New mpeg2 encoder - Mainconcept standalone - now out!

[DBR]

Mainconcept (www.mainconcept.com) has just come out with a standalone mpeg2 encoder, meant to compete I guess with TMPGenc, etc. Id love to hear any feedback about it -- e.g., does it do 2 pass vbr? And of course, how does it stack up vs tmpgenc (its supposed to be noticeably quicker; the question then is how much quality difference is there).

[sullen]

After I saw this I downloaded the demo and messed with a little.
1) It doesn't support frame serving from VDub upon setup, only native AVI files. If it does support it I didn't see how to make it work, I tried using the All Files option to load the frame serve file, but the program crashed on me
2) The demo instructions suck! It has VBR, but it doesn't explain what kind. I used VBR encoding, but it couldn't have been 2-pass because it just encoded without analyzing. Using their VBR set to my general VBR bitrate specs for TMPGEnc2450/2350/2200 it did a clip at 1.4 times real time.
3) The interface is not very good in my opinion. The preview window is on the side, sort of like DVD2AVI except the video is on the other side of the stats.

I really didn't mess with it much. I prefer TMPGEnc and have purchased the Plus so it is my main encoder.

[PhilipL]

Withdrawn