Version Tested: 2.62
Type: Software encoder
MPEG Standards: MPEG-1, MPEG-2
Bit Rate Control Modes: CBR
Bit Rates: 0.5-15 Mbit/s
GOP Formats: IPB-frame
MPEG Audio Modes: Full MPEG-1 layer 2
Frame Sizes: Any
Multi-threaded Encoding? Yes
Scene Change Detection? No
Web Page: http://www.cinemacraft.com/eng/basic.html
Availability: Download
Price: $58
NOTE: I removed the encoding rate results from this page because at the time of the review, their plugin wouldn't work with Premiere 6.0, which I had upgraded to since the first review. I don't doubt that this has been rectified, but I haven't been back to re-do the speed tests since then.
This is one of the fastest software encoders in this roundup. Quality-wise, CCE Basic is roughly on par with Vitec's MPEG Maker, which is quite a feat since this is comparing a CBR encoder to a CQ encoder. (CQ modes offer consistently high quality, something no other MPEG encoding mode offers.) As for configurability, the two are almost identical, except that the Vitec adds a VBR mode and more GOP formats.
The package comes with both a Premiere plugin and a standalone encoder. The standalone encoder only works with old AVI 1.0 files, so you're limited to 2 GB AVIs. Prior versions of the CinemaCraft encoders allowed frame serving with various forms of pseudo-AVIs, but current versions only work with real AVIs. Therefore, to encode larger files than 2 GB, you must use the Premiere plugin, or use segmented AVIs and join the generated MPEG files after you've got all the AVI segments encoded.
Frame 0, Frame 1, Bitrate and Quantization Data.
If you flip back and forth between the Vitec frames and the CCE frames, the Vitecs seem a little less artifacty. In playback, these artifacts give a mildly jaggy look to the tiles when they're moving the fastest.
Now that CCE Basic is cheaper than Vitec's software encoder, I see no reason to recommend the Vitec. CCE Basic is faster, less buggy, and easier to configure. The addition of a VBR mode to the Vitec doesn't give enough of a quality advantage to matter.
Since CCE Basic and TMPGEnc are the same price and produce similar video quality, choosing between them is a question of speed vs. configurability. CCE Basic is far faster, while TMPGEnc offers more encoding options and has more video tools.
Usability: 3
Functionality: 2
Quality: 8
Core Value: 8
Bundle value: 0
Overall: 4.3
| Updated Mon Sep 22 2008 12:15 MDT | Go back to MPEG Encoder Reviews | Go to my home page |
