I don't think SoFo needs to provide an upgrade-at least not for free. The encoder that came with Vegas was the one that was licensed for it.

I'd love it if they licensed the new encoder and sold it cheaper. That seems generous to me. They don't have to do anything at all until V5 comes out next summer or so.

rob mack

I think part of the point is that Premiere pro is supposed to be a lot faster. You can just give up making comparisons to premiere 6.0. It's dead.

Rob Mack

Just goto the downlaod page. type in your e-mail address. it will then bring you to a page with the link. it's annoying. entering your e-mail address every time to download something that is,

Having had the MC standalone encoder for a long time from ver. 1.1 I think, the latest version is excellent, sharp with very clean colours and quick, and along with free upgrades all the way . I think SF should do the same with the incorporated MC encoder, if nothing else just to keep their encoder equal to latest developments or the whole package will fall behind, I'm sure they won't let that go on for long.
Must admit I never use anything but the standalone for encoding the video portion of my work, it is so much better.
Premier users do pay extra for their MC encoder plugin.

So let me get this straight.

PC Mag compared the render times of Vegas vs Premiere Pro

Vegas using the encoder that comes with it

and Premiere using an encoder that users pay extra for?

Isn't that like comparing a Ford mustang that comes standard with a 4cylinder to a Chevy Camero that has been upgraded to a V6?

How is this even a valid review? Or maybe I misunderstood.

>>>Just goto the downlaod page. type in your e-mail address. it will then bring you to a page with the link.<<<

Not the page I went to - it said/says you have to enter your email addy and the link will be sent to you. I only got redirected back to the main page after I clicked 'ok' or 'submit' - whatever.

Sr C,

I think you did misunderstand. Vegas has the encoder that came with it. Premier Pro has the encoder that came with it. However, Premiere Pro is coming out later in the year and can use the updated encoder. Vegas does not have a license for the updated encoder, so it would probably cost money to license it which they would probaly have to pass on the users. Users of Premiere Pro would already have a licensed version of the updated encoder, so there is not need to upgrade.

I do not think you have to pay extra for the 'built-in' Mpeg Encoder in P Pro. You did not have to with Premiere 6.5 - it was in there just fine. I never had to pay any extra to use it. And when MC updated they also updated the Premiere encoder and that too was free for the upgrade - although if you did NOT have premiere 6.5 installed it would not install.

As near as I can tell this *new* version is considered a "major" upgrade, sort of like Version 5 might be of VV, and if you own Premiere 6.5 or Premiere Pro you can purchase it for $100 less than someone who does not own Premiere 6.5 or P Pro.

And here is the issue at hand - VV does NOT have the latest MC Encoder built in. Seemingly neither does P Pro because you can "upgrade" it to the latest version. Premiere 6.5 DOES have the MC Encoder built in and from what I can tell so does P Pro. As I was typing this I decided to look at something - The Total Training site has P PRO disks and one of them has a little tutorial on how to export for DVD. It says that it is "standard" and it looks pretty easy - one option is to "Export to DVD" and it will just export and burn to DVD I guess - with chapter points. The other option is to go to Export > Abode Media Encoder, and this allows you to export to "MPEG1. MPEG1 - VCD, MPEG2, MPEG2 -DVD, MPEG2-SVCD, Quick TIme, Real Media, Windows Media" And the base encoder is "MainConcept MPEG Video" I see a setting for "Encoding Passes: 2". The sample they show is a preset for "NTSC DV High Quality 4mb VBR 2 pass."

So anyway - it seems like there is some mis-information about. But either way this review was about VV 4 right? And they mentioned encoding times between VV 4 and Premiere Pro - both that use the MC MPEG encoder built in, no extra fees involved to use...although I would feel that P Pro has a newer version of the encoder engine than VV 4 does? And yeah it does seem odd that you can upgrade the Premiere Encoder but not the VV one. Actually - LOL - I just realized that I posted this a while back - on June 24th:

>>>I found this on a HD forum -

>>>"the Main Concept MPEG plug-in licensed to Adobe and Sonic Foundry will soon be
>>>able to output directly to TS"

>>>SoFo comment?

And there it sits unanswered...still. Hmmm...

Thanks for the clarification. -Shon

Last night the MC site was down now today I see a few little notes added:

"If you have any problems downloading our demo versions (e.g. 0-kybte files) and use Norton Internet Security 2003, we recommend disabling this function during download. We will update our website next week to address this problem."

I don't use Norton so that isn't my problem.

"Some browsers don't allow for proper transmission of file names. If "fdl.php" appears as the name for the saved file, please replace it with "mpegencoderv1.4.0.exe" (without the quotation marks)."

That isn't my problem either.

The problem on the main download page is this:
>>>The requested URL /mpegencoderv1.4.0.exe was not found on this server.<<<

And the main problem on the premiere upgrade page is this:

"...you get an email containing the link for downloading the version. The manual is included in the software as a PDF-file.Please be aware that Adobe Premiere 6.5 needs to be installed on your system in order to install the MainConcept MPEG Encoder."

No email has ever come with D/L info. THis is a lot like the problem people are having with the Sony Screenblast Movie Studio download from SoFo. They aren't getting any emails codes to unlock the demo. (I guess unlike other SoFo products it will not run in "demo" mode or "full" mode unless you enter a serial number.) Does MainConcept now use Sonys support? LOL.

NOTE: For the hell of it I tried to download other demos - every one comes up with the "...was not found on this server" error. The PDF's are downloading fine however. Must be they moved all the demos?

Update to the update - I downloaded from the German site. Sort of. First try was only 2 megs. Second try was only 14. So I just put the link into Download Accelerator and it downloaded. Installing it now...I hope.

I think some folks are getting confused a little about the MC encoders (very easy to do!). There are several versions (the one that came in Vegas, the one that came in Premiere 6.5, the one in Premiere Pro, and the standalone version).

One thing that is very clear is that there are NO downloads available for the Vegas plugin (e.g. no updates). There ARE downloads for the Premiere plugin and the standalone version of the MC MPEG encoder.

I don't have Premiere Pro so I can't speak to that. However, I do have Vegas 4.0, Premiere 6.5, and also the standalone encoder.

The issue as I see it is that MainConcept has provided several updates to the Premiere 6.5 plugin since 6.5 was released and to the standalone version. They have NOT provided any updates to the version that came in Vegas (version 3.0 or 4.0) which I believe is still 1.0. The standalone version is now up to version 1.4 and includes a capture utility and 2-pass VBR encoding (features not available in the plugin versions of Premiere 6.5 or Vegas).

MainConcept and Adobe obviously have a close relationship and support each other. I do not see that between MainConcept and Sony/SOFO. Hence my earlier concern that the Vegas plugin will not be upgraded in the future. By the way, ALL the updates that MC has posted are free to users of earlier versions so you only have to pay once (either when you buy Premiere or when you buy the standalone version). So, IF there is ever an update to the Vegas plugin, there should NOT be any additional cost!

Jake

Here's the real deal:

1) Sony/sf apps share the same MPEG encoder. Install a new update of one Sony/sf app and your MPEG (and MP3 and AC-3) encoder will be updated for all the Sony/sf apps.


2) If you have the Vegas 4.0d or DVDA 1.0c update, you have the most current version of the Sony/SF encoders for MPEG, AC-3, MP3.

3) We have updated the MPEG encoder two times since Vegas 4 was released in Feb '03. Both times the MPEG update was included in a Vegas update. These updates were free- you got HD MPEG and 24p MPEG for free and both of these important features actually worked in advance of the press release that said they did <g>.

4) We will likely be updating the Mpeg encoder again in the next few months. No promises exactly when, or exactly what will be included.


5) We know the guys at Main Concept personally, all is cool there.

And a nice encoder it is too.

I think the problem is 'the grass seems greener on the other side the fence'
syndrome. Every time some see such and such has a new something, they just get to salivating and wishing they had it too.

FYI: I just uprgraded Premier Pro to the latest MC encoder, 1.4 (I think) for an additional $49.00. Have to say, thought, that it is very fast, and excellent.

JTH

Thank you, SonicEPM. That IS nice to know.

I guess some of the confusion comes from all the verson numbers for the MC encoder that are floating around out there (e.g., 1.0, 1.3b, 1.4, etc.).

I agree with Billyboy that the MC encoder is one of the best - if not the best. Especially in the price range ... I especially like the fact that all the upgrades are free (which speaks well of both MainConcept and Sony/SOFO).

Thanks for weighing in on the subject! That should clarify things for all of us.

Jake

I encoded my project with the stand alone MC encoder - WOW! If you look up a ways you see I said my VCD quailty render from the VV timeline took about 6 hours for about a 70 minute piece. Well with the new MC Standalone encoder - 90 minutes. So there is for sure a time change in rendering speed.

The update included with VV somehow doesn't get the same speed but as I said - I don't spend my time ecoding mpg files so the speed is not a huge issue for me. Although I love the idea of near real time encoding.

RE: >>>By the way, ALL the updates that MC has posted are free to users of earlier versions so you only have to pay once<<<

I know I already said this in one of my post but looks like this new version does have to be paid for - the upgrade that is. There isn't any sort of "Free update" link that can find. There is a link to current Premiere 6.5/Premiere pro users to upgrade and the cost is $100 less than if you do not use that NLE. So if there is free upgrade link i'd like to know because I use 6.5. I know I have upgraded the "Adobe MPEG Encoder" for free when MC has brought out a new version it is just that I do not see it with this one.

RE: The press release from MC (the Main Concept MPEG plug-in licensed to Adobe and Sonic Foundry will soon be able to output directly to TS) -

So if the updates to VV incuded the MC HD that MC mentioned - I am confused still a bit. The new stand alone encoder allows direct capture to Mpeg, but I haven't seen anything about HD transport streams. I am not sure if there is even a preset for that...so with the latest VV update if this is in the codec shouldn't you now be able to capture HD material direct into VV than? Is the TS ability going to allow for direct capture than?

Filmy,

When I spoke of free upgrades, I meant from an earlier version of the MC encoder. For example, I bought the standalone (for $100 less) when Premiere 6.5 first came out. Since then, there have been at least two minor upgrades (now up to version 1.4). All I had to do was uninstall my previous version, install the demo version 1.4, and then enter my original serial number. It worked flawlessly. You will be able to do the same when 1.5 or whatever comes out.

It was slightly different with the built-in version (Adobe plugin). If I remember correctly, they sent me (as a registered user) a link where I could download the updated version. I think the last update is a beta version that can be downloaded directly (version 1.3b) but I haven't actually tried that.

You won't go wrong with MainConcept! And, as SonicEPM stated, SOFO includes updated versions with Vegas updates which makes it even easier on the user.

Jake