Free HD MPEG2 encoder for Mac, cheap one for PC at DVinfo.net

Paul Mogg · November 2nd, 2003, 04:21 PM

I've just been told by one of the guys that maintains the ffmpegx shareware video tools software, that is a fairly trivial matter to change the MPEG2enc utility (an MPEG2 encoder) to encode HD. It is apparantly just a matter of changing four variables and re-compiling it. I'm planning on trying this, and if it works I'll make it available free to people who want to use it. The source code for this is available free on the internet for anyone who wants to mess with it. It's been a few years since I programmed, so it may take me a bit to get up and running on a Mac compiler. so if there is anyone out there who is already up an running on Mac or UNix programming and wants to try it, I'll give them the details.
The interesting thing is that this person told me that most of the commercial MPEG2 encoders out there are based on this same code, and that the commercial encoders are not necessarily better in terms of quality.
On the PC, he says that the encoder called TMPgenc ($60 shareware) will encode HD out of the box. Has anyone tried this?

Heath McKnight · November 2nd, 2003, 08:16 PM

Paul,

I have a G5 1.6 ghz, if you'd like me to test anything.

heath

Paul Mogg · November 2nd, 2003, 10:08 PM

Thanks Heath, it actually seems even simpler than I thought, in that this program reads a parameter file, so I probably won't even have to re-compile it. I'll let you know if it works.

Eric Bilodeau · November 2nd, 2003, 10:25 PM

Paul, you got me really interrested here, I look forward to your experimentation.

Good luck.

November 2nd, 2003, 04:21 PM	#1
Paul Mogg Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: San Francisco CA Posts: 386	Free HD MPEG2 encoder for Mac, cheap one for PC I've just been told by one of the guys that maintains the ffmpegx shareware video tools software, that is a fairly trivial matter to change the MPEG2enc utility (an MPEG2 encoder) to encode HD. It is apparantly just a matter of changing four variables and re-compiling it. I'm planning on trying this, and if it works I'll make it available free to people who want to use it. The source code for this is available free on the internet for anyone who wants to mess with it. It's been a few years since I programmed, so it may take me a bit to get up and running on a Mac compiler. so if there is anyone out there who is already up an running on Mac or UNix programming and wants to try it, I'll give them the details. The interesting thing is that this person told me that most of the commercial MPEG2 encoders out there are based on this same code, and that the commercial encoders are not necessarily better in terms of quality. On the PC, he says that the encoder called TMPgenc ($60 shareware) will encode HD out of the box. Has anyone tried this? __________________ Paul

November 2nd, 2003, 08:16 PM	#2
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	Paul, I have a G5 1.6 ghz, if you'd like me to test anything. heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog

November 2nd, 2003, 10:08 PM	#3
Paul Mogg Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: San Francisco CA Posts: 386	Thanks Heath, it actually seems even simpler than I thought, in that this program reads a parameter file, so I probably won't even have to re-compile it. I'll let you know if it works. __________________ Paul

November 2nd, 2003, 10:25 PM	#4
Eric Bilodeau Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Chicoutimi, Canada Posts: 334	Paul, you got me really interrested here, I look forward to your experimentation. Good luck. __________________ Eric Bilodeau video SFX,DOP ___________________ http://www.fictis.net info@fictis.net