying is highest priority for tmpgenc vs. CCE would favor tmpgenc in less CPU usage

[Chemcat]

@poopyhead It doesn't seem to take much longer, but then again I'm not doing very much that's cpu intensive while I encode. I surf the web, but I don't play games or download while CCE is running.

@SatStorm.. I'm sure you're right that there are better methods than CCE for DV and DVB, I'm not very knowledgable on those at all and wouldn't presume to question your expertise. I do mostly DVD rips at this time to SVCD because that is what my Pioneer DV-343 plays.. It doesn't like to play above 2600 kbps so XVCDs are pretty much out for me. I'm just saying after experimenting quite a bit with both TMPGenc and CCE I like CCE better. With my classic slot A Athlon 700mhz and 384 CL2 133mhz ram I usually encode movies with a speed of .89 realtime per pass. A 100 minute movie using CCE 4 pass usually takes about 10 hours from start to finish.. ripping, audio conversion, encoding, muxing and cutting, creating chapters and making images. I just put the DVD in the DVD-Rom before I go to bed,open SVCD2DVD and hit go. It's done in the morning.

There are some very exciting encoding and storage technologies looming on the horizon that might this whole discussion moot in a couple of years,