what is "typical video in the industry" like? at DVinfo.net

Nawaf Alali · November 27th, 2003, 02:18 AM

hello everyone,
Me and my partner (a music composer) are thinking to make our movies (short films) with Dolby Digital. After some reading/researching, we found the requirements to use the Dolby Digital Trailers in our movie (from Dolby Digital website). one of them was:

"The video program must be encoded using a high-quality MPEG-2 video encoder, and the resulting picture quality must be comparable to or better than that typically available within the industry."

ok. what is a video that is comparable to the ones in the industry? Do they mean shooting with Film or HD? Or they value the content?

I will be using:
XL1s, Premiere Pro, After Effects, probably Magic Bullit... just to make the video as good looking as possible..
Is that enough?

Jeff Donald · November 27th, 2003, 07:01 AM

The camera is fine. You're going to need very high quality encoders to make the MPEG 2 signal. Most software only encoders will not produce extremely high quality images. Hardware encoders are expensive, but produce a much better image and are much quicker.

Runs some short tests with your video equipment and MPEG 2 encoder to check the image quality. If you see artifacts from motion and compression you will need to review your hardware and software.

Nawaf Alali · November 27th, 2003, 08:00 AM

hhhmmm... so what are my options for a good encoder, besides the one that comes with Premiere ? even if it costs few extra bucks

Chris Hurd · November 27th, 2003, 11:08 AM

See the Canopus line of encoders, widely regarded as some of the best in the industry.

http://www.canopus.us/US/products/In..._2_capture.asp

Glenn Chan · November 27th, 2003, 11:40 AM

TMPGENC is a good encoder for a low price.

For short films you can use the maximum bitrate (minimal compression) to get very good quality. You might want to try Premiere's encoder first to see if it's good enough.

Jon Yurek · November 30th, 2003, 10:48 AM

Yeah, you don't NEED high quality hardware MPEG2 encoders, although they are nice and they do their thing much faster. When I recently put my movie out to DVD, encoding the feature took approximately 4.5 hours for a 1.75 hour movie. However, the resulting video looks amazing on my TV. Even the extras, which we encoded at exactly half the bitrate and encoded at 352x480 instead of 720x480, look pretty damned good.

We used TMPGEnc Plus 2.5 and modified some of the default wizard parameters. It's quite a decent encoder, although because it's software, it's going to be slow. That's really your only problem with them (although the speed of hardware ones also means you can do other things like noise reduction and still come in faster than software, so it may look better).

The Dolby warning was about picture quality, and as long as you take steps to make sure your video doesn't look like VHS or some guy's home movie off the net with MPEG blocks half the screen wide, you'll be fine.

Rob Lohman · December 2nd, 2003, 06:11 PM

Some very good software encoders (in order of quality):

1. Canopus ProCoder
2. CCE (CinemaCraft encoder)
3. TMPGEnc

Especially CCE but also TMPGEnc have quite the learning curve.
There are lot of tutorials for these packages on the web due
to them being used a lot in DVD ripping.

Aaron Koolen · December 2nd, 2003, 07:13 PM

Noone's mentioned the MainConcept MPG2 encoder (included in Vegas also). Does it suck?

Aaron

Rob Lohman · December 2nd, 2003, 07:20 PM

Well it is all personal ofcourse. I haven't had the time to truly
test it. I just heard from a lot of people whom I trust that those
3 are some of the best (standalone) software encoders out
there.

From a couple of tests the Vegas encoder looked fine as well
indeed. Go with whatever floats your boat.

November 27th, 2003, 02:18 AM	#1
Nawaf Alali Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Kuwait, Kuwait Posts: 100	what is "typical video in the industry" like? hello everyone, Me and my partner (a music composer) are thinking to make our movies (short films) with Dolby Digital. After some reading/researching, we found the requirements to use the Dolby Digital Trailers in our movie (from Dolby Digital website). one of them was: "The video program must be encoded using a high-quality MPEG-2 video encoder, and the resulting picture quality must be comparable to or better than that typically available within the industry." ok. what is a video that is comparable to the ones in the industry? Do they mean shooting with Film or HD? Or they value the content? I will be using: XL1s, Premiere Pro, After Effects, probably Magic Bullit... just to make the video as good looking as possible.. Is that enough?

November 27th, 2003, 07:01 AM	#2
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	The camera is fine. You're going to need very high quality encoders to make the MPEG 2 signal. Most software only encoders will not produce extremely high quality images. Hardware encoders are expensive, but produce a much better image and are much quicker. Runs some short tests with your video equipment and MPEG 2 encoder to check the image quality. If you see artifacts from motion and compression you will need to review your hardware and software. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

November 27th, 2003, 11:08 AM	#4
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,366 Images: 513	See the Canopus line of encoders, widely regarded as some of the best in the industry. http://www.canopus.us/US/products/In..._2_capture.asp __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

December 2nd, 2003, 06:11 PM	#7
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	Some very good software encoders (in order of quality): 1. Canopus ProCoder 2. CCE (CinemaCraft encoder) 3. TMPGEnc Especially CCE but also TMPGEnc have quite the learning curve. There are lot of tutorials for these packages on the web due to them being used a lot in DVD ripping. __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

December 2nd, 2003, 07:13 PM	#8
Aaron Koolen Trustee Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 1,727	Noone's mentioned the MainConcept MPG2 encoder (included in Vegas also). Does it suck? Aaron __________________ My Website Meat Free Media

November 27th, 2003, 08:00 AM	#3
Nawaf Alali Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Kuwait, Kuwait Posts: 100	hhhmmm... so what are my options for a good encoder, besides the one that comes with Premiere ? even if it costs few extra bucks

November 27th, 2003, 11:40 AM	#5
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	TMPGENC is a good encoder for a low price. For short films you can use the maximum bitrate (minimal compression) to get very good quality. You might want to try Premiere's encoder first to see if it's good enough.

November 30th, 2003, 10:48 AM	#6
Jon Yurek Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Worcester, MA Posts: 64	Yeah, you don't NEED high quality hardware MPEG2 encoders, although they are nice and they do their thing much faster. When I recently put my movie out to DVD, encoding the feature took approximately 4.5 hours for a 1.75 hour movie. However, the resulting video looks amazing on my TV. Even the extras, which we encoded at exactly half the bitrate and encoded at 352x480 instead of 720x480, look pretty damned good. We used TMPGEnc Plus 2.5 and modified some of the default wizard parameters. It's quite a decent encoder, although because it's software, it's going to be slow. That's really your only problem with them (although the speed of hardware ones also means you can do other things like noise reduction and still come in faster than software, so it may look better). The Dolby warning was about picture quality, and as long as you take steps to make sure your video doesn't look like VHS or some guy's home movie off the net with MPEG blocks half the screen wide, you'll be fine.

December 2nd, 2003, 07:20 PM	#9
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	Well it is all personal ofcourse. I haven't had the time to truly test it. I just heard from a lot of people whom I trust that those 3 are some of the best (standalone) software encoders out there. From a couple of tests the Vegas encoder looked fine as well indeed. Go with whatever floats your boat. __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors