VideoHelp Forum
+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 21 of 21
Thread
  1. Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Canada
    Search Comp PM
    Me again

    I haver about 50 family DVDs I'd like to convert to Xvid. I converted 1 DVD with AutoGK just using the default settings of the program. It looks O.K. Can any users just give me some pointers as to what settings I should use for best quality results
    Quote Quote  
  2. no clue about best quality, but using higher bitrates tends to help with the quality,..
    Quote Quote  
  3. Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    Why not H.264 instead of XviD?
    Quote Quote  
  4. Banned
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Freedonia
    Search Comp PM
    You can do a quality based encoding but you have no control over the bit rate. I do not do such encodes, but some of our experts do. If I encode to Divx then I am targeting specific file sizes. If I remember correctly you will need to do what is called encoding for CQ or something like that.

    You might want to explain what your goal is. For example, if it's "I want to convert all my DVDs and then throw them out" then you probably should go to H.264 as V1de0Luvr says. If "50 family DVDs" really means "movies/shows for kids that are family oriented and I just need a safety copy for my kids to watch" then Xvid is fine. If these are precious home movies and you have no intention of getting rid of them but just want to encode to be able to play back smaller files on a variety of platforms than Xvid probably is a good choice.
    Quote Quote  
  5. CQ means "constant quantizer" not "constant quality",.... there is no such thing like 'quality based encoding' for Xvid afaik,...
    Quote Quote  
  6. Originally Posted by Selur View Post
    CQ means "constant quantizer" not "constant quality",.... there is no such thing like 'quality based encoding' for Xvid afaik,...
    I wish you would stop making that differentiation without explaining what it means. They are both constant quality modes. Xvid's constant quantizer is constant quality in a mathematical sense. x264's CRF is constant quality in a more visual sense -- it takes into account what is more visible to the human eye. x264 also has a constant quality mode like Xvid's -- CQ.
    Quote Quote  
  7. I wish you would stop making that differentiation without explaining what it means.
    using a constant quantizer only restricts the amount of loss that will occur during quantization (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantization_%28signal_processing%29 ; lower quantizer means less errors (like with a Riemann sum with smaller subintervals), so from how I see it that does not really qualify as a 'quality based encoding', assuming quality based encoding means something like I choose quality 90% and I will always get 90% of the quality provided by my input,...

    No clue, why you jumped to x264s CRF, but for amusement:
    CRF does not guarantee any of the following:

    1. Same quality between different sources.
    2. Same quality between different scenes in the same source.
    3. Same quality between different settings on the same source.
    source: http://doom10.org/index.php?topic=92.msg782#msg782
    Quote Quote  
  8. Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Canada
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by jman98 View Post
    You can do a quality based encoding but you have no control over the bit rate. I do not do such encodes, but some of our experts do. If I encode to Divx then I am targeting specific file sizes. If I remember correctly you will need to do what is called encoding for CQ or something like that.

    You might want to explain what your goal is. For example, if it's "I want to convert all my DVDs and then throw them out" then you probably should go to H.264 as V1de0Luvr says. If "50 family DVDs" really means "movies/shows for kids that are family oriented and I just need a safety copy for my kids to watch" then Xvid is fine. If these are precious home movies and you have no intention of getting rid of them but just want to encode to be able to play back smaller files on a variety of platforms than Xvid probably is a good choice.
    OK what I want to do is backup personal family vidoes and put the originals away. There is some quality loss when I convert with AGK, but it is easier for me to cut and copy sections in Xvid, and I can send the cut sections I want to U.K.
    Quote Quote  
  9. Originally Posted by didikai View Post
    OK what I want to do is backup personal family vidoes and put the originals away. There is some quality loss when I convert with AGK, but it is easier for me to cut and copy sections in Xvid, and I can send the cut sections I want to U.K.
    So, you have concluded that XVID is the correct format for your purpose. To get the best quality, you need to set the quality value yourself; in the STEP 3 box, click the Target Quality radio button and set the value as you like. If you read the manual, you'll find that 75% gives good results and 80% is somewhat better with a larger file size. Anything above that only makes the file larger.

    That takes care of the video side, you can also improve things for audio. Click the Advanced Settings in the STEP 4 box. Under audio, set whether to use original audio or convert to MP3. If you intend to playback your movies with a DVD player, original audio might not be compatible. MP3 has the best compatibility, but implies a re-encode and some loss of quality. Keep the bitrate high to lessen that, but do not exceed 320kbps.

    All this will improve the quality, but the file size will be much higher. Typically, a 2 hour DVD will convert to between 1 and 1.5 GB. Video noise and jerkiness can make the file grow even bigger.
    Quote Quote  
  10. Banned
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Freedonia
    Search Comp PM
    Selur - Read my post. I NEVER said what CQ means. I didn't even remember. Of course the easy way to deal with this is to remember that higher bit rate should mean better quality, so just up the bit rate if you don't like what you see.

    The only suggestion I have on top of nic2k4's post, is that if you can you should probably use MP3 audio in CBR mode and not in VBR mode. The space savings for VBR over CBR are minuscule and VBR can cause audio synchronization issues on some (but certainly not all) playback devices.
    Quote Quote  
  11. Member lacywest's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    California
    Search Comp PM
    I use ... CloneDVD Mobile 1160 ... it wont create 6 Channel AC3 audio in its Xvid videos but the clarity is wonderful ... it does create ... normal stereo audio tracks.

    And you can set it to do 3 Passes ...

    AutoGK ... will create 6 channel AC3 audio.
    Quote Quote  
  12. Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Canada
    Search Comp PM
    Well after all that I am not happy with the final quality. Anything scrolling looks jerky, and faces look a little washed out. Is there a program that will convert to Xvid with better quality output? Or do you lose quality anyway?
    Quote Quote  
  13. Yes you will always lose quality, since MPEG-4 ASP is a lossless compression format.
    better quality -> select lower quantizer or higher bitrate,.....
    Quote Quote  
  14. Originally Posted by didikai View Post
    Well after all that I am not happy with the final quality. Anything scrolling looks jerky,
    How jerky?

    Originally Posted by didikai View Post
    and faces look a little washed out.
    How are you comparing? You usually can't use two media players side by side. They will be using different ways of getting video onto the screen -- resulting in different contrast and colors unless you have calibrated the system. AutoGK doesn't cause levels or color problems.

    Originally Posted by didikai View Post
    Is there a program that will convert to Xvid with better quality output?
    AutoGK is about the best for a beginner.

    Originally Posted by didikai View Post
    Or do you lose quality anyway?
    As was pointed out, you always lose quality when you compress with a lossy codec. If you do it well it won't be too noticeable.

    I recommend you post before and after samples so people can tell you what's going wrong. And what you need to do to alleviate the problems.
    Quote Quote  
  15. You might also post the AutoGK log so we can see what the source was like and what you had AutoGK do. However, as is often the case with deinterlaced home videos (if that's the case), the output won't look nearly as good as the source, no matter how many bits you throw at it.
    Quote Quote  
  16. Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Canada
    Search Comp PM
    My last reply seems to have vanished.

    I don't know how to post logs. I'm still struggling to learn to type. Aren't there optimum settings in AGK to get the best results or are there different settings for different situations.
    Quote Quote  
  17. No there are no 'optimum' settings, the auto in AutoGordianKnot is there because it is designed to only give the user some limited options to fix some known problems or to force some stuff.
    Quote Quote  
  18. Originally Posted by didikai View Post
    I don't know how to post logs.
    The log AutoGK creates is named filename_agk.log

    You open it in Notepad and copy and paste what it says here. Maybe using small text as it might be pretty big. Here's one I just created in order to show you what it looks like:
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] AutoGK 2.55
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] OS: WinXP (5.1.2600).2
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Job started.
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Input file: E:\Compilation DVDs\Early Helen\12 O'Clock\VTS_01_1.VOB
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Output file: E:\AutoGK\Helen.avi
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Output codec: XviD
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Audio 1: Audio Stream 0 AC3
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Subtitles: none
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Format: AVI
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Target quality: 75%
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Audio 1 settings: Original
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Started encoding.
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Demuxing and indexing.
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Processing file: E:\Compilation DVDs\Early Helen\12 O'Clock\VTS_01_1.VOB
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Source resolution: 720x480
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Found NTSC source.
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Source aspect ratio: 4:3
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Source seems to be pure FILM.
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Output will contain 7322 frames
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Using VAQ in XviD
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Running single pass encoding.
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Writing the following script to E:\AutoGK\agk_tmp\Helen_movie.avs
    ================================================== =========
    LoadPlugin("D:\DVDSTU~1\AutoGK\DGMPGDec\DGDecode.dll")
    LoadPlugin("D:\DVDSTU~1\AutoGK\filters\autocrop.dl l")
    LoadPlugin("D:\DVDSTU~1\AutoGK\filters\RemoveGrain SSE3.dll")

    movie = mpeg2source("E:\AutoGK\agk_tmp\Helen.d2v")
    cropclip = autocrop(movie,mode=0,wmultof=4,hmultof=4,samples= 10,aspect=0,threshold=34,samplestartframe=0,leftad d=0,rightadd=0,topadd=0,bottomadd=0)
    fixed_aspect = 0.888888888888889
    c_width = width(cropclip)
    c_height = round(height(cropclip) / fixed_aspect)
    input_par = float(c_width)/float(c_height)
    input_par = (input_par > 1.4) || (input_par < 1.25) ? input_par : (4.0/3.0)
    out_width = 720
    out_height = round(float(out_width) / input_par)
    hmod = out_height - (floor(out_height / 16 ) * 16)
    out_height = (hmod > 4) ? (out_height + (16 - hmod)) : (out_height - hmod)
    new_aspect = (float(out_width) / float(out_height)) / fixed_aspect
    autocrop(movie,mode=0,wmultof=4,hmultof=4,samples= 10,aspect=new_aspect,threshold=34,samplestartframe =0,leftadd=0,rightadd=0,topadd=0,bottomadd=0)
    LanczosResize(out_width,out_height)
    RemoveGrain(mode=2)
    ================================================== =========
    [9/11/2012 11:47:47 AM] Duration was: 2 minutes 33 seconds
    [9/11/2012 11:47:47 AM] Speed was: 47.77 fps.
    [9/11/2012 11:47:47 AM] Job finished. Total time: 2 minutes 35 seconds
    What I'm trying to find out is if you perhaps crippled AutoGK in its efforts to create a nice-looking video for you by maybe setting a fixed width or a size too small for the video.
    Quote Quote  
  19. Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Canada
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by manono View Post
    Originally Posted by didikai View Post
    I don't know how to post logs.
    The log AutoGK creates is named filename_agk.log

    You open it in Notepad and copy and paste what it says here. Maybe using small text as it might be pretty big. Here's one I just created in order to show you what it looks like:
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] AutoGK 2.55
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] OS: WinXP (5.1.2600).2
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Job started.
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Input file: E:\Compilation DVDs\Early Helen\12 O'Clock\VTS_01_1.VOB
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Output file: E:\AutoGK\Helen.avi
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Output codec: XviD
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Audio 1: Audio Stream 0 AC3
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Subtitles: none
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Format: AVI
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Target quality: 75%
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Audio 1 settings: Original
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Started encoding.
    [9/11/2012 11:45:12 AM] Demuxing and indexing.
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Processing file: E:\Compilation DVDs\Early Helen\12 O'Clock\VTS_01_1.VOB
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Source resolution: 720x480
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Found NTSC source.
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Source aspect ratio: 4:3
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Source seems to be pure FILM.
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Output will contain 7322 frames
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Using VAQ in XviD
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Running single pass encoding.
    [9/11/2012 11:45:14 AM] Writing the following script to E:\AutoGK\agk_tmp\Helen_movie.avs
    ================================================== =========
    LoadPlugin("D:\DVDSTU~1\AutoGK\DGMPGDec\DGDecode.dll")
    LoadPlugin("D:\DVDSTU~1\AutoGK\filters\autocrop.dl l")
    LoadPlugin("D:\DVDSTU~1\AutoGK\filters\RemoveGrain SSE3.dll")

    movie = mpeg2source("E:\AutoGK\agk_tmp\Helen.d2v")
    cropclip = autocrop(movie,mode=0,wmultof=4,hmultof=4,samples= 10,aspect=0,threshold=34,samplestartframe=0,leftad d=0,rightadd=0,topadd=0,bottomadd=0)
    fixed_aspect = 0.888888888888889
    c_width = width(cropclip)
    c_height = round(height(cropclip) / fixed_aspect)
    input_par = float(c_width)/float(c_height)
    input_par = (input_par > 1.4) || (input_par < 1.25) ? input_par : (4.0/3.0)
    out_width = 720
    out_height = round(float(out_width) / input_par)
    hmod = out_height - (floor(out_height / 16 ) * 16)
    out_height = (hmod > 4) ? (out_height + (16 - hmod)) : (out_height - hmod)
    new_aspect = (float(out_width) / float(out_height)) / fixed_aspect
    autocrop(movie,mode=0,wmultof=4,hmultof=4,samples= 10,aspect=new_aspect,threshold=34,samplestartframe =0,leftadd=0,rightadd=0,topadd=0,bottomadd=0)
    LanczosResize(out_width,out_height)
    RemoveGrain(mode=2)
    ================================================== =========
    [9/11/2012 11:47:47 AM] Duration was: 2 minutes 33 seconds
    [9/11/2012 11:47:47 AM] Speed was: 47.77 fps.
    [9/11/2012 11:47:47 AM] Job finished. Total time: 2 minutes 35 seconds
    What I'm trying to find out is if you perhaps crippled AutoGK in its efforts to create a nice-looking video for you by maybe setting a fixed width or a size too small for the video.
    To save time and not to waste any more of your time, would I be better off getting one of the more powerful convertors like Xilisoft. Would they give me better quality?
    Quote Quote  
  20. For what you're doing AutoGK is far superior to Xilisoft.
    Quote Quote  
  21. Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Canada
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    For what you're doing AutoGK is far superior to Xilisoft.
    Then I'm obviously doing something wrong. I'll try and post this script later
    Quote Quote  



Similar Threads

Visit our sponsor! Try DVDFab and backup Blu-rays!