Thanks for the Guide, "Copy your DVD into DivX5 format - Guide for 16:9 anamorphic movies" at http://www.afterdawn.com/articles/archive/dvd2divx_anamorphic.cfm It is very helpful but there are a few issues I'm hoping you can clarify and update. 1. In the CDEx Section it says: "go to Convert menu and select WAV -> MPEG". In CDEx version 1.50 beta9, that option no longer exists. It's been replaced by: "Convert WAV file(s) to Compressed Audio file(s)" - and there's also a "Keep Original Directory Layout" option. Should this be ticked? 2. In the Virtual Dub Section, the part under sub-heading "DivX5 2-pass, first pass settings" needs adjustment because DivX 5.03 is quite different to the version (5.0) used in the example. 1) For "Variable bitrate mode", the Guide should add that you now need to select "Multipass, 1st pass". 2) As for the three MPEG4 Tools options; "Use Quarter Pixel", "Use GMC" and "Use Bidirectional Encoding". They are now under the Profiles Tab and they are greyed out. So is there anything different we need to do? 3) There's also a new "Profiles" Tab. Should we just use the "Home Theatre" profile? 4) And the "Performance/Quality" setting has moved to the General Parameters tab. 5) In the "Crop the Video" Section, the Guide says: "both axis need to be multiplies of 16" ... ie. crop it to 352 instead of 350 (352/16=22 - multiple of 16). But the original Y axis was 360 (from the Resize calculation) and 360 is not a multiple of 16. Does this essentially mean we MUST crop the movie to 352? What about 344? Because on most of my 16:9 DVD's, the black lines are exactly removed when the Y axis is 344, ie. an offset of 8 from both top and bottom. 6) In "The Second Pass" Section (after selecting DivX5 codec and then "Configure"), the Guide should now say that the 'Variable bitrate mode' should be set at, "Multipass, nth pass". Should the other settings still be left untouched? 7) Finally, just for clarification, it might be a good idea to state that "if the process is successful, the 'moviename-secondpass.avi' file should be approximately the same size as you set in the 'DV-Tool' Section. It is this secondpass file that you should proceed to split with VirtualDub (for CD burning). The 'moviename-firstpass.avi' file can be discarded." Hope this helps. Cheers
Thanks for the excellent suggestions. There are several other modifications needed for the guide as well -- I personally consider the XviD + AC3 guide to be the best AVI guide we have available at the moment and contains various improvements in terminology and simplicity compared to the DivX guide we have. I try to get some spare time in the future and update the guide
And to reply to #5: The video has to be in multiplies of 16 _when it goes to encoding codec_. That's why it can be in 360 when resizing is done, because we'll crop it to multiplies of 16 after that and therefor the material that goes to the codec is in multiplies of 16. Multiplies of 16 speed up the playback and make the video more compatible with various applications and alternative decoding methods, even though multiplies of 8 should be enough from DivX5's point of view.
Thanks for your replies. I tried the XviD Guide and the outcome was not as sharp (grainier) as the one produced using your DivX5 Pro Guide. So do you think that the XviD+AC3 Guide is better becuase you think it's simpler or because you think it produces better results. The XviD result is perhaps a fraction lighter than the DivX (which can appear gloomy in darker scenes) but not as detailed. Incidentally, both avi's were made to fit on 2 x 700MB CD's, so there was no real size difference in the output files. PS. I've made the relevant updates to your DivX5 Guide on my copy of the html file. I can e-mail it to you if you want. Just let me know the address. Cheers
Ah, you can send the html and if you have screenshots, those as well, to webmaster (at) thissite's domainname (I hate spambots . And the difference is between the quality of the encoding codecs -- I meant I appreciate the _guide_ of XviD more than DivX, not to say that it produces better-quality results, but the guide is more accurate.
Did it come through OK? PS. Do you recommend that we just burn the avi file straight to CD selecting "Data CD" from Nero or is there a neat way to have a little autorun function so that the Div X movie automatically plays even if the computer it's playing on doesn't have "auto-play" turned on? Thanks
