MainConcept vs. SonyAVC - what is the difference?

michaelt wrote on 7/1/2011, 11:03 AM
I am editing 1080p60 footage, and have two options to export to MP4:

1) MainConcept AVC - it allows to set the average and the maximum bit-rate, reference frames up to 4, however there is no "High" profile.

2) SonyAVC - it does have "High" profile, and allows to set any bit-rate up to ~26mbps (at least Vegas Pro 10d) . It is a variable bit-rate, not a constant - I rendered a 20min 1080p60 footage at this maximum bit-rate and it turned out to be ~22mbps as average, with the maximum of ~35mbps. The problem here is that my blu-ray player (Samsung BD-C5900) supports up to 30mbps for playback via USB port, so I need to limit the maximum bit-rate and SonyAVC does not allow it. I need to lower the bit-rate only to find out whether the maximum would or would not exceed 30mpbs. Also, SonyAVC uses 2 reference frames, and they can not be changed.

It looks like MainConcept would be better, so I am curious what are real differences between them? How important is the difference between Main and High profiles?

Comments

Eugenia wrote on 7/1/2011, 11:51 AM
Using a PNSR utility, MainConcept is a bit better, about 10%. Personally I prefer MainConcept because you can specify VBR, but most importantly, it doesn't crash that easily.