HC Companion Help

The HC Encoder is a wonderful encoder because it's relatively fast and produces very high quality video when
compared to other similar products. So, even if HC Encoder weren't free, it would still be worth it.

GENERAL BACKGROUND
Using the HC Encoder is NOT a joyful experience, if you have many videos to encode. If you need just one or two
at a time, no big deal. But when you have many, then it becomes a real chore to set up all the AVS files and the INI
files in order to run it from a BATCH file.
That's where HC Companion comes in. It sets up all the AVS and INI files automatically. And can execute the batch
automatically for you. Another problem about HC Encoder is that it just encodes video. The Audio stream is totally
left out and so the resulting M2V file is video only. That's where the HC Companion program comes in. Our HC
Companion program will automatically produce a new MPG file that uses the video output from HC Encoder AND
it has the AUDIO stream from the original video and optionally re-encoded with specified bitrates and sample rates
and volume control etc... So, this HC Companion program saves the user a lot of time messing around with AVS
files and INI files and M2V files and AC3 files and navigating through multiple utility programs to get the job done.
The HC Companion will easily allow you to pick a video or many videos and you specify your encoding options and
then click the "RUN BATCH" button and then you are done. After all the magic is done, you will have a new MPG
file in a folder of your choice. It's just that easy.
If you have downloaded this program, you probably understand all of what I just mentioned above. Okay, now on to
all the cool options that we provide.

What Do I Need To Get Started?

This paragraph will describe what you need for everything to work as expected. Of course all the creating, encoding
and merging is all done behind the scenes so that the user only sees a progress bar indicating how far along in the
process the re-encoding has completed. But just so you know what's happening behind the scenes, here's a brief
description. In order for all this to work, the system needs to have the HC Encoder program to re-encode your
videos. The HC Encoder program REQUIRES that you have AVISYNTH program installed. Once you have the
video encoded (M2V). You need the FFMPEG program to get the audio from the source video (AC3). Then you
need to merge the video file (M2V) with the audio file (AC3) with the MPLEX program to create your final reencoded video file.
HCENC_023.EXE or HCENC_024.EXE
This is the HC Encoder program. The encoder engine comes with our HC Companion installer. If you want the
full blown HC Encoder program that comes with it's own user interface, you can download it from our web site at
www.smatters.com/hccompanion. Of course you can scour the Internet to find the latest version if you wish.
AVISYNTH
This is the AVISYNTH program that allows the HC Encoder program to read most video formats including of

course MPG files. This program can be downloaded from our web site at www.smatters.com/hccompanion. Of
course you can scour the Internet to find the latest version if you wish.
FFMPEG.EXE
This program comes with our HC Companion program. We have the last version of FFMPEG that worked with
Win98 and we also have the latest current version as well. They are located in our program folder as
FFMPEG98.EXE and FFMPEGNT.EXE. The reason we keep both is because the current version does NOT
work with Win98. So, if we determine that you are running Win98, we run the old FFMPEG program, otherwise
we run the latest version of FFMPEG. Of course you can scour the Internet to find the latest version if you wish.
MPLEX.EXE
This program comes with our HC Companion program. Of course you can scour the Internet to find the latest
version if you wish.
VIDEOS
You of course need some video files to re-encode ;)
So, basically, once you have installed the AVISYNTH program and our HC Companion, you are all set to rock and
roll.

Creating or Editing Projects

All project files are stored in the AllUsers \ Application Data \ HCCompanion folder. A project file contains all
the info about a project. Such as what source movies you are re-encoding and what the NEW MPG filenames should
be and of course all of the video options and audio options that you have selected. By saving this info into a project
file, you can come back at a later date and real quickly make a few small changes, like a different bit rate, and then
click the "RUN BATCH" button and you are off and running quickly. If you want special customizations, you can
click "CREATE BATCH" and it creates all of the AVS and INI files for you and of course the BATCH file
(HC_BATCH.BAT) that executes the project. You can edit these files to your liking before running the batch file.

Encoding Options
We DO NOT provide all the possible options that the HC Encoder program has at its disposal. We DO however
provide ALL of the basic needs like BITRATE and ASPECT and RESOLUTION. If you want to tweak some custom
settings for the HC Encoder program, then you can use this program to create all the AVS and INI files and the final
HC_BATCH.BAT file as well. Then you could manually edit the INI files to your liking so that the HC Encoder
does exactly what you want. This way, at least 80% of the work is already done for you by HC Companion.

PATH SETTINGS
Source Video File:
This is where you select a video file to re-encode with the HC Encoder. Just browse to a valid movie file. It works
best if your videos are MPG, although it does work with other formats like FLV etc... Some formats just simply do
not work.

Dest Video File:

This is where you select a FOLDER that specifies where the resulting re-encoded MPG video file will be saved.
By default, the destination folder will be the SAME as the source folder. This is not a problem because the
filename has ".NEW.MPG" appended to the source filename. If however, your source folder doesn't have enough
disk space free, you can specify a different folder for the outputs. It's up to you. If you have a bunch of videos
from a lot of various folders and you want to work with the re-encoded files, it's probably easier to specify
the same destination path for all of your videos in your project.

VIDEO OPTIONS
VIDEO QUALITY:
MAX BITRATE:
There are two main methods of encoding videos. One is bit rate based and the other is quality based. The bit
rate method allows only so many kilobits of data per second of video. You can predict what resulting file size
you will have for a re-encoded video file pretty easy with a calculator. The bit rate method is not a constant bit
rate. It uses a VARIABLE bit rate. That means low motion scenes get less bits while the fast motion areas get
more bits. So, if you specified a value of 1000 for the bit rate, then portions of the movie might be encoded
with 500 while other portions might be encoded with 1500. The HC Encoder is smart enough to make it so
that by the time the whole video is done re-encoding, it would have used an AVERAGE of 1000 for the file.
As a rule of thumb, a high quality movie can be re-encoded with a value of 1800 for the MAX BITRATE and
still look very very nice. Values around 1100 are pretty decent and 800 gives you videos that are acceptable
and around 600 you start to get in the realm of noticeable quality loss. It's all personal opinion.
NOTE: You can specify a CUSTOM bit rate that's not listed in the pulldown list. You can also bring up
the CUSTOM bit rate feature by clicking on the bit rate text box.
QUALITY:
The quality based method allows you to pick what quality you want to preserve in the video. So, what does
this mean? It means that the encoder NOR YOU can predict a resulting file size. It also means that low motion
scenes will get just enough bits to achieve the desired quality and the high motion scenes of course will
require much more bits to achieve the same specified quality. So, what does this mean? It means that if you are
concerned with file sizes AND you want good quality in low motion scenes, then you can control this by
selecting a decent quality setting (0 thru 10) AND set your MAX BITRATE to a value that's low enough to
cause the high motion scenes to not gobble up tons of disk space, but yet high enough for the low motion
scenes to attain their desired quality. This may take a little trial and error. Quality values that are 10 thru 21
give you lower quality.
RESOLUTION:
The resolution option is straightforward. Pick one that suits you. Keep in mind that only 720x480, 352x480,
352x240 are DVD compliant. So, if you are making a DVD out of these files, then pick one of those resolutions.
Also keep in mind that if you are interested in smaller file sizes, then pick 352x480. It's half the resolution of the
720x480, BUT you get far better quality for the same bit rate. For example: a 720x480 video encoded with
800kbps will look WORSE than the same video encoded with 352x480 and 800kbps. Now if you go smaller and
use 352x240 it starts looking noticeably less sharp.
ASPECT RATIO:
The ASPECT ratio is a no brainer. If you don't know what an aspect ratio is, then you probably shouldn't be using

this program ;) 4:3 is the standard TV Letterbox aspect, and 16:9 is the WideScreen aspect.

AUDIO OPTIONS
BITRATE:
This allows you to select the AUDIO encoding bit rate. A value of 192 is a good default to use. If you are reencoding a high quality movie that has a sound track encoded with 384, then you will probably want to select the
same bit rate. But if you are interested in saving space, then 192 is very good. You can go lower if you wish, but
realize that once you get around 64kbps, then the sound starts to sound fuzzy (distorted). You can counteract this
by choosing MONO instead of STEREO. Of course you won't get the stereo effect, but at least it won't be fuzzy.
You can also counteract the distortion by using a smaller SAMPLE RATE. So, instead of 48Khz, you could go
down to 22Khz. But again, although the fuzziness will go away, it will start to sound more and more muffled. So,
you decide what's more important, file size or sound reproduction quality.
CHANNELS:
You can pick from MONO and STEREO. No great explanation needed here, except that if you are getting
fuzziness (distortion) in the sound DUE TO LOW BITRATE, you can switch to mono.
SAMPLE RATE:
If you expect your re-encoded videos to be burned onto a playable DVD, then you MUST use 48Khz. No if ands
or buts. If you don't plan to use them on a DVD player, then you can feel free to use whatever sample rate you
want. Just beware that as you lower the sample rate, the sound becomes more and more muffled, BUT you can
also use a lower bit rate without getting the distortion. So, it's a give and take.
VOLUME %:
This option allows you to make the sound LOUDER or QUIETER. A value of 100% means no change in the
volume. A value of 200% means to double the volume and a value of 50% means to cut the volume in half.
NOTE: If you increase the volume too much, you may start to hear distortion in the audio, so be careful.

SPECIAL EFFECTS
BORDERS (BLACK MARGINS):
BORDERS MODE:
There are many options for settings up borders. Let's say you have a video that is SQUARE visually. If you
want to create a video that is a 4:3 or 16:9 aspect, then of course you will need to add some black stripes on the
sides of the video. OR you could just STRETCH (fatten) the video to fit into the 4:3 or 16:9 output video. So,
here are the available border options.
No Borders: Stretch the video to fit the destination aspect ratio (4:3 or 16:9, etc)
Auto Size: (default) Black borders are addeed to keep the video portion looking proper
Auto Keep: Will shrink the video if needed to fit, but will NOT enlarge to fit. Useful for videos with lots
of small fine text.
TV Safe Area: Shrinks the video so that it fits inside the TV viewing area. Most TVs will NOT show the
entire video area, so use this if your destination playing device will be an older 4:3 glass tube television
set.
Custom Borders: Any size borders that you want.

PIXEL UNITS:
If you picked CUSTOM BORDERS, then you need to enter the 4 values for Left, Top, Right, Bottom. The
larger the numbers you enter, the thicker the border margin.
ROTATE:
You can rotate the video left or right or 180 degrees if you wish. It's most useful if you have a video that was
recorded in a ROTATED fashion and you want to un-rotate it ;) Example: I had shot a video with my Canon Sure
Shot camera of a real nice fireworks display. I had the camera rotated as I was videoing. When I went to play it
back on my computer, I realized that I had to tilt my head in order to watch it on my computer. I was
dissappointed, but now I can rotate the video so that it's back to normal again ;) Yippie!!!!
CROP SOURCE PIXELS:
Sometimes you may have a video in which the important part is only a small area of the video (maybe just the
upper right area).. Also, you may have a video that LOOOOOKS like it's a 4:3 video when in fact it's a 16:9 video.
IE: The video has thick black bars on the left and right sides. Well, it would be DUMB to reencode the video with
those black bars. You may as well chop them off so that all your bit rates is going to work for the real video area ;)
So, you can CROP the video by using this option. HINT: You can use the "Preview Borders/Crops" feature to get
a visual idea of how your settings will affect the final mpg output video.