MainConcept MPEG-2 Encoder in Premiere CS4 Vs Standalone
 

Hi All,

I have Premiere CS4, which comes with MainConcept encoder for encoding after editing (via Adobe Media Encoder)

Is this built-in encoder, inferior in any aspect to the standalone MainConcept encoder that is available separately?

I am not too satisfied with picture quality of the in-built encoder.

Are free encoder like HcEnc definitely inferior to the paid ones (such as MainConcept & Procoder)?

Regards

Ok. Let me respond to myself for one of the questions I asked. The following post answered the question on free encoders like HcEnc.

http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...facts-dvd.html

Generally inferior, yes -- and often by quite a bit.

MainConcept has their own standalone version (Reference), with many tweaks available to encoding parameters. And then they have an SDK (software developer kit) version, used by software developers like Adobe, Sony Pictures, Ulead/Corel, and others. How feature-rich or stripped it is depends on the limits of the SDK license, as well as the choices of the software makers. Adobe Premiere CS4 was really the first version of the MainConcept SDK that was pretty feature-rich, and could be customized quite a bit. I've been using MainConcept since the earliest versions, both as standalone and in Premiere.

Most problems are due to picking a template, like "DVD", instead of manually selecting all desired options, for achieving maximum quality. Quality is really based on settings customized for you video content, length, source, and output needs.

I stepped a buddy through MPEG encoding in Premiere CS4 several months ago, and it took about an hour to teach him. (Honestly, he'd probably fail a test, too, if I gave him one. He mostly just wanted me to hold his hand. Not that I blame him too much -- it was for a one-off project, and he was stuck using a lab/studio that was not his own.)

When it comes to video encoders, you get what you pay for.

Some areas of videography have many free/cheap tools, and are known to do an outstanding job. But this isn't one of those areas.

Thanks very much. That answers.