Which one has the better quality?

[Nemesis]

Hi,

I wanted to know the opinion of you guys about which Codec has the better quality: DivX or XviD?? If DivX, what is the best version, 3.x,4.x or 5.x?? Thanks.

[XvidivX]

I am kinda new to encoding, especially divx since i just watched my first succesfull divx encoded movie, so i can't tell you more than my first (but not least) impression : xvid is better, especially in the parts with lots of movement in it and off course it's free and they don't try to **** up your machine with there gator**** i don't wanna see again EVER. sorry about that last one, but that sort of stuff just pisses me off big time,


ciao all

[asaf_avr]

Xvid is better. If you watch DivX carefully you can see noises on the picture (a lot of little dots). Xvid doesn't have it.

[Enchanter]

I am an anime fan and as such encode a lot of anime-related materials. In this situation, I find XviD (followed by SBC DivX 3.11) better than DivX 5... (Before continuing, let me make it clear that I find DivX 4 an inferior codec to the competition and hence carries no place in this discussion)... XviD and DivX 3.11 do not suffer from the "built-in smoothing" effect of DivX 5, and hence details look sharper (important, since edges in the animation become better emphasised). It should be noted too that DivX 5 does not tolerate low bitrates (600kbps and lower), where the other two can cope better.

With real pictures, I find XviD and DivX 5 to be about neck to neck. DivX 3.11 cannot compete here as it lacks the advanced MPEG-4 features (B-frames, GMC, QPel, etc.) that the other two possess. The smoothing effect of DivX 5 results in more compressible video and hence less likelihood of compression artifacts (some people will like the smoothed effect too!). In contrast to DivX 5, XviD offers the sharpest picture and details (similarly to DivX 3.11), but consequently suffers more from compression artifacts. Which codec you like will depend on which camp you belong to. Try both codecs and decide with your own eyes. I hope that simple explanation helps a little.

Cheers!