hd on a regular dvd player... conversion help

[screwyluie]

ok I have an hd file, 720p in an mkv format. I extracted the mkv and got an h.264 or x.264 I don't remember which. I have a TV able to play upto 1080p, a dvd player that will play almost anything(also upto 1080p), xvid and all that. I also have my computer hooked up to the tv via s-video cable (which I think gives me up to 1024 res)

I guess my overall question is how to best watch the movie. I would like to put it on a dvd single or dual layer, and have the quality be top notch. the video file is only 4.37gb so this seems entirely possible.

will standard dvd mpeg2 yield a better quality then divx or xvid?

the player is philips dvp-5982 incase it matters.

what would be a good, simple conversion program? I just tried StaxRip, but I don't care for it, too many extra programs, and it seemed pretty slow (I started a conversion but after looking at how long it was taking, I thought I would come here and ask some questions)

I appreciate any helpful info I can get for my specific situation, thanks

[Baldrick]

Use alltoavi and convert to avi xvid. BUt your player doesn't support 1080p/720p video sources so you must convert to 480p or lower.

[screwyluie]

I just wasted 10 hours trying to convert it to xvid with that very program and I got an unusable file... uhg

and what do you mean it doesn't support 1080p/720p sources? it outputs at those resolutions, it should support them, I know it doesn't support the h.264 codec, so I realize I can't burn an HDDVD or a BlueRay disc, but if I change the codec to xvid it should play whatever resolution the video is in, should it not?

the manual doesn't give resolution specs for xvids only dvd and vcd resolution restrictions.

I would just test it myself but it takes forever to convert this h.264 file and so far 2 attempts have failed... I'm still trying though, I wanna learn how to do this.

[manono]

it outputs at those resolutions, it should support them

Wishful thinking. The highest resolution AVIs most DVD/MPEG-4 players support is 720x480/576. Did you think it'll play a 1080p HD-DVD as well? Just because it upconverts to those resolutions doesn't mean it plays videos that have those resolutions.

but if I change the codec to xvid it should play whatever resolution the video is in, should it not?

No, it's not a Hi-Def player. It's a Hi-Def upconverter.

I'd recommend converting to DVD, perhaps using FAVC. But since you're starting with a Hi-Def source, any conversion program will be slow, especially so for you as your CPU is too slow if your specs are accurate.

[screwyluie]

perhaps I don't understand the hardware inside, I'm only good with computers, but most things that will output a resolution will read them, so yeah I did think it would play it.
I'm not clear as to why it won't, I know dvd,vcd and svcd have standards you can not bend, but xvid has no resolution standard, and as far as computers go, if you have the codec installed you can play the file, no matter what the resultion, so why is it different on the player? is it not capable of processing the signal fast enough? or is there somthing else holding it back and restricting it?

sorry I'm just curious how it all works.

I'd recommend converting to DVD, perhaps using FAVC. But since you're starting with a Hi-Def source, any conversion program will be slow, especially so for you as your CPU is too slow if your specs are accurate.

the specs are right, the processor is overclocked... a lot... but yeah I know I'm not going to do these lightening quick, but it seemed a lot slower then it should be, I was reading that converting the h.264 codec is slower then snot compared to anything else, and I found that to be true with alltoavi, 10 hours to convert the h.264 but only 1.5-2 to convert the file it put out.

[screwyluie]

ok so the resolution won't work... what about taking an HD source and encoding it with a really high bitrate? so I'll encode at 720x576, but almost no compression... is there a restriction on bitrate as well?

[manono]

I'm not clear as to why it won't

It's a limitation of the chipset. It'll reject any video you throw at it outside of the resolution specs. Actually, I have read, but not tested myself, that they will sometimes play a higher resolution XviD if the total pixel count is less than the one it supports. For example, 720x480=345600 pixels. If you were to try and play a video with a resolution of - say - 800x336 (268800 pixels), that some will play it. There are players that have chipsets that can play true Hi-Def AVIs. That Philips player of yours just isn't one of them.

so I'll encode at 720x576, but almost no compression... is there a restriction on bitrate as well?

That would depend on the player, I think. Most can't sustain a high bitrate (4000 or thereabouts, varying with the player and chipset) for more than a couple of seconds. At that point they'll start to stutter or freeze entirely briefly. About all you can do is to test. But in answer to your question, the higher the average bitrate, the more likely it'll freeze up during the complex (action) scenes. I'm not sure I'd risk an average bitrate higher than about 2000, and even at that you may not get perfectly smooth playback. More important than the average bitrate are the bitrate spikes, where the bitrate jumps for a few seconds. If you encode using some sort of a Home Theater Profile, you should be OK. Both DivX and XviD have such profiles.

And also, while DVDs are encoded for 4:3 or 16:9 playback, and are resized by the player, AVIs are usually 1:1 (i.e., not 720x480/576) and have to be resized during encoding. A few players (and maybe your Philips is one of them) can do the resizing, but you have to set it when configuring your XviD codec, or later using MPEG4Modifier.

[screwyluie]

you have been most informative, and I appreciate it.

what I think I will do is break off a chunk of the movie, maybe and action sequence just a few minutes long, and encode it in different ways then burn them all and see which ones play right

thanks again.

[screwyluie]

of course after actually thinking about what I was going to do, I realize that encoding xvid(mpeg) at a higher bitrate, to fit on a dvd,... I've just created a dvd... I mean that's the whole point of a dvd is higher bitrates, less compression... so there's no point in using the xvid if I'm going to just make it fit on a dvd...

although it would benefit me, I think, to take a large high high def source and encode it onto a dual layer, as most, for download sakes, are encoded for single layer
... just gotta watch the bitrates...

thanks again, sometimes it just takes me a while to grasp what it is I'm really doing