TMPGEnc vs. DVDShrink

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1. Click on any of the 6 thumbnails above to analyze the specific still
2. move your mouse over the image on the left to analyse specific details
3. Click on "Zoom In" and "Zoom Out" to analyze parts of the still in more details.
4. All numbers on the image in the left are described below. Click "Close" above to hide this help.
5. Abbreviations: 23=DVDShrink2.3, 305=DVDShrink3.0.5beta, CBR=TMPGEnc VBR, VBR=TMPGEnc VBR
6. Ranking scores:
   • 5. Hard/Unable to find any difference at 2X.
   • 4. Easy to find any difference at 2X, not that annoying.
   • 3. Hard to find any difference at 1X, but easy at 2X. Annoying differences.
   • 2. Visible differences at 1X.
   • 1. Annoyingly differences at 1X.
   • 0. Sucks big BIG BIG BIG time. Yuck!

Grass Screenshot:

This scene has a lot of motion: Padme and Anakin are rolling over and the grass is moved by the wind. Action is very fast. This is the first image of a scene (Last image has another camera view).

• 1. Both TMPGEnc are doing quite well on this part of the still, even though CBR adds a lot of noise and a few blocks. Both DVDShrink are very blocky, hard to distinguish. In decreasing quality order: VBR, CBR, 305, 23.
• 2. 23 is horrible on this one. 305 and CBR are pretty much equivalent in terms of blockiness, but CBR adds a lot of noise. VBR is great. VBR, 305, CBR, 23.
• 3. 23 is horrible. CBR is adding a lot of noise and some blocks while 305 is smoothing things a little along with some blocks. VBR is great. VBR, 305, CBR, 23.
• 4. 23 is quite blocky but pretty close to 305. 305 and CBR are pretty much equivalent in terms of blockiness, but CBR adds a lot of noise. VBR is great. VBR, 305, CBR, 23.
• 5. 23 is blocky. Next comes CBR. 305 is doing a good job on this part of the movie and VBR is excellent, as usual.

Overall ranking:

• 1st: 5 [VBR] TMPGEnc 2 pass VBR mode: All parts of the still are hard to distinguish from the original, even with a 2x magnification factor!!! Two thumbs up!
• 2nd: 3 [305] DVDShrink 3.05Beta: It does generate approximately the same amount of blocks than TMPGEnc CBR, but tends to smooth out details instead of adding noise like TMPGEnc do, resulting in a better overall result.
• 3rd: 3 [CBR] TMPGEnc CBR: An expected result of this complex scene. A lot of blocks and a lot of noise/artifacts (like in the bad JPG files you can find on the web) are added leading to a result quite far from the original.
• 4th: 2 [23] DVDShrink 2.3: Lots and Lots of blocks, doesn't even compete with the others. Horrible.

Grass slow motion:

This scene has no camera motion, and no characters motion. The only motion is the wind balancing the grass. Lots of details though ;-)

Only one point relevant in there as I had a hard time finding a part of this still where any difference is noticeable:

• 1. Both 305 and 23 are smoothing out the grass and adds some blocks. CBR, while also adding some blocks, does a good job with the crispness. Even though with a 2x/3x magnification it looks significantly different than the original, at 1x, the general feeling is the same, which is what is important. VBR, as usual, is excellent.

Overall, I'd say all encoders are doing a very good job on this scene, even if DVDShrink 2.3 tend to add a couple of blocks. Overall ranking:

• 1st: 5 [VBR] TMPGEnc VBR mode: Hard to find a part of the still where you can tell any difference.
• 2nd: 4 [CBR] TMPGEnc CBR mode: Some blocks can be seen, but at 1x, the crispness of the grass is preserved while it is smoothed out with both versions of DVDShrink.
• 3rd: 4 [305+23] DVDShrink 3.05Beta and 2.3: Some blocks are added here and there, but the overall quality is very good. Some smoothing occurs.

Slow Motion scene:

This scene takes place during the final battle. Yoda is asking the pilot to create a perimeter around the survivors, and his mouth, along with the background, is pretty much the only motion in the picture. Not a lot of details either.

I could find only one point where some differences are noticeable:

• 1. Even though it is one of the simplest scenes in the whole movie, 23 finds a way of making it blocky. 305 Is also adding some blockiness, but it is barely noticeable.

Overall ranking:

• 1st: 5 [VBR+CBR] TMPGEnc VBR and CBR mode: Hard to find a part of the still where you can tell any difference.
• 2nd: 5 [305] DVDShrink 3.05Beta: Some blocks show up, but I had to be picky!!! Quality is very good.
• 3rd: 4 [23] DVDShrink 2.3: Some blocks are added, pretty visible.

Battle 1:

This shot has A LOT of motion and particles. Very different from the last frame and from the next frame in the movie, a robot is going down into flames ;-) Now, we're talking business!

• 1. both 305 and 23 display pretty much the whole detail blocky. 305 is preserving a little more details. CBR mode looks better, even though a lot of artifacts are showing up; Very few blocks. VBR is excellent.
• 2. The same is true for detail 2. CBR smooth out some of the sand, but look much better than 23 and 305
• 3. Here, things go worse. 305 and 23 display big blocks all over even though 305 retain a few more details. CBR is not good either, though a little less worse. VBR, as usual, rules. Note the interesting fact that the original (DVD source) is not perfect either ;-)
• 4. I feel a little redundant here. Same comments!

Overall ranking:

• 1st: 5 [VBR] TMPGEnc 2 pass VBR mode: The overall image looks very good, hard to find parts with relevant differences.
• 2nd: 3 [CBR] TMPGEnc CBR: Some blockiness and a lot of artifacts. Still retains most of the details. At 1X, the image looks surprisingly decent.
• 3rd: 2 [305] DVDShrink 3.05Beta: Blocks, blocks, blocks. Even at 1X, it's hard to miss them!
• 4th: 1 [23] DVDShrink 2.3: Lots and Lots of blocks. The 8x8 blocks barely contains any information. Yuck!

Battle 2:

Another battle frame with a lot of motion.

• 1. 23 is a total mess. 305 looks perfect (Yes, perfect means as bad as the original). Something new here, that I cannot explain: Both TMPGEnc stills looks better than the original. That is incredible. CBR is even a little better than VBR. Truly amazing, I have no clue how that did happen.
• 2. Back to normal here. 23 is blocky and looses pretty much all the details in the shades of smoke on the background. CBR looks pretty bad too here, around the same level; The laser beam looks quite ugly, the background looks somewhat better. 305 and VBR both looks very good.
• 3. CBR is definitively the worse player here; Lots of blocks and pretty ugly one that is. 23 also has huge blocks, but they play nicely. 305 and VBR are both good, though not excellent.
• 4. 23 missed totally the clone trooper, with huge blocks. CBR is not good on this one either, leaving huge blocks and artifacts. 305 is doing a good job and looks really close than the original. Once again, VBR looks much better than the original, with less blocks. And to answer your question, dear reader, yes! I triple checked and I didn't invert any images!

Overall ranking: Well, that one is a tough one! All details show different results!

• 1st: 5 [VBR] TMPGEnc 2 pass VBR mode: My ranking system fails on this one!!! The encoded image is better than the original ;-) I'll give a 5...
• 2nd: 5 [305] DVDShrink 3.05Beta: DVDShrink is doing an excellent job on this one.
• 3rd: 2 [CBR] TMPGEnc CBR: Some blockiness and a lot of artifacts. Even at 1X, hard to miss all the artifacts.
• 4th: 2 [23] DVDShrink 2.3: Lots and Lots of blocks.

Battle 3:

Another battle scene, with a lot of motion.

• 1. Both 23 and 305 are pretty much blocky on this one. As much as I would like to say that 305 is better, it really isn't obvious. CBR is a little worse, but not all that much. As usual, VBR is very good, though not perfect at 2X.
• 2. Anakin's face is pretty also pretty blocky. 23 and 305 are as bad and CBR is not better though a little different: Smoother (which is good here) and a little more blocky. VBR is very good, almost as bad as the original ;-).
• 3. At last, we got a clear looser on this one! CBR is really bad and present huge blocks. 23 and 305 are equivalent and slightly better. VBR is very good, presenting a little blockiness, but not really much more than the original. Yes, for the first time, VBR is noticeably worse than the original!!!! No a lot though ;-)
• 4. This part of the scene doesn't have any motion. 23 and CBR are as bad, lots of blocks and some entire details are screwed or blurred out. 305 is better, still showing a lot of blocks. VBR is also showing some blocks, but is much better than all the others.

Overall ranking:

• 1st: 4 [VBR] TMPGEnc 2 pass VBR mode: For the first time, doesn't get a 5!! Some parts of the still shows some blocks. Gotta be picky...
• 2nd: 2 [305] DVDShrink 3.05Beta: DVDShrink is having a lot of blocks on this image, and is only slightly better than its older version.
• 3rd: 2 [23] DVDShrink 2.3: More blocks than the 3.05 version, but not a lot.
• 4th: 1 [CBR] TMPGEnc CBR: Between the blocks and the artifacts, hard to find any part of the image that doesn't look bad.