DVDX 2.0, DIVX 5.0.2 Configuration and settings

[Dad_to_be]

Hi, I am new to DivX and am trying different Codec settings to see what gives me best quality (at minimum MPEG1 quality) at smallest size. I am using DVDX 2.0 to convert VOB to DIVX, and then Nero Burner to burn it onto a VCD. This way I can share the DIVX avi and make myself a VCD. I currently have the DIVX 5.0.2 codec.

Question 1: When I go to Configure DIVX 5.0.2, I want to use MPEG4 tools options (listed on DIVX Codec tab of configuration), however, that whole section is not available to me. I cannot select any of it. Is there something I need to install in order for those options to be available?

Question 2: I find the fast motion, low motion codec to be confusing. Do I need to have two separate codecs (i.e. one fast, the other one slow)? If so, please let me know what the other codec is. So far the quality seems to deteriorate significantly when the motion is fast.

Question 3: On the computer, with DIVX player, DIVX files come out with great quality, but the problem is when it is put on VCD. So far, all the settings I have used have given me a poorer quality than mpeg1 (i.e when burnt as VCD). When I get a good quality with DIVX, the file size is the same as mpeg. Is there some setting that you know of that will yield the quality as good as mpeg1 but in smaller size?

Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Batman]

Re: DVDX 2.0, DIVX 5.0.2 Configuration and settings

Originally posted by Dad_to_be

Question 3: On the computer, with DIVX player, DIVX files come out with great quality, but the problem is when it is put on VCD. So far, all the settings I have used have given me a poorer quality than mpeg1 (i.e when burnt as VCD). When I get a good quality with DIVX, the file size is the same as mpeg. Is there some setting that you know of that will yield the quality as good as mpeg1 but in smaller size?

Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Try the divx encoding guides at doom9.org or uncasms's. Gordionknot+divx 5.02 seems to be a popular option. mpeg-1 is poor compression, divx is mpeg-4. You will never be able to get the same quality at the same file size.

[Enchanter]

Re: DVDX 2.0, DIVX 5.0.2 Configuration and settings

Question 1:
You need to have the Pro version (paid or adware) of the DivX 5 installed, instead of the free one.

Question 2:
The low- and fast-motion aspects of the DivX 3.11 codec ARE NOT relevant to the DivX 5 codec.

Question 3:
This depends on the quality of the original DivX file. VCD has a relatively low resolution of 352x240, compared to DivX, which can have a resolution as large as 720x480 or higher. If your original DivX does have a significantly larger resolution than VCD, I'm not surprised at your discovery. Then again, I'm not an expert on VCDs, so I can't offer much optimisation procedures. Checking out the sites that Batman suggested would be a good idea.

If you are creating a VCD right from VOB files, why don't you just skip the DivX creation procedure and go right from VOB to VCD? It will be less time-consuming and less quality will be lost when transcoding. I can think of using GordianKnot to create an AVS file and loading the said file into TMPGEnc for creation of VCD-compliant MPG files.