View Full Version : CCE 2.50 and 2.67 Image Quality Comparison Set


Yuri
13th November 2003, 22:38
CCE trial versions accidentally may spoil your encodings because of the truncate code and logo-encoding scheme. So BUY this wonderful piece of software to avoid any disagreeable surprises.

Gratitudes to jarvis1781 for his eclaircissements

One may still compare the CCE TRIAL versions spoilage at
http://sch-yuri.narod.ru/DVD/DVD.htm

DDogg
14th November 2003, 02:31
You did not mention your 2.67 quality tab settings. Without those, your statement is unsubstantiated. Please try these settings (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=64800) OR RB's Progressive template. (http://home.t-online.de/home/340044300675/ccetemplates.zip) Let us know how it went as it looks like you have some good comparisons set up.

DDogg
16th November 2003, 07:46
Yuri, sorry if I upset you. What I was getting at was did you uncheck all the settings in the CCE 2.67 Quality tab? Specifically, lowpass filter, Effect restricted vertical filter,and Dithered Quantization. This was not clear, at least to me, from your post.

Since you made such a bold statement in your post, I thought it best to try to get a slightly more clear set of data from you.

DDogg
17th November 2003, 02:01
Well it sounds more apples to apples. Since we are now together on the importance of the experiment's objectiveness, the filter chain scares me a little. Yep, sure the same input was fed to the encoders, but I am wondering if perhaps one version of CCE reacts differently to the shapening, resizing ?

It might further prove you point if a stripped down script was used with just the bare essentials with the least amount of filtering possible. This would give even a better objective test (I think it would at least). Something like:

Mpeg2Source("VTS__01_P01.P.16~9_1.d2v")

ConvertToYUY2(interlaced=true) #??? Needed?
Telecide (0)
Decimate(cycle=5)
AssumeFps(25)

#might be interesting to use simple resize? As far as I know it
#effects the video the least of any resizing filter.
# might even want to no-op the resizing for the test???

LanczosResize(720,576)
LanczosResize(720,368)
Crop(0,0,720,368).AddBorders(0,104,0,104)

Anyway, just a few thoughts for you to consider. This is an important test. If somebody else can then replicate the same results we will have a more clear method of judgement. Do you have the bandwidth available to place a small snip for download?

Don R.
17th November 2003, 04:15
Does anyone have an opinion why the older versions of SP provide better quality at the higher bitrates than the new version?

I keep noticing a haze over SP encoded MPEG-2 files used for creation of DVD's.

RB
17th November 2003, 10:13
Originally posted by Yuri
The only filter that can't be disabled either in CCE 2.50 or CCE 2.67 is the Image Quality Priority - so I set it to 15 both in CCE 2.50 and CCE 2.67 this is given on my comparison page in the line "The CCE 2.50 and 2.67 Settings: One Pass VBR, bitrate=2000-9000, Q=20, IQP=15, Intra DC=10, AR=4:3, Progressive."
The range for IQP in CCE 2.50 is 0-100 whereas in CCE 2.67 it is 0-64. So you should have set it to 10 in CCE 2.67. Generally, CCE 2.67 should give better quality with a higher IQP. Try setting it to 34-40.

Don R.
18th November 2003, 00:34
Frame #44 and #45 illustrate my subjective conclusion concerning 267 and that is SP lacks contrast and appears to have a fog across the image. #44 may actually have higher resolution than #45, but it is so "flat" that the higher resolution is lost.

#45 has greater contrast and APPARENT resolution and is more appealing to my eyes.

chilledoutuk
18th November 2003, 18:02
OK so from your tests 2.50 is better quality than 2.67 but i thought all 2.67 versions were betas and thus is not a fair test.

I suggest the test is rerun with 2.50 vs 2.66.01.07 (or the latest non beta which i think that is)

This way we will see if it is a bug in cce 2.67 that is causing this significant amount of artifacting.

Don R.
18th November 2003, 18:25
If 2.67 is not as good as 2.66 or 2.50, where does one download either 2.50 or 2.66.01.01?


The latest beta is 2.67.00.22 that CCE says is "revised to support Adobe Premiere.

It has been nothing but beta, beta, beta on the Cinema Craft website for months. Can't Cinema Craft get it right?

Another question that must be on eveyone's mind. If MainConcept 1.4 and Sorenson Squeeze provide more pleasing MPEG-2 files, why on earth pay 10X more for Cinema Craft SP?

Steve56
18th November 2003, 19:52
I did some tests with CCE 2.67.00.13 and what I found is that when you only encode one pass, then some frames are really "blocky".

When rendering multipass at least (vaf + 1 more pass) the output gets much better!

Don R.:

MainConcept 1.4 is really bad against CCE, just a hole class!

Sorenson Squeeze does not produce MPEG2 but MPEG4 and their own Sorenson Codec, they are both very good but not MPEG2!

Steve56

Don R.
18th November 2003, 20:00
My method of encoding with CCE-SP is using the 1st VBR analysis pass and then change to multiple VBR passes and select four passes.

So far as I can determine, more than four VBR passes don't improve quality.

Don R.
18th November 2003, 20:02
Steve, Sorenson Squeeze 3.5 does encode MPEG-2 and it uses the MainConcept MPEG-2 technology.

I have found it even does a great job on one pass CBR.

yup
18th November 2003, 20:20
Yuri try CCE 2.64 and linear Quant Scale. And use for CCE prefilter in Avisynth script, CCE only encoding not as TMPGEnc or Canopus Procoder. I use for DVD to CVD conversion only CCE 2.64 begining from 2.66 linear quant scale obsolete.
yup.

MLS
18th November 2003, 21:19
Read the FAQ, linear quant is not for MPEG2.

/MLS

DDogg
18th November 2003, 23:38
Yuri, :thanks: Nice job!

wmansir
19th November 2003, 01:17
Yuri, could you post the BitrateViewer shots for the multipass tests too? I would like to see how the bitrate was allocated.


It looks like the one-pass VBR test was messed up for 2.67, not by you, but by the encoder. I'm curious what was the difference in file size of the output? It appears they both start and end at the same bitrate, but 2.67 dips way down in the middle (to the minimum 2000kbps), where 2.50 stays relatively flat. Which would lead me to believe the 2.76 output would be smaller. Perhaps the Q values were changed between builds like the Image Quality settings were, so Q20 in 2.50 does not equal Q20 in 2.67? I never use 1-pass VBR so I wouldn't know.

br408408
19th November 2003, 01:22
I'm wondering what 2.66 does as it runs quite a bit faster than 2.5 on my P4

Bill

troy
19th November 2003, 06:36
Wow thanks. I wonder why it has taken this long for someone to do this kind of comparison. I would love for someone else to do this and see what they come up with. I am too much of a nubie to do this but I have suspected this as my cce 2.5 encodes were always good and it didn't make any sense to think cce 2.66 was worse but it did seem so.

chipvideo
19th November 2003, 15:08
It also seems to me that the 2.67 version is optimized for hyperthreading. Also it sounds like 2.50 runs faster on amd systems. Looks like I will just stay with 2.50.

3.15RT encodes is good enough for now with bicubic resizing dvd's.

onesoul
19th November 2003, 18:05
@Yuri

What computer did you use on your tests?

Boulder
19th November 2003, 19:02
Originally posted by br408408
I'm wondering what 2.66 does as it runs quite a bit faster than 2.5 on my P4

Bill

At least Cinema Craft is optimistic:


Version 2.66.01.01 Friday, September 13, 2002

Changes
- Picture quality has improved.
- Filter setting is radically changed.
- Added inverse 3:2 pulldown function.
- Supported sequencial still image files.
- Supported Microsoft DV Codec.
- Enabled to set chapter by timecode.
- Enabled to playback movie on chapter setting window.
- Plug-in has almost as same features as that of standalone version.
- Enabled to start up from batch file.
- Added context sensitive help.

Don R.
20th November 2003, 02:21
Why would Cinema Craft shoot itself in the foot by placing on the market software that is worse than an earlier version?

Cinema Craft must be fighting against losing market share to Sorenson, MainConcept, and TMPGENc not to mention the hardware encoders that are coming down in price.

What would be Cinema Craft's strategy?

troy
20th November 2003, 04:37
Just a totally nubie thought. Maybe the Q settings are not on a linear scale. Maybe 12 does not equal 20.

mb1
20th November 2003, 06:49
@ Yuri

In my opinion there are some 'false' settings. but first let me say I only tested 2.50, 2.64 and 2.66 myself. 2.66 always gave the best picture. 2.67 is in beta stadium (for a long time now).

1. significant to me is the different gop used by the two versions. CCE changes its set gop only on scene changes :rolleyes: ...

2. very short test clips (70 and 100 pal frames) with very different bitrates f.e. first test: cce 2.50 used avg 5801 whereas cce 2.67 used avg 4745

3. you did set avg 6000 in multipass mode. but the resulting avg bitrates are way below (cce 2.50: 3624 kbps, cce 2.67: 3968 kbps)

4. if I look at your listed gops (from BV) there are differences with those listed for the pictures

5. example: you did compare frame 44 (P-Type) with frame 45 (P-Type, but isn't; in my opinion you showed frame 45 which is a B-Type, whereas frame 44 would be a P-Type)

I'm sure there are more 'irregularities'.

Also please do tests with at least 10 seconds of material, 20 would be even better.

sh0dan
20th November 2003, 11:54
Interesting result! Thanks for the detailed info.

It would seem like CinemaCraft has changed their matrix, resulting in higher quantizers, or they have introduced an ME-bug.
Is there any way of comparing the two matrices? (I cannot remember if it can be viewed in 2.50).

Would you mind trying out an a larger source? (like 1000+ frames)

Don R.
20th November 2003, 14:13
Is it the consensus that SP users would secure better image results if they used the old 2.66 version of SP rather than replacing it with the beta 2.67?

Don R.
20th November 2003, 23:56
Have you tried reducing bitrate?


Also, which verision of 2.66 would you recommend?

Matthew
21st November 2003, 01:37
I've encoded quite a bit of material using 2.67.00.11 so now I feel depressed.

I suppose I shall go back to the latest build of 2.66, which is 2.66.01.07.

Blah.

Don R.
21st November 2003, 03:17
Thank you for the recommendation.

I am still studying the hardware and software encoders.

A pretty darn good source told me BASIC may well be as good as SP.

Maybe we ought to be comparing BASIC to SP and the other hardware-software encoders.

Matthew
21st November 2003, 04:56
There are comparison tables for basic/SP

http://www.cinemacraft.com/eng/ccebasic.html
http://www.cinemacraft.com/eng/ccesp.html

AFAIK basic has the same encoding engine, just there are restrictions (only form of VBR is 2 pass). So it is as good as SP if you only ever use 2 pass VBR (or CBR with 2 passes or less). Otherwise, it's inferior - as you'd expect given the price :)

troy
21st November 2003, 06:46
I want to do some tests on some interlaced dv video. What is the best way to compare m2v files and get a good screenshot. I can not open the video and get good screenshots with mediaplayer. I guess I could convert them to dvd and play them on my computer with windvd but I was interested to know if there is a better way to do this.

Boulder
21st November 2003, 10:12
Originally posted by troy
I want to do some tests on some interlaced dv video. What is the best way to compare m2v files and get a good screenshot. I can not open the video and get good screenshots with mediaplayer. I guess I could convert them to dvd and play them on my computer with windvd but I was interested to know if there is a better way to do this.

You can load the files in VirtualDubMod and take snapshots of the frames you wish.

wmansir
21st November 2003, 11:47
Before everyone burns their 2.67 backups...

I just did a few quick tests with 2.5, 2.66 and 2.67. Unfortunately, I don't have any webspace to upload screen shots to. But my results were no where near as dramatic as Yuri's. In fact I probably couldn't use .jpg to display the screenshots because the differences were that subtle.

My test source was Chapter 2 from Saving Private Ryan, the beach landing. I was looking for something that would test the encoders at average bitrates. I clipped two short 3-4 second scenes together from the part where Hanks was looking around at all the chaos (the best one was the flamethrower exploding). I used settings as close to Yuri's as possible (no filters, Q20 for VBR, 2k-6k-9k for Multi, Image priory 20 for 2.5, 12 for 2.66/7, ect). I did Multi and one-pass VBR for all versions.

There were a couple of very minor differences when examining the stills. I would say 2.5 had slightly more detail and mosquito noise compared to 2.66/7, but it was very very slight. There was no way I could spot the difference while the clips were playing. And the vast majority of the stills looked virtually identical.

Here are the Bitrate Viewer Numbers:

2.5
Size: 6,414 KB
Bitrate: 0/6994/8519
Quant; 0/4.79/6.14

2.66
Size: 6,488 KB
Bitrate: 0/7075/8534
Quant: 0/5.14/6.64

2.67
Size: 6,491 KB
Bitrate: 0/7080/8575
Quant: 0/4.92/6.42

So, it looks like in this case 2.5 did slightly better, and 2.66 slightly worse than 2.67, according to the average quant. 2.5's output file size was slightly smaller, but only around 1%. So, at least in my case it appears the Q values for 1-Pass VBR are roughly equal between versions.

Perhaps the issue is the source. I don't have any anime handy to test out. But in my test I did see any major differences.

Boulder
21st November 2003, 11:57
Like some other folks, I also suspect that the biggest problem when comparing 2.50 to later versions is the IQP setting, being from 0-100 and 0-64. Since no one really knows whether they can be directly compared, there's no way to decide which version does a better job:D

Boulder
22nd November 2003, 11:38
Apparently 2.50 and 2.66 use matrices somehow differently or the matrix gets patched to 2.50 incorrectly (I did some tests on the very same matrix on both setups).

However, that's all I can say about that for obvious reasons:devil:

kru
22nd November 2003, 18:29
I see that theese test are made for DVD bitrates, but is CCE 2.50 also the best choise for SVCD/CVD (1200-2530 kbps)???

Boulder
22nd November 2003, 21:33
Yuri,

have you made similar tests with non-cartoon/anime material? I was unable to make such clear difference between the different encoder versions. (I agree, 2.67 looks like puke in that test:D )

And I don't mean to bash your test, not me! I'll take my hat off to anyone who just takes the time and runs tests and reports them too:) The more sceptical you are, the better the explanations you get:D

Matthew
23rd November 2003, 01:14
Yuri perhaps you should make your source clip of that cartoon available (asusming it's legal ;) ;)) so it can be tested (not by me, as I have no idea), but allowing other people to fiddle with the settings seems like a logical course of action.

Matthew
24th November 2003, 04:37
Download that at 0.5 k/sec (ouch)

Uploaded it elsewhere, this will be much faster.

http://members.tripod.co.uk/jefffahey88/sample/tarzan_49_tricky_frames.zip

Copy/paste that link in new window.

Unless I'm mistaken frame 44 is frame 27 on this sample, and hell it does look crap when re-encoded with 2.67's 1 pass VBR. 4 pass VBR produces quite a bit better result though.

jarvis1781
25th November 2003, 01:09
Originally posted by Yuri
I've been expecting the question converning the matrix stuff, 'cos it's yet the only one left that's changable but, alas, I tired differnet ones in 2.66 and 2.67 with no good effect whatsoever.
IT'S THE ENCODING ENGINE ITSELF!

ok this is where I have to step in. I have been around these forums for ages...and I never once registered to post anything because any information i needed was right there...

I registered 5 days ago because of this thread. It seems that CCE is being bashed a little because "IT'S THE ENCODING ENGINE ITSELF!". No, there is no problem with the encoding engine. The problem is you need to PURCHASE this software if you want it to work correctly. You admit to using different matrix settings for it and these are what allow you to get rid of the "water mark". They are also seem to be causing you trouble with CCE...my legitimate version works faster and the results are indeed better as the CCE site claims. I suggest you actually purchase this software before you decide to make any more claims about it. Sorry if this post upsets anyone but I just got tired of hearing people bash CCE when there is nothing wrong with it...the problem is with the pirates who cracked it.

Matthew
25th November 2003, 02:02
jarvis, I think that's a bit of an assumption to make.

Having said that you seem to be correct. When the logo is in the picture the quality is MUCH better. These are each close to 150k stills (copy and paste in new window).

http://members.tripod.co.uk/jefffahey88/cce/nologo.jpg
http://members.tripod.co.uk/jefffahey88/cce/logo.jpg

What I find odd is that this problem is not widespread...you'd think that something like this, resulting from an imperfect fix, would be much more apparent.

There is one upside of this...this sample is a wonderful test of the effectiveness of a fix...I'll certainly be holding onto it.

jarvis1781
25th November 2003, 07:24
Originally posted by Matthew
jarvis, I think that's a bit of an assumption to make.

Having said that you seem to be correct. When the logo is in the picture the quality is MUCH better. These are each close to 150k stills (copy and paste in new window).

http://members.tripod.co.uk/jefffahey88/cce/nologo.jpg
http://members.tripod.co.uk/jefffahey88/cce/logo.jpg

What I find odd is that this problem is not widespread...you'd think that something like this, resulting from an imperfect fix, would be much more apparent.

There is one upside of this...this sample is a wonderful test of the effectiveness of a fix...I'll certainly be holding onto it.

well there you have it...visual proof that CCE works GREAT when it is used legitimately...

i don't care what people do as long as they don't bash GREAT software when there is nothing wrong with the software. again the problem lies not in CCE but in the "hack job" the hackers did with removing the logo.

Matthew
25th November 2003, 07:25
As the choice is now between 2.66 and 2.50 (I think :p) and I don't have eagle eyes, could someone tell me their opinion of the stills here:

http://members.lycos.co.uk/jefffahey88/cce2/

They are frames 27 and 28 (44 and 45 on Yuri's site), done with his settings except 4 pass, min/max 0/9200 and average bitrate 6000 (which gives about same size as 1 pass Q20).

Yuri's 1 pass stills don't reflect well on 2.66 (wmansir seems to agree with his Saving Private Lynch test) but I'm not so sure about 4 pass (which is what I always use).

Incidentally, for 2.66 1-pass with and without logo is also there, and they look identical to me, so I don't think patches are an issue.

It is perhaps ridulous that so much is being read into a couple of frames, but whoever said humans were rational ;)

Matthew
25th November 2003, 07:42
Oh and Jarvis, to my eyes even with the logo 2.67 looks inferior to 2.50 for that still. However I am only referring to 1 pass here.

2.67 http://members.lycos.co.uk/jefffahey88/cce/logo.jpg
2.50 http://members.lycos.co.uk/jefffahey88/cce/2.50,nologo,1pass.jpg

Look at the thumb.

And btw, while the source was a CCE 2.50 clip from Yuri, the 2.50 image above was taken from a mpv outputted by my CCE 2.50 - not the source.

The difference might be explained by image quality priority, testing that is too much of a pain in the backside for me though.

syzygytec
25th November 2003, 17:42
A test by a dummy *me

http://www.geocities.com/syzygydvd/nemo.htm
If your really interested have a look but be warned it's on GeoCities and only has a transfer limit of 10mb per day so don't download just to download. File is 917k

3 screen grabs via WinDVD 5

dvd.bmp = original DVD

cce.bmp = Backup via D2S / FACAR / D2SRoBaOPV / CCE 2670013

shrink.bmp = Should be the same as dvd.bmp, DVD Shrink removed everything but main title and main soundtrack, = 0% compression so should be just a copy of the original

I see little to no difference

Matthew
26th November 2003, 07:19
AFAIK there are multiple checks done by the CCE trial and it's possible that one may have been missed I suppose...dunno...

Good point Yuri about the logo, I hadn't thought of that.

However, I just encoded the clip with and without logo at 9000 CBR and while frame 27 is actually a bit better without the logo (!), frame 28 displays image destruction only when the logo isn't there :(

And another test...for 4 pass VBR, 6000 bitrate, 2.67 with logo = 2.67 without logo. At least IMO. Here are stills:

http://members.lycos.co.uk/jefffahey88/cce3/2.67,4pass,logo.jpg
http://members.lycos.co.uk/jefffahey88/cce3/2.67,4pass,nologo.jpg

Give your honest opinion Yuri =)

sh0dan
26th November 2003, 10:42
Originally posted by Yuri
Then again, if it were a bad patch, the patched CCE 2.67 would spoil the whole video stream and WOULD NOT select certain frames to spoil them to reveal its pirate protecton scheme or whatever..
Why shouldn't it?

If you don't have a legit CCE versions, your comparisons are worthless. Sorry to say so!

r6d2
27th November 2003, 01:15
Originally posted by Yuri
with the logo and without the logo, patched and not patched, I don't care a hook about that all
Well, the forum really cares and when registering you agreed to abide by the rules.
and the result is that 2.50 IS better than 2.67 in any respect, which is TECHNICALLY proved.
You know, Yuri, you were conducting with great ability a very interesting experiment which got lots of attention. But the thing you have best proved so far is that you care little about respecting a mod and the forum rules you agreed to.

It is a pity, since you were showing good wood.
Any discussion about pirated software, mystical pirate-protection behavior of this software is irrelevant.
It may be irrelevant to you, but the fact is that you recognize to have been using illegally obtained functional copies of a software, AKA crack (not just "trials"), and that is not allowed in this forum.
to share my technical experience but not ethical or moral one
In spite of that, you have clearly showed what ethics mean to you.

Matthew
27th November 2003, 01:48
Okay Yuri, I'll glady admit that I'm wrong =) I'm confused as to why CBR would also exhibit the same problem though, but no matter.

Back on topic - with all this patching stuff fortunately confined to the dustbin - perhaps the test should be expanded to some other sources...anime/cartoon is not typical I suppose. And also multipass...how many people use 1-pass anyway.

r6d2
27th November 2003, 01:54
Originally posted by Yuri
Dear Moderator, then again, what are we discussing here? Moral principles or technical stuff?
Technical, certainly. Principles are taken for granted.
I thought I could bring some useful information to people but I'm afraid I had been wrong!
Actually, I think you were doing just fine.
have the same logic as this[...]
Mmm... Your logic, however, is interesting indeed, it's like this:

I agreed to behave according to community standards, which I read and understood. Then just because I'm so cool, I don't give a hook about that. Somebody reminds me about my inconsinstency, and I pick up my ball and go home.

"Those are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others."
-- Groucho Marx
I retire [...]morality is taking its turn now, that's not for me.
We know, we know. You are right this time. You are not bringing useful information to people.

Kedirekin
27th November 2003, 04:04
I don't eat cabbage. I hate cabbage. 65 million years ago dinosaurs went extinct, but not cabbage. Darn the luck.

@yuri,
I happen to agree with you. It certainly looks to me like 2.67 produces lower quality results than 2.5. Personally I think it's a bit allocation problem between frames - bitrate is being withheld from the problem frame in order to give another frame more bitrate, perhaps needlessly. In other words, Custom Technologies broke the bitrate allocation strategy. This fits right in with the hypothesis that the logo appears to fix the problem while in fact only changing how the allocation strategy is applied.

Tweaking the settings might fix the problem, but it'd probably take 1000 years to find the right ones.

Software upgrades aren't always improvements, as evidenced by Windows ME.

syzygytec
27th November 2003, 04:20
with all this patching stuff fortunately confined to the dustbin

hmm me wonders why noone tries with 2.67.00.20, actually o I don't wonder, jarvis1781 must be using this version.

troy
27th November 2003, 05:58
wow this is a great thread. I just wanna say that I encoded a1 and 1/2 hour interlaced cartoon from my vcr at 352x480 resolution with cce 3 pass min 2000, max 8500, avg 6000 win CCE 2.66. My m2v file was almost 4gb. I looked at at a lot of the frames to see one that was worse then the source and could not find one.

Kedirekin
27th November 2003, 12:05
Half D1 at 6000 kbps average bitrate. I should hope you wouldn't find any bad frames.

I would expect good results at ~4000 average for full D1, so half again as much bitrate for half the number of pixels (3x bits per block) better produce extraordinary results.

r6d2
28th November 2003, 00:09
Can you ask him to leave the cabbage? :)

You are welcome to stay and continue providing useful information. You are only asked to respect other members, particularly mods, and abide by the rules. It does not require any moral skills. Just common sense.

Showing some good manners and apoligizing is welcome too.

Once I met a goat that used to say "those who leave without being kicked usually come back without being called".

wmansir
29th November 2003, 14:51
So it looks like Yuri decided to take his ball and go home. :rolleyes:

or do I have to stick to a goat analogy?

Kedirekin
29th November 2003, 16:38
Yes, Yuri left. I can't say I blame him.

It's a shame really. He was contributing to the community.

It's also ironic; the people who chased him out of here are more guilty of misbehaving (in their own morally superior way) than Yuri himself was.

wmansir
29th November 2003, 17:47
I wouldn't say anyone was chased away. The forum rules are very clear about discussion of illegal activities and software. If someone feels they are being repressed because of those rules this is not the place for them.

Kedirekin
29th November 2003, 18:53
I disagree. He wasn't asking for cracks or warez sites. He was talking about a potential flaw in CCE.

If he was using illegally* obtained software then shame on him, but it's nobody's business to act as the morality police here.

* some of Yuri's links looked Cyrillic; I for one don't know that using cracked foriegn software is illegal in Russia, or where ever Yuri hales from, so I for one won't pass judgement on him.

r6d2
29th November 2003, 19:43
Well, Kedirekin, you are, as everyone, entitled to an opinion, but the point is that if you admit you are using illegally obtained software, you are in fact jeopardizing the existance of this forum. And most people here don't want that. I hope you are in the same group.

That matter is very sensitive and we all must keep it in mind. This forum exists because we all believe that we have the right to backup our movies under fair use. And that is a position we sustain. We cannot run the risk of being related to illegal activities.

And it is not like playing cops or morality stuff. All mods become mods after being normal users. We were not gifted by god to become one, and we don't consider ourselves above the rules either.

We don't care about a user beating his wife or abusing his kids. Those are moral matters. We just care about keeping the modus operandi that has made this forum the greatest one on the subject, in order for it to continue being so.

Particularly, just in case you are not aware, we hate to strike and to constantly remind users to use the search button, to choose useful thread names, to read the FAQs, and all that they have agreed to. We prefer much better to encourage creativity and supporting users.

Respecting other people and the rules is not too high a price for what you get here, don't you think?

Now Yuri, by taking his ball home left the whole community without the interesting information he was providing. He made the thread useless to everybody interested. Does that look respectfull to you? And he was not even struck or suspended. Just asked to abide by the rules, which was something he agreed to do before.

This post deleting stuff has happened before and as you can see from the ball analogy, it is a very childish thing to do.

And if for some reason now you feel somebody is chasing you, please think again, because as with Yuri, nobody is. And if you want to leave in the future, please don't take out from the community what you have provided, particularly if you think it is useful.

Boulder
30th November 2003, 10:45
It was not a long time ago that a similar thing happened, taking a huge amount of very good information to a black hole in cyberspace.

You all know that I mean Bach, right?

His excellent RePal plugin would have been very hard to use unless some forum backups hadn't been used to determine the functions, but many of his very informative posts have been lost forever.

bira
1st December 2003, 16:59
That's why I believe there should be a limited time frame for editing posts. That should be: no editing allowed if there is a post below yours.

My somewhat off-topic 2 cents.

mmatac
2nd December 2003, 23:11
Please,

could someone summarize in a final way which is the best encoder between CCE 2.5; 2.66 and 2.67?

thx

Yuri
3rd December 2003, 01:44
YOU-HOO, jarvis1781 and the like! Where are you with all your comparison tests of "good-and-right-and-lawful" pieces of software? No reply. Strange. Interesting. Weird.

At least mod, let alone the guys who mis-interpreted my postings and who based their own selves purely on their guess-work, could say "I am sorry" not to me (it is too much of a good thing!) but to the community they cherish so much. It is they who deprived the community of some useful information shifting the blame on me, for the second time, accusing me so directly and causelessly of all possible crimes on earth. Mod made me delete my postings through his "smart" remarks.

If I were mod of this forum I would delete the whole thread, because it still contains VERY SENSITIVE information.

You know, when they don't like the idea, they attack the person who expresses it.

I was contributing to the community (by my naiive mistake) when they were a friendly and helpful lot, but when they transformed into an evil-eyed, conceited, and rabit boodle (which is VERY logical), rendering any idea in their own strange non-tec way, I thought it was all my fault and followed the meant orders of the mod to reverse everything to its initial state, at least that's what he wanted, (just re-read his postings to me, but read between the lines), though he called it childish, heh, (what an idea!) It's not childishness but obedience (again his mis-interpretation of actions according to his pragmatics).
Let it be this way then.

r6d2
3rd December 2003, 01:57
Gee, it seems Yuri changed his mind again after all and came back. Third change of mind in 11 posts. What a consistent guy indeed with his own actions.

"Those who leave without being kicked usually come back without being called". -- A goat.

Kedirekin
3rd December 2003, 05:37
Well, I'm glad he decided to come back.

@Yuri,
Welcome back. I commend you for not letting them drive you away. The last thing we need in this forum is a good ol' boys club.

jarvis1781
3rd December 2003, 06:38
judging from his last post I'm glad he is gone.
not only childish, but fickle and weak-hearted as well.

and I don't think this thread was a good contribution to the community because it was giving false results of a spectacular encoder

Custom Tech has done a great job improving their encoder ... this was being contradicted by this thread.

Matthew
3rd December 2003, 06:39
/me agrees with Kedirekin. Not that Yuri is blameless, but in a situation like this, being snide on the internet - or in real life for that matter - is fairly pathetic IMO.

Not that I actually think my opinion counts for anything ;)

And jarvis, Yuri attempted to provide evidence for his claims, you did not. The sample is still provided on my webspace, feel free to download it, encode and post stills of the relevant frames. It would be a great help and much appreciated (by me at least, anyway) I'm sure.

jarvis1781
3rd December 2003, 07:07
Originally posted by Matthew
/me agrees with Kedirekin. Not that Yuri is blameless, but in a situation like this, being snide on the internet - or in real life for that matter - is fairly pathetic IMO.

Not that I actually think my opinion counts for anything ;)

And jarvis, Yuri attempted to provide evidence for his claims, you did not. The sample is still provided on my webspace, feel free to download it, encode and post stills of the relevant frames. It would be a great help and much appreciated (by me at least, anyway) I'm sure.

I have no problem doing that.
Give me the link to your site and tell me exactly what frames you want me to capture for you.
I'd love to show you CCE in all it's glory

Matthew
3rd December 2003, 07:18
Great, thanks :)

http://members.tripod.co.uk/jefffahey88/sample/tarzan_49_tricky_frames.zip

You must copy/paste link to new window.

For consistency can you encode with 1 pass VBR, a Q of 20 and flat priority of 12, all filters disabled. Progressive, zigzag, gop 3/5, 4:3.

Frames 27 and 28 would be the best ones to post, I think :)

jarvis1781
3rd December 2003, 08:10
ok..I got the captures done. it seems i can't upload them here and as i have no webspace i will email them to you if you give me your email addy. thanks

mmatac
3rd December 2003, 10:32
@ Yuri
Also I'm glad you come back. Please continue to work about the technical theme you are discussing. With your 'technical' speakers.
Don't care about other considerations. Respect the rules only for avoiding other people disturb you from the technical discussion.

An example: in my country, when a police man stops a driver because the car runs too much, he fines the driver. It's rigth!!!
The problem is that the police man wants also to unburden his life problems and his poor existence on the driver. Blaming and insulting the driver. He is a poor man, but he HAS the power.
So, understand who is the police man and be superior to him.
To continue to write on this forum.
All the people who read and write on the this CCE forum bought :) the program.
By definition. :rolleyes:

bye michele

r6d2
3rd December 2003, 13:23
Originally posted by mmatac
Also I'm glad you come back.
Sorry to bring these news to you, guys, but Yuri will no longer be with us.

Yet the topic is interesting and I'm sure some guy will come up with technical analysis to give you a final answer, if that is possible.
An example: in my country, when a police man stops a driver because the car runs too much, he fines the driver. It's rigth!!!
The problem is that the police man wants also to unburden his life problems and his poor existence on the driver. Blaming and insulting the driver. He is a poor man, but he HAS the power.
This analogy of yours, I guess, is pointed at mods in this forum. If it is, it is pretty insulting and you are already violating the rules. If it is not, then it is completely pointless. However, I'll believe beforehand in your bonafide since I have no reason to believe you're stupid.

You see, it is a quite unfortunate analogy. First, Yuri did not get any ticket. He was only asked not to speed. Second, nobody here insulted him. He was childish (took the ball home) and disrespectful (left you without the good stuff he brought by deleting his posts). Third, he was not blamed for anything. He confessed himself.

If you cannot see that, man, you are in trouble.

I'm sure you know better. Try to show your wits.
All the people who read and write on the this CCE forum bought :) the program. By definition.
Really? I don't think so. You can drive without a license and registration, but you have to be really stupid to put a sign in the windshield saying so.

Kedirekin
3rd December 2003, 15:35
That's disgusting.

mmatac
3rd December 2003, 17:23
@ r6d2:

I tell you in italian language: 'sei cosi' cretino, infantile e pieno di te che non ti accorgi nemmeno quando ti stanno prendendo per il culo.
Doom9 farebbe bene a disfarsi di moderatori come te.'

Boulder
3rd December 2003, 18:03
1) Write in English, please.

2) Where's RB? I think it's time to close the thread. This has nothing to do with the original post.

Steve56
3rd December 2003, 18:19
May I add a small technical consideration for a test:

When testing "different" CCE versions, maybe it would be a good idea to use AviSynth to put the CCE Sticker on top of the source video, so both Encoders should have the same starting conditions!

Steve56

--
Amt für Software-Zuweisung

mmatac
3rd December 2003, 18:45
I suggest to fix a standard to perform the tests:

- the source (the same for each test)
- which programs/versions used
- which parameters used (for the bitrate I suggest two trial: at high bitrate, at low bitrate)
- how to measure the quality (by viewing the image or in a mathematic way)

and then use it for testing the quality of the encoders.
First CCE 2.50, CCE 2.66, CCE 2.67.
Then, other encoder TMPEG, Mainconcept, ...

Do you agree?

dionisos
3rd December 2003, 19:13
geez
what had happened here?
:confused:

r6d2
3rd December 2003, 22:36
Originally posted by r6d2
However, I'll believe beforehand in your bonafide since I have no reason to believe you're stupid.
@mmatac

Sorry, I was awfully wrong about you.

Matthew
4th December 2003, 00:11
Originally posted by Steve56
May I add a small technical consideration for a test:

When testing "different" CCE versions, maybe it would be a good idea to use AviSynth to put the CCE Sticker on top of the source video, so both Encoders should have the same starting conditions!

That's a really good idea...if it's possible...although in one of Yuri's tests he did use an addgrain filter (to attract more bits, as he theorised the logo did) and found that the image destruction went away. On that basis he concluded that the logo was preventing image destruction by attracting more bits to the frame.

jarvis has a retail version of CCE though, he's got my email address now and when he sends the stills of the frames from the test encode I'll post them.

jarvis1781
4th December 2003, 04:33
i just got them sent
post when you get them for others to see

Matthew
4th December 2003, 05:22
http://members.lycos.co.uk/jefffahey88/jarvis/

There they are. If you don't want to look, then the reuslt is this: Jarvis' stills display no image destruction.

I encoded mine using CCE 2.67.00.11. I know 2.67.00.08 gives the same result.

Now I just realised jarvis hasn't said what retail version he is using, but I presume it's 2.67. I shouldn't have thought the specific build relevant because the latest history.txt just refers to minor bugfixes.

Also, bear in mind those are 1 pass stills - 4 pass VBR doesn't exhibit the same problem, but it is still inferior to 2.50.

Thanks again jarvis :)

Matthew
4th December 2003, 06:04
How odd, just noticed jarvis's still is better than the one from the 2.67 CCE trial with logo.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/jefffahey88/cce/logo.jpg
http://members.lycos.co.uk/jefffahey88/jarvis/jarvis1.jpg

:confused:

jarvis1781
4th December 2003, 06:06
Sorry about that. I encoded with version 2.67.00.20
I plan to upgrade to the latest version as soon as I get a chance.
Anyway, glad I could help clear up those discrepancies. I hope everyone can see the power of this great software and now realizes why I got upset when the claim was being made that the new versions ruin video encodes.

jarvis1781
4th December 2003, 06:09
the trial version allocates bitrate wrong sometimes due to the extra bitrates used for the logo.

Yuri
3rd January 2004, 03:36
Dearest jarvis1781, could you, please, answer one question?
Why does the trial version allocate bitrate correctly at 2-pass mode though it still uses the extra bitrates for the logo?

I hope everybody understands that we are NOT promoting encoding with trial versions but we are trying to understand the reasons of image corruption by trial versions. Please, go and BUY this beautiful program, because it deserves all the money and enjoy the flawless work of the programmers!

Thank you everyone!

whtake
8th January 2004, 17:15
I have done a lot of still image editing in Photoshop and one of the things that I had learned was that if one were to compare images, one need to ensure that the images were viewed at 100% zoom (or "actual pixels" in Photoshop).

When I did that with the few images posted in this thread by downloading them first and opening them in Photoshop, at least for me, I did not notice any differences in the quality of the images in terms of sharpness. There were only some very slight differences in terms of noise and color, not significant in my view.

Try it and maybe the conclusion/inference about quality differences between the versions and with or without logo may be different.

Regards


PS: I had been following and searching this forum without the need to register and with the information gathered from it, I had successfully burned my first DVD of a DV recording. When I read this thread 5 days ago, I wanted to post to share my information but I couldn't. In accordance with the rules, I had to wait 5 days ....

RB
11th January 2004, 16:53
This thread has gone way too far in terms of forum rules violations. Closed.