Video Encoder/Converter Recommendation
Grinder
multiple formats, but especially DVD video and MP4.
Up to this point I've been using TMPGEnc Xpress 3, and have been fairly
happy with it. I like the moderate amount of control that it offers,
and that it mostly just works. There are some exceptions, like with
6-channel sound, but it's largely been workable.
Now that I'm running Windows 7 64-bit, it no longer works predictably.
I can upgrade to Xpress 4, but I see that they're only claiming that the
"program starts" in 64-bit versions of windows. I'll be trying the
trial, but want to see if there's something out there I'm missing.
Ken Maltby
"Grinder" <gri...@no.spam.maam.com> wrote in message
news:t1KMm.134682$5n1.115490@attbi_s21...
I've been using TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress with 64-bit XP for
some time now and it runs well. I tried Windows 7 Pro 64,
but I couldn't get my Intensity Pro card to run properly under
Windows 7, so I ended up back with 64-bit XP Pro. I did
not get to the point of trying 4.0 XPress under Win 7, so I
can't say for sure that it performs as well under that as it does
under Win XP Pro 64-bit.
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit has some neat features and generally
ran well, but I really need my Intensity Pro card, on this system.
(The way it worked out with Win 7 is the second big
disappointment with my recent attempted upgrades, the
SpursEngine card as the other.)
If you are using the 4.0 XPress trial, in your Win 7 system,
that should give you a good idea of how it well work .
I have several other options and I use 4.0 XPress for my
transcoding of 720p HD MPEG2 to SD AVC/H.264 .mp4.
Luck;
Ken
Grinder
The trial has performed will in a couple of tasks, but it troubles me
that Pegasys has not tested Xpress4 with Vista 64-bit. Or, if they
have, they haven't let us in on what they've found.
> I have several other options and I use 4.0 XPress for my
> transcoding of 720p HD MPEG2 to SD AVC/H.264 .mp4.
It looks good to me as well. Thanks for your insights.
jmc
SNIP
> (The way it worked out with Win 7 is the second big
> disappointment with my recent attempted upgrades, the
> SpursEngine card as the other.)
>
> If you are using the 4.0 XPress trial, in your Win 7 system,
> that should give you a good idea of how it well work .
>
> I have several other options and I use 4.0 XPress for my
> transcoding of 720p HD MPEG2 to SD AVC/H.264 .mp4.
>
> Luck;
> Ken
>
>
Am very interested in the issues you had with the
SpursEngine card. I am interested in buying one.
Was thinking of sticking it in one of my old dual
core machines and letting it churn away.
$289 gets TMPGEnc 4X and the Spurs software
license ($150 value). Just the card was about
$180 something and I would have to buy the Spurs
license.
So what's the bad news on the Spurs Engine card?
(am also planning on going to W7x64 but dual
booting with XP)
Thanks,
jmc
Smarty
Ken,
I'm wondering if the Leadtek SpursEngine card has proven to be of
significant benefit for doing the MPEG2<-->MP4 conversions?
Thanks for any opinions / comments.
Ken Maltby
"Smarty" <nob...@nobody.com> wrote in message
news:xn0ghu1a5...@reader443.eternal-september.org...
> Ken Maltby wrote:
>>
>> I've been using TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress with 64-bit XP for
>> some time now and it runs well. I tried Windows 7 Pro 64,
>> but I couldn't get my Intensity Pro card to run properly under
>> Windows 7, so I ended up back with 64-bit XP Pro. I did
>> not get to the point of trying 4.0 XPress under Win 7, so I
>> can't say for sure that it performs as well under that as it does
>> under Win XP Pro 64-bit.
>>
>> Windows 7 Pro 64-bit has some neat features and generally
>> ran well, but I really need my Intensity Pro card, on this system.
>>
>> (The way it worked out with Win 7 is the second big
>> disappointment with my recent attempted upgrades, the
>> SpursEngine card as the other.)
>>
>> If you are using the 4.0 XPress trial, in your Win 7 system,
>> that should give you a good idea of how it well work .
>>
>> I have several other options and I use 4.0 XPress for my
>> transcoding of 720p HD MPEG2 to SD AVC/H.264 .mp4.
>>
>> Luck;
>> Ken
>
>
> Ken,
>
> I'm wondering if the Leadtek SpursEngine card has proven to be of
> significant benefit for doing the MPEG2<-->MP4 conversions?
>
> Thanks for any opinions / comments.
>
I can speak to the MPEG2 > MP4 part. The short answer
is that the current single pass encoding can't match the quality
of 4.0 XPress's two pass VBR "MainConcept" software
encoding. It is much faster of course, and the quality hit might
be acceptable, or even not apparent, for some uses (like for
embedded web video or for small screen portable devices)
but won't work for making my "high density SD" [my own
term], that I playback at 720p.
There are some factors particular to my workflow that may
be impacting on my results, though. So I'm a little reluctant to
pass judgment, based on just my results. For one thing I am
feeding it 1280x1440 MPEG 2 and having it encode to SD
720x480 progressive AVC. For doing this the card was of
no value, providing inferior results.
For many, the card's SD > HD features ( the opposite of
what I'm doing ) would be more to their benefit. I haven't
had an occasion to try them out yet.
I am hoping that the SpursEngine firmware can and will be
adapted to allow a two pass VBR encoding, at some future
date.
The Leadtek card could be just the thing for many, just not
for me.
For JMC;
I haven't tried it with Windows7, but I guess the Vista drivers
would let it work in Win7.
At some point I will have recovered enough from my Win7
upgrade debacle (Mostly self inflicted.), to give the dual boot
idea a shot. Or maybe I will hear the Blackmagic Design has
a new "Win7 compatable" driver set, that actually works.
(My Intensity Pro card runs fine under the 3.0 in x64 XP, but
the DirectShow filters in the 3.3.2, won't work under Win7.)
Luck;
Ken
Frank
in article <Re: Video Encoder/Converter Recommendation>,
"Ken Maltby" <kma...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> At some point I will have recovered enough from my Win7
>upgrade debacle (Mostly self inflicted.), to give the dual boot
>idea a shot. Or maybe I will hear the Blackmagic Design has
>a new "Win7 compatable" driver set, that actually works.
>(My Intensity Pro card runs fine under the 3.0 in x64 XP, but
>the DirectShow filters in the 3.3.2, won't work under Win7.)
>
> Luck;
> Ken
Ken, this may be a stupid question on my part, but have you tried the
Intensity Version 3.4 software? Blackmagic Design says that 3.4
supports both the Intensity and the Intensity Pro under Windows 7 x64.
Perhaps some of the information in their ReadMe file, reproduced
below, is relevant to your situation.
"Installing Intensity Software
If you had a previous version of the Intensity software installed, use
the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel for Windows XP or use
Programs and Features control panel in Windows Vista and Windows 7 to
remove it before installing this version, and restart.
Double click the Intensity installer and follow the instructions that
appear. See the Intensity User Manual for more detailed instructions.
During the installation process, Windows might show three warning
messages saying the driver has not been certified by Microsoft. In
this case, select "Continue Anyway" so you complete installation of
the software correctly.
After the main installation, (if you have an Intensity card and are
not just installing the codecs) Windows will show the Found New
Hardware wizard for the Intensity Audio Device. Select "install
automatically" and the system will find the audio drivers. Select
"Continue Anyway" again if Windows shows the uncertified driver
warning. You will then receive another dialog bubble saying "your new
hardware is ready for use."
If you plug an Intensity card in after installing the software or
install more third-party software with which Intensity integrates, use
the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel to Repair the Intensity
software installation. Also use Repair if you move your card to a
different slot."
Regards,
--
Frank, Independent Consultant, New York, NY
[Please remove 'nojunkmail.' from address to reply via e-mail.]
Read Frank's thoughts on HDV at http://www.humanvalues.net/hdv/
(also covers AVCHD and XDCAM EX).
Ken Maltby
"Frank" <fr...@nojunkmail.humanvalues.net> wrote in message
news:qifcg59g94rabopc0...@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:36:54 -0600, in 'rec.video.desktop',
> in article <Re: Video Encoder/Converter Recommendation>,
> "Ken Maltby" <kma...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
>> At some point I will have recovered enough from my Win7
>>upgrade debacle (Mostly self inflicted.), to give the dual boot
>>idea a shot. Or maybe I will hear the Blackmagic Design has
>>a new "Win7 compatable" driver set, that actually works.
>>(My Intensity Pro card runs fine under the 3.0 in x64 XP, but
>>the DirectShow filters in the 3.3.2, won't work under Win7.)
>>
>> Luck;
>> Ken
>
> Ken, this may be a stupid question on my part, but have you tried the
> Intensity Version 3.4 software? Blackmagic Design says that 3.4
> supports both the Intensity and the Intensity Pro under Windows 7 x64.
>
I don't know when they posted that version, but it wasn't there
last week. It figures that it would come out after I had rebuilt the
XP install. I will try it out on XP and then try it with the drive that
has my Win7 Pro x64 on it. Thanks for the heads up.
Luck;
Ken
jmc
SNIP
> I am hoping that the SpursEngine firmware
can and will be
> adapted to allow a two pass VBR encoding, at some future
> date.
>
> The Leadtek card could be just the thing for many, just not
> for me.
>
> For JMC;
>
> I haven't tried it with Windows7, but I guess the Vista drivers
> would let it work in Win7.
>
>
>
> At some point I will have recovered enough from my Win7
> upgrade debacle (Mostly self inflicted.), to give the dual boot
> idea a shot. Or maybe I will hear the Blackmagic Design has
> a new "Win7 compatable" driver set, that actually works.
> (My Intensity Pro card runs fine under the 3.0 in x64 XP, but
> the DirectShow filters in the 3.3.2, won't work under Win7.)
>
> Luck;
> Ken
>
>
Ouch, no 2 pass encoding in Spurs Engine.
That is a tough one as i find 1 pass ok for 90
plus percent of the tv show but then there will be
those little bits of distortion here and there on
someone's face especially if the camera moves a
little that 2 pass does not have.
Sometimes I think... it encodes twice as fast I
can live with those little flaws.
And then (no I can't not when I know I could have
stopped them).
Guess I'll have to download the Spurs manual every
now and then to see if
they have started supporting 2 pass var. encoding
yet.
Thanks,
jmc
Ken Maltby
"Ken Maltby" <kma...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:Or2dnW3Do6HM5pvW...@giganews.com...
>
> "Frank" <fr...@nojunkmail.humanvalues.net> wrote in message
> news:qifcg59g94rabopc0...@4ax.com...
>>> At some point I will have recovered enough from my Win7
>>>upgrade debacle (Mostly self inflicted.), to give the dual boot
>>>idea a shot. Or maybe I will hear the Blackmagic Design has
>>>a new "Win7 compatable" driver set, that actually works.
>>>(My Intensity Pro card runs fine under the 3.0 in x64 XP, but
>>>the DirectShow filters in the 3.3.2, won't work under Win7.)
>>>
>>> Luck;
>>> Ken
>>
>> Ken, this may be a stupid question on my part, but have you tried the
>> Intensity Version 3.4 software? Blackmagic Design says that 3.4
>> supports both the Intensity and the Intensity Pro under Windows 7 x64.
>>
>
> I don't know when they posted that version, but it wasn't there
> last week. It figures that it would come out after I had rebuilt the
> XP install. I will try it out on XP and then try it with the drive that
> has my Win7 Pro x64 on it. Thanks for the heads up.
>
> Luck;
> Ken
>
I am getting the same capture problems (mostly audio
breakup and loss of sync) with 3.4 on XP that I had
with 3.3.2 in Win7. Reverting back to 3.0 seems to
fix the problem in XP, ( I don't remember if I tried that
in Win7). One thing I noticed, in going both directions
the installers required a firmware update. (Makes me
wonder if it is the firmware that is making the difference
and not the software drivers. )
Luck;
Ken
Smarty
--
Thanks Ken. Kinda' disappointing since the most likely market for this
Leadtek card and the Edius SpursEngine card are most likely to be
rather serious professionals who put an appropriately high premium of
quality. This is also true for the TMPG Express 4 buyer who purchases
and uses the SpursEngine plug-in. I would hope that the firmware
evolves to support the truly serious user rather than offering an
accelerator catering to the iPod crowd. Thanks for the info.
Smarty