The Society of Motion Picture Television Engineers has adopted VC-1 (SMPTE 421M-2006) as a mandatory video format for Blu-ray Disc. Using Reference 2, you are able to create compliant Elementary Streams for these formats.

MainConcept VC-1 Pro codec plug-in offers fast encoding and legendary MainConcept quality. It supports the Simple, Main as well as Advanced Profiles, and all levels. In addition, the VC-1 Pro codec plug-in features MainConcept's extraordinary video encoding quality. The software offers configurable bit rate control, editable GOP structure as well as configurable motion estimation.

The VC-1 Pro codec Plug-in for Reference 2 offers professional features such as watch folder and batch list encoding. Additionally, it includes a powerful capture engine* that allows you to capture from camcorders, webcams, etc. in their native or another format if available.

Here is a list of supported formats in Reference VC-1 Pro:

• Blu-ray Disc VC-1
• VC-1 Simple
• VC-1 Main
• VC-1 High

Reference VC-1 Pro also supports Dolby Digital Professional or Dolby Digital Plus Professional. These transcoding plug-ins must be obtained separately, but they allow you to add high-quality Dolby 5.1 surround sound to your multimedia productions.

*Capturing is only available in Reference Windows.

The full license codec Plug-In provides unrestricted VC-1 support. When purchasing the full license Plug-In, you will receive a serial number to unlock the appropriate codec in the free MainConcept Reference 2 base application. The base application must be installed on your system.

• Fully compliant with SMPTE 421M-2006 specification.
• Mandatory video format for HD DVD and Blu-ray®.
• Strict HRD compliance.
• Advanced compression algorithms - high rate-distortion efficiency.
• Platform independent - can be ported to various platforms and devices.
• Profile-driven configuration.
• Configurable encoding complexity.
• Full control over encoding parameters from application level.
• Parameter compatibility validation features.
• Simple, Main and Advanced profiles, all levels.
• Interlaced and progressive coding.
• CBR and VBR, single pass and dual pass rate control.
• Full-pel, half-pel and quarter-pel motion estimation.
• Variable-sized transform.
• AC prediction.
• Bitplane coding.
• VC-1 is compliant to the WMV format from Microsoft that is widely used for sharing video via networks and posting media content on websites such as YouTube.
• Adaptive VLC table selection.
• Capturing from many different devices in their native format and VC-1 (Windows only).
• Subtitle support.
• Useful Watch Folder and Batch List Encoding features.
• Many powerful video and audio filters for different production environments and occasions.
• New preset structure.
• Configurable preset shortcuts for quick access to often used transcoding profiles.
• Improved user Interface for better handling and managing of transcoding jobs and projects.
• New advanced Video/Audio Encoder and Multiplexer Settings dialogs with many useful options for optimizing your footage.
• Direct access to import modules when opening streams for transcoding.
• The Windows version also includes the MainConcept VC-1 Decoder filter, enabling playback of VC-1 files in Windows Media Player and other DirectShow compatible programs.

Audio:

• WMA
• PCM Audio
• Dolby Digital Professional (separate plug-in)
• Dolby Digital Plus Pro (separate plug-in)
• Multi-channel audio support

Stream Type:

• VC-1 ES
• MPEG-2 TS
• ASF

High-Resolution Manuals:
The documentation of MainConcept Reference is included in the demo version. However, it can also be downloaded separately to give you an overview of the powerful transcoding application. The high-resolution manual is available for free downloading below, in zipped Adobe® Acrobat® format. Currently, only the English version is available.

English manual for MainConcept Reference
(8.83 MB)

To use MainConcept Reference 2, you'll need to make sure that your computer system meets at least these minimum requirements:

Operating systems:

• Microsoft® Windows® 7, XP, Vista and 2000
  (we recommend to install always the current Service Pack for the used operating system), Microsoft®  DirectX 9.0®.
• Mac OS X 10.5 or higher (Mac/Intel)

When you want to use MainConcept Reference within a network, please contact your local sales representative at sales(at)mainconcept.com.

The new version Reference 2.2 comes with the following fixes and improvements:

• Resolved crash when using a JPEG2000 DCI preset for transcoding.
• CUDA H.264/AVC Encoding now included in the Windows and Mac OS X applications from the start.
• Capturing to MPEG-2 Custom preset with Dolby Digital Professional results in audio stream only clips.
• Transcoding JPEG2000 Elementary Stream containing more than 1024 frames causes error.
• Crash of Capture module when capturing to custom VC-1 preset with MPEG TS muxing from a DV camcorder.
• Capture crash on 64-bit systems resolved.
• Sony PSP H.264/AVC file errors fixed.
• MPEG-4 Part 2 import problems (video stream) solved.
• DVCPRO 50 encoding issues resolved.
• Batch encoding issues with Custom MPEG-1 profile resolved.
• LPCM audio stream in MPEG PS import problems fixed.

Upgrade to Reference 2 – 50% Special Discount on the First Order:

For a limited time only, MainConcept is offering Reference 1.x customers a 50% discount on the first order for Reference 2 Codec Plug-Ins.
Whether you want to order just one Reference Codec Plug-in only, or you want to order the entire set of Codec Plug-Ins, you get a 50% discount on your first order.

Why upgrade? With Reference 2 you get powerful new features including:

• Capture functionality
• New preset structure for quick access to the most important presets.
• Subtitle rendering support for *.srt and *.sub files.

For details on how to get your 50% discount, e-mail your name, a copy of your invoice and the Reference 1.x serial number to sales(at)mainconcept.de. Take advantage of this limited time offer today!