Experiencing Difficulty Using DVD RB and CCE? If So, Then Ask Your Questions Here.

@jdobbs

Thanks again - and yes, credit should be given where it is due, and thanks to you as well for doing all this work.

Please keep it up.

Will post back and let you know how I get on.

Regards

 

Well it took me awhile to get RB going with HCenc, which I got to say Hank did a great job on, and although I did buy the CCE Basic I do prefer Hanks. Seems all the problem was my AviSynth version, once I installed a previous version all worked fine. Everyone who contributed to this program is tops in my book.

 

I think the only advantage CCE Basic has over HC is speed. It's about twice as fast on my system. But since DVD-RB emphasizes quality over speed, I'm not sure how much of a factor that really is.

 

I agree on the speed part CCE is faster, but IMHO I think HC does a more thorough job. I am sure those who have more expertise may disagree, but I really like the quality of HC over CCE.

 

Can't see that much difference myself, except HC is free and takes about twice as long to do the task compared to CCE. I think free may be the operative word for many. Slow good is all well and good, but at some point one has to realize time has some value, unless you're just running encodes or batches of them when the PC wouldn't normally be in use. Then with CCE you could do twice as many. Can't say I'll go to some of the extremes of getting encode times down that some do, but just using an encoder that has the proven quality along with speed advantages is a "no brainer" for me.

 

Just did Star Trek V doing movie only and used HC with 1 pass and slow encode, total time was 77 minutes from start to finish on the new comp took twice that long on the old one. Am redoing now with CCE on 2 pass to see if there is a difference.

 

Didn't mean to get you started doing time trials there Arniebear. We've gone into that before. Different processors and systems give different times. But so far, from the experience of those using both HC and CCE, the general consensus is that HC takes significantly longer to do the task. That has been stated by the author of RB as well.

 

arniebear

Quality reports can sometimes be subjective and your point of view is as good as anyones, so let them disagree. HC is free and because it's free it makes RB Pro one hell of good deal.

 

Good point Sophocles... So why give them? LOL Subjective reports that is. Seriously though, most people have reported both HC and CCE as being good. Their benefits and drawbacks have already been stated; HC is good, but slow, it's free though; CCE is good, relatively faster than the other supported transcoders, but it is retail. It's just up to the users whether they want to put up with the wasted time.

Hardware is only good for whatever it's lifespan amounts to, variable I know. However, using it at high output for encoding constantly, one is using a lot of processing time for the particular endeavor. Then look at the effective work done with the equipment. Just looking at 1000 hrs for RB/HC, you have RB/CCE doing the same amount of work in about 666 hrs or less (if you only see a 1/3 time improvement with CCE over HC. Thats at least 14 days (probably over 20 or more in most cases) that the processor is working at full capacity; 24 hours per day. Just think how fast you use up the usable lifespan of any processor that way. Sometimes spending a few bucks saves some money in the long run. Now if constantly grinding away with the processor maxed out doesn't matter, by all means batch at night and use the free HC. If I'm doing a lot of batches, I'd still prefer to get 4 or 5 encodes in than settling for 2, maybe 3, in the same time frame. If one is going to do just the occasional encode, then by all means use the free HC. I'd say don't even spend the money on a donation, but there jdobbs has done a lot of work and he deserves some support for his efforts. You also get the donor (Pro) version which is a good upgrade from the regular public beta. Shameless plug for jdobbs, but he deserves it if you appreciate RB. LOL

 

I just noticed that AFTERDAWN is still listing 0.94 as the latest freeware version. How do you get them to update it?

 

arniebear

I have used DVD-RB and HC Encoder to process a DVD:-

Ripped DVD with DVD Decrypter to HDD.

Then I set up DVD-RB and HC Encoder as per the Rockas installer and instructions and DVD Rebuilder guide from AD.

All in all, the total process of preparation, encoding and rebuild of the 6.9GB DVD took a total of 246 minutes, or 4 hours and six minutes of PC time.

I played the end result using PowerDVD 6 Deluxe, and have seen that the movie is still blocky and pixelates in parts.

Can you please suggest any further improvements, changes or tweaks to the settings in/of DVD-RB, does it usually take this amount of time and can I change any settings of HC Encoder?

Thanks for all your help.

Regards

 

The time depends on your processor, memory, and hard drive speeds, so there isn't really a "right" time. That does seem long though.

What is the name of the disc you are attempting to back up? Also, what settings are you using? My suspicion is that you are doing a series disc and have "steal space from extras" on.

 

@jdobbs

Many thanks for the prompt response:-

My processor is a P4 3.2Ghz with 1GB of RAM - I also have 2 x 7200RPM Western Digital HDD's in this new PC at the moment.

It is not a series' disc - the disc is an Indian film/Bollywood movie, and if you know/don't know, these films are long as they range from 2 to 3 upto 4 hours in length at most.

Can these still be backed up successfully using DVD-RB and HC Encoder?

I do not know what settings I should be using as it is my first time using DVD-RB and HC.

Could you please advise about settings and also - what does "steal space from extras" do and what setting should I have this on?

Any other settings that I should use with DVD-RB?

Thanks again for all your help.

Regards

 

@Happy37

I had some problems with HC when I first started using it, but that was because I had the AviSynth beta ver installed. I went back to the previous ver of 2.55 or 2.54 and the bad output disappeared. Do not know if this is your problem, but thought I would give my two cents.

 

@Happy37

What reduction level (percentage) and bitrates are DVD-RB reporting as necessary to fit on the output?

 

@arniebear

I've downloaded AviSynth 2.55.exe - how do I go about using this with DVD-RB and HC Encoder?

Please let me know.

@jdobbs

The reduction percentage reported by DVD-RB was 61%, and the bitrate was reported as 2,600kb, and the maximum was reported as being 7,700kb.

Hope this helps.

Thanks and regards once again.

 

Yes. Normally that would be plenty to provide reasonably clear encoding...

 

@jdobbs

Thanks again for the reply - please let me know about any settings that I need to use and or change for DVD-RB and HC Encoder to work to achieve clear encoding without pixelisation.

Thanks again

 

For the best output for any project, the best you can do is edit out all but the movie itself. That way you're wasting no space at all on extras or menus. You can even clip the titles. DVDRemake or something similar will do the task. If you have RB Pro you can select Movie Only or Movie with Menus. I'm not sure of the options on the regular beta nowadays. Also, if you want more speed, I'd suggest moving to the CCE encoder.

I'm just curious as to the quality of the original as you're not really pushing the envelope with the size you're trying to compress. I've done the big blockbuster movies without problem on several occasions. Pixelation has yet to be a problem and I view movies on a 60 inch screen. BigO recently put in a projector system and he says that RB with CCE is the only encoder that won't leave background problems with the big movies. HC is supposed to be as good as CCE with the exception of speed. So HC should be a viable option as long as speed isn't of the essence. I commented on that before. If you do a lot of encodes, the time saved may be worth the $59 cost of CCE Basic.