I'm sorry for this nub question but really would like to know which is the best of the following:

Mainconcept
Lingos
CCE

Quality takes precedence over speed. I'd do VCD's mostly. Some times SVCD but never DVD. Sometimes I need to do high quality clips for PC that would be projected onto a 6 feet screen.

Sorry again for the thread prolifiration but I do feel many nub's would benefit.

I vote for mainconcept if I am limited to your alternatives. CCE is not optimal on mpeg1, and therefore not the best choice for VCD. Ligos LSX 3.5 was good on SVCD but I never tried it on mpeg1. CCE is very good on mpeg2 encoding of progressive sources (film) and has great bitrate control but if you also make VCD or want to make interlaced SVCD you need something else. I have heard that the quality of mainconcept encoder 1.4 is very good but it may also be a bit buggy.

Another option could be TMPGEnc. It's cheap and can make both SVCD and VCD with good quality. Perhaps you can use TMPGEnc on VCD and CCE on SVCD?

Canopus Procoder is also very good on both SVCD and VCD. I think you'll get different answers from other people. I suggest you try the trial versions and make your own conclusions.

For VCDs, I would seriously recommend you try out Panasonic's MPEG1 encoder. It is MPEG1 only, so not suitable for SVCDs, but its very good at what it does.

Depending on what your playback system is, you should also investigate creating higher-bitrate-than-spec VCDs (called XVCDs).

For example, boosting bitrate from the spec 1300kbps to 1800kbps gives a big improvement in quality and still plays smoothly for me on all my players.

I like panasonic for vcd. But, why don't test all of them in small clip like 2 min vcd clips, and burn all of the test vcd on one disc, you can see what is good for you.

If you want to make VCD"s I would say that either MainConcept or Tmpgenc, But for SVCD or DVD CCE is the way to go, it is at least 2 times as fast as any other encoder and it Produces very Clear a Crisp images at even low bitrates but it"s Mpeg1 isn"t very good....Cheers

Thanks guys !.. You all are so cool :)

Last couple of days I've been trying Mainconcept and TMPGenc. I encoded a 2 min clip to VCD. I first used default settings on both the encoders. After looking up the help menu I encoded more copies of the same clip using advanced setting.

I must admit that TMPGenc has consistently given better results compared to Mainconcept 1.4. Movements are smoother, block noise is almost absent and the clip is sharper than even commercially available VCD.

I'm sure I'm doing something wrong with the Mainconcept. It does encode faster than TMPGenc though.

For this evaluation I used DV captured from a Panasonic DV953. Clip has a mix of low and fast action and shot outdoors in bright ambient daylight.

Luv
Cindy

Also, what is this XVCD business? Do I have to only increase the bit rate or their is more vodoo to it.
Thanks in advance.

XVCD has no Set standard, Anything that is Mpeg1 on a CD-R that isn"t VCD is XVCD..In most cases XVCD is either a VCD with a Higher or Lower than Standard Bitrate or it is a Mpeg1 file that uses 352+480 or 704+480 Resolution and a Much higher Bitrate But a Lot of these XVCD"s will Not play in some Players especially when the Bitrate gets to high which is a Big Problem with Tmpgenc cuz Tmpgenc has really bad bitrate controll and the bitrate spikes can cause Jumpy Playback especially in XVCD"s, It is worth trying cuz the Quality is Much better especially at 704+480 but you should keep the Bitrate as low as you can like under 3500kbs .....Cheers

PS: the XVCD"s still have to have a VCD header ...

As a first gentle step into XVCD, I'd suggest keeping everything the same as VCD except boost your bitrate from 1300 to 1800-2000. If that works (and it almost certainly will), you can go on to try higher rates and larger resolutions.

However, as you do that, the range of players that will cope will narrow progressively.

Have fun!