What is the cutoff bitrate level for CCE?

I have backed up alot of movies in my life with CCE SP.

With all this controversy I have read up on about CCE performing poorly with low bitrate levels, I figured it was time to purchase Procoder 3 as alot of individuals have suggested.

Yesterday I was backing up King Kong, with the main movie, and menus. The movie is about 3 hours and seven minutes long and had a compression ratio of 50.2% in DVD RB and a bitrate level of 3300-2600. I figured it was the perfect time for me to try out Procoder, and to my likings, it produced a beautiful masterpiece.

Now at the moment, I am in the process of backing up the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and I am kind of stumped what encoder I should use. Fellowship has a 54.7% compression ratio with virtually the same bitrate levels as King Kong (3300-2600).

My main question is, what should be the cut off bitrate or compression ratio to stop using CCE as Procoder will produce a better quality movie?

Should I just let anything under 60% compressed (40%) go through procoder?

I still use CCE because I've read that it does tend to keep the images sharper than Procoder at higher bitrate levels, so I will continue to use it, and only use procoder for those long, huge compression movies.

 

UPDATE-----

Just encoded LOTR fellowship with Procoder 3 on Mastering setting using DVD-RB.Quality was actually pretty good, I was impressed, except for one scene at 51 minutes into the movie where they are in a pub, and the chubby hobbit (forget his name) is talking to Frodo, and I guess there is supposed to be some sort of dark shadow in the top right hand corner, It is all blocky and was completly noticeable on my 37'' LCD from a 15 foot distance from the TV. I was impressed up until that scene, then all my positive impressions suddenly went down the drain. Popped in the original dvd in my bd player and fast forwarded to the exact same scene and there was an obvious difference when switching from both versions on the same tv (backup was playing on my HD DVD player). I read that Procoder does seem to sometimes do this... I will recode a new backup using CCE SP and see what results that gives me.

If CCE fails, I guess I'll have to take out a DL disc and burn a 1:1 backup...

 

I just downloaded HC, what settings do you use in both the program itself and dvd rebuilder?

 

Alright, I am using the default settings for HC, although I did change the settings from Normal to Best.

We'll see how this one turns out...

 

UPDATE 2----

Just encoded new version with HC,Quality was superb, but same scene at 51:31-51:35, look in the top left corner of your screen. HC did a bit better at remove some blocks, but they were still evident.

Check your version to see if you have it too Creaky, because chances are if you used HC, you'll probably have some limited macroblocking in those frames also.

I guess its time to bring out the DL discs..

 

You may want to give some of the different matrices a try such as the AUTO-Q1 and AUTO-Q2 matrices and the use of the bitrate redistribution setting.

 

too late, already used a DL disc.

P.S. Does anyone seem to have this issue with their backup of the fellowship. Both Procoder 3 and now HC gave the exact same problem, HC's being a bit better, but still obvious. Its at 51:31-51:35 in the top left corner.

 

I've done all 3 LOTR movies with bitrate redistribution, HC encoder and the AUTO-Q2 matrix and they look and play great on my 50in. HDTV.

 

alright I am trying that with the two towers right now, How do you know what custom matrix to use and when though, I see there is alot of them.

 

Use the Matrix editor. It even has explanations on some of the matrices and when to use them.

 

Alright I am kind of confused now, I open the Auto Q2 matrix in the tab of the GUI and it says "matrix successfully loaded.

Now what do i do exactly?

 

Make sure it's loaded in the options menu.
Click on Settings and then Options.

 

settings of rebuilder?

 

Yes.
Go to Settings/Options/Advanced(Expert) Options/Quantization Matrices

 

alright, i figured it out, lol...

I wasnt saving the .ini file after changing the matrix to auto Q2 so it would go back to the default settings. But I think it works now. Its preparing right now

 

here is what my ini file looks like


*BITRATE 4000
*AUTOGOP 15
*AQ 1
*CUSTOMMATRIX
8 16 19 22 26 28 32 38
16 16 22 24 28 32 38 44
19 22 26 28 32 38 44 48
22 22 26 32 38 44 48 54
22 26 32 38 44 48 54 64
26 32 38 44 48 54 64 74
32 38 44 48 54 64 74 84
38 44 48 54 64 74 84 94

16 20 24 28 36 42 46 52
20 24 28 36 42 46 52 58
24 28 36 42 46 52 58 62
28 36 42 46 52 58 62 68
36 42 46 52 58 62 68 78
42 46 52 58 62 68 78 88
46 52 58 62 68 78 88 99
52 58 62 68 78 88 99 99


does this appear to be right?

 

Looks good.

 

will report back after watching the backup.