despite the fact that a dvd holds 4.7 gigs, and a divx movie is around 700 megs. As soon as i add the divx file to my dvd project it expands to more than a dvd can hold. is there any way of making it so the dvd doesn't expand so much?
berger, [bold] WARNING! [/bold] This is the 3rd post you've made on this topic as I already responded to one of your posts. [bold] DO NOT [/bold] post about this topic again m8. Now read the guide and follow instructions=can't go wrong! ============================================== [bold]How to convert your DivX's to DVD_R [/bold] DivX's that have been made properly are of superb quality. They can be 1 or 2x 716 mb long, encoded with DivX or Xvid codec with 5 channel AC3 sound or stereo MP3 and all backed up from a DVD. While these have been traditionally converted by many to VCD or SVCD with great results, but always with a drop in picture quality, I thought why not convert back to DVD, retain the DivX picture quality (but a drop from the origianl DVD) and now only on 1 disk. This Tutorial makes a multi-region, auto starting movie (no menu or extras) with 1 audio track and no subtitles. It works for me. There may be a better or simpler way, I just haven't found it yet. This procedure uses DVD2SVCD as the work engine and it basically does all the thinking for you (I like it!). Those making (S)VCD's with DVD2SVCD will feel right at home here. CCE is used as the encoder. SpuceUp is used for the Authoring and Sonic sold out a while back, it is no longer available for sale. However, a demo version is still available. Please do NOT ask me for cracks/serials as I have no idea where to get them. There can be problems with some DVD Players playing DVD-R or DVD+R discs, even different brands of media. So if it does fail, check in a friends player to see if it works there. I can't fix that problem. Software you will or may need: 1. DivX Codec 5.02 or later, ( d/l from http://www.divx.com ) and DivX Codec 3.11a ( d/l from http://www.doom9.net/ ) and Xvid Codec, the latest version ( d/l from http://roeder.goe.net/~koepi/xvid.shtml ) 2. DVD2SVCD 1.1.0 Build 1c or later ( d/l from http://www.dvd2svcd.org ) 3. Cinema Craft Encoder 2.50 ONLY. ( d/l demo from http://www.doom9.net/ ) 4. SpruceUp 1.1 ( d/l demo from http://www.afterdawn.com/software/v...ls/spruceup.cfm ) 5. Nero 5.5.x ( d/l fully functional demo from http://www.ahead.de ) You will also need a Computer with: * Windows NT, 2000 or XP installed and NTFS formatted harddrive. * A Pentium III 550mhz or equivalent as a minimum (needed for CCE to run). * At least 128mb memory (256mb preferred). * Hard drive with at least 20 gb and in one partition. * A DVD Burner (either DVD-R(W) or DVD+R(W) ) to produce the DVD and a good quality DVDR. * A sound card and DVD software player (WinDVD recommended) to check the finished product. Tips before we get started: * Turn OFF your Screen Saver, it will simply slow the conversion down by hours. * Do not run any other program in the background while DVD2SVCD is running, especially if you have a slower computer. * Turn the screens colour depth to 16bit colour or better. * Re-boot the computer just BEFORE you start the ripping, in this way you have the best conditions as possible. Do not under estimate this step, I find it essential to guarantee a 100% perfect encode. So you have downloaded the software and checked that you have the right stuff in your computer. Sounds good, then lets get stuck into it! Step 1: Getting Ready. 1. Install both DivX Codec and Xvid Codec. 2. Install CCE. 3. Install DVD2SVCD. 4. Install SpruceUp. 5. Install Nero. Step 2: Checking the DivX file 1. Every version of Windows comes with Windows Media Player (WMP), so we will use that to check the file. You will need version 7 or better installed. 2. If the DivX is on a CD, copy it to your Hard Drive. If its in 2 parts, these need to be joined together first. See NOTE: 1 below on how to do this. 3. Run Windows Explorer, locate your DivX file, and RIGHT Click on it. From the windows that opens, go to Properties, then Summary. You will now see all the characteristics of the file. Write down the Frame Width and Height and Frame Rate as we may need them later on. Note the Data rate also and if data rate is less than 120 kb/s, I would not suggest you continue. Also if the width is less than 480, I would also suggest you don't continue. The quality of these AVI's are less than perfect and would suggest you convert these to a SVCD or VCD for better results. See the other Tutorials on how to do those. 4. You can use the Frame width and Frame height (from above) to work out the Aspect ratio of the movie but the simplest is to actually play it full screen. So play it in WMP, and hit Alt-Enter to get to full screen display. If there are no black bars top or bottom, then its a 4:3 full screen. On a 15" monitor, if there is about 1 1/4" or 3cm of black bars top and bottom of the screen, then its a 16:9. If there is about 2" or 5cm of black bars then its a 2.3:1 These 3 variations cover 99% of all movies. Step 3: DVDR Conversion. 1. Run DVD2SVCD. It may complain it cannot find CCE, so click the Encoder tab and then browse your HD for CCE (cctsp.exe) depending on where you installed it. This will happen 1st time it is run only. 2. Click the Misc. tab, then select the Input File Type to be AVI and Output File type to be MPEG-2. Then click Default Output folder to select the Output folder where all the files will go, this will require 20gb free HD space! Leave Don't Delete any Files ticked (not important if you don't). Change DVD2SVD Level to Advanced. Then check the box next to Convert divx3 to divx4 ( can resolve CCE problem) as it can help CCE converting DivX3 encoded AVI's with no problems. 3. Click the Conversion tab, and load in the DivX file. It will indicate its length and select an Aspect ratio mode and mark the Audio track. There is no Cut or Trim features here. I do not recommend ticking NTSC to PAL box unless you like jerky movies. DVD2SVCD still has problems with some AVI's setting the correct aspect ratio. It tends to select 4:3 (No borders, encoded as 4:3). Change this to 16:9 (borders added, encoded as 4:3) if you found it above to be 16:9. If you found it to be widescreen 2.3:1, there is no option for this (selecting 16:9 works 80% of the time) and has to be set manually. See Note 1 in the DivX to SVCD tutorial on how to do this.. 4. Click on Finalize Tab, there is nothing in here to change. 5. Click the CDImage Tab and just click Don't Make Images, as we use SpruceUp to do all the Authoring. 6. Click the bbMPEG Tab, there is nothing to change here as we don't actually use this part of the program. 7. Click the Pulldown Tab, there is nothing to change or setup in here. This will run Automatically if a 23.976fps NTSC framerate is found in the AVI and will convert it to a true 29.97fps NTSC movie. 8. Click the Audio Tab. Untick Audio 1 downsample 48 -> 44.1 as a DVD must, I repeat, MUST have 48khz audio to playback on DVD Players. Again, 99% of DivX's have 48khz audio, if it was only 44.1khz, then see NOTE 3 below. For Audio Bitrate, select 384 if the Audio was 5ch AC3, 224 if 2ch AC3, MP3 or MPA. The box for Autodetect Azid Gain (2 pass) should be ticked as this with Normalize the MPA audio sound level. 9. Click the Frameserver Tab and select Resize Method to be Bicubic Resize. Make sure Resize is set to DVD ('cause thats what we are making folks!). At the end of the MPEG2Dec line, click the small [...] button and from the ..\DVD2SVCD\MPEG2Dec folder, select MPEG2DEC2.dll This can solve some decoding issues and I find it faster as well (only needs to done the first time you run DVD2SVCD). Add Resample Audio needs to be ticked if you have an AMD CPU, else CCE will crash. 10. Click the Bitrate Tab and set Max to 9000, Min to 300 and Max Avg to 6000. Unselect Min Avg if its ticked. Change all the 6 boxes of CD size to read 4300 and the 6 boxes of Use to 1. DVD2SVCD calculates the bitrate automatically for you to use the highest data rate to fit onto your DVDR. Untick the Warn if the total bitrate is too high... 11. Click the EncoderTab and make sure Cinema Craft Encoder is selected (and not TMPGEnc). Multipass VBR should be set at 1 (or 2) for best results (I've found any higher doesn't improve the AVI conversion any better). I set Image Qual. Priority to 22 & Bias to 20. If the DivX picture is "noisy", tick Anti Noise Filter and set to 2, increase to 4 if really "noisy". Click on the Advanced Settings button and select ALL 4 of the MPEG2 Video Settings. Set the N/M to 4. 12. All is now setup and we are ready to begin the encoding. If you intend to be doing a few movies, all the setup above needs to be done once and will remain set to the same settings next time you run DVD2SVCD. (Or go to Misc tab and click Save Settings, so you can always load in the settings later on if needed.) Next time you will only need to load the AVI in, set the default folder to save to, maybe Audio data rate, then GO. 13. Click the Conversion Tab again and if all is ready, click the GO button. Click Start Conversion then confirm with OK. 14. Go to sleep, work or school as this process may take a long time. On a P550 it can take about 24hrs with a 2pass VBR encode! On an Athlon 1800, most movies convert 1pass VBR (actually 2) in 3-4 hours. 15. When finished you will have in the default folder you selected, about 20-30+ files. We need only 2 of these files, the Video file Encoded_Video_CCE_PAL.mpv or Encoded_Video_CCE_NTSC.mpv or Pulldown_Encoded_Video_NTSC.mpv (use this if it exists) and the Audio file Extracted_Audio_1.ac3 or Encoded_Audio_1.mp2 (rename this to Encoded_Audio_1.mpa ) 16. Rename the appropriate Video & Audio file to the same name but with correct extension. ( i.e. GLADIATOR.mpv and GLADIATOR.ac3 or GLADIATOR.mpa ) 17. We are now ready to Author these files to DVD format. Step 4: DVD Authoring. 1. Run SpruceUp and turn off any Wizards that may start. Click on File and then Preferences. Select Video format as NTSC or PAL depending on the movie you just encoded. Then in Media Device Indicator, select the size and type of DVD, be it DVD-R/RW 4.7 gb or DVD+R/RW 4.7gb 2. Select the Movies Tab and in its box, right click and select Add Media Asset... and browse to your *.mpv file. Click Open and it will slowly load in, followed by the AC3 or MPA audio file. If all is well, a Movie box will appear with file name, movie length, etc. If the loading of the AC3 gives an error, see NOTE: 3 below. 3. To add chapters to the movie, double click the new Movie box and use the <|||> slider and the red chapter button to set the points. Then hit the Make Buttons form Chapter Points to set them. Then click Close. 4. Drag the Movie box down to the small black box at the bottom, next to the "3 Export" button. 5. Click on 2 Simulate button and the movie should start playing, with audio. Check that the audio is in sync and movie is the correct aspect ratio, etc. Check the Chapter points and go back to edit if needed. 6. Click on 3 Export button select Output To as Tile Set. Give an appropriate Disk Name and enter or browse to an Output Destination Folder Path. Then click Write button. A box will pop up saying project not saved. Give a suitable name, click OK and sit back while it creates the DVD folder and file structure. When completed, you can exit SpruceUp. 7. You will now have 2 new folders in the the destination folder, being AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS. The AUDIO_TS will be empty and in the VIDEO_TS folder will be a number of files including the movie *.VOB files. Delete the *.lay file as it WILL cause burning problems with Nero and not needed anyhow. 8. Play the VOB files with WinDVD (or PowerDVD) to test them out. If all is okay, you have just made your first compliant DVD from an AVI/DivX file. Step 5: DVDR Burning. 1. Run Nero and shut down the wizard. Select DVD-Video. Leave set at all the defaults, enter a Volume Label in the Label tab. Click the New button and browse to your new VIDEO_TS folder (Right Hand window) and drag it to the VIDEO_TS folder in the left hand window. 2. Click Burn icon, set speed to 1x, 2x or 4x depending on the media rating and burner capabilities, and then click OK. Sit back while the DVD is burnt to DVDR. 3. The excitement builds! As it finishes burning, rush it to your DVD Player, get a stubby from the fridge, something to nibble and sit back and enjoy the movie! NOTE: 1 - Joining 2 DivX together 1. Run VirtualDUB , click File and select Open Video file... Browse to the first DivX file and click Open (ignor any VBR MP3 error). 2. Click File again and select Append AVI Segment... and browse to the second DivX file, then click Open. 3. In both Video and Audio tabs, set to Direct Stream Copy. 4. Click on File and then Save AVI..., give a new name and Ok. Soon you will have 1 large DivX file made up the 2 smaller parts. You can delete the 2 small DivX files if your short on space. NOTE: 2 - Converting Audio 44.1khz to 48khz 1. Install latest HeadAc3h (from www.darkav.de.vu ) 2. For Source File, browse to your Encoded_Audio_1.mp2 file. 3. Change Destination Format to MPA 4. Tick "Resample To" and change to 48 KHz 5. Click Start NOTE: 3 - Problem AC3 files 1. Install latest BeSweet and its GUI (both from www.doom9.net download section ) 2. Run the GUI and click on AC3 & OGG button, tick Bitrate and enter 384 for 5ch AC3 or 224 for 2ch AC3. 3. To boost Volume, click Azid 1 button, tick Dynamic Compression and set to Light and tick Gain and enter 20db. (most AC3 need at least 12-15db gain and is still soft, so 20db works for me). 4. Click on BeSweet button and change the yellow box to read AC3 ( AC3ENC then appear above it). 5. In the input box, browse to your AC3 file (eg GLADIATOR.ac3) and give an output name of, say, GLADIATOR-Fixed.ac3 6. Click the AC3 to AC3 button. When finished, exit the program. 7. Delete the GLADIATOR.ac3 file (or rename or move if you want to be more careful) and re-name the new file GLADIATOR-Fixed.ac3 to GLADIATOR.ac3 [bold] Guide copyright belongs to ChickenMan [/bold] ChickenMan (c)2002 - 27 Dec 2002 Shoey Last warning m8.
