MSPro ADVANCE=1 Compression Settings

[vjbutt]

I have inserted the ADVANCE=1 in the mspro.ini file and now have the advanced button enabled (thanks Doc!). But it seems that the compression settings for VBR encoding is one big mess. There are three places where one can set the bit-rates.

1) The first place is in the "original" dialogue box. It is not clear if this setting is the average bit-rate or the maximum. It should be the average, but apparently it is the maximum.

2) In the first page of the Advanced dialog box, just above the quality setting. Here it is clearly stated that it is the average.

3) In the second page of the Advanced dialog box, where you can adjust the max, average, and min. However, setting these values here, exiting the dialog box and re-entering would reveal that the figures entered have been changed.

It is proving impossible for me to generate a MPEG2 file with the required average bit-rate! Is this just my problem or is this a bug? Is there a workaround?

While at it, I have noticed that after messing around the bit-rate settings a couple of times (and the quality setting), something seems to become broken because all of a sudden MSPRO drastically reduces the encoding time (by two order of magnitudes!) and with the consequential drop in encoding quality. The only way to recover from this problem is to reselect the DVD standard template. What the hell is going on here?

BTW I am using MSPRO 7.01 running under Windows XP PRO +SP1

[Brian Ellis]

Are you sure that you are not seeing some background rendering? MSP will sometimes start rendering "behind the scenes" or take up already rendered parts, so that, when you start a rendering command, it will whizz through what has already been done at a vertiginous speed and then slow done to normal speed when it catches up to what hasn't been rendered. The quality does not suffer, when this happens, but it does save a lot of time.

Please giive us full details (input file properties, duration, standards, MPEG-2 settings and so on). I have never had any problems generating compliant MPEG-2 files.

[Dr Mordrid]

The figure given on the main Compression tab is the maximum VBR bitrate and is reflected on the Advanced/Video Settings page as the maximum VBR bitrate.

The figure given on the Basic Settings page slider is the average VBR bitrate as refleced on the Advanced/Video settings page as the average VBR bitrate.

If you set a maximum bitrate in the Compression tab or the Video Settings page MSPro will automatically select an appropriate average bitrate that will be reflected on both the Basic Settings and Video Settings pages.

If, on the other hand, you set an average bitrate on the Basic Settings page MSPro will choose a maximim bitrate to match it.

Once defined in this way the settings will stick.

I know; I wish they had stuck with MainConcepts way of doing it which is to just let you enter whatever you want in the Video Settings page and leave it at that.

Suggestion 505 for MSPro8.....

Dr. Mordrid