DVD-RB questions and HCEncoder's ini

[cendrik]

Using DVD-RB Free version .96

1. When placing (and renaming) the latest version of HC Encoder file in the "C:\Program Files\DVD-RB\Encoders\HC Encoder" folder do I replace the previous HC.ini also?

Original HC.ini contains:
*BIAS 20

New HC.ini contains:
*BITRATE 4000
*FRAMES 1 0
*MATRIX mpeg

2. Does the pro version of DVD-RB control Hc Encoder better to produce a better (generally speaking) quality result? Or does the free version end result pretty much the same quality? I know the pro version has more options but what about the bottom line... is the output the same quality?

3. Has anyone compared results of Recode 2 compared to HC Encoder? Or how does Recode 2 compare to other high end encoders like CCE?


Thanks.

[UncasMS]

the output quality of different encoders do not change when using free or pro

optional settings can of course have an influence on the overall quality

since i do not consider recode2 way different to the results you can achieve with shrink the answer is: encoders like hc can provide better quality especially when it comes to heavy data reduction

i have compared many transcoders and encoders in this thread:

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=57235

[cendrik]

Thanks, but what about the .ini file? does it matter?

[UncasMS]

dont worry about the ini file and overwrite it

the content of hc.ini depends on the settings you choose in rebuilder
thus rb will alter the hc.ini

[laserfan]

Yes, as I've watched DVD-RB do its thing, it creates an HC.INI file afresh for each program segment that it encodes. I think the INI file that is adjacent to the HCbatch executable is ignored altogether.

[rahzel]

old thread, but i compared the output of the free version of DVD-RB with HC encoder, and the Pro version of DVD-RB with HC, and the output looks different. i noticed DVD-RB ignores HC's ini file, and it has its own settings for HC Encoder, while the free version seems to use HC's encoder. ive also noticed that when HC is encoding, the "arguments" are different when using DVD-RB free and the Pro version.

[ed klein]

Rahzel,
I agree with what you said, I have noticed the same thing.

I hope with the forthcoming DVD-RB 098 free version, it will include the latest HC018 encoder. And the 098 version will be able to determine if it needs both or one of the current HC018 files, (HCenc-018, HCgui-018 files) to be included in the download of DVD-RB 098.

Also, I have found DVD-RB 097 version which is supposed to include HC017 to be extremely difficult to open the HC017 encoder no matter where it is located in the directory or anywhere on the computer.

For me, it is easier to load the d2v file created by DGIndex directly into HC018 and output the m2v file to where I want. The one button thing in DVD-RB is useless as far as I am concerned.

dgmpgd (DGIndex), DVD-RB, and HC018 need to communicate much better with each other, than they currently do, in order to work properly together.
Currently, dgmpgd version 1.4.7 beta7 (DGIindex inside) won't even open the latest HC018 with the d2v file.

[linx05]

Just download the latest HCenc and save it over the one in the HCenc folder (should be named HCBatch). Then you have the latest version (0.18) for the free version.

[rahzel]

i noticed something else rather odd...

i used DVD-RB free (no install version), DVD-RB free (install version) and DVD-RB pro. The DVD-RB free, no install version was actually the closest to the source, while DVD-RB install version and DVD-RB Pro were identical. the same settings were used, (same default matrix, which i believe is MPEG standard, no filters and all set to BEST). at first i thought it was because the free, no install version uses a VBR Bias of 0, but i tried setting the VBR Bias to 0 in the other versionso f DVD-RB, but the output was still different.

i wonder why DVD-RB Pro and DVD-RB install version differ from DVD-RB free no install, and IMO, looked the best. i compared 3 different screenshots, of 3 different scences (some high bitrate scenes, and some low bitrate scenes).

[Dashiell]

HCEnc Max Bitrate

This looked like the right place to ask this question...


How does one set the Max Bitrate when using HC on DVD-RB Pro 1.09.3? I can't seem to find the setting anywhere...

[jdobbs]

i noticed something else rather odd...

i used DVD-RB free (no install version), DVD-RB free (install version) and DVD-RB pro. The DVD-RB free, no install version was actually the closest to the source, while DVD-RB install version and DVD-RB Pro were identical. the same settings were used, (same default matrix, which i believe is MPEG standard, no filters and all set to BEST). at first i thought it was because the free, no install version uses a VBR Bias of 0, but i tried setting the VBR Bias to 0 in the other versionso f DVD-RB, but the output was still different.

i wonder why DVD-RB Pro and DVD-RB install version differ from DVD-RB free no install, and IMO, looked the best. i compared 3 different screenshots, of 3 different scences (some high bitrate scenes, and some low bitrate scenes).

You need to look at it again. There is no difference between the install/no install versions and they will create bit-for-bit exactly the same output.

[jdobbs]

This looked like the right place to ask this question...


How does one set the Max Bitrate when using HC on DVD-RB Pro 1.09.3? I can't seem to find the setting anywhere...

MAX_BITRATE can be set in the "[Options]" area of the INI file. Raising it is risky and may cause a non-compliant stream or video "stutter" during playback.

[Dashiell]

MAX_BITRATE can be set in the "[Options]" area of the INI file. Raising it is risky and may cause a non-compliant stream or video "stutter" during playback.

Sorry to sound like such a noob, J, but I can't find this ini file anywhere. Is it in the DVD-RBPRO directory, or the HC Encoder directory? I've checked both... do I access it from the options tab in RB?

[jdobbs]

The way it works depends on your version. In the Pro version an INI is created each time the encode is executed. In the freeware version the parameters are passed to HC on the command line. You can't modify either of them. This is purposeful. DVD-RB sets several parameters that have to be set correctly for the encode to reintegrate properly when rebuilding.

If you wanted to change some of the value you could use the ECL file -- since it is used to build the output for HC... but I would not recommend making changes -- as you may end up with oversizing/undersizing or non-compliant video.

[Dashiell]

The way it works depends on your version. In the Pro version an INI is created each time the encode is executed. In the freeware version the parameters are passed to HC on the command line. You can't modify either of them. This is purposeful. DVD-RB sets several parameters that have to be set correctly for the encode to reintegrate properly when rebuilding.

If you wanted to change some of the value you could use the ECL file -- since it is used to build the output for HC... but I would not recommend making changes -- as you may end up with oversizing/undersizing or non-compliant video.

Got ya. On another note, I just purchased CCE Basic for $58. I believe it was you, J, that recommended this encoder wholeheartedly?

I've heard such good things about it... I'm hoping this will solve my issue by itself.