Do you do something special when you want to watch divX files on a standalone. I've been burning them straight to the disc and the quality it's hit or miss. I'll get like 70% of the discs to play fine but the rest will be crap (ie the picture is unrecognizable but the sound seems to play fine). And it's not the files themselves because if I bring that same disc that wouldn't play on the standalone to the comp it plays fine. I have gotten around this by converting to DVD but this time it's a tv season and I'd need like 24 discs. Any suggestions?
Here's the standalone I have. Philips DVP642 http://www.consumer.philips.com/con...R&language=en&country=US&catalogType=CONSUMER
You sure that they are divx files? Sounds to me like they are XviD avi's. The ESS chipset that your player uses has problems with certain XviD features like CQM's (Custom Quant Matrix). The only two things that DivX should be able to do to produce non working output would be qpel and encoding at a res greater than 720x576. Both should simply refuse to play.
Darn cad0, I want to do the same as you. I didn't try to play a Xvid or Divx on my standalone (non Divx compatible). So I simply wanted to convert the Xvid or Divx as an mpeg file. That should work. Now I'm searching for a free avi to mpeg converter. I found one that's only good for 30 conversions. Anybody know where to find a free converter out there? BTW, I know somebody thats the same player that you have and says that it works. Beats me why you have problem. I want to try the conversion first before buying your player.
Celtic_d thnx for reply, you seem to answer most of my questions here. Your right it is Xvid, but I've played movies with xvid codecs before. Also I'm able to view the first 2 episodes fine (well at least the first minute or so as I was checking thee disc if it would play properly) but the next 6 were had horrible video. Here's the G-spot info. http://www.retailspace4lease.com/temp.html What's my best option here, re-encode with a divx converter? Or maybe just change the 4cc? Or convert to DVD? Or....? f1steph here's something I've found but couldn't it to work on my standalone, maybe u'll have better luck. It's a tut on how to convert mult divX to DVD. DIKO is the free conversion program but the tut also requires you to use an authoring program. In this case it was DVD lab ($100). If you already have an authoring program maybe you could use that instead. http://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=263309
Thanks for the link. I know how long it takes to convert anything to DVD format (I use to do SVCD disks, now I'm just using DVD Shrink)but would it be easier to just leave the files as an mpeg on the DVD? The standalone player should be able to read the mpeg file. What do you think? I did a bunch of convertion the other day (with some anime episodes that were in avi format). I used DVD Santa. Worked great but it tooked forever to do. So I'd like to avoid as much as possible this long long process to convert Divx to DVD.
Ok I found a weird work around the whole Xvid thing. For some reason if you press the "menu" button twice while it's playing, it seems to fix it. I'd love an explanation on that one. f1steph, do mean mpeg2 (which is DVD format)? I've found converting to mpeg2 [bold]is[/bold] the time consuming part. All that's left is putting it in an authoring program and letting it transcode for you. And of course burning it. I usually use nero. Just choose DVD video in Nero and copy all the video_ts files your authoring progam made and place them in the video_ts folder in nero. Oh you could also try this program (also freeware). With this program you skip authoring step but you can't add your own menu. And you kind of have to experiment on how many files you can convert and still fit on a CD. Overall it's much simpler but alot less control. http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_encoders/vso_divxtodvd_free.cfm
Yes I want to convert in mpeg2. BTW, the VSO DivxtoDVD is not free, it's shareware, like all the converters I found, dammit!!! I just want to do this the easiest way possible and time consuming is a big thing on my part. I don't want to spend all kinds of hours getting the Divx files from a torrent, then having to spend again all kinds of hours converting the damm files and finally endding up to get something that looks crappy on my TV set. If that's the case, I'll just rent the entire series on DVD from an online DVD rental company(I did that last fall for 3 months and got 50 movies then backed them up). So I just want to experience this. And if your Divx standalone is the best and easiest way to go, that's what I'll get. Up to now, I backed up close to 130 movies, plus 3 old TV shows series. I can tell you that the quality of the media is a big part of how it will play on your standalone. Cheapy blanks will cause major problems so that's why I now stay away from no name media. I stick to Maxell, Memorex and BenQ. Thanks for your replies.
It used to be free, so you could always just download the older free version. As I said it is certain XviD settings, not XviD that is the problem. If you check the files with MPEG4Modifier I think you will find that they use a CQM.
So is there anyway I can change those settings to make it complaint to that chipset? If not do you suggest something else? I can live with the weird work around I found, but if I could fix it that would be great. flsteph, I'd suggest getting a DivX player. It seems that anytime you re-encode something you lose a quality. Having it in the original format will probably give you the best video. And you don't have to go through the whole hassle of converting. But there are a few downsides. Like what I'm currently experiencing with not beimg able to play a few Xvid files (which is a rarity) and not being able to play on other standalones. And probably the worst part is not having menus or chapters. I still haven't found a DivX authoring program.
I tried MPEG4Modifier and didn't see Custom Quant Matrix in the video info but I did see both Custom [bold]intra[/bold] Matrix and Custom [bold]inter[/bold] Matrix. That the same thing as CQM? And I found the first 2 episodes (the ones that worked properly) didn't have those. Again, any suggestions on changing it somehow to work without those features?
Here's the MPEG4Modifier info Packed bitstream: Yes QPel: No GMC: No Interlaced: No Aspect ratio: Square pixels Quant type: MPEG Custom Custom intra matrix: 8 14 14 14 15 15 18 21 14 14 14 14 15 16 19 22 14 14 15 15 17 19 22 25 14 14 15 18 21 23 27 31 15 15 17 21 26 30 35 40 15 16 19 23 30 38 46 56 18 19 22 27 35 46 61 76 21 22 25 31 40 56 76 99 Custom inter matrix: 19 19 19 19 20 21 24 28 19 19 19 19 20 22 26 29 19 19 20 21 23 26 29 34 19 19 21 24 28 31 36 42 20 20 23 28 35 41 48 55 21 22 26 31 41 51 63 76 24 26 29 36 48 63 83 103 28 29 34 42 55 76 103 134 I-VOPs: 808 (1.26%) P-VOPs: 24335 (37.82%) B-VOPs: 39194 (60.92%) S-VOPs: 0 (0.00%) N-VOPs: 0 (0.00%) Max consecutive B-VOPs: 2 1 consec: 21.35% 2 consec: 78.65%
Only way to change the quant matrix is to re-encode. Doesn't look like any current players are going to be updated to support DivX menus.
What program do you suggest? Should I just straight re-encode the the current file (the one with the CQM) which will result with a DivX file without CQM?
Well DivX can't do CQM's, so yeah if you encode with DivX, no CQM's. XviD supports more ASP features some of which certain standalones have problems with or in the case of 3 warp point GMC, no chipsets can handle it. I would still encode with XviD. AutoGK with the ESS compatibility mode enabled would be a good option.
I tried AutoGK and it's alot better but the audio and video are out of sinc. Probably just needs some tweaking. I read the Vdub can do this as well. Unfortunately when I open the file I get the dreaded "VBR audio stream detected" error. I got around this by using Nandub before but I don't see any way to change the compression with Nandub. Any suggestions on how to get Vdub to work with the file. thx for the help so far.
You need to use VirtualDubMod. Nandub can only encode with DivX3 and MS MPEG4 V2. If the video has the same number of frames as the original and the same bitrate then you should be able to re-use the original audio stream without sync problems.
VdubMod turned out pretty good. I'm wondering if the process gives a loss in quality. I didn't notice any change just watching it but I know re-encoding almost always results in some loss in video quality. But since it's the same bitrate and codec, will there still be a change. Actually I noticed the final bitrate was 1 kb lower and about 400kb smaller in size than the original, strange.
XviD/DivX are lossy codecs so yes there will be a loss in quality. Keeping the bitrate the same is so that it still fits on the intended media, not to preserve quality. To preserve quality, you really should use a higher bitrate since the encoder has to waste bits preserving old encoding artifacts whilst trying not to introduce new ones.
I forgot to ask, and this should have been my first question, but what is CQM? What does it do for the movie? I tried looking it up but got even more confused.
