Mainconcept MPEG-2 Decoder in Consumer Editing Software Like Vegas MS 16
 

Just getting started with my project to capture old VHS and 8mm home movies to lossless AVI and would like to keep the AVI files for archival purposes while making a MPEG-2 file as a master copy for viewing on either a computer screen or set top box like Apple TV. I understand from this forum that Mainconcept Reference (or TotalCode Studio) is one of the preferred and best encoders out there for converting AVI to MPEG-2, but the stand-alone desktop application comes with a pretty hefty price tag.

The Mainconcept website includes several references to their codecs being used in commercial editing software, including Adobe Premiere, Corel Video Studio, and Vegas Pro/Movie Studio. I have been playing around with the free trail version of Vegas Movie Studio 16 using some of my initial AVI files, and one of the output/rendering options for exporting files is "Mainconcept MPEG-2". I have attached a screen shot of the Vegas encoding options. Does anyone know if this option will provide the same quality encoding as TotalCode Studio? Is there a reason that the encoder used in the Vegas product would be different that the Mainconcept software?

Attachment 11414

I have not tried the TotalCode Studio trial yet - the few MPEG-2 encodes I did in Vegas Movie Studio look better than ones I have done with Avidemux.

Thanks for the feedback and help.

Mainconcept mpeg2 encoder was for a long time considered the best mpeg2 codec (probably still is).
I still use mainconcept reference v2.2
As far as Sony Vegas is concerned there may be colors convertions involved RGB>YCrCb (= colors less precises in the end, not mainconcept's fault) depending on which kind of files you're working with. I suggest you do tests encoding (color bars, levels) to make sure it's all right.