1 pass VBR vs 2 pass VBR

http://dvdstepbystep.com/faqs_4.php

then look here for some more tips on encoding

http://dvdstepbystep.com/faqs_7.php
http://dvdstepbystep.com/qc.php

The difference, in essence, is speed and accuracy.

With one pass encodes, the encoder will move through the material just once examining the motion and estimating the best encode rate for each particular section, and for the settings you have put in place. It estimates, encodes and moves on.

With two pass encoding, the first pass is used to analyse the motion and the second is the encoding - this is why the second pass takes so much longer. It is largely more accurate as it establishes the best encode for each section and then applies that on the second pass.

Cinemacraft does multi-pass encoding, with each sweep refining the analysis made on the previous pass. Such a technique realy helps get the very best from the footage and this is why Cinemacraft is so highly thought of.

However, the draw back is the time it takes... 2 pass takes longer than one pass, although the quality you get for the same (or similar) resulting file size, is better.

But CinemaCraft on a Win system encodes a lot faster per pass so I can encode with 4 passes, check the encodes & author a project before Bitvice has finished encoding 😉

-Jake

he he... yep - there are some considerable savings to be made, and a lot depends on the speed of your PC. Even so, with my lowly 1.8GHz Athlon, Procoder gets there faster than any Mac encoder I have got. On the other hand, my G4 is creaking at the joints a bit now, and that rather tasty looking double quad processor Mac Pro (yes, that's EIGHT cores) is looking mighty tempting!

Now, if only there were software which would make use of all those cores... 😉

And that rather tasty looking double quad processor Mac Pro (yes, that's EIGHT cores) is lookin

Go on Hal, get it, you know you want it man, and I can live vicariously through you 🙂

You know what... if it was available over here, it would right now be running all my apps, making the tea, mowing the lawn and sitting there looking darn purdy!

Unless, of course, Apple sells it for a lot more than the current exchange rate would suggest they sell it for...