I'm having a very frustrating time here. I've been using TMPGEnc for a long while, and I've just recently gotten it to a point where I can encode a file in a reasonable amount of time and with great success. I've converted some HD rips of TV shows to MPEG2 files which end up looking great on the TV. However, I have to face the end of the trial period for the MPEG2 encoder. I downloaded the trial version of TMPGEnc Plus, which in all respects appears identical to the free version aside from the fact that it has an installer now (I prefered just having it self-contained in a directory). While it looks exactly the same, it really is not. Here is most of the email I sent to their sales department, which I don't expect a reply from:

Quote:
It is quite frustrating that I can't get support unless I have a registered purchase. Why would I purchase a product when I'm already having problems with the trial version?

Here's the problem:

I was using TMPGEnc, the free version with the MPEG2 trial, until it ran out. I then installed the trial version of Plus. The problem is, Plus behaves incorrectly (in the exact same way) on every machine I try it on, and a friend of mine has experienced the same thing.

Say I have a 45 minute video that I want to take up about a third of a DVD. Here's what happens in the two versions after dragging the video into the wizard:

TMPGEnc free version with MPEG2 trial: the bitrate starts at 8000. I adjust to around 4000. The space indicator says the video will take up a third of the disc. Great! I then set to encode, the file is done in about an hour and a half, and ends up the same size it predicted.

TMPGEnc Plus: the bitrate starts at 3000 because the space indicator says the video will be somewhere around 5GB. There's no way to tell it to make it smaller (3000 is the minimum). I then try encoding. It takes somewhere around 9 hours and produces a file with a different size than predicted, but still too big for a DVD, even though the bitrate is 1000 less than what I can use to creat a 3-video disc in the free version.

This is incredibly frustrating! I have no idea how to search your FAQ, either. I'm suprised I haven't found the answer to this yet, because it seems to be happening on every machine I try it on.

See my frustration? Is anyone here using Plus with sucess (or at all)?

*edit*
Another frustrating part is that it seems there used to be an option to purchase the MPEG2 decoder for the free version seperately, but not anymore.