MPEG Encoders Premiere vs DVDWS

[Ted222]

I just did a little mini comparison using the same parameters on Premiere Pro and DVDWS 2.0.

The results were fairly well pronounced on my 60 inch HD TV.

Video was clearer with the DVDWS version.

Audio was much better in the DVDWS version.

9000 VBR

AC3 Audio

Thought a few might find this interesting.....

Ted

[Brian Ellis]

Yes, the new MC encoder on WS2 is great. Pity there isn't a patch to import it into MSP7! I think it more than competes with TMPGEnc, as well.

[DarrenD]

Are you saying that DVDWS2 has an updated encoder different to that in MSP7.01?

I, too, use 9000 VBR and AC3 2/0 256K for my DVDs of my kids. I reckon better quality on more DVDs is what I want rather than ultra-long play time on a DVD. Anyway, swapping discs after an hour is not so bad for this type of content.

I would have thought (hoped) the encoder would install to a common directory. This would mean the encoder would be available to all Ulead programs. I remember on the DMN forums MediaStudio Pro pages that the order of patches was important for this sort of reason.

I have MSP 7.01 VE DVD, DVDWS 1.3 SE and DVDPictureShow 2 SE and want to make sure that I have the best version of the encoder I can get. I installed them in the order of oldest program first on the principle that the newer versions would have the latest common DLLs or whatever:
DVDWS 1.0 SE
DVDWS 1.3 patch
DVDPS 2.0 SE
DVDPS 2.0 patch
MSP 7 VE DVD
MSP 7.01 patch

Have I done the right thing or am I mistaken somewhere.

P.S. Would installing DVDWS 2 trial give me a better encoder?

Thanks for any help.

[Ted222]

Darren,
I got very good results with DVDWS 1.3 also. I have not compared the 2 versions of DVDWS for encoding results..

The only real problem I see with your setup is NO AC3, which is a great enhancement for encoding.

Seems to me that upgrading to DVDWS 2.0 would be the cheapest way to get there for you, the trial version has some limitations (no AC3...etc).

Expensive, but the latest version of DVDWS is very cool.

Ted

[DarrenD]

I do seem to have AC3. I copied someone's MSP.INI file from one of the newsgroups, i.e. PlayAC3=1 etc. I don't know whether the VE edition of MSP7.01 is meant to do it. The options were =0 in my original MSP.INI file.

Also I am in PAL land (UK) so AC3 is not that important if I can't get it, but as I said, it seems to be available.

I verified that it really was AC3 and not MPEG-Layer 2 by creating an MPEG-2 file and played it in PowerDVD. It said the audio was Dolby Digital.

I don't know whether installing MSP after DVDWS was key to this and that if I installed DVDWS after MSP then the encoder files would be those of DVDWS, i.e. no AC3. That was what my original query was about.

I wrote my original post at work, now I am at home. I can see a C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ulead Systems\Mpeg folder with many DLLs in, including AC3AOUT.DLL (version 1.0.0.2) and MPGVOUT.DLL (version 1.1.9.49). I might try and install DVDWS 2 trial in a blank Win2K system (dual-boot) and see if the DLLs are later versions. Is it legal to copy them over my current ones?

[Ted222]

I would think that anything you do to gain features that are not included in your software is probably illegal. My version of the first dll is 1.2.0.0, I didn't check the other one. I do not have MSP 7, only Version 6.5, and NOT on the computer I am using for the comparison.

I could not find a feature listing for MSP 7 VE, but the full version does support AC3.

[DarrenD]

Yeah, that's what I thought about the DLLs (probably illegal) - or is it viewed as a service pack upgrade/fix?

[Brian Ellis]

Originally posted by DarrenD
Are you saying that DVDWS2 has an updated encoder different to that in MSP7.01?

Ooooh! Most definitely.

However, the encoders are integral in the application package, AFAIK, so that updating in one app doesn't update in all.