UniFab Converter vs Compressor?

[Mauser]

Just looking for a little insight into this product - cannot find anything on the web page that explains it - just sales blab.

I am a new UniFab user due to some of the products in DVDFab 13 being dropped. With UniFab 2.0.0.0, the Basic section shows both a Converter and a Compressor, but I cannot really see any difference. I have run some Converter tasks and used H.265 compression on them, so why would I want use the Compressor product?

[Mauser]

I am very confused and unhappy with this product. I am trying to test the same input file with both Converter and Compressor, and the things I see make NO SENSE at all.

The input file is a 1.84 GB .mpg video. I have selected the MP4 Same as Source profile for both tools. Quality is set to Standard in both tools.

In Converter, if I select Codec H264, it shows a Bit Rate of 2452 and output file size 1.56 GB
In Converter, if I select Codec H265, it shows a Bit Rate of 1594 and output file size 1.07 GB

In Compressor, if I select Codec H264, it shows a Bit Rate of 1663 and output file size 1.11 GB
In Compressor, if I select Codec H265, it shows a Bit Rate of 1663 and output file size 1.11 GB (exactly the same as with H264)

Why dos the Converter change the Bit Rate between H264 and H265, but the Compressor does not?

[Alkermes]

I have also done tests and the results are the same too.

I have been a DVDFab user since the beginning and I can only say that little by little things have been getting worse, with more and more unnecessary modules just for the idea of making money.
And the results they announce are lies, as is the case with Video AI Enlarger, which gives painful results. Nothing to do with applications like Topaz Video AI.

[Mauser]

Very disappointing that I asked a straight-forward technical question about how the product was working, and not one single response from the seller! It seems as if they are just refusing to help us know how to use the product they sold to us.

This question STILL NEEDS AN ANSWER:
Why dos the Converter change the Bit Rate between H264 and H265, but the Compressor does not?

[yoyo57]

Suggest go to Member Centre and raise a ticket for the technical help. They are usually very responsive.

[Mauser]

One month later and two more point releases, and still not one single response on this problem from the vendor! And nothing has changed with the results of this testing either.

I am convinced there is a major big in one or both of these products (the Converter and the Compressor). Today I repeated my tests using a 2.02 GB .mpg file as input to both products, and I ran the compression using the MP4 Same as Source profile and Quality set to Standard for every test. I ran 3 compression tasks for each tool using Codec MPEG4, H264, and H265. I assume the MPEG4 Codec is not compressed?

Seems to be a big problem right off the bat - in BOTH the Converter and the Compressor, the output file using the H264 Codec was BIGGER than the output file for the MPEG4 codec!

In the Converter module, the standard quality bit rate was shown as 2452 for both MPEG4 and H264, but was changed to 1594 for H265. In the Compressor module, the standard quality bit rate was shown as 1507 for all three codecs.

Here is a summary of my results for each task (from Mediainfo data)::
Source file was 2.19GB .mp4, bit rate 2633, Format MPEG video

Convertrer Output
Codec MPEG4
size 2.02 GB
Bit rate = 2452 (settings showed 2452)
Format MPEG-4 Visual

Codec H264
size 2.06 GB - WHY IS THIS BIGGER THAN THE UNCOMPRESSED OUTPUT?
Bit rate = 2507 (settings showed 2452)
Format AVC

Codec H265
size 1.48 GB
Bit rate = 1729 (settings showed 1594)
Format H265

Compressor Output
Codec MPEG4
size 1.31 GB
Bit rate = 1507 (settings showed 1507)
Format MPEG-4 Visual

Codec H264
size 1.48 GB - WHY IS THIS BIGGER THAN THE UNCOMPRESSED OUTPUT?
Bit rate = 1726 (settings showed 1507)
Format AVC

Codec H265
size 1.42 GB - This one is ALSO BIGGER the the uncompressed output size!?!?!?!?!?
Bit rate = 1652 (settings showed 1507)
Format H265

[Mona]

Just looking for a little insight into this product - cannot find anything on the web page that explains it - just sales blab.

I am a new UniFab user due to some of the products in DVDFab 13 being dropped. With UniFab 2.0.0.0, the Basic section shows both a Converter and a Compressor, but I cannot really see any difference. I have run some Converter tasks and used H.265 compression on them, so why would I want use the Compressor product?

Here is a reply from the developer:

Compress is designed for only make total video size small at select percentage.
Converter is designed to compress video with the best quality while keeping video smaller.

Codec with HEVC has better quality than H264/AVC.

We use BPP to control this, please search and check. We use HEVC about 0.7 of H264/AVC BPP.
If you have other confusion or suggestion, please contact again.

https://streamshark.io/blog/bpp-calculator-for-live-stream-bitrate/

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?hl=en#zippy=%2Cbitrate

[Mauser]

Thank you for your reply - I am not sure it makes a lot of sense, but I will review the links you provided.

H265 should not be "better quality" than H264, just smaller because it is better compression. The part I cannot figure out with your software is how to determine an equivalent bit rate so I can actually compare the file sizes and video quality. Your default "Standard" quality setting SHOULD be this equivalent, but my testing has shown that it absolutely is not.

HOWEVER, you have not told us why your compressed H264 output is BIGGER than the same file uncompressed using BOTH Compressor and Converter??????

If your software is actually compressing the file using ANY codec, the output should NEVER be bigger than the uncompressed source!