CONVERSION SPEED
*Install the Boosterpack. The boosterpack installs an additional conversion engine, which is basically a newer version than the one DVD Catalyst has. It’s a free download, and will speed things up considerably, even with the same settings.
*Turn off the CPU indicators. In Global Settings > Advanced, remove the checkmark for them, restart DVD Catalyst, and you will gain some extra performance. The CPU indicators (blue bar(s) at the bottom right) look nice, but they don’t really serve any purpose, other than to show you how busy your computer is.
*If you are converting from a DVD, a tool that removes the protection on the fly, such as ANyDVD or DVD43 will reduce the work needed to be done by the conversion, and thus speed it up a little. In some cases, when the protection is too strong, DVD Catalyst switches to a slower conversion mode, (”restarted conversion” message) to be able to convert the movie, so if there is no protection, it will always use the faster method.
*If you are converting video files, if possible, put the output location on a different harddrive than the one you have the original files on.
*NEVER convert directly to a device or a storage card. The transfer rate of flash memory is not the greatest, so conversions will be terribly slow.
*Don’t convert from and to a USB device at the same time. The USB bus can only handle so much data, and having the data go back and forth at the same time will slow things down.
The above mentioned speed tips do not affect quality in any way
So what are the differences between the different profiles in DVD Catalyst 3
For the Apple-devices, such as the iPhone, there are 3 different profiles, Fast, standard and HQ
The Fast profile uses generic mpeg4 for the video format, which is an older form of mpeg4 video that is easier and faster to convert, even on older computers. The compression quality is not the greatest, so to achieve a good looking video file, you end up with a fairly big file size.
The Standard profile uses the H264 video format, but has been tweaked to produce a good quality at a reasonable fast speed.
The HQ profile uses H264 video as well, but it has been tweaked to produce the best possible quality, without any regard of conversion speed.
The HQ2 profile (Motorola Droid) is similar to the HQ profile, but just has a higher bitrate.
BITRATE
This determines the file-size and the quality.
As mentioned earlier, a lot of people just look at the specifications of the device, and use those as settings for the video files. The Droid is capable of a maximum bitrate setting of 1500kbps, but many people don’t notice the difference between video encoded at 1000kbps or 1500kbps. Now if you watch the same video files on a bigger screen, you might notice the difference, but even then, it really is not as much oif a difference as you would think.
As a bonus, a lower bitrate will also result in (slightly) faster conversions.