pro encoder? what do studios use?

[lexor]

I'm just wondering what do (or will) studios use to encoder h264 video for their next high def discs?

googleing around for "pro h264" (and variants of it) gives mostly mainconcept, ateme, VSS, etc. those all seem to be consumer encoders (I include small, few people, studios in consumer category) what do heavy waights of the industry use?

[acidsex]

From what I have heard, Sonic Scenarist HD will be used by the major Hollywood studios and post-production houses.

[Doom9]

well.. ateme doesn't sell their encoder to end users, and they have their own hardware platform. But looking at the results in the MPEG-2 area, where the encoders we use (some are even free) yield results just as good and sometimes better than DVDs you can buy in store, I'd say it doesn't really matter.

[lexor]

well.. ateme doesn't sell their encoder to end users, and they have their own hardware platform. But looking at the results in the MPEG-2 area, where the encoders we use (some are even free) yield results just as good and sometimes better than DVDs you can buy in store, I'd say it doesn't really matter.
yeah, but it's not like I want to buy things :) I'm just curious as to what they use.

[giandrea]

I think there is an H264 encoder included in the last version of Apple's Final Cut Pro HD, I think it's based on the QuickTime codec. But I'm not sure.

[foxyshadis]

From what I have heard, Sonic Scenarist HD will be used by the major Hollywood studios and post-production houses.
Makes sense, most studios use Scenarist or FCP now, so it's not a big upgrade. Studios don't really care about encoder quality as long as it's acceptable and acceptably fast; engineers might but the package is more important. They want encoding integrated into an editing suite that can create & program menus, mix sound, overlay encryption and all those other DRM things.

Of course smaller studios can just pick up a copy of Premier or FCE, DVDit or Pegasys, and encode with whatever application suits them. One of my friends who worked on an indie film went that route.

Aside, what on earth happened to sonic's site? :(

[bond]

well.. ateme doesn't sell their encoder to end users, and they have their own hardware platform.not true anymore, they do sell their codec to end users now:
http://www.ateme.com/products/pcencoder.php

there is no price shown anywhere, afaik it targets "pro users" only

[Doom9]

uhh.. the contact us for more details generally means not publicly available.