Problems with Nero Recode and StaxRip

[mike1961]

What is the best mpg 4 encoder out there today?

1. I'm having a real problem with Nero Recode. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling but ever since I installed the NVidia encoders and uninstalled them, reinstalling Nero only causes a "Nero Recode 2 has encountered a problem" and needs to close right when I try and import the file. Does anyone have any ideas what I can do to make this work right. I like Recode.

2. StaxRip - I tried this but when I watch the video and there is movement, it's like I can see big block pixels on the outlines (borders) of the people moving.

Perhaps I need to do something or there is a better encoder out there.

Thanks,
Mike

[mike1961]

How do you change the length to include the entire file after compiling a small clip without have to reload the entire program again. I'm finding great compression with this utility.

Thanks,
Mike

[dvd_maniac]

Hi Mike,

You can google around to different video related forums and you'd probably come to the conclusion that X264 High Profile is the best available codec out there. Staxrip is only one front end GUI you can use. MeGUI is another and there are more... Staxrip is just the most newbie friendly.
As far as blockiness: Have you been using the compressability test? I recommend you use it until you get an idea of what works for a particular show...
EX: I record ER I find I get around Resolution=368x288, Quality=65%, AR=1.353 and size=160MB. So I no longer have to use the test for that. But if you either, do not do the test and don't know what you should use or ignore the warnings then you'll have bad quality encodes.

[mike1961]

Right - I found out that I need to use the compressibility test. I'm wondering if I would need to use it all the time once I find a resolution and quality that works. Or - will it be different for different movies. I used it on one and it had it at 320x240 with a quality of only 49%. I almost thought that was too low. I figured a quality of 70% will always be good and I'm testing using a resolution of around 400x288. I'm wondering if I stick with that, if I should still always run the compressibility test?

I did notice that the encoding of 720x480 is why it was taking over 10 hours to encode....probably just not necessary.

Thanks again for the feedback,
Mike

[mike1961]

Now things are much better at 400x288. I'm getting almost 40 frames per second. Thanks again - this is going to be great. One thing I've noticed is the original Sage mpeg 2 file sometimes looks great and other times not so great. It's like either the channel or something changes the quality of the original file to encode.

EDITED ---> scratch that about the speed - it is faster but I was only figuring 40 fps for the first pass. The second pass is around 15 (better than 5 though).

Thanks again,

Mike

[mike1961]

Never mind what I said...what's going on???? StaxRip second pass is displaying an eta of 10 hours and 35 min and I think that is for the second pass only. What's going on? Why is this so much slower than your computer. I have a p4 2.66 1gb RAM and all the processing is on my local hard drive and it's going 5.78 fps. I'm stumped. On my p4 2.8 it's going to take around 7 hours for the whole thing (or longer) but it's going 10 fps. I guess it may be time to upgrade or just deal with it. I don't want to run this program on my server which is a dual processor because I'm trying to keep it as "clean" as possible.

It sure will be nice when they come out with mpeg 4 encoders in hardware. Any eta on that?

Mike

[dvd_maniac]

Both ATI & Nvidia are working on h.264 encode/decode exceleration. ATI has a program called Avivo Encoder for their 1x00 line. But it will be AWHILE before it's ready for use.

I know how you feel. Certain Intel procs are just bad news. My P4 2.8 single core is not that much slower then my P-D 820 (2.8 Dual-core) when encoding.

My advice is that if you are going to upgrade get an AMD X2, much faster, quieter and less heat. You could buy a zalman fan and virtually hear NO NOISE from it.

Dang it, I just gave you my 2 cents and now I'm broke...

The slowdown on your 2.66 could be that it needs to be de-fragged, make more free space, cheap mainboard or other components, spyware, viruses, too many background programs running etc.........

[mike1961]

Originally Posted by dvd_maniac

My advice is that if you are going to upgrade get an AMD X2, much faster, quieter and less heat. You could buy a zalman fan and virtually hear NO NOISE from it.
The slowdown on your 2.66 could be that it needs to be de-fragged, make more free space, cheap mainboard or other components, spyware, viruses, too many background programs running etc.........

Right - actually I have a dual core AMD but that is my file server and I want to keep it clean for now. But, I don't think the 2.66 is slow because it needs to doa defrag because on the second pass there is very little disk activity - I think it is just a lot of high power CPU processing going on. Also - to my chagrin, it doesn't seem to make a difference if I encode at a lower resolution like 400x280 vs. 720x480. The speed is almost the same and takes around 8-10 hours. Oh well. I've got 5 computers laying around to help with the task.

Thanks again,
Mike

[stanger89]

OK guys, I've been trying play with MeGUI or StaxRip, but with .NET 2.0 installed they both crash immediately on startup. Any ideas?

-edit

Nevermind, apparenly they don't like running off a network/mapped drive.

[dvd_maniac]

I've run StaxRip from a network drive before just fine...

[stanger89]

I don't know, it was giving some sort of permission error (and the user I'm running has admin rights on both).

[dvd_maniac]

Originally Posted by stanger89

I don't know, it was giving some sort of permission error (and the user I'm running has admin rights on both).

Are you running in a Domain?
Do not know if it makes a difference but I am and the Domain admin I use is a Local admin on all my client PCs...

[stanger89]

Nope not on a domain.

[mike1961]

Perhaps it's a problem with the path and a conflict with the default drive or something.

Mike

[stanger89]

I don't know I DL's VS Express and tried to debug it, and it was giving a Unable To Grant Minimum Permissions error or something.