Difference between CCE VBR 2, 3, 4 pass

[The Dead Poet]

Hi there!

I always used the VBR in CCE with four passes!

What exactly should be different if I'd choose two or three passes? Is there a lesser quality but an enhanced speed? Or is there only a merely different quality?

Just from the technical side I don't get why it should use 4 passes, normally 2 passes would be okay for a VBR - the first pass to determine where the "peaks" are and the second to encode it - at least this is how I learned VBR at the university ;-)

[markrb]

Chances are that you will notice a slight difference with 2 pass, but unlikely you will see much if any difference with 3 pass.

Well yes you are sort of right on the way VBR works. On more passes it is able to be a little more critical on it's choices of alocating bits.

Also consider that this is not theoretical, but actual. Theoritically 2 pass VBR should be perfect, but in actuality it is better to use a larger number of passes.

I use 5 pass only becuase my machine is fast enough that to me it makes no difference. I do encoding while I sleep and it's usually done when I wake up no matter if I use 3 or 5 passes.

Mark

[mrbass]

I use to do 2 pass VBR on a P450 for a movie with almost no action scenes. For action flicks I'd wait the 30 hours or whatever it took for 3 pass. Now since I have access to faster computers I do a 4 pass. 2pass to 3 pass you will notice a difference. 3 or 4 pass is much harder to tell any difference with the human eye. Besides in the CCE manual (look at the Advanced Reference) it says 3 and 4 pass it reaches it's quality...oh hell too lazy to look it up right now.