ProCoder settings

[BlkPnthr]

Is there anything I should know about using ProCoder 2 (latest ver. as of today's date) before using it with DVD-RB? I typically use CCE however, am exploring new ways and felt this was one way to go. I'd like to hear some constructive tips on how to make my first ProCoder encode go smoothly. I feel that I have set it up properly in the DVD-RB Pro v1.03.


Would appreciate some feedback.

:thanks:

[wmansir]

Just use EclPro and it should take care of all the settings.

[DK]

set it to mastering quality is what i'd suggest

[BlkPnthr]

Thanks gents. Will give it a go and see how it turns out. I'm nervous and excited.....is that possible????..

Cheers

[Rockas]

I'm nervous and excited.....
Isn't this a little dangerour from someone that is located at: Land of Ice, Beer, French Women and Hockey !! :D :D :D :D

edit: forgot the laughing lol

[DK]

if you give procoder a good amount of data to chew on (i.e. lower overall bitrates) it'll provide better quality than anything elso imho

[BlkPnthr]

Isn't this a little dangerour from someone that is located at: Land of Ice, Beer, French Women and Hockey !! :D :D :D :D

edit: forgot the laughing lol


Ma-be but, we'll see what happens...;)

[BlkPnthr]

if you give procoder a good amount of data to chew on (i.e. lower overall bitrates) it'll provide better quality than anything elso imho


Am interested from other parties to see how long ProCoder should take using Mastering Quality as, I have completed 3 movies....5-pass using CCE with average-to better then average bitrate's and in the same amount of time that ProCoder is taking to do one. Is this normal? How much difference is there between all the different quality settings using DVD-RB + ProCoder 2?

Just seems to take forever and not sure if it's really THAT worth it as, I've been a CCE kind of guy for ages...just thought to try something different however, if the gain is minimal, then not going to bother with an encode that takes 4-6 hours longer then CCE with little to next to no gain.

Thanks everybody for your input. Just trying for quality here. Apologize now for being picky.

Cheers... :thanks:

[DK]

procoder takes longer that's for sure but to be honest the question *is it worth it* is hard to answer

my answer is YES, it is worth it as i found procoder to produce way less macroblocks when dealing with lower bitrates and thus my results were better and time isnt an issue for me when it comes to better quality

if you're dealing with a slower cpu and a title that has high bitrate it may not be worth your time, i'm using procoder most of the time though

[BlkPnthr]

procoder takes longer that's for sure but to be honest the question *is it worth it* is hard to answer

my answer is YES, it is worth it as i found procoder to produce way less macroblocks when dealing with lower bitrates and thus my results were better and time isnt an issue for me when it comes to better quality

if you're dealing with a slower cpu and a title that has high bitrate it may not be worth your time, i'm using procoder most of the time though



Macroblocks is a new term for me. Is it rather simplistic to define? Time isn't really an issue either...I mean..within reason. I'm running with a 3.2 P4 w/2 Gig RAM and process everything off of three (3) seperate HDD's (i.e. the source on one HDD, processed on another and final encoding end's on a different one). Not sure if this is an acceptable practice however, I was told that if you have a rather large HDD and don't fill it too much, you'll get optimum speed from it. I might add, I also defrag (Diskkeeper V9.0 Pro - latest ver.) during the night when there is less activity.

DK: what is your longest encode? Is there really a large difference between the different encoding options? Are you "up" on the amount of passes in comparison to CCE? For example, is "Mastering Qualty" = 8-pass CCE (or something close to that).

Appreciate your feedback.

Cheers

[Boulder]

You don't need gazillion passes with CCE. Most of the time (if not all the time) a 2-pass encode (VAF+1 pass) is enough.

[BlkPnthr]

You don't need gazillion passes with CCE. Most of the time (if not all the time) a 2-pass encode (VAF+1 pass) is enough.


Well, I don't see "8" as being a gazillion but, I typically do at least 5-pass (1+4) when doing anything over 5.5 Gig however, when doing something 7+Gig, I'd be hard-pressed to beleive that 2-pass would be enough.

With all due respect, doesn't really answer the question. (i.e. differences between the different ProCoder levels).

[Rippraff]

Okay, here's an example of a movie, which I've running last night:
Batch Job #1 finished in 00178 minutes.
CCE SP 2.70.2.1, 3-Pass VBR (1xvaf, 3-Passes)
---
Batch Job #2 finished in 00144 minutes.
Procoder 2, mastering quality
Both on an AMD XP-M 2500+@3800+

Cu Rippraff

[BlkPnthr]

Okay, here's an example of a movie, which I've running last night:

Both on an AMD XP-M 2500+@3800+

Cu Rippraff


Pretty impressive numbers. I get the CCE timings (as I've gotten them before) however, I just tried to do a ProCoder encoder on a 6.2 Gig source and it was pushing 6 hours and just over half done (using Mastering Quality). I can only presume that I have it set up right as, it wouldn't work otherwise. Using DVD-RB, once set up, pretty much fool-proof.


Looking at my DVD-RB log, for some odd reason, my number's are much higher using the same setup as you.

I did a batch job with 3 DVD's, all approx in size. Using the same setup as you for CCE (1 VAF - 3-pass)



Batch Job #1 finished in 00282 minutes.

Batch Job #2 finished in 00327 minutes.

Batch Job #3 finished in 00242 minutes.

Not sure how to explain it. I'm running a 3.2 Gig P4, w/2 Gig RAM. No other processes running in the background. Am running with DVD-RB v1.04 Pro and CCE v2.70.02.01. Not sure what else I can tell you.

For the same DVD that I tried ProCoder2 on (6+ hours), this is the time for that encode (not batch job)


PREPARE/ENCODE/REBUILD completed in 146 min.

Can't explain it but, those are the numbers.

[Rippraff]

@BlkPnthr

Sorry, I have to clarify myself.
Seems to me I have to get familiar with this new options window, I've made a mistake in settings there.
Instead of Disable Interlace apply to all I've marked Set Half-D1 apply to all. :o

So I rerun the encodes last night, here are the results with correct settings:
Batch Job #1 finished in 00229 minutes.
- HIGH/LOW/TYPICAL Bitrates: 4.286/600/3.408 Kbs
CCE SP 2.70.2.1, 3-Pass VBR (1xvaf, 3-Passes)
--------
Batch Job #2 finished in 00234 minutes.
- HIGH/LOW/TYPICAL Bitrates: 4.286/600/3.408 Kbs
Procoder 2, mastering quality

By the way IMHO the original size isn't that meaningful. It doesn't say anything of included audio streams, say DTS or even worse LPCM, which you probably uncheck in your rebuilds.
I think numbers of frames to be processed is a better choice to compare encoding speeds.
Example above: 205,228 frames or ~137 min (as I live in PAL country).

Cu Rippraff

[BlkPnthr]

@BlkPnthr

Sorry, I have to clarify myself.
Seems to me I have to get familiar with this new options window, I've made a mistake in settings there.
Instead of Disable Interlace apply to all I've marked Set Half-D1 apply to all. :o

So I rerun the encodes last night, here are the results with correct settings:


By the way IMHO the original size isn't that meaningful. It doesn't say anything of included audio streams, say DTS or even worse LPCM, which you probably uncheck in your rebuilds.
I think numbers of frames to be processed is a better choice to compare encoding speeds.
Example above: 205,228 frames or ~137 min (as I live in PAL country).

Cu Rippraff


I appreciate that you clarified your settings. It appears to me (as to anyone else that will read this) that the timings are pretty close. Nice to see that. When I have the choice, I strip all audio (except for DD51 or DTS - those are the tracks I prefer). Not sure about the "Disable interlace". Would have to get back to you on that one.

[Rippraff]

Not sure about the "Disable interlace". Would have to get back to you on that one.
Forget about this, this is one of my little quirks. ;)

And your right, speed's nearly the same. But normaly I just make a 2-Pass CCE encode (3-Pass only for long and/or difficult movies) and compare to this CCE is a bit faster.

Cu Rippraff

[BlkPnthr]

Can anyone simply explain macroblocks to me? Is that the same as pixelation? (sp??)

Thx again.