DVD to DivX, the best&fastest way

[UncasMS]

don't tell me that it's the deutsche word for "bilinear"!

NO, not all

it is a differerent way of resizing and i always took it for a proper name.

whatever its origin i didnt really like its quality when i tried xmpeg.

have you ever tried LANCZOS resizer?
it is the best resizer imho.

[mnd]

Hi! SpikeSpiegel

As regards resizing, it is better to let well alone.

I'm not a specialist of resizing methods. I usually convert using bicubic but I see not much visible difference between Bressenham and Bicubic.
I usually convert with Bicubic resizing and more and more I crop and resize using the Divx Pro facility because this way is faster in multipass encoding. I let Xmpeg calculate the crop and resizing values and I pass them to Divx.
With the new Xmpeg you can use your computer reliably to run simultaneously some other tasks and so the conversion time becomes less crucial.

[SpikeSpiegel]

@ Enchanter:
So DVX doesn't use "fast recompress"!?
Yes, that's the problem!
I just gived a try using DVX to create a resized&cropped (via Avisynth, so I don't need to enable VirtualDub filters) avs, then VirtualDub 1.5.4 (that should be a little faster than previous versions), using fast recomp: the speed increased of 15% (8.3fps -> 9.5fps)!
This way the speed is almost the same of Flask (even better on 2nd pass)
If only I knew this method before...!

@ UncasMS:
Sure!
Using Lanczos there's almost no smoothness and I noticed that with this resizing method&DivX a video seems to be compressed with Xvid (with right parameter and REALLY high bitrate)
P.S. well, now all I need is a mp3PRO plugin for ThePlaya/WindowsMediaPlayer...that maybe won't ever exist...

[SpikeSpiegel]

@ mnd:
Honestly I don't like too much the via-codec resize, it's fast, but using it some strange "artifacts" (dots on hi-motion schenes, etc..) appear, I don't use post processing filters, so this effect is particularly noticeable
Video quality is absolutly subjective, somebody likes smooth pictures, someone else prefers sharpness with no loss of details...if u too are one of those u could also try to use DVX, if u prefer smoothness (and if u have some centurys of spare time to configure ALL parameters) try Nandub or DVX with noise filter, it's perfect for low bitrate movies!

As always I'm really concise
Good Video Editing to everybody!

[Enchanter]

Originally posted by SpikeSpiegel

P.S. well, now all I need is a mp3PRO plugin for ThePlaya/WindowsMediaPlayer...that maybe won't ever exist...

Why bother with MP3 Pro?

From what I have read (and tested personally), the results are not that good (despite the claims). It is unlikely a Direct Show filter will ever be released for it. In addition, OGG or --alt-preset LAME MP3 will deliver better quality, the latter more suited for high bitrates.

[SpikeSpiegel]

Hi, Enchanter!

Are u sure u tested it properly?
remember that u can read that codec only with Tomson player or Winanp+ the plugin (better), otherwise it's like listening a mp3 with 1/2 of the freq. (4 ex. 44.100Hz -> 22.050Hz)

I think that there's nothing better than mp3 @ 128k CBR for movies (higher values are useless) and, casually, mp3PRo should work better than mp3 using < or =128k(-> 64k for pro) bitrate.

I converted one CD to 128k mp3 and to 64k mp3PRO (half size), the sound seems a little different (that doesn't mean that QUALITY is different, it's difficult to say which was nearest to the original), anyway those differences could be noticed listing music, but surely not on a movie...
So if with ogg u can save 1/3 of the file size, with mp3PRO u're halveing it, and even if there's a little loss of quality, it's still convenient, do u agree?

Don't missundestand me, I would NEVER use it for hi quality music!

MAY THE COMPRESSION BE WITH YOU!

[Enchanter]

Originally posted by SpikeSpiegel

I think that there's nothing better than mp3 @ 128k CBR for movies (higher values are useless)

I disagree.

I have used 128kbps as well as higher bitrates for my audio. 128kbps sounds lifeless on my speaker system. Since I do mostly 24min episodes and the file size difference between a 128kbps and, say, 192kbps is a few megabytes only, I choose the higher bitrate audio.

It is useless to have good-looking video but your ears have to suffer from low-fi sound.

Originally posted by SpikeSpiegel

I converted one CD to 128k mp3 and to 64k mp3PRO (half size), the sound seems a little different (that doesn't mean that QUALITY is different, it's difficult to say which was nearest to the original)

Think dithering ...

[SpikeSpiegel]

Well, converting anime movies is different, u can use low bitrate for video, so there's no problem to increase audio, but problems (...somebody said "Apocalypse Now"?!) appear when u wanna fit long and hi-motion movies on one or 2CDs.
Anyway audio&video quality is sujective, so for me...and for my speakers (the subwoofer doesn't agree, and maybe u know why) 128k on movies is still enough...but for music I use only hi-quality VBR.
I love anime too, so I can perfectly undestand, but unfortunately I almost never converted one of them directly from DVD (here it's not so easy to find anime), at least I try to recompress and reapair them (see the post "Need a real pro - real media conversion", those 26episodes are of Berserk, I'm sure that reading it u'll feel pain I hope I won't ever see that #%$§*ç& codec)

P.s. Last week I bought the 1st DVD of Cowboy Bebop in Italian, but after a few minutes I selected Japanase track and english sutitles...bad habits never fade away!

[SpikeSpiegel]

@ Enchanter
P.s.2 (...no I'm not talkin' about Play Station.. Exactly, which parameters (resize mode, resolution, bitrate for Xvid or DivX, and par. of convolution3D, etc.) do you use for anime movies?

[Enchanter]

Well, converting anime movies is different, u can use low bitrate for video

My experiences speak otherwise.

Low bitrate will always result in bad quality, be it anime or non-. Mosquito noise and macroblocks would abound and irritate your eyes like they never have before.

Exactly, which parameters (resize mode, resolution, bitrate for Xvid or DivX, and par. of convolution3D, etc.) do you use for anime movies?

Lanczos resizer and XviD compressor.

The resolution depends on the bitrate that I am using.

I use Convolution3D sparingly nowadays. Some videos output very good results with it, but some are never meant to be smoothed in the first place. One example os Spirited Away, which is meant to be compressed and viewed in all its glorious details.

Last week I bought the 1st DVD of Cowboy Bebop in Italian, but after a few minutes I selected Japanase track and english sutitles...bad habits never fade away!

I do the same thing.

I see it as the only way anime should be viewed and enjoyed.

[UncasMS]

I think that there's nothing better than mp3 @ 128k CBR for movies

using ogg vorbis might prove this statement wrong

[SpikeSpiegel]

@ Enchanter:
Are u sure u can't use low bitrate?
The distribuition of colors in animations is ever more "uniform" than other video files (surely there are many differences, 4example between R.Kenshin OVA and...South Park), so, between two frames (where there are objects in motion), the constant blocks are more, so bidirectional frames are smaller.
...and that allows u to decrease AVERAGE bitrate.
I say average because, obviously, if the bitrate is constant, in each scene change/hi motion scene, u'l see every kind of noise, so u gotta use dual pass to distribuite it properly.
I noticed that the divx dual pass is more precise than xvid one (sometimes keyframes are placed in the wrong moment...even if I always update stats files), but if u have no HD space problems u can forget what I just said.

[SpikeSpiegel]

@ UncasMS:
Sure, but I wasn't referring to quality/compression ratio, but only to quality and I said that seeing a movie I can't distinguish a 128k from a 192k one, anyway I'm really exigent for video quality, but not for audio.
p.s. is there a faster version of convolution 3d?
what do u think of Donald Graft's MSmooth with anime? Is it better than 2d cleaner or Smart Smoother for VirtualDub?

[SpikeSpiegel]

@ Mnd:
I have a little problem with Xmpeg: Usually I compress audio with other programs, but this time I wanted to try with this one and....how can I choose the track?
It ever selects the english one and I can't find any command-setting to change it....
with Flask (opening an ifo or vob file) u can choose the track in the moment u open the file, but this way nothin' appears
Anyway it works well, I hope that next versions will include Lanczos resize, so it would be really perfect!

[Enchanter]

Originally posted by SpikeSpiegel
@ Enchanter:
Are u sure u can't use low bitrate?

Yes.

The edges, if you have not noticed, are harder to compress. Solid blocks of colour can be just as bad. With SBC, the results of using too low a bitrate include major occurences of macroblocks, colour smearing and s-h-i-t. With XviD, mosquito noise is the main concern, with macroblocks to a much lesser degree.

The good thing about anime is that you can use a smaller resolution and/or stronger smoothing, and not degrade the picture quality very noticably (unlike non-animations). Hence you can use a lower bitrate in this case and come up with a final AVI that can be considered just as good as one encoded at higher resolutions (with a proportianally higher bitrate). This fact can be attributed to why anime does not seem to need much bitrate.