# HD encoding: VisualHub vs QT vs Compressor



## spicyapple (Aug 17, 2006)

After an exhaustive test (scaling, encode time, general picture quality), I can safely say Compressor produces the most beautiful encode for Apple TV's HD content.

Just a background, I'm encoding HD-originated video to Apple TV. The main ingest format is XDCAM HD 35mbps @ 1440x1080 25P material.


1. *VisualHub* 1.3.1

I was shocked to find encode quality is very poor for an app that's given so much praise. The encode setting of H.264, go nuts, 2-pass produced blocky dark areas, crunchy edges, and a slightly greenish tint. It played jerkily on the Apple TV and fast-forwarding proved cumbersome and difficult.
visual quality: 6 , encode speed: 7


2. *Quicktime* Export to Apple TV (no configurable presets)

Very good quality, but the scaling algorithm was the worst of the three (very noticeable on text and sharp graphics). On natural organic images, it produced smooth edges and blockiness was less noticeable than VisualHub's. Encode speed is excellent. Playing QT's .m4v files on the Apple TV produced no jerky, dropped frames, and skimming was fast and easy. Apple really hit this home.
visual quality: 8 , encode speed: 10


3. *Compressor 3.0.2 *(H.264 for Apple TV preset)

This program is part of Final Cut Studio 2. It requires a bit of knowledge and the setting of certain encode settings. Of which manual frame sizing, and Frame Controls set to on. I used Better (Linear Filter) for the resizing. The final image result was spectacular, showing no signs of crunchy edges and minimal blocking. I'm starting to think Apple uses compressor to do most of their compressions.
visual quality: 10 , encode speed: 5

I think I always knew Compressor was good, but until I saw some encode samples myself, I think this is what I will be using from now on. :lmao:


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

Valuable data point. Thanks for this.


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## boba fett (May 28, 2003)

*Compressor is good*

Visual hub is great for sending quick files to clients to sign off stuff because the quality isn't the best but boy is it fast!

Also check out squeeze. Also very good quality but probably the slowest.


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## keebler27 (Jan 5, 2007)

thanks for the tests Spicy!

I'm about to embark on encoding my own family movies in prep for an appletv.

slightly off topic, but do you use compressor for mpeg2 conversion of SD footage?
I find it terrible compared to bitvice, but I wonder what other folks have found in any tests.

cheers,
keebler


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## harpoon (Sep 7, 2006)

MPEG Streamclip is pretty versatile as well.

Compressor is really buggy and quirky. Myself and other editor friends of mine have been burnt by it before and though when it works it works alright, it's such a pain to use...FCP forums and the like are full of topics like "COMPRESSOR, [email protected]#$%^&!!!!! ARGGHH!" and whatnot.

Handbrake (to my eyes) looks pretty damn good, I guess it depends on the source material and what you're transcoding to. Squeeze is also excellent.


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