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MPEG 4 Codec Comparison (divxstation)
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In this article there is a comparison test of various MPEG4 Codecs. The ones reviewed are: 3ivx, DICAS mpegable v2, DivX 3.11, DivX 3.20, DivX 5.0.3 Pro, Microsoft MPEG-4v3, REALmagic MPEG-4 v1.1 and XviD.
Analysis of compression quality and efficiency is a subjective process. What appears acceptable to one person may not to another. From the graphics presented, it appears that XviD 2-pass is probably the best solution in extremely high bitrate situations. DivX 5 Professional one-pass fairs slightly better than XviD for mid-range bitrates.
REALmagic offered the best overall encoding frames per second performance during testing, but this format fails to deliver acceptable image quality at low bitrates due to extensive macroblocking. On2 VP3 provides great quality for extremely low bitrates, though this is not a MPEG-4 codec. It appears this proprietary format scales better at low bitrates, while MPEG-4 rapidly taking over for image quality once bandwidth reaches 1000+ Kbps ranges. Due to the nature of its format VP3 tends to blur images as data rates fall instead of creating macroblock artifacts like MPEG-4.
The other MPEG-4 codecs faired decently, though many like Microsoft MPEG-4v3 are starting to severely show their age. DivX 3.11 produces marginally acceptable results, though a custom bitrate control routine like those offered with NanDub or GordianKnot should be used to maintain maximum fine detail image quality. Still, DivX 5 Professional is probably the best solution for the majority of today''s mid-range bitrate encodes. Legalities aside, XviD often exceeds DivX quality, especially as the bitrate curve scales upwards, but the underlying code undergoes significant changes each week as the development team closes in on officially releasing version 1.0 of the codec. XviD has a great future once improved stability is achieved for its advanced encoding options. |
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Published on 11-04-2003 |
