[MPlayer-users] The best quality OSS mpeg2 encoder?

[Guillaume POIRIER]

Hi,

On 9/9/05, Joe Friedrichsen <pengi.films at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've started to make films recently using linux and I've been trying to
> find the best mpeg2 encoder for making DVD compliant video. After
> reading the news groups for a while, I realized this is one of those
> never-fully-answered, and always-asked questions. I decided to at least
> do some looking around beforehand to help alleviate the eye-rolling.
> 
> First, to find the possible encoder candidates. A few months ago, I
> thought the main encoding utilities were mjpegtools, ffmpeg, transcode,
> and mencoder (please tell me if I missed any leading ones). But reading
> more deeply into the matter has raised a few questions for me. Please
> clarify things for me if you can.
> 
> Transcode
> (http://www.transcoding.org/cgi-bin/transcode?Building_Transcode) and
> more importantly the ffmpeg home page
> (http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/index.php) suggest that ffmpeg is built
> off of (and I suspect develops...?) libavcodec. libavcodec is also used
> by mplayer/mencoder. Given that ffmpeg has admitted having bitrate
> problems with mpeg-2, does that hold true for mencoder? The mplayer docs
> (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/codecs.html#ffmpeg) say that
> mplayer uses ffmpeg's libavcodec (which version?). How intertwined are
> these tools?
> 
> I found a basic comparison between ffmpeg and mpeg2enc here:
> http://www.transcoding.org/cgi-bin/transcode?FFmpeg_Vs._Mpeg2enc
> that confirms ffmpeg's bitrate control problem (and a more brief
> description in the newsgroups:
> http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.video.ffmpeg.user/481). Both pages
> also suggest that transcode can use either ffmpeg/libavcodec or mpeg2enc
> when encoding. Yet, transcode lists neither as a dependency (from what
> I've seen)... Does it include its own libraries from these utilities? If
> so, which versions?
> 
> So, if I'm reading this correctly, the truly 'base' utilities/libraries
> are ffmpeg and mpeg2enc, while transcode and mencoder are
> front-ends/re-branders of sorts. Is this accurate?
> 
> Second, evaluate the encoders. The first step here would be research -
> look for others' work to avoid rehashing known facts. I've done some
> googling and haven't found much quantitative information comparing the
> stream quality of streams encoded by mpeg2enc and libavcodec (the
> FFmpeg_Vs._Mpeg2enc page offers some good starting information, but I
> fear that it's a little old - last edited over a year and a half ago). I
> found another site that compares many other encoders, but libavcodec and
> mpeg2enc aren't included: http://www.tecoltd.com/enctest/enctest.htm .
> Do you know any sites that have done any comparisons? What are your
> personal experiences with the two?
> 
> If comparisons haven't been made, then I should do some. Which are good
> video types to test? What content do I want? I like tecoltd.com's choice
> of fast motion, edges, and details. What types of video will show how
> encoders differ?

Did you read that doc: http://mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/menc-feat-vcd-dvd.html ?

It is supposed to tell you how to set MEncoder/libavcodec up so encode
those kind of contents properly.

Guillaume
-- 
Reading doesn't hurt, really!
 -- Dominik 'Rathann' Mierzejewski