What is the best MPEG2 software encoder?

[K3]

Fred H,

I tried the link once again, it works properly. Check your internet settings.

But I tried the ftp address, link exists, but I cannot see anything in ftp folders.
Some ftp servers work similar in my computer and I don't know, what about with the error.

[This message has been edited by K3 (edited 13 July 2000).]

[Fred H]

OK, K3,
because the http link didn't work for me, ("FronPageError, not with me) I contacted the webmaster (in hungarian) and got the ftp sites. Maybe they are quick to fix errors, I don't know, but they are very quick to answer.
The file on one of the ftp-sites is BV.EXE, 1,94 Mb long and I could download it. Don't tested, yet.

[Walrus]

Further note: I have been playing around with the english-patched Beta 11f of TMPEG... So far, no crashes. (after ~ 17 hours of encoding) Now that I have a capture source without frame drops (thanks to an updated AVI_IO) I get perfect A/V synch and REALLY great output out of the product. The only new downside is that the 2-pass VBR mode does not appear to be quite optimal. I set it up to do Variable Bitrate MPEG-1, with a minimum bitrate of 500kbit/sec, maximum of 2200 kbit/sec, and an average of 1200kbit/sec. I think the resulting stream follows the min/max rules, but it's average is more along the lines of 800kbit/sec. (on the other hand, it looks better than CBR VCD) I am still using BBMPEG for multiplexing VBR streams right now, and I will probably return to it once the changes that are being discussed among it's authors are complete, but as of right now it looks as though tMPEG is a more than capable MPEG1/2 encoder (and it's also free!)

[Sciascia]

Walrus--
I understand everything you are talking about until you get to the multiplexing part. Are you talking about the video & audio or taking two video streams and muxing them? I am away from my system right now (business trip), so I can't even try the tsunami MPEG, but am interested in it for several reasons. Is there a web page that gets into all of the procedures of MPEG encoding fairly in depth? That would probably be easier than trying to explain everything to me. Atleast less time consuming on your part. TIA

[Walrus]

Sciascia:
Multiplexing is the process of interleaving the audio and video streams so you have a single file with both audio and video. (eg: taking a video .m1v and an audio .mp2 file and making a .mpg file). As for taking 2 video streams... I could be wrong, but I don't THINK that MPEG specs allows more than 1 video stream, though they do allow multiple audio streams (which is how you can have multiple soundtracks on DVDs). I don't have my ISO MPEG specs handy though, so I could be wrong about multiple video streams.
As for a good webpage for MPEG encoding... There are a slew of pages, but I have never found one that is aimed at describing the whole process adequatly. Either it is a page that is a simple overview explaining in terms so simple that it is virtually useless or it is so specialized that you pretty much have to be an expert to understand it. The best way (IMHO) to learn about MPEG encoding is to try for yourself. Ask questions on forums like this and in the long run you'll learn a lot more than you expect to.

[Walrus]

Sciascia: I think what you are thinking of is what is commonly referred to as variable-bitrate MPEG. The basic idea is that instead of specifying a constant bitrate that you will encode the file in (which as you point out may be inadequate in some parts) you specify a constant quality value, so based on what type of images are being encoded the bitrate fluctuates up or down. The cool thing is that often you can do this in a single pass with only using a single file. The problem with variable bitrate files like this is that sometimes the images are so complex that the bitrate generated is so huge that it goes beyond specifications. (for instance, SVCDs can only have up to ~ 2.7mbit/sec, so any video that uses video beyond that will cause a player to lock up)
Fortunatly, the new build of bbMPEG (which should be out soon) uses a hybrid technique that allows one to specify a constant quality value and a maximum bitrate value, so any images that exceed the bitrate value will be reencoded at the maximum level. I have a feeling this is essentially what you want.

[Sciascia]

Thanks for clearing that up. I thought that you could only use 1 video stream, but I also have read that some encoders will encode twice, I thought maybe there was some way to make two passes, create 2 files and then encode them into one. Of course in my little fantasy world there, the encoder would take the best quality from each file and you would have a nice, clear MPEG file. I know that when encoding with some programs, the settings used will have a large effect on the quality depending on amount of action and detail in each scene, so if there was a way to combine 2 files that were encoded with different settings, theoretically you could have the best of both worlds, since I have never seen a movie with just one type of scene. Of course I am still in my silly little fantasy world...

[K3]

I did many trials with MPEG-1 / MPEG-2 video . I tried several encoders (LIGOS, DV-MPEG, bbMPEG, MS-MPEG4, Panasonic, ...) with various settings and I found the best MPEG-1/MPEG-2 encoder Tsunami MPEG-2 encoder (for me).
Very pretty results I reached by capturing video at 352x576 @ 25 by AVI_IO. I encoded it to 352x576 2400kbps 2-pass VBR MPEG-2 with Tsunami MPEG-2 encoder. The very important thing is set the video as interlaced (if you want to watch it on TV)!!! The results were comparable or even better than VHS video.
With these settings I am able to record 40 min of video to 80min CD-R.
For better quality I recommend to capture at 704x576 @ 25 and encode it with at least 4800kbps 2-pass VBR. The quality of such video is comparable to S-VHS quality or better, and CD-R disc can hold about 15-20 minutes of such video.
So my winner is - Tsunami MPEG-2 encoder.