mpEGG! encoder plugin for MediaStudio Pro6

[Dr Mordrid]

Something new has appeared on the Ulead Japan MSPro6 page: a new MPEG-1/2 encoder plugin!! It's called "mpEGG!".

mpEGG! replaces the Ligos encoder and appears to be an extra-cost upgrade. In Japan it costs ~$85 USD, but who knows what it'll be here. Ulead does tend to use a lower promotional pricing structure in North America. We'll find out sooner or later....

Now for a feature list;

MPEG-1 and MPEG-2
Video bitrates from 500-15,000 kb/s
Audio bitrates from 64-384 kb/s
Audio sampling rates are 32k, 44.1k and 48k
Stereo, Joint Stereo, Dual or Mono modes
Audio CRC supported and can be turned off

MPEG Advanced features:

Sequence end code (On/Off)
Upper field first (On/Off)
Progressive frame mode (On/Off)
H & V half resolution (separate checkboxes)
DVD compliance (On/Off)
Timecode settings
Image quality settings from 0-100
Lumance adjustment (2 options: 16-235 or 0-255)
Intra DC Precision (8, 9, 10 or auto)
Aspect ratio (several including 16:9)
Packet size adjustable from 128-4096
Video noise reduction filter (strong, medium, weak or none)
Auto scene change detection (new scenes get a new keyframe)

You can get the trial verson on the Ulead Japan site and it does install in English. Give it a whirl. It does, however, put a logo on the lower right corner of projects. Here's the URL;

http://www.ulead.co.jp/msp/mpegg.htm

The link reads "mpEGG! DVD Encoder for MediaStudio Pro ‘ÌŒ±”Łx(350KB)"

If anyone can read Japanese a translation would be nice, just in case there is some interesting info

Dr. Mordrid



[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 30 December 2000).]

[Hulk]

Good find Dr. Mordrid!

It's about time. It's really ashame that a great program like MS Pro 6 is bundled with such a bad MPEG encoder. It's really useless. I always create projects using PICVideo (quality 19) and then use TMPEnc.

I should be receiving my TRV900 soon and was wondering what DV format to render projects so they can be downloaded to the TRV900? DV1 or DV2? What's the difference between them anyway?

I was fooling around with these options and whenever I render still photos using the DV mode the final project is half res?

[Sciascia]

It looks like it's CinemaCraft's Encoder. I guess that mkes sense since it is made by Custom Technologies. Very good encoder, beats the pants off of Ligos. I will be buying this one! It not only looks better, but it is a lot faster.

[Dr Mordrid]

Actually Jerry Jones found the page first and posted the URL to the MUG list, however I'll take credit for having nerve enough to install and give it a go

One other thing of interest I've run into lately is CAMPegRT. It's by MedioSystems and allows you to capture MPEG-2 in realtime from a DV cam through the IEEE-1394 port. You can get a trial of CAMpegRT here;

http://www.mediosys.com/products/CAMpeg.htm

Dr. Mordrid

[Jerry Jones]

I had heard some rumors about it several days ago.

But it wasn't until I stopped by the old Ulead Worldwide Users Group (WWUG) site that I formerly hosted that I noticed some chatter about it - somebody on the WWUG had found it for sale on the Ulead Japanese site.

The poster above is correct about it being from Custom Technologies: the same company that produces the VERY high quality CINEMACRAFT professional-level MPEG encoder.

This looks *VERY* promising.

[Dr Mordrid]

I see on the mpEGG.com site that a Premiere version is also in the works. Looks like they're serious...

Dr. Mordrid

[dchip]

Ulead MSP continues to mature, and this new tool might mean it will live up to its name and become the complete production tool. The price (at least in Japan) is right on this one and if the results are similar to what I have heard CinemaCraft produces, then I guess I'll be doing MSP after all. I'll also be watching for an IPO (in case they have any such plans) from the makers of mpEGG. The tech sector owes me big-time and a golden EGG would be nice about now.

[This message has been edited by dchip (edited 31 December 2000).]

[Flying dutchman]

Sounds interesting. I have two questions, though:

1) will it also work under Mspro 5.2?
2) Does it work with a Celeron/PII as well?

If I remember correctly, the Cinemacraft needs a Pentium 3 or Athlon to work at all...

[Dr Mordrid]

1. I doubt it since the implementation of MPEG as a plugin started with MSPro6. Before this MPEG was hard-coded in and limited to MPEG-1.

2. Unlikely it'll work with a PII/Celeron-I for realtime MPEG captures, IF indeed it replaces the MPEG capture system. It will work with a PIII/Celeron-II though.

I see no reason why it couldn't render with a PII, but slowly.

Dr. Mordrid


[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 31 December 2000).]

[Flying dutchman]

Cinemacraft doesn't render on a Celeron-1 (blue screen), that's why I asked...

[Railie]

Yes. In WIN98 blue screen, in W2k this egg kill MSP6. Tested on CeleronI - 400MHZ with 128MB RAM.
Then I go work, to make some money ;-)

Railie

[Dr Mordrid]

Well then, I guess that's it. No Celeron-I's. Given that Celeron-II's are dirt cheap and not to shabby a chip an upgrade shouldn't be too painful. Just get a decent slotkey and most recent BX boards should run it with a BIOS update. One of my Asus P3B-F's works fine with it.

Dr. Mordrid

[wkulecz]

I tried mpEGG! plugin on the Athelon system I'm testing.

First problem: no templates of standand settings for VCD, SVCD, or DVD. There is a "DVD compliant" box under MPEG2 advance, so I checked it.

Second problem: the pdf help file generates errors in acrobat reader 4.05 so I couldn't read it.

Third problem: It crashed Video Editor as soon as it started rendering.

At least it un-installed cleanly and restored Ligos (not that I use it since learning about TMPGEnc).

This seems to be a long way from ready for prime time! No way I'm trying it on my PIII system that I depend on!

--wally.

[Sciascia]

wkulecz,
First rpoblem is not a problem, CinemaCraft does not use the templates like in Ligos. All you have to do is select lowest bit-rate for SVCD, 160 bit for audio. Select output format as 480*480. That should get you in the ballpark. Do not check make DVD compliant stream, this will create a 720*480 stream. Hopefully the full version will create elementary streams and have some more advanced features. If you can't select a specific bitarate then it is going to be a real let-down

Second Problem is that you probably do not have Japanese Acrobat Reader installed. I agree the manual is useless right now.

[Nick Piercey]

Hi Doc… Can you please help?

I’ve downloaded mpegg! From the Japanese site and tried it out… It’s certainly a lot faster than TMPGEnc.

TMPGEnc converts about 1/25, mpegg! about 1/7 on my P3 450.

However, I’ve tried to write a VCD and Nero 5 spits it out saying it non compliant.

I’m trying to convert DV1 PAL, 44.1Hz to MPEG1. In mpegg! I’ve selected 352x288, 1150kb/s, 44.1kHz @ 224 kb/s – stereo, tried PAL 4:3 and VGA 1:1 and as yet no luck. I’m not sure, though, whether the packet size or “add sequence end code” may be throwing it out.

Any ideas?

Thanks, in advance,

Nick.