Well, from what I remember, the only difference I could ever tell was that DivX watermarked all of its products. Xvid, since it's freeware, doesn't. So props to Xvid.
If you choose to encode with Divx, it doesn't mean you will have the watermark. I don't know,maybe if you have a PRO trial version, that might have the logo on all the time, otherwise, you can choose not to have the Divx logo displayed. Also, you might read all kinds of benchmarking tests, and they'll say that one is better that the other one in some aspect. Maybe there is a difference, but on paper. When watching on tv, it's all the same to me.
I agree as well, never have noticed any difference when viewing nor during encoding, although I ususlly just stick with xvid.
Divx has better picture quality at lower file sizes than xvid. A 700mb divx is comparable to 900mb xvid. This is from my own tests that I have done. I use to encode everything with dr.divx, but kept getting audio/sync problems that I wasn't able to fix. When I started using xvid, I had to increase the file size to get decent quality but even at the higher files sizes it wasn't as clear as divx but good enough. Now I use the h264 codec for all my encodings and the quality is very similar to divx at the same file sizes, something I found out from the divx website is divx is very similar to the h264 codec. When watching divx videos on my large screen LCD, the quality is near dvd. When I view an xvid I can see it is a lower quality video. I would recommend the h264 codec over divx or xvid. I've been very happy with the results.
Just read the last statement from jony218 and I am getting the feedback that H264 is the way to go - - so, for fear of asking a silly question why are people coding using DivX/Xvid if H264 is the best ? (KajNrig is helping me with my question in another thread)
Because the standalone mpeg4 DVD players are compatible with Divx/Xvid, not H.264. This way one can watch the movies on TV instead of PC.
Warning - another potentially silly question coming up ..... "standalone mpeg4 DVD players are compatible with Divx/Xvid" but surely if H.264 is regarded as the (current) best then the next generation of DVD players will understand how to read H.264 wont they .... so is the DivX/Xvid route a short term solution ????
Divx can also be encoded HD, at high bitrate for better quality. There are some media players that already support H.264(not DVD players, that I know) http://www.everythingusb.com/western-digital-wd-tv-hd-media-player-15594.html The XboX 360/PS3 /orig.XBOX modded can also play H.264.
"Divx can also be encoded HD, at high bitrate for better quality." So is DivX at a high bitrate better than H.264 at a high bitrate? "There are some media players that already support H.264(not DVD players, that I know)" Any my new one ! http://www.buffalotech.com/products...linktheater-wireless-ag-network-media-player/
H264 is, I say, considerably better for HD content... but that's only because it was developed specifically for HD content. It also does excellent jobs with SD stuff, so I figure it's probably going to replace DivX/Xvid within a few years. The only thing with H264 is that there aren't many DVD players and such that support it just yet. They're mostly developed with DivX/Xvid in mind. ...but that's me. I just stick with h264 now, since that's the one I've used the most.
The best way to find out which is best for you is to use fairuse wizard and encode the same dvd into xvid and h264. When complete watch both videos, it'll take 10 seconds to notice the difference. The H264 encoder can also do HD video, but it is very slow encoding to those resolutions. For encoding dvd movies to AVI, nothing beats h264. For converting Mpeg files from a tv tuner card etc to AVI, I use the xvid encoder. the quality is not really that important since the input file is at most VHS quality. When I want to watch one of my H264 videos on my standalone DVD player, I just convert the h264 into a regular dvd. http://www.dvd-guides.com/component/option,com_docman/task,cat_view/gid,97/Itemid,92/
It kinda defeats the purpose, converting from DVD to H.264 and back to DVD. A $30 XBOX would play those files without needing to convert them again.
