Encoding questions

[Prizm]

I'm new to DivX encoding, and have read a few guides,
but they seem to be aimed more at ease of use of programs
rather than quality of the final DivX.

I have heard the output of FlaskMPEG and other 'all-in-one's'
isn't too great.

Questions:

1. Could an experienced DVD ripper please tell me what they use
to rip and encode? I don't care for ease of use, if a program will
provide higher quality, then I'll take the time to learn it.

2. Is variable bitrate always the best way to go? (nevermind not
being able to determine file size)

3. I read somewhere that you should always encode with Low
Motion, and that at higher bitrates (1000+, which I intend to use
anyway) , it's always the best anyway. Is this correct?

4. Any other tips, warnings, info?

Thanks for any replies,
Prizm

[Fruitmaker]

HI...

so... if your looking 4 good quality rips you should try this way:

1. I use mpeg2avi. This is a little dos-command-tool which is really ugly to use. But there is a graphical user interface (gui) available, which makes it more comfortable. Its pretty fast and really gives u good quality and some extra goodies
for encoding you should make 2 cd rips. and also use the newest Codec DivX 4.02 and choose here the "2-pass mode". This will give you best quality (read more about it @ digital-digest guides). If your really a lucky dude, you keep the 720x480 which is on every DVD. so you can have a even better picture on Monitor or on Videobeamer.

2. 4 sound i recommend you to keep the original sound, which is usual DolbyDigital. if you wanna keep it, just dont encode audio with the avi. Setup audio not to "mp3", leave it "pcm uncompressed" if you like to use flask. Or.. the easier way: get DVD-Decrypter... it extracts the sound file (.ac3) directly from the vobs.

3. 4 Putting sound and video together.. use nandub .

after all that you will have a perfect 2CD rip.

have fun.

PS.: you'll find all programs you need here in the download-section.

[UncasMS]

Originally posted by Prizm

1. Could an experienced DVD ripper please tell me what they use
to rip and encode? I don't care for ease of use, if a program will
provide higher quality, then I'll take the time to learn it.

NANDUB will offer the best possible quality imho!

2. Is variable bitrate always the best way to go? (nevermind not
being able to determine file size)

NANDUB will reach your desired final filesize VERY precisely!!

3. I read somewhere that you should always encode with Low
Motion, and that at higher bitrates (1000+, which I intend to use
anyway) , it's always the best anyway. Is this correct?

for good quality, FAST motion will never be a good choice

4. Any other tips, warnings, info?

NANDUB will take some time :-=)

[techno]

Hi there, since I have broken the world record on compressing videos alot and high quality (4 mins = 12MB, 1 hour = 400MB if I do it my way):


fast motion is good. use:

15keyframes or 20
75crisp or 65 crisp
6000bitrate (file size should be small and fit on 1 cd, DIVX v4.xx will not fit on one cd which sucks)

Thanks

[UncasMS]

no offence techno, but he asked FOR QUALITY!

fast motion never really equals quality, it is crap, as are most 1 cd rips.

[techno]

Actually, it isn't crap cause I produce it DVD quality the way I do it so there. I think I should know because since I have broken the world record on compressing videos alot and high quality (4 mins = 12MB, 1 hour = 400MB if I do it my way)

No offence

[UncasMS]

with divx 3.11 and the settings you suggest?

i'd be amazed. so were would we find reliable clips?

[techno]

Hi there, this is for MR.UNCAS (sorry if I spelt it wrong) Please provide me a server so I could give you some clips. I do not want to argue with anybody, I always think that you are my friends. I never ever want to argue with anybody, and I am not saying that I am right or that you are wrong. From my own experience I am telling you how to improve the quality.

Thanks

[UncasMS]

by the settings/chosen codecs you have mentioned so far, i cannot see any improvement.

of course special settings or codecs might do the trick, only an avi file cannot be held as proof, since one cannot verify with what bitrate/method it has actually been made.

i'm driving at this: avi properties will only stat the average bitrate, never the settings one used for example.

for a server:
in case those test-files are of unchallenged quality, i'd say talk to ddigest to make this available for everyone.
what do you think?

[techno]

I say that's fine but I spoke to them and they said that they don't have enough space on the server and also it is too expensive. They are looking for a server but could take months.

Thanks

[UncasMS]

hm, sorry to hear that

[techno]

You don't beleive me?

Listen, do you want a chat on MSN messeger cause I would like that? Please give me your email address and I will hook you up

[khitch12]

Regarding fast and low motion divx. Both of these have thier limitations. Low motion gives a much nicer picture but doesn't handle action scenes well unless it is cranked up to around 1600 kps and that tends to make huge files. At this setting you will be doing well to get a two hour movie on two cdrs, depends a lot on the movie too. To rip a longer movie you can run fast motion set at say 3000 kps and the picture won't be quite as nice but you will get it to two cdrs. I've done a couple of three cdr movies, Lawrence of Arabian and Gettysburg but they are very long and I like them a lot.

A while back the double pass method appeared. An early one I played with for a while had you make a huge low motion and a smaller fast motion rip of the same movie and it would splice them together giving you the best of both worlds. I'm using divx4 in double pass mode today the results are incredible and generally only one cdr.

[techno]

Yes khitch12, you are right and I know that. I don't use DIVX4 because it is bad. The picture quality is amazing but the file size is rediculas. I use fast motion DIVX 3.11alpha and it does reasonably good on low action scenes the way I do it. What you said is true, very true. I have captured Boiler music video and as a test, I encoded it to low motion, there are high action scenes in the video and it did very well with them, no blocks or jerks! The bitrare was 1313 and 75crisp with 10 k/f. Fast motion does it the same but good file size, 17-19MB as with low motion 52MB. I am actually trying to find a server so people can see my "world record breaking video" in fast motion. 4 mins = 12-15MB with NEAR DVD quality the way I do it.



Thanks

Techno

[Amp Divorax]

Techno, a few questions for ya. First, what resolution do you usually use for your rips. Second, what programs are you using to do this. You talk alot about this stuff, but you don't provide hard facts.

Another thing is that you can make the filesize of your divx movies smaller by downloading the DivX Auto Keyframe Patch and setting the keyframes to 9999. What this does is put a keyframe in automatically at each scene change. For my rips, this has saved me a good 10-20 megs, particularily on my Cowboy Bebop rips. (640x480, 3000 kbps fast motion, 100 crisp, 44 khz stereo DivX Audio at 64 kbps, average filesize per episode is 150-180 megs out of the 6 episodes I have done thus far.)

Another thing is that setting the fast motion codec at 65 and at 6000 is a bit of overkill. If you have the codec over 2500 kbps then in most cases you can have the crispness at 100 and not worry about any frame skipping.