which version of cce to use?

[wellyman]

I have been trying to catch up with what everyone seems to be using now. I have always used 2.62, and it's been ok for me. Of those people who have tried the versions 2.5, 2.62, 2.64, and 2.66, which is truly resulting in the best quality? From my conclusions, it seems that everyone still comes back to 2.5. Is this still the best one, or am I missing something?

[ByronE]

I've found the overall 'default' quality to be the same for all of the versions...the biggest difference between them is a combination of compatibilty and configuration control...2.5 and 2.66 both have been the most compatible with frameserveing avisynth style, 2.66 has tons more control over the encoding parameters though (as does 262 and 264). If you try out 2.66 for yourself though, you will find why many people have reverted back to 2.5.

[Justinus]

The only reason why CCE 2.5 can hold back most of people is an ability to input avs file straight away into the project. 2.62 doesn't support AviSynth. I'm not sure about other version as I've never used any of those. And to input into other versions that don't support avs file is to use VFAPI converting avs into a fake avi. That means you'll lose speed because VFAPI's output is RGB.

[BoNz1]

I just got the latest version of cce 2.66.01.07 and it works great, I did an svcd yesterday and it turned out pretty good, used virtualdub as a frameserver to cce and I believe that avisynth files work in the newest release too. :)

[WarpEnterprises]

AviSynth definitely works with 2.66.

About Quality: I'm always working with low bitrates (e.g. SVCD 480x576 16:9 letterboxed 1200kbit) - can't get rid of the mosquito noise.
With TMPG or even more with Procoder I don't have the problem.

Maybe I'm aiming at the wrong destinations for CCE

[wmansir]

I think 2.66.1.7 is in every way better than 2.5, perhaps with the exception of being a bit more confusing due to the expanded options. At it's default settings it is about 20% slower than 2.5, but that's due to the default noise filtering done, which can be disabled.

Of course, you can't crack 2.66 to save .ecl files and it can't be used with dvd2svcd.

[wellyman]

thanks all. I'm gonna try 2.5, since it seems to yield good results. I do like the included pulldown option in the later versions though.

[jpsdr]

I've noticed a problem with at least the 2.62 version :
sometimes it doesn't respect the GOP length, or something
like this, beacause when importing files in Scenarist, i've
got roundly 10% of the files wich where rejected because
the GOP was more of 38 (don't remember the exact).
With a M/N of 3/5 => GOP of 15, it's something !!!
Re-encoding theses files with the 2.64 version was the
only way of being able to import these files.
The fact is, i don't know if the problem was specific of
2.62, or was present in the previous versions.
2.62 was having also an another problem of putting more
than one sequence end code in VBR encoding. This give only
a warning in scenarist, without rejecting the file.
So, if you want, like me, to do DVD authoring, with mean
MPEG-2 with "good" bitrate, i recommand at least the version
2.64.01.10. With these, every MPEG file imported in
scenarist where perfect, no warning, no GOP problem.
I still don't know about the 2.66.01.07, they said they've
improved the image quality, wich mean you can expect better
encoded quality, but the 2.66 seems slower than the 2.64,
but you can consider it the price to pay.

About the 2.50, i don't know, i've never used it, and
i don't know if the problems of the 2.62 are present or
not.
The only version i'm personnaly sure, is the 2.64.01.10.
But, i've 2 avantages from a lot of people, it seems :
1) I don't make SVCD but DVD, so no problem of low bitrate.
2) I work with "true" AVI with CCE, no frame servers...

[BugsBunny]

;) I have all 3 versions, i like the 2.5 for ease of use, output all seems the same..

[mmatac]

@Bach

I used Link2 (0.951 0r 0.95 or 0.942), instead VFAPI as you suggested in according with the DVD2SVCD guide.
Creating the new LINK2 folder under the DVD2SVCD folder and giving to DVD2SVCD the path C:\Programmi\Dvd2svcd\Link2\link2.exe
in the Encoder section.

But I have a problem during the DVD2svcd running (on W98SE):
DVD2SVCD launch Link2 (dos session) and a pop-up window comes up telling me about an error ("Link2 has created an error").

Can you tell me whay is wrong?

thx

[Stereodude]

It all depends on the bitrate you're using. At DVD bitrates (6Mbit/sec) I found 2.66 to better than some of the earlier versions. The ability to control quantization of the flat parts of the video as well as quantization dithering make it very powerful. I can finally get true commercial DVD quality from CCE.

Stereodude