Mpeg encoding questions
 

I've got a short I shot on a XL-1 and GL-1 both in progressive scan mode. I'm planning to use the short as a professional calling card.

I've got access to a Sony DRU 510a along with Premiere 6.5, Vegas+DVD, Ulead DVD Workshop, Easy CD Creator 6, DVDiT PE and maybe soon Procoder 1.5 (btw, Win XP is my OS). I'd like to do some tests onto a DVD-RW and burn my final product onto a DVD-R. I have been messing with Premiere's mpeg encoder. It seems pretty thorough. Anybody have any setting tips for a professional output through Premiere? Does Premiere's mpeg encoder suck and I just not know it? Any suggestions about the other software I have listed above?

Thanks for your comments


Seth Peterson

I've never looked at Premiere or the Vegas encoder (both use
the MainConcept engine I think). Generally the line of best
encoders seem to be:

1. ProCoder (moderate price)
2. CCE (expensive)
3. TMPGEnc (very cheap)

Keep in mind that the most important thing is how it looks/works
for you and your eye!

Procoder moderately priced?! Jeez, I thought it was expensive @ $600. Wonder what the CCE goes for, I couldn't find a price.

That you can't find a price says enough... It is in the thousands
of dolars range. Trust me, $600 is very moderate especially
since it can convert a whole range of formats (not only mpeg[2]).

If you use main concept go to their web site and get the patch.

It made a world of differance.

Patch? For both Vegas and Premiere? Or...?

Vegas patches to the Main Concept encoder come through Sonic Foundry (i.e. the last update to Vegas and DVDA included an update to the Main Concept encoder)

CCE Basic is only $58. It runs standalone or as a plugin for Premiere, and does a beautiful job of encoding DV footage. It'll only do 2-pass VBR, but I find that fine for my needs. Its fast as hell too.

JP

Are you referring to TMPGEnc?? To my knowledge CCE is a bit
more expensive. Or are you talking about CCE Lite?

There is no more CCE Lite. CCE Basic is a new product, and is a stripped down version of CCE SP which sells for $58. Check out http://www.cinemacraft.com/eng/ccebasic.html for info.

JP

Thanks for bringing that to my/our attention!