CCE versus TMPG CBR encoding

[mfrancis123]

Hi,
I've got a question for anyone familiar with both of these encoders. I've used TMPG for the last 6 months or so and I'm just now getting into using CCE. My question is which one is better for encoding XVCDs with a Constant Bit Rate. I see most people suggest VBR but it seems to give my standalone (Panasonic RV31) problems so I've been encoding using CBR. Normally I encode 640 * 480 using TMPG at CBR 2550, I've been very happy with the results although it does take a while. Could I expected better results using CCE with the same settings? I've noticed that to encode similiar clips CCE seems to take about 1/3 of the time TMPG does but I'm was wondering if it's worth it to learn the ins and outs of CCE. If the output is going to be the same I'll probably stick with TMPG.

Thanks

[ulfschack]

2550 is very close to the maximum bitrate of standard SVCD. VBR in such a case is pretty pointless. Your choise should depend on what the maximum allowable bitrate on your DVD player is. Can it handle 5000 kbps? sure make multipass with 3000 as an average, but if it's xsvcd capable only in terms of resolution ... then no, don't bother.

As for which is the best encoder the frase "can of worms" leaps to mind. Personally I think for shaky interlaced DV material at low bitrates (up to 2600 kbps) TmpgEnc is the way to go. On the other hand for slow, steady, no panning, hollywood-style fotage (DVD rips) you might (some argue, ... I'm not one of them tho) be better of with CCE especially on high bitrates, but then again who rips to put a movie on 5 CDs right?

And yes, your right about the speed difference. Me, I'd rather wait a bit longer for better result.

cheers

[mfrancis123]

My DVD Player only supports 2600, so are you saying I should just stick to CBR? I don't mind splitting a movie between a couple discs usually 90 minute movies fit on two discs without the credits, longer movies of course take 3 or 4 CDs but I'm okay with that. My source is usally a forced film DVD rip fromDVDAVI. Which would be better to encode this with if I use CBR 2550?

Thanks

[ulfschack]

My advice is: Stick to CBR for short movies. VBR wouldn't make much difference in quality (no room to play) plus it would take twice as long.

CBR 2550 on two disks wont take you all the way to 90 min, tho. The longer the movie, the greater the need for VBR due to lower average bitrate, see. Most movies are around 100 min even, so for perfect quality use three discs att 2600 CBR. You catch my drift, right?

I dont know much about VBR in TmpegEnc, since I always use maximum bitrate. In CCE however, when making multipass VBR(not single pass VBR), there's the option to specify an average bitrate that greatly helps to get on target sizewise.

So for a 2 h movie (not DV related) I'd go with 2 pass (which is actually three passes, where the first is for creating the .vaf-file) VBR in CCE. This should roughly consume the same amount of time as a single pass in TmpgEnc. My point here is that I would only choose CCE cause of the precise size control.

There's simply no straight answer fitting all situations. Apart from that there probably would be a lot of people arguing my comments about quality, but hey this my opinion and it's not loosely based either.

If you should decide using TmpgEnc don't go with the templates, they're all hampered in someway to make it go a little faster. Simply choose whats gonna take the longest time and make sure to stay within SCVD specs while doing so :) A good rule of thumb.

Cheers

PS: Oh, and should the source be interlaced, for god's sake keep it that way. A lot of people seem to be willing to go through fire to find a good deinterlacing proggie. For television interlacing is good. Of course it gets all screwed up and worthless should you somehow manage to alter the vertical resolution while cropping and adding borders and such.