MPEG-2 Encoder Recommendation

[DavidGeorge]

Hi,

I need to get some software to MPEG-2 compress a load of MJPEG files from a digital camera (640x480 @ 30fps).

Can anyone recommend something? (freeware or low-cost commercial). And what bit rate should I use to avoid loss of quality?

Thanks

DG

[smok3]

check hcenc, it has *CQ mode, which i personally use all the time.
http://hank315.nl/

example *.ini:
*MAXBITRATE 8000
*ASPECT 16:9
*CQ_MAXBITRATE 4.000
*PREVIEW
*MATRIX mpeg
*PROGRESSIVE

[DavidGeorge]

Thanks, I'll have a look at that. I'll need to put the aspect as 4:3. What's the significance of the *CQ mode?

[Richard1485]

CQ is constant quantization. You can set the quality that you want and the encoder will perform a one-pass encoding, but the output file size is unpredictable. HCenc also has a two-pass VBR mode that is very good, if you do need to hit a certain file size e.g. for compressing to a DVD-5.

[smok3]

Constant quantization with bitrate limit, better explanation should be in the manual, hcenc comes with a short and nice pdf.

[czerro]

Hi,

I need to get some software to MPEG-2 compress a load of MJPEG files from a digital camera (640x480 @ 30fps).

Can anyone recommend something? (freeware or low-cost commercial). And what bit rate should I use to avoid loss of quality?

Thanks

DG

ProCoder 3 is hands down the best. The juvenile interface is a little off putting, but it really has the best Adaptive matrix of any encoder out there. It is quite expensive. I strictly use it for video encoding and can say nothing of it's audio capabilities which I leave to dedicated programs (foobar and Audacity).

A close second is HCenc which is entirely free to use and really shines at higher bitrates and stricter matrices.

There are a lot of tricks involved in getting a 'best' encode out of any encoder though. Don't expect any 1-click options for re-encoding. DGPulldown is your best friend, as is AVIsynth.

Using AVIsynth you should be able to get a good video encode through any encoder, HCenc is best freeware and ProCoder 3 is best non-free from my experience.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Another vote for HC... if you had a lot of content and wanted to do this professionally, I'd suggest Rhozet Carbon Coder and/or Telestream Flip Factory... but that's out of scope :)

[Lyris]

A vote for Cinema Craft Encoder SP3 here; although at $995 it may not be low cost enough for you (not sure what Procoder costs). It can preserve grain like no other encoder I've seen.

HCenc is very good though and is free.

[mp3dom]

CCE-SP3 for progressive video (around $1000), ProCoder for interlaced footage (around $500). ProCoder and Carbon Coder shares the same Canopus MPEG2 engine and outputs the exactly same stream (using same encoding parameters of course). There's no reason to spend $5000 for Carbon Coder which is more dedicated to "enterprise" solutions (watch folders and batch encoding are both supported on ProCoder).

HCEnc is a freeware solutions which offers more than what you would expect from a free encoder and the output is still good, but it's inferior to ProCoder on interlaced footage and SP3 on progressive footage.