CCE encodes blurry?

[baly]

Hi,

i am using Total code 6.4 & CCE SP3 1.3.0.3.
I am encoding the same clip with the same settings to both encoders.
The clip from CCE seems a bit blurry in comparison to the one from TC.

Got any ideas? Are there any settings to improve clearness in CCE?

Thanks!

[poisondeathray]

Did you disable the low pass filter ?

[baly]

Hi,
where can I find that?

[baly]

Got it, in the picture settings.
Is that all? I just deselect LPF?

Thanks!

[baly]

Not much of a difference...

[kolak]

Originally Posted by baly

Got it, in the picture settings.
Is that all? I just deselect LPF?

Thanks!

No. You have to save new picture setting and than apply it to the whole stream. Read manual.

[baly]

Hi Kolak,

yes I did that but to be honest it seems more blocky in comparison with the LPF.
Shall I deselect both the 'Non Linear Filters' too, below?
Also, my source file is progressive. Does it make any difference? Are these settings for Interlaced only or it does not matter?
Thanks.

PS: Since my picture is progressive I did ZigZag & Progressive and at the end I passed it through restreamer to set it Progressive again.

[Ghitulescu]

Any encodes balances a compromise between a lot of factors.

Any encoder will outcome a blurry result if the bitrate is low enough.
That you mentioned blocks, is a warning signal that your bitrate is too low. What you intend to do? To compress a bluray movie to a 400MB?

[baly]

Hi,
thanks for your reply.

My br settings are 6000 - 2000 - 9000.
I guess that's enough for a trailer.

My point here is that Total Code's output (with same br settings and everything else to default) is more clear in comparison to CCE's and I am not willing to believe that Total Code is better than CCE, so I guess I must be doing something wrong.
That is what I am trying to figure out.

[baly]

Also, what do you mostly use for segment?
Default (Natural1) or MPEG standard?

Shall I deselect NLF also?

Thanks!

[srfscenar]

Originally Posted by poisondeathray

Did you disable the low pass filter ?

Hi,
do you disable the Non Linear Filter too?
If so, it's as if you set the Natural1 preset.
Is that what you mean?

[kolak]

Originally Posted by baly

Hi Kolak,

yes I did that but to be honest it seems more blocky in comparison with the LPF.
Shall I deselect both the 'Non Linear Filters' too, below?
Also, my source file is progressive. Does it make any difference? Are these settings for Interlaced only or it does not matter?
Thanks.

PS: Since my picture is progressive I did ZigZag & Progressive and at the end I passed it through restreamer to set it Progressive again.

SP3 set all flags as per DVD spec, so if you do it for DVD authoring than don't change anything with Restremer as you end up with non-compliant streams.
For progressive sources (specially film based) SP3 is unbeatable.
For interlaced I prefer CarbonCoder results, but it's not strictly DVD compliant.
Not sure why you have problems. Save profile which disables all processing and than apply it to the whole stream. In some cases SP3 can look worse than some other encoders, which tend to soften whole picture. Play with Activity, Luma, Residue settings.

[baly]

Hi kolak,
quick question.
When you apply the picture setting (to the main screen) do you just set it to the first Timecode
or to the whole list (if I have chapter points)? I was setting it to the first only.

[kolak]

To the whole list and if you have many chapters this is annoying as you have to do it manually.

[baly]

Cool! Maybe that's where the problem is.
I will try it to the whole list and get back with results!
Thank you!

[baly]

Now that I set the 'Picture' settings to all the chapters,
in restream the 'Frametype Progressive' is NOT checked.
Will that be a problem? Shall I check that and the 'Progressive Sequence' also?

Thanks!

[kolak]

Set CCE to progressive frame type and than you should have frame type=progressive, but progressive sequence should not be set for DVD to 1! It will work, but DVD spec requires it to be set to 0, so don't try to fix it with Restream. As I said- SP3 is 100% complaint with DVD spec, no fix is ever needed! There is no other more DVD strict encoder on the planet, so don't try to correct it if you want DVD compliant files.

[srfscenar]

Originally Posted by kolak

To the whole list and if you have many chapters this is annoying as you have to do it manually.

No need to manually set it to all chapters.
All you have to do is set it to the first and the rest will follow that.
I quote part of the CCE manual:
'For example,
if Animation 3: Normal is selected as a picture setting at the first
marker and no setting is specified at other markers, Animation 3:
Normal is applied for all frames.'

[kolak]

Not sure about it. Maybe it has changed in latest update. It definitely wasn't like that. It was using default one for chapters without any specific settings.

[srfscenar]

Well, what I meant (and the manual meant) is that you apply your setting to the first marker, i.e. frame 0)
and that will be applied to the rest unless you set a different setting to another marker.
That makes sense in case you need a different setting for a different part of your movie.
At least it works for me?
Maybe someone else can clear out our difference?!