HEllo, I have a bunch of movies that are DVDrips that got recoded into Divx format. Now my question is, is it worth it to buy dvd-r's and burn these Divx movies back onto a DVD. Wil there be a gain in quality?
Well, your DivX movies use MPEG-4 compression as opposed to MPEG-2 for DVD's. By converting them back to MPEG-2, you basically decompress the file. The file size itself will double or even triple in size but you won't be able to get the original quality of the DVD back. In most cases, you will see a loss in quality when played on your computer. Depending on the quality of the MPEG-4 rip itself, this difference might or might not be noticeable on a normal TV screen. Another downside to converting movies back to DVD format is the conversion itself may take a few hours, plus approx. 15 minutes for authoring and another 10 - 15 min. to burn, all depending on your hardware. I used to do this, but to be honest with you, I stopped converting my DivX movies back to MPEG-2 and I found an awesome DVD player that actually play DivX, Xvid and standard Microsoft MPEG-4 avi and mpg format. I'd say in the end, it was worth dropping $80 on a standalone DVD player that can do that.
so your saying when i convert them back to dvd, the movie will lose quality and i would see that on a big screen tv? if the file size triples, why wil there be a loss in quality? Will i be better off getting a dvd player that plays xvid's? and if so, do they have dvdplayers that plays xvid or divx that are progressive scan upconverters? And what do i do if i get this type of dvd players? should i just make a data disc with the xvid files onto my DVD-r's and then put them in the player?
Most times, after converting Divx movies to MPEG-2, I noticed a loss in quality. A lot of times, however the quality and image definition seemed to remain about the same. The reason the file size is increased, but the quality is either lessened or unchanged, is that because the MPEG-2 compression is "weaker" than that of Divx or Xvid (MPEG-4), it takes more space to be able to contain the same amount of information. It is however impossible for the quality of the movie to increase in that process. Think of it as a book. If I take a 1000 page book and decide to 'rewrite' it in a 350 page version. The essential information is kept but the rest is dumped so that it takes a lot less space. This is the equivalent to compressing a MPEG-2 DVD to Divx. It would not be possible for me to then 'rewrite' the complete 1000 page version with nothing but the "compressed" 350 page version. To answer your question, I, most of the time can't see the difference because my TV sucks but it is more than likely you will see the difference on a bigger or HD TV. You might even be able to see some "pixelation" as it is with the DIVX movie alone. Shouldn't be too major though. As far as getting a DVD player that plays Xvid's and Divx goes, it's entirely up to you. I would make sure, if you get one, that you're able to return it if not satisfied after trying it. Most of them will play Divx right off of a burned data CD or DVD. The advantage of burning them to a DVD instead is that you obviously can store a lot more movies on one disc. For that, you also want to make sure you get a player that let's you select the movie file you want in case you had more than one on the same disc. Hope this helps and sorry about the novel
No dont be sorry about the novel. The novel was great and explained alot. you really seem to know what your talking about. thanks alot. So if i understod correctly, if i have a dvd movie and i converted it into divx, the file will be smaller but the movie qwuality will be about the same because divx compresses the essential information? Also are the divx players popular. Could i find them at a store like best buy? And what would it say on the box if the player lets you select the movies on the disc with a remote? You said you had a $80 player. Does it upconvert or is it progressive scan?
First question: When you compress DVD video over to MPEG-4 Divx or Xvid, the file does get smaller yes, but unfortunately the file does not retain all of the information from the original DVD. I have seen Divx movies that were approx. 650MB for a two hour movie. The quality on those is usually not so great. You can see some pixelation in low light images and in complex color gradients. When ripping DVD's to Divx, I actually would recommend keeping the target size to approx. 1 GB. If the encoding program you use is good, it can turn out to be of quite decent quality. Second question: The following link will show a Standalone DVD player you which resembles the one I have. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6373827&type=product&id=1077624500910 This one is actually progressive scan. I paid $80 for mine in canadian dollars but I forgot to specify. This particular player has now probably dropped in price, although I can't find it anymore... For all details on this particular player, you should probably either ask someone at Bestbuy or see if you can find out through their website or the manufacturer's website. As a forewarning, Phillip's website is an absolute mess. Hope this helps!
You can use a program called Avi2DVD. It's a freeware and it does the job quite well. Here's a link to the guide for this program... http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/convert_avi_to_dvd.cfm
@ Nick600 He said he wants to convert DVD to DivX and the program you mentioned converts DivX to DVD @Mikej3131 Avi.NET is a good program for DVD to DivX/XviD, very easy to use. Get it here: http://www.clonead.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/__files/avi.NET.zip The only other things you will need, are Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher. You can get that here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...cb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&DisplayLang=en The last thing you will need is AVISynth v2.5.6a Get that here: http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_tools/avisynth.cfm Install all three programs, and Avi.NET should work fine
Hey thanks guys, How about this question, i am making back ups of all my dvd movies and i want the best quality, longest lasting way to do it. What program for making back ups of dvd's is the best these requirements i have( for example clonedvd, Nero etc.) and what program shopuld i not use and why. Also what type of disc(verbatim, sony, memorex etc.) and what brand of disc should i not use and why. My main concern is that i want these backed up movies to last long and be able to play perfectly fine in my player and be durable. And anything else i should know aboutmaking quality backups i should know about? i would appreciate Any suggestions. Thanks
Sorry about the Avi2DVD recommendation. I sort of misread what you had written and got it all upside down. To my opinion, the best and simplest method there is to make quality backups of movies is to copy DVD for DVD. Don't change the format. If you don't care for special features, menus or other language tracks, you can use DVD Shrink to only rip the movie itself, then burn it onto a single DVDR disc. If you absolutely want to keep all the original features on the copy, you are going to need to rip the whole disc and burn it onto a Dual layer DVDR. Before you do this, you will need to verify whether your burner is Dual Layer capable. Making an full copy of the disc is by far the best way as the backup copy will be identical to the original. This would be my preferred method but unfortunately, Dual layer discs are more expensive than single DVDR's and also burning them takes like 40 minutes at 2.4X. Here are the programs I would suggest. those are the same that I use. - DVD Decrypter (free) - DVD Shrink (free) - AnyDVD - Nero 6.6 Most times, and especially with older movies, DVD Shrink is capable of breaking the encryption by itself. In other cases, I need DVD Decrypter to do it. I can then take the files copied on my HDD by Decrypter and process them with DVD Shrink. In some cases, however, and this is especially the case with newer movies (namely the ones with recent Sony Across protection) I will have to let AnyDVD run in the background while using either Shrink or Decryter. AnyDVD is unbelievably easy to use as all you need to do is let the program run in the background. Unfortunately, AnyDVD is not free, but you can download the full trial version and use it free for 30 days. If you decide to make full backup copies using DL discs, you won't be needing DVD Shrink. Another important part of making DVD copies is which type of disc you use. Something else you should should check is if your burner is capable of Booktyping discs. For ultimate compatibility with standalone DVD players, I booktype my backups to DVD-ROM. Only DVD+R, DVD+R DL and DVD+RW can be booktyped. The thing is not all burners are capable of doing this. If your burner cannot booktype, I think you're better off using DVD-R as it's more compatible with more DVD players than DVD+R by itself. The discs I use are Verbatims DVD+R for most of my backups and every once in a while, I'll use DVD+R DL. Verbatims are easy to find in most stores and they are of excellent quality. The other upside to copying DVD for DVD is that it takes a lot less time than converting them to another format like DivX or something. For instructions on how to use the above mentionned programs, check out the guides from AfterDawn. Here's a link. http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/ Good luck!
thanks nick. why are the +R's better than the -R's. Also does nero booktype, does clonedvd booktype and al the rest of them? and is it easy to booktype? do you just check something in nero?
HEY MAYBE YOU GUYS CAN HELP ME, FOR SOME REASON MY NEROVISION WONT BURN ANY DIVX MOVIES IVE DOWNLOADED OFF THE NET, BUT WILL BURN IT IF ITS NOT A DIVX MOVIE? IS THERE A REASON AND A FIX FOR THIS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I ALSO HAVE THAT PHILLIPS DVD PLAYER, SO HOW WOULD I GO ABOUT JUST PUTTING THE DIVX MOVIE ON THE DVD IF THE NERO IS NOT BURNING DIVX MOVIES THANKS.
@ tlpmyd read the forum rules, all caps messages are not allowed. To burn a DivX movie, just burn it as a normal data disc in nero burning rom. @ mikej3131 +R's are better then -R's because you can't booktype -R's To set nero to automatically booktype (Assuming thet your drive is capable of booktyping) Open nero burning rom, go to Recorder>Choose Recorder then select your recorder from the list, and click Options, set the booktype settings to 'DVD-ROM'
oops sorry about the caps, wont happen again i promise. ok ill try to use nero burning rom to burn the divx movie, i was using nerovision4 and it wouldnt burn the divx movie for me, so maybe nero rom will do the trick
