Cebit 2002 - TMPGEnc

During the CeBIT 2002 show, we had the chance to meet the author of TMPGEnc, Mr. Hiroyuki Hori and have an interview with him about the past, present and future of the TMPGEnc project.

Since Hori-san cannot speak any English, Mr. Ryuhei Yoshii, Vice president of International affairs of Pegasys Inc., helped us with the translation.

Q: Welcome Hori-san to the CeBIT 2002 show.

A: Thank you

Q: Is this the first time you visit the CeBIT show?

A: Yes, it is. Actually I am very excited about it.

Q: How old are you?

A: I am 21 years old.

Q: Where is your home base?

A: I live near Tokyo.

Q: How did the whole story started?

A: When I was 17th I was interested in data compression technologies mainly for data use like ZIP and ACE . Shortly, I started occupying myself with binary compression and quickly moved into the still picture compression, like JPEG. I was so excited that I planed to create my own encoding format. But the MPEG standard was already established so I thought that this might be the way I should work. I moved to the motion picture standard.

Q: What is your mathematical background?

A: When I started didn't know much about any Mathematical theories. In the age of 16 I dropped High-School because my main interests were out of what the High-School could offer. At this point I almost didn't know anything about Mathematics. I started reading Mathematical books about data compression, specification about MPEG format and through personal beta testing I developed my first encoding tool. After one year of research I released the first beta version of "TSUNAMI" encoder.

Q: However, software programming skills are also essential to develop such a project.

A: I started learning N88 (programming language from NEC for MS-DOS) but shortly I had to move to a Windows programming language. At that time, the alternatives were Visual Basic and Delphi. I chose Delphi. All the versions were released in Delphi.

Q: Is Delphi the current language you use?

A: I am still using Delphi v4.0 for the programming. I have also tried the newer builds but I decided to stick with v4.0. There are some thoughts of porting the whole project to C++ but nothing has been decided yet.

Q: How was your first program called?

A: I wanted to have a name familiar to the English people, so I called it "Tsunami Mpeg Encoder". But the file name of the software was called TMPGenc.exe so users started calling my software as TMPGEnc. I liked the idea so I renamed it to TMPGEnc.

Q: Your first program was only in Japanese language, wasn't it?
Yes it was. Versions Beta1 till Beta 11 were only in Japanese, and after Beta 11 a user created an unofficial English language patch.

Q: What was your reaction?

A: I didn't care much since my English level was/is low. As you know most Japanese don't know very good English since it's very hard for us to learn it. So a third person helped me with the English versions. After version Beta 12c, both English/Japanese languages released. Beta 12j was the last beta version and then we moved to v2.x

Q: What happened next?

Well, I had an important meeting with Mr. Kawamura, current president of Pegasys Inc, and I decided to work with him in order to continue developing the TMPGEnc project. So me and Mr. Kawamura became the main share holders of Pegasys Inc.

Q: Please give us some more details about this cooperation. How did your software become known?

A: Until version beta 12, the software was available only in my personal homepage called "Hori's Homepage". Even today my personal homepage is there but have not enough time to update it.

I didn't know how many times my software was downloaded but I knew that over 1000 people were visiting my site. Shortly, my encoder started making known to users so I had to use another server for to manage the download demands. That time Mr. Kawamura learned about my encoder so he e-mailed me and we started talking about a possible co-operation.

I also had some other offers to sell the source code and also to work for some companies but I refused. Mr. Kawamura offered his sincere help so I accepted his offer. For about one and half year we had an open cooperation. He helped me establish the TMPGEnc domain name and offered his marketing advices and promotion tips.

By the end of 2001 we decided to join forces and work together under a company with the name Pegasys. Inc. The name comes from the Peg (a) (from Mpeg) and Sys (Systems). Before the Pegasys Inc, the TMPGEnc project was my personal activity, but now is my job.

Q: How many people are working for Pegasys Inc?

A: At this time point, there are 6 people working. That includes my self, technical support, webmasters and marketing.

Q: As far as we know, there are two versions of TMPGEnc available. Which are the main differences between the TMPGEnc and TMPGEnc Plus?

A: The main differences between those versions are:

a) The Plus version offers unlimited Mpeg2 encoding
b) The Plus version has an improved algorithm and 2 pass encoding
c) The Plus version offers free updates.
d) Offers technical support by email
e) The free version doesn't include templates of certain settings. For example, the Plus version has some templates allowing a 2-hour SVCD project creation.

We plan to add an English on-line manual in the next months. All customers who have already bought the English version will be able to download for free.

Q: Why a user should choose TMPGEnc instead of others?

A: Our main advantage is the encoding quality in both MPEG1/MPEG2 formats.

Q: What about the encoding speed?

A: We know that the encoding speed is not as fast as it should be, since quality is our first priority. We are also looking upon the user's interface; we have recently added new wizards, since we want even amateur users to be able to use our encoder.

Q: What is the price of the Plus version?

A: The price of the Plus version is $48. Users can get the Plus version from our pegasys-inc.net website.

Q: What is your opinion about the competition?

A: I believe that CinemaCraft is our main competitor. The software offers a good balance between encoding speed/quality. However the price of CinemaCraft SP Pro is almost $2000. We didn't start comparing our encoder with Cinema Craft but the most of the users do. We think that our product is open to all users and the two products have a different target group.

Q: How many users do you believe are using your encoder?

A: At least 300.000 people have downloaded our encoder since one and half year. It's hard to estimate the real number of people who are using our encoder…

Q: In past, you supported unlimited Mpeg2 encoding but after a while this changed. May we know why?

A: The main reason is the license fees from the MPEGLA LLC. In the beginning, we didn't know about the licensing fees, and when we learned about it, we decided to proceed to the 30days evaluation option. The thought was to evaluate the Mpeg2 encoding format before a user could purchase the Plus version.

Q: What are the future plans for TMPGEnc?

A: With v3.x, we plan to improve more the users interface and we are also considering offering Mpeg4 encoding support. Of course there are several other plans but for now are confidential :

Q: Are you open to any cooperation with other companies?

A: Pegasys is open to any possible cooperation with other companies. Possibly in the future you may see something from us. Currently there two websites, pegasys-inc.com which offers the TMPGEnc Plus version and the tmpgenc.net which offers the free TMPGEnc.

If users are happy with the free version from the tmpgenc.net website, that's ok with us. Users can exchange information in our forum at tmpgenc.net. If users decide that they need the functionality and features of the Plus version, they can buy from our pegasys-inc.net.

Q: Hori-San thanks for your information. Hope you have a great time here in CeBIT!

A: Thanks. It was nice speaking with you. See you next year!