Benefit of external H.264 encoder, if any?
 

I have Sony Vegas and will need to start encoding to H.264 format for downloadable video products. I know Sony Vegas can encode from the timeline to this format, but I also am aware of other encoders available for purchase. Does it benefit me in any way to use a different encoder than the one Vegas uses? If so, which would you suggest and why? My starting format will be AVCHD 1920x1080 and probably scale down to 1280x720. Thanks!

Re: Benefit of external H.264 encoder, if any?
 

If you are authoring blu-ray disks using DVD Architect stick with the built-in encoder because many external encoders are not compatible with DVD Architect. If you want to squeeze more video onto a DVD, then an external encoder such as x264 can give noticeably better quality. In this case you will need a different program to author the DVD, because the files produced by x264 are not compatible with DVD Architect.

Re: Benefit of external H.264 encoder, if any?
 

Hi Eric, thanks for the reply, however, I was not asking about blu-ray or DVD. I am encoding for downloadable video files (not streaming)..In another forum, I was referred to this video:


Seems people like a program called Handbrake so I'm looking into that now...

Re: Benefit of external H.264 encoder, if any?
 

Once you try Handbrake you will never encode to mp4 in Vegas again, visual quality for bit rate/file size is outstanding.