Fresher-Please Help

[srinathtk]

Dear friends at Digital digets,

At last I was able to find you people for my help.
I am very new to this field of Divx.
I wanted to convert movies with .dat format to divx to fit into one single CD instead of 2.

As per One of my friend's guidelines, I have done th following.

Installed the Divx 3.11 codec.
Using VCD gear for converted the .dat file to .mpeg.
Later using vdub I chose the codec div x for compression with div x low motion with data rate 617 KBPs.
I compressed a mpeg file of size 388kb which got the avi file of size 784kb. I expected a reduction in size rather than increase.

Please help me to convert dat files of size 650mb to half.
please let me know where i have gone wrong.

Regards

Srinath

[Enchanter]

I assume you're trying to convert VCDs into DivX, correct? Here's what you should do.
1. Copy the .dat file to harddrive
2. Open .dat file in Virtualdub
3. Under audio tab, select Full Mode Processing.
4. Under the same tab, select Compression and choose MP3 and a bitrate (128kbps is ideal). You may need to have the Radium MP3 codec installed.
5. Under Video tab, select Full Mode Processing.
6. Under the same tab, choose Compression and choose the DivX codec.
7. Under the DivX dialog box, input your desired bitrate. You will need to use a bitrate calculator to determine what bitrate you should put in.

Repeat the process for the second disc. Once you've got 2 avi files that have a total filesize of 650-700MB, report back here.

That should get you started.

[srinathtk]

Thank you for such a fast reply,

For trial sake, as per your guidelines, I did not try the whole CD but I took a .dat file with the size 37,111 KB converted it to .mpeg using VCD gear. Later compressed it using vdub. But the resultant .avi file size is amazingly 62,040kb. where I am going wrong?


Also same thing i tried in my residence system also. (configuration Win98, 17gig hdd,celeron 433mhz,160mb ram) whenever I try to compress using Vdub and press save as avi, the compression stars but suddenly stops giving a error message 'Sync error'.
What may be wrong?

[Enchanter]

There is no need to convert the .dat file to .mpeg. Vdub will read .dat files alright. This will save you time.

As for your oversized-file problem, have you actually chosen the DivX compressor and selected a bitrate, which also must not be too high in value?

[srinathtk]

Dearest Enchanter,

Thank you very much for your valuable guidance.
I reduced the bitrate settings to 242kbps and audio setting
to Mpeg-3 with
128bits,44mhz stereo(div x audio option did not work).
and bingo..........I was able to reduce to .dat file directly
to about 30% of the original size and to .avi file.
I tested with a 650MB movie file and able to reduce it to 185.3mb
without loosing on the quality with the above settings.
It took me about 2 hrs 12 min. Is this is ok?

Now I am ready with the 2 compressed files from 2 cds. Kindly guide me
to join them to single file. later How do I make a video CD out of
the joined file?

Also I got one error while trying to copy another CD.This error came while
Vdub reads the .dat file."Mpeg inport filter-Pack synchronization
error" and it did not read further after about 125mb. What may be the
problem?

I once again request you to help me solving problem in my home computer.
The error I get is 'Sync error' when I click on 'save as avi' and when the
process starts. Please help me.

Thank you once again.

Waiting for your help.

Regards
Srinath

[Enchanter]

To be able to join the 2 files together, you will have to make sure that the both of them are of the same resolution and compressed with the same codec.

Just one thing. Are you thinking of converting the joined file into VCD and fit the whole movie on one CD? If so, I'm sorry to tell you that it won't be possible. VCD capacity is generally estimated from the length of the movie, not the filesize of the source.

[srinathtk]

Dear Enchanter,

It is fine for me even if I am unable to convert it to VCD. But I want to know how to join the 2 files with same resolution and other parameters kept same so that it can be fit into one cd so that it can be viewed through the computer.

One good news is that the problem with conversion on my home system is solved.

Regards
Srinath