Update HCenc and DGDecode

[mtobc]

In the free version, would it be okay if I updated HCenc and DGDecode to the latest versions. Or would this just do more harm than good. Would I then be able to use the latest features of HCenc by specifying the settings in HC.ini?

Thanks.

[steptoe]

DCDecode is best left alone as its usually tried and tested to work with one specific release, the later ones may 'break' things

HCEnc should be okay to update, the latest is a beta 0.24 that doesn't really add much in the way of functionaility, but I was using 0.23 long before it was officially upgraded from 0.22

Give it a try, its really a case of just replacing the files with the updated ones, but make sure if you are replacing them that the files names are exactly the same as the old ones, or you will get an error as the software is looking for those specific files

[manolito]

DCDecode is best left alone as its usually tried and tested to work with one specific release, the later ones may 'break' things

Using later versions of DGDecode with DVD-RB free certainly WILL break things!

JDobbs does not use DGIndex, DVD-RB does the indexing all by itself. And for the free version the format of the D2V file is only compatible to DGDecode.dll version 1.1.0.

The only alternative you have is to use the modded version of DGIndex by NaN. Have a look here: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=766018#post766018


For HC the situation is different. The free version of DVD-RB knows nothing about HC, it just issues QuEnc command line parameters to the HC encoder. Luckily HC is nice enough to just ignore parameters it does not recognize, so all the HC settings you specify in HC.ini will be honored.

This means that you can specify a custom matrix, you can even use the new 1-pass mode of the latest HC beta. I like this behavior much better than the DVD-RB pro version. In the pro version DVD-RB always creates a new HC.ini file from the settings you specify inside DVD-RB. Your original HC.ini file will be ignored. Whenever a new HC version with new features comes out, you will have to wait for a new DVD-RB version to be able to use these new features.


Cheers
manolito

[sldvd]

I just installed DVD Rebuilder Free, and was wondering if I could update HC Enc and DGDecode. Glad I found this thread!

So to update HC Enc, I just need to rename the HCenc_023.exe to HCbatch.exe and replace the file in the appropriate DVD-RB dir. There is also a different HC.ini for version 0.23 than the HC.ini that comes with DVD-RB Free.

HC.ini version 0.23
*BITRATE 4000
*AUTOGOP 15
*AQ 1
*MATRIX mpeg

HC.ini included with DVD-RB Free
*BIAS 20

Should I replace the HC.ini with the 0.23 version, or just keep the original one?

[manolito]

You should modify HC.ini depending on your needs (and taste) and also on source characteristics. Take the time to study the HC manual in order to understand the meaning of all the settings.

If you are not up to this you could also delete HC.ini altogether. The necessary parameters will be passed to HC through the command line, and for everything else HC comes with very good defaults.

Cheers
manolito

[sldvd]

OK I looked at the PDF manual, and yeah, a lot of that stuff is over my head. But can you or anyone answer a couple of questions that I have:

One of the HC.ini files sets BITRATE to 4000. Is BITRATE one of the parameters that DVD-RB will pass in from the command line? If so, then I will just remove BITRATE from the HC.ini file.

And that HC.ini file also sets AQ to 1. The manual says AQ does not have a default value, so I wonder if I should keep it set to 1? Or should I remove it? I believe that AQ was added after the DVD-RB Free version that I am using, so I don't believe DVD-RB will be passing that one in from the command line.

[hank315]

One of the HC.ini files sets BITRATE to 4000. Is BITRATE one of the parameters that DVD-RB will pass in from the command line? If so, then I will just remove BITRATE from the HC.ini file.
The bitrate is passed by DVD-RB.

And that HC.ini file also sets AQ to 1. The manual says AQ does not have a default value, so I wonder if I should keep it set to 1? Or should I remove it? I believe that AQ was added after the DVD-RB Free version that I am using, so I don't believe DVD-RB will be passing that one in from the command line.
The latest HCenc releases use AQ=2 as default.