Blind study of encoders/transcoders

[dannyv]

As promised here is a blind study of five of the most popular dvd encoding/transcoding software packages tested on an interlaced TV DVD series.

As this is a blind study I will be running this poll for 2 weeks and at the end of this study I will reveal which software it is.

Please vote for the software that you think is the best and leave any comment you wish.

All software was tested with default settings and setup with the latest instructions and latest add-on’s if they were required. The only audio track kept was the ac3 5.1 audio and subtitles were removed if it was allowed. Audio was removed from the samples for size considerations. Each encode/transcode was done using the entire disk.

To download the VOB files login to:

ftp://209.11.99.69/samples/
Login id = test
Password = test

If the link does not work open a fresh browser window then cut and paste the link into your browser or use an ftp client.

You can also try ftp://209.11.99.69 then log in and select the samples folder.

Please be sure to leave any comments.


<EDIT> Sorry for the dead link its OK now.

[ddlooping]

Hi dannyv. :)

Hard one to call. ;)

The blacks are more compressed (almost crushed) on sample 3 and 4.
So the lighter parts of the video is given more bandwidth, hence less artifacts.

The other three samples seem more faithfull to the original in terms of blacks.
The drawback is they have less bits to attribute to the lighter parts, where artifacts become more noticeable.

If the display used to watch the DVD has a contrast set fairly high, I'd go for: (10 being the original, even though it deserves a 6 1/2 at the most):

- Sample 3: 9
- Sample 4: 8 1/2
- Sample 2: 7 1/2
- Sample 5: 6
- Sample 1: 5

With lower contrast, sample 2 might join sample 3 & 4 in the lead, but I would probably still stick with sample 3.

[Malcolm]

sorry, but i'm unable to access ftp://test:test@209.11.99.69/samples/. neither with FireFTP, nor with Firefox or IE. I also tried 209.11.99.69 directly. with FireFTP i can connect, but i don't see any files. with Firefox and IE i get a error saying that i don't have access rights.
can't you just post the links to files directly? maybe with http protocol?

greetings,
malcolm

[dannyv]

Originally posted by Malcolm
sorry, but i'm unable to access ftp://test:test@209.11.99.69/samples/. neither with FireFTP, nor with Firefox or IE. I also tried 209.11.99.69 directly. with FireFTP i can connect, but i don't see any files. with Firefox and IE i get a error saying that i don't have access rights.
can't you just post the links to files directly? maybe with http protocol?

greetings,
malcolm

Sorry I don't have http installed. This is a dedicated ftp server so I can not run http on it. Make sure your putting the uid and password in lower case. I just tested it and it is working fine and people are downloading the files. Also instead of trying to link from this page close all browser windows and then open a fresh window and paste the URL into the browser.

[Sbofen]

Wish I could vote, but honestly I don't know how to make the .ifo files. My 15" lcd on my laptop isn't good for judging when I use my 50" HDTV.

I get an error with ifo edit when trying to create .ifo files for these vob's. Must be doing something wrong. So I went a long way of doing it by using vobedit and demuxing, then reauthor with ifoedit. Everything worked except for Sample 4, the .m2v only came out to 793kb.

I'm going to burn them all together (reauthored) uncompressed with Shrink.

(You know, why do I take the hard way of doing things? I could view these by hooking up my laptop to the tv... but then again, it would be with an s-video cable... and what's the fun of doing it the easy way?)

[dannyv]

Well is seems there wasn't much of an intrest in this blind study so here is the software tested.

Original.vob = Original
Sample 1.vob = intervideo dvdcopy 2
Sample 2.vob = DVD-Rebulder v067 with cce 2.50se
Sample 3.vob = DVD-Shrink
Sample 4.vob = Pinacle instacopy 8
Sample 5.vob = Nero Recode 2

With 2 votes dvd-shrink is the winner.

[ddlooping]

dannyv, I think the lack of interest came from the fact you did not provide the samples in "VIDEO_TS" folders format.
It would have made making the comparisons much easier. ;)

Thanks for making this test though. :)

[Malcolm]

i agree. i would really like to participate, but i still can't access the files. (i think it's the firewall in our company)
Can't you provide a direct download link?

greetings,
Malcolm

[dannyv]

Originally posted by Malcolm
i agree. i would really like to participate, but i still can't access the files. (i think it's the firewall in our company)
Can't you provide a direct download link?

greetings,
Malcolm

Sorry I'm using my company's FTP site and I have some security issues I have to be concerned with. I have as of today taken the files down.

[Beak]

Thanks for the time you spent on this test.The format seems good but the tech details need to be worked out I guess for next time.

Can I ask what settings were used with DVDShrink? I mean with the AEC and all?

[dannyv]

Originally posted by Beak
Thanks for the time you spent on this test.The format seems good but the tech details need to be worked out I guess for next time.

Can I ask what settings were used with DVDShrink? I mean with the AEC and all?

Sharp default was used and all audio was stripped except for the 5.1 channel.