Opinions needed.

[WeenBoy]

Currently I am using Smart Ripper, DVD2AVI, VFAPI, and Virtual Dub to make DIVX movies, burn them onto CD's to play on my computer through MircoDVD 1.2 through my video card to the TV. At the most it takes 3 CD's for long movies, but I have been happy with all the results. As I have been reading more and more about people making VCD's and SVCD's I have been wondering is there a better way to accomplish what I am trying to do, which is just view movies on the TV basically. More and more info is comming out everyday. I tried a while ago to make a VCD but the video sucked at 3something x 2or3something. My DVD player wont support SVCD's, but even when I tried to view them at the max SVCD, via my computer, the video wasn't still all that great.

So I was just wondering are there any more tools or any new ways to do what I'm doing (ie. less CD's, etc.)? I guess it's the reading over and over of the "DVD on 1 CD!" that peaks my curiousity, because when I did that the video was never that great on one CD and I don't mind 2 or 3 CD's for the DVD quality 720x480 with superb video and sound.

Thanks alot again, you guys have been a great help.

(thumbs up)

[benderman]

Depends on what you want to get. If you want the maximum Quality and don't care about space all DivX codecs with highest bitrate and 1-pass will nearly look the same. For 1 cd ripps you need to reduce the resolution and encode in 2-pass-mode.
If you always watch the movies via TV-out I think a reduced res is not too bad. In my opinion it dosen't make a big difference if the video-res is 640x480 or 720x480. 512x384 also looks nice on my TV.

[svcd]

Hi!! (sorry my eng)
I been wonderin' the same, and this is my experience.
First of all you must know that when you try to put 6 giga of DVD information onto 2 cds, (1,4 giga), you can't expect to have the same quality that your DVD disc. Second, when you back up your DVD is supose to be played in your stand alone DVD and displayed in your TV screen, wich in most of case it have a resolution about "less than a half" of the monitor resolution. This mean that your 720 x 480 DVD pixel format can be reduced to 352 x 288 PAL or 352 x 240 NTSC. The key in this issue is to look for the best way to compress the data (bitrate), and then you will found the best quality for your movies backup. For me SVCD in some cases (DVD) and VCD in others (DVD and TV series) are cool to store and see my videos on tv. If you want the DVD quality the best is buy a DVD. I mean it in a cool way!!. Some people don´t like the VCD or SVCD quality and is OK, I believe is a personal dessition.

Hope to be helpfull!!!

[WeenBoy]

So basically...

... what I'm doing works fine for what I'm doing?

[Enchanter]

Personally, I wouldn't go beyond 2 CDs as this is a waste of discs and a hassle (Change the CD more than once?!!). Well, that is unless your video bitrate is lower than 1000 and the resulting video looks bad.

As with Benderman, I suggest doing 2-pass mode DivX compression to maximise and effectively utilise the bitrate usage.

[WeenBoy]

I'll have to look into 2-pass

1000 bit rate looks horrible on 1-pass, but I'm assuming 2-pass 1000 might look better is what you are saying? Also even if I have it at 720x480, if the TV shows less res, it wont screw up the picture, right (like the screen won't show all of it or something)?

I haven't tried 2-pass yet, but I'm sure it will open up a whole new issue of newbie problems for me