Best Theora encoder?

[joeljkp]

I know of the following Theora encoders for Windows and Linux:

encoder_example (http://theora.org/files/)
ffdshow (http://ffdshow.sourceforge.net)
illiminable (http://www.illiminable.com/ogg/)
Helix Producer (http://xiph.helixcommunity.org)
VLC (http://videolan.org)
GStreamer (http://gstreamer.net)
ffmpeg2theora (http://www.v2v.cc/~j/ffmpeg2theora/)

I've never seen any discussion of which is the best, though. I realize Theora is a young codec, but which encoder produces the highest quality output at the moment? I'm encoding small downloadable clips (640x480 max.).

On a similar note, if I want to encode things that are free-as-in-Theora (i.e. not XviD), should I just go with VP3 until Theora matures a tad?

[Latexxx]

All Theora encoders use same libraries (could be different versions though) to encode except ffmpeg2theora which uses an mmx optimised version. So there should be no major quality differencies. For the sake of usability I would choose either ffmpeg2theora or helix producer.

[bond]

as written in my sticky there are currently three different theora encoders existing (one for hardware)

Latexxx is right

if you compile the latest ffmpeg2theora or ffdshow yourself (existing binaries dont include that) you will get more encoding options (sharpness, aso...)

[joeljkp]

Interesting, I'll attempt the CVS builds.

Perhaps what I'm looking for here is some discussion about how people are doing Theora encoding. What options, settings, tools, etc. I'm rather new to this in general, so I'm looking for some insight.

Also, VP3? Not worth it?

Meanwhile, I'll keep lurking around...

Thanks for the help.

[CQ]

I'm using VP3 with vorbis sound in a OGM container (2 soundtracks, 2 subtitles) and I'm very happy :D . No $ to pay, high quality for the clients :D . Use VP3 until Theora will worth. There are no major diferences between them and... use VP3! :)

[savage747]

Originally posted by joeljkp

Also, VP3? Not worth it?


There´s no reason to use VP3. Go for Theora instead - it´s stable and actually fixes some bugs present in VP3.

(edit: well, you may have to stick with VP3 if your favorite encoding app doesn´t support Theora)

[savage747]

Originally posted by CQ
I'm using VP3 with vorbis sound in a OGM container (2 soundtracks, 2 subtitles) and I'm very happy :D . No $ to pay, high quality for the clients :D . Use VP3 until Theora will worth. There are no major diferences between them and... use VP3! :)

Well, nothing wrong with that (although some VP3 glitches are fixed in Theora). In case you didn´t know: You can losslessy transcode your files to Theora using a special tool shipping with libtheora - it´s not vapourware and actually works.

[CQ]

What do you mean? Lossless? And why should I?

And, hehehe, try doing theora in vdub without headakes. For me worked once (i don't remember what ffdshow build i used).

[savage747]

Originally posted by CQ
What do you mean? Lossless? And why should I?

And, hehehe, try doing theora in vdub without headakes. For me worked once (i don't remember what ffdshow build i used).

Well, OGM is deprecated and VP3 won´t be developed anymore AFAIK. I don´t know e.g. if it will work with Longhorn etc.

If you convert your files to Theora (which - obviously - can be done in several years as well and will be lossless) you may have better chances to get your files played without problems.

Lossless transcoding from VP3 to Theora is possible because Theora is a superset of VP3 (every feature of VP3 is present in Theora - and much more). There´s a tool that takes VP3 data, adds Theora headers and muxes it into Ogg.

If you´re content with VP3 today there is no need to convert, though (it won´t save space or so).

edit: just recognized that your OGM files have subtitles - don´t know what will happen to them if you convert. In your special case converting seems to be a bad idea at the time being, so just ignore me :)

[bond]

theora in .ogg has the advantage that its playable on all big players (including realplayer), only excluding quicktime, compared to vp3 imho

Originally posted by joeljkp
Perhaps what I'm looking for here is some discussion about how people are doing Theora encoding. What options, settings, tools, etc. I'm rather new to this in general, so I'm looking for some insighti think all tools will give about the same quality atm, therefore its only a matter of taste which one you use
eg if you like cmdl you might want to use ffmpeg2theora
if you prefer a nice gui encode with sirbers realanime 2.25 aso...