for quality as compared to other options?

I have PP2 and am planning to upgrade to CS3.

Did Adobe do anything in regards to improving the media encoder in CS 3?

Higher encoding rates for example?

Do any of you use other encoders instead of Adobe?

Always looking to do better qualitywise that's why I asked.

Especially interested in hearing the results of any comparison tests done with other encoders including stand alone ones.

Thanks in advance.

Bruce

Hi Bruce!

I actually just read the thread on why use encore.. I use CS3, and yes, the encoding is better, especially for downconversions. But I use the inexpensive Cinemacraft Basic and really like the results. I had been exporting to an uncompressed AVI, but I just recently discovered that that the encoder plugs into Premiere directly and the video from HDV can be shot out of the timeline directly to a mpv file that encore can read and ingest.

I actually am doing tests on the quality this way as I type this on a 3 minute clip. I know when I exported to avi and then encoded with the Cinemacraft with the same bitrate, it looked better than the AME, but I want to see if this step increases the quality even further. If it does, I will post a reply. Actually the test disc is done, so I will be back...

I've always been pretty pleased with the encoder quality, the only other encoder I use is Cleaner at work on the mac, just a few clicks and the daily show is compressing to flash and on it's way up to the web. I get to go home early.

80% good I gave media encoder for the final output

Is there anyway to take advantage of better MPEG-2 encoders than MainConcept yet still retain the chapter markers I set in Premiere Pro CS3?

I assume if I use something like ProCoder that I'll need to re-do my chapters in Encore after import, and that my chapter markers may not be exact (due to i-frames and such)?

Is there a workaround for chapters and external encoders?