2-pass Encoding for 640x480 TV Viewed Movies.

[Revolutionize]

This process takes a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time, is it any difference in quality from 1-pass or is it something that really doesn't matter (same quality in both)?

[msopnet]

The 2-pass does take twice as long. The difference is very significant though, especially for TV viewing.

If I were you, I'd convert a short video once with 2-pass and once with 1-pass and see the difference yourself. Maybe it's not significant enough for you.

You could also try a 1-pass Advanced, it doesn't take quite as long as 2-pass. I still think 2-pass is worth it, though.

[Revolutionize]

You're saying it's worth it for the quality...
...but is it worth the size, you're practically sacrificing "Gigabites" in terms of these files, well I am actually.

Perhaps after transcoding them I supposed I can save them to some data writable cds.

[Midiman]

The saying goes, you can't have your cake and eat it too... If you want quality, size goes hand in hand. Nothing will give you the same quality something else does at half the size. Modest improvements are made as advancements in compression technique develop... but there are no quantum leaps.

[Sketch]

To piggy-back Midiman's post, here's a little something I wrote in the version 0.91 forum FAQ:

With any given movie file, your conversion has three main variables: time, video quality, and filesize. You can have great control over any two of these at any one time. You can make a great-looking video fairly quickly, but it will be huge. You can optimize video quality for a certain bitrate/filesize using custom options and a second pass, but it will take a lot longer. You could rip your entire DVD collection onto your iPod in a week, but they might not look very good. You have to figure out what's most important to you in this regard.