Is there any value in using MPEG-II for VHS transfers? As far as I can see it isn't as MPEG-1 is about the same quality as VHS anyway - MPEG-II seems to be wasted. The reason for asking is that MPEG-I takes 1/3 the time to code (from AVI) on TMPGEnc. I did a 90 minute movie yesterday and it took 12 hours on a 2.5Mhz PIII - 12 hours! Better result than WINAVI, however, which took an hour. I have an MPEG-I encode running at the moment, B&W film, and TMPGEnc indicates 4 hours, which is wearable.
The problem is a compatiblity issue. For the largest compatiblity use mpeg2. mpeg1 is a vcd standard that not many players will accept and is a lower quality bitrate.
Good point - but does that matter after you've converted the mpgeg file to a DVD structure on hard disk ready for burning? Or are mpeg characteristics carried through to the VOB files? As an aside, I can play VCDs and SVCDs OK on my stand-alone DVD player - I did these before I got a DVD burner, so this is probably not an issue for me anyway, although it may be for some.
Your issue seems more with how slow tmpgenc is, especially at higher quality settings, and not which mpeg to use. For compatibility, use mpeg-2, then purchase a better encoder. Mainconcept, Canopus Procoder Express, CCE, et al. They're all at least 3x faster than tmpgenc.
Thanks for the tip. I tried Mainconcept and it is certainly 3x faster than TMPGCEnc. Nice program, but not quite what I'm looking for. For me however TMPGCEnc has useful features (and using them no doubt slows it down) - ability to normalise audio (good when audio is weak), ability to trim the clip, noise reduction, and various adjustments like gamma, colour balance. Leaving aside speed, does MPEG-II markedly improve quality over MPEG-I when transferring from VHS? If not I might as well stick to MOEG-I.
To my eyes, I can see the difference between the higher bitrate mpeg 2 vs. lower bitrate mpeg 1. Plus I know I have at least archived to a decent bitrate that may at some future date be useful when new encoding software arrives. Thus, allowing new NLE techniques to be implemented. That's my hope anyways.
Nobody should be using filters in an encoder. If your clips need extensive filtering, learn how to frameserve from virtualdub or avisynth to the encoder. That way, you can use Mainconcept for the speed, and still get the filtering needed to clean up video, normalize audio etc... For avi's, I frameserve everything to Mainconcept or Canopus Procoder. I even frameserve some captured mpegs using virtualdubmod.
