DVD to Divx/Xvid/x264

cormie

Hi,
This has been wrecking my head, basically I want to convert a DVD to DIVX files and have wasted a lot of time along the way. When you download the DIVX codec, you get a converter with it, I was recommended Dr. Divx for converting and then I found out about staxrip, which can do DIVX/XVID/x264 and loads more. You'd think I'd be able to figure out a way to get these programs to do a better conversion than the included converter with the DIVX codec, but I can't. The included one with the DIVX does it fine, about a quarter of the VOB size and the audio and video is fine. The resolution is smaller I think, but it still looks smoother than the x264 one, which is supposed to be the best, they all seem to come out with lines or something in the pixels from staxrip and Dr. Divx takes too long to mess around with.

Has anyone experience of this? I'd like to just have the one program that could give me results and let me convert to Xvid/x264 etc if I wanted, but for now, a simple little included converter seems to be better than these other much hyped programs...

Any feedback appreciated

Standard Toaster

The lines you mention are probably from the original source being "interlaced"
The alt being progressive. Most 25fps (PAL) content is progressive. (Not always)

Anyway, I'd suggest handbrake too. staxrip is a wee bit heavy if your not familiar with video encoding/transcoding.

Remember to check the "deinterlace" option in handbrake!

Oh, and disable GMC & Q-Pixal (If you have them options) if you plan on playing on standalone divx devices.

cormie

Thanks for the quick replies

I can't find a deinterlace option in staxrip, not sure where to be looking, so many different things on it!

Do you reckon handbrake would suit me fine? All I want is something simple and can't imagine myself ever needing to crop/cut etc. I just want something that will be widely compatible and a decent size and quality.

Has anyone uninstalled staxrip before? It made me download a load of stuff for it that it said I needed, so I don't know will I need to uninstall each of these separately or will it take them with it? I don't like to have excess bulk on my laptop. Will handbrake ask me to download the same crap too though I wonder?

OT but if you do a system restore to before you installed Staxrip, will it be just as it was before, or will there be leftover files from staxrip, and if say I have thunderbird or outlook, will I lose all the emails I got after the restore point?

Standard Toaster

cormie wrote: »

Thanks for the quick replies

I can't find a deinterlace option in staxrip, not sure where to be looking, so many different things on it!

It's in there somewhere. Maybe under avisynth options. In work so can't check for you.

cormie wrote: »

Do you reckon handbrake would suit me fine? All I want is something simple and can't imagine myself ever needing to crop/cut etc. I just want something that will be widely compatible and a decent size and quality.

Yeah, it's what I use to fire films onto the iphone. You can crop/resize too and/or just use the templates.

cormie wrote: »

Has anyone uninstalled staxrip before? It made me download a load of stuff for it that it said I needed, so I don't know will I need to uninstall each of these separately or will it take them with it? I don't like to have excess bulk on my laptop. Will handbrake ask me to download the same crap too though I wonder?

I think it's kinda half & half. Some of the apps (eg AviSynth) you'll need to uninstall manually while others are just dlls etc downloaded to the staxrip folder). Leave it there as it's a fantastic program for you figure it out!

cormie wrote: »

OT but if you do a system restore to before you installed Staxrip, will it be just as it was before, or will there be leftover files from staxrip, and if say I have thunderbird or outlook, will I lose all the emails I got after the restore point?

System restore will generally only restore system etc. Those downloaded files will remain, although the registery is revert to the selected date.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Restore

Your mails etc should be ok too.

cormie

Thanks for the reply I'll have a snoop for the deinterlace thing again. if I can get it going it'd be good, but a 242 mb vob file coming from stax was about 100mb in divx, but 60mb from the divx codec converter, 100mb aint much of a saving over 242. I'm not sure if I have the patience to figure out staxrip, I don't know a whole lot about converting or codecs or anything, I'm just a simple user and it seems very complicated for what I need.

Might just have to go with the manual unisntall/clean up anyway so as I don't want loads of programs installed that all do the same thing

cormie

Yay! The Deinterlacing thing works, I just had to right click the filter thingymabob and click fieldinterlace, so it went from yadif (whatever the funk that was) to fieldinterlace and now the file is 82mb, still a bit bigger than the codec one, but the so is the default size on the screen, like when I open media player classic, the divx from staxrip takes up the same screen size as the VOB does, the divx from the codec converter takes up about 2/3 the size which would make the resolution to file size ratio better from the staxrip conversion.

Is is safe to just delete all the files that are generated in the folder that AREN'T the avi file? Is there any way to do this automatically (delete temporary files upon completion) or a similar option? Or they useful for anything to the average joe? Is Avi the best container to have DIVX in? Would it be the most compatible I wonder?

Can I get rid of Dr. Divx now too I wonder?

Pataman

I use fairuse 2.8, and have had no probs.

cormie

Strange happenings here, I'm in the middle of doing a big batch of VOB-DIVX with staxrip, just looking at the file sizes of the AVI's, to some of the VOBS, some Avis are about 4 times smaller than the original VOB, while some are about nearly 8 times smaller, which is quite a difference. So one file for example is 68.8mb after conversion with the original VOB being 543mb (543/68.8=7.89), then another VOB is 439 MB with the AVI being 122 (439/122=3.59).

So that's means some VOBs are being only half as compressed as others

I'm using the constant quality option with the quantizer on 6. Is it just totally dependent on the images/amount of colours etc in a particular VOB so it's normal for the difference in compression ratio?

Any feedback appreciated

Also, anyone know how to completely minimise staxrip as it keeps popping up each time a vob is done and I don't want to be typing and press something to stop the process by mistake, and is there any way to automatically delete all the unnecessary files I wonder?

Standard Toaster

cormie wrote: »

Strange happenings here, I'm in the middle of doing a big batch of VOB-DIVX with staxrip, just looking at the file sizes of the AVI's, to some of the VOBS, some Avis are about 4 times smaller than the original VOB, while some are about nearly 8 times smaller, which is quite a difference. So one file for example is 68.8mb after conversion with the original VOB being 543mb (543/68.8=7.89), then another VOB is 439 MB with the AVI being 122 (439/122=3.59).

So that's means some VOBs are being only half as compressed as others

I'm using the constant quality option with the quantizer on 6. Is it just totally dependent on the images/amount of colours etc in a particular VOB so it's normal for the difference in compression ratio?

Any feedback appreciated

Yeap, if your not setting a fixed bitrate or size you'll see this. Some content is just compresses alot better then other content.
The Matrix film is a great example. While say a intentionally grainy film is a bastard to encode.

You can use a few filters to remove noise/grain from the film or others to sharpen the video. Make sure you resolution is divisible by 8 too. (codec will use 8x8 macro blocks)
But at the end of the day, if it looks ok to your eyes that's what counts.

Are you setting a fixed resolution on all of them or leaving the same as the original??

cormie wrote: »

Also, anyone know how to completely minimise staxrip as it keeps popping up each time a vob is done and I don't want to be typing and press something to stop the process by mistake, and is there any way to automatically delete all the unnecessary files I wonder?

Not sure about that....again in work.

cormie

Thanks for the reply I'm just keeping the same resolution as the original, I don't know, but say I wanted the file a specific size, is it better to lower the resolution and increase the quality, or keep the resolution and keep a lower quality setting?

I don't have a clue about noise/grain or anything like that, but from the 37.1gb of VOBS, it's made 9.39gb of AVI's, so that's 3.95 times smaller I think. which sounds about right for good quality? It's very hard for me to tell the difference between the vob and the avi in terms of quality in most parts so I suppose that's all that matters. Is 3.95 times smaller a good size though or could I achieve much better? It took about 9/10 hours to encode all that so I don't really fancy doing it again :P

Eoin

Another vote for FairUse as well. I tried lots of different trial versions, and I found it the best.

Standard Toaster

Your 9.39gb of porn video sounds about right.

If you are storing it on the hard drive (or any other medium with high transfer speeds) and don't need predictable file size, CQ is what most people prefer.

CQ doesn't choke on high-motion, high-detail sequences (it just increases the bitrate for that sequence), so nitpickers can't complain that the fast-motion scenes are very blocky (or blurry). On the whole, CQ provides a consistent level of quality across the video, which many people find more natural-looking.

The main drawback to CQ is that both the overall file size and the maximum bitrate are unpredictable, so it doesn't work well on any storage medium slower than about 30% of the uncompressed bitrate (because, depending on settings the bitrate could get that high (it could be higher, but it would not be worth it))
You probably only worry about this if it was HD stuff adn the bitrate could go VERY high.

Remember, "2pass" will always give superior output to a identically sized "1pass" output. Your using just the 1 pass using CQ

With 2 pass, the codec first "scans" each and every frame and writes this is a log file (and a dummy avi)
This greatly improves quality when it begins the encode on the second pass as the algorithm knows where it can distrubute the bits.
Like having a map I guess.

If file size is not an issue (If your not aiming to fit onto a cdr for example) the CQ is fine. If you can't tell the difference in the skin tones of the 'actresses' ass, then you're done!

cormie

Thanks for the detailed explanation The only asses in these videos is the actual wild donkey kind though :pac:

Luckily I wont be using the media on a fixed size medium, it'll just be stored on a media HDD. Just makes it much handier than fishing through DVD's

So by the sounds of it I've done everything the right way, whoohoo! I read that CQ you can only do 1 pass anyway so it doesn't really make a difference because it's doing the best it can for each part on the first pass anyway, or something..

Anyway, because this particular series is all about visual, I'm happy to keep it at 9.39gb, maybe for some of my other DVD's that aren't so visually important I can go lower. Thanks again for the advice and if you find out about the autodelete/popup stopping things it'd be great if you could let me know

So it's safe to delete all files bar the AVI ones now? Deleting them wont have any effect on the AVI's?

Standard Toaster

Under tools/settings/External apps there's a check box to say run minimzed, but it's checked but default. I guess it referes only to the main staxRip window.

Yeap you can delete the files. Those are just the demuxed files from the vobs along with a few scripts, logs and temp audio/video files. Bin them if the final encode is 100%

See this comment from stax him/herself about auto delete.
http://www.planetdvb.net/node/526

cormie

Ok cool stuff, deleted all the excess crap, but I had that checkbox ticked anyway, ah well, suppose it's just something I'll have to be careful of. Thanks for all the help!

I guess I can uninstall Dr.Divx now too? Hopefully it wont delete any required files that staxrip needs though!

Standard Toaster

Yeah, remove that gash Dr. Divx. staxrip should be ok, it's all self contained (to a certain degree anyway)
Or just use Xvid. They're both compliant asp mp4 codecs.

Enjoy the donkey porn

cormie

Cool thanks