Is it possible to encode divx files to larger than 5gb?

[yoda313]

Ok here's my situation. I have a high def dvr and my ultimate goal is to convert a full length movie to high def divx for playback on my xbox 360. I have converted a usb harddrive to mac format using macdrive 7 and I have successfully played back a movie using the 4854 max bitrate in the free divx 6.? with virtualdubmpeg2.

My goal is to dub via firewire a 2 hour movie in high def and convert to divx with as little compression as possible. is there a bit to bit mode available? My idea is to take say a 20gb mpg stream file from a dvr, edit the commercials out and then convert to a 10gb or so divx hd file with 5.1 if it contains it.

So if I were to buy divx pro would I be able to set a virtually limitless bitrate? I'm shooting for top quality here.

Also please note I only have a BLURAY ROM player in my pc not a burner. I do realize that is eventually the best option for this application. But until then I want to be able to convert to high def divx and store on a usb harddrive.

One other question, how easy is it to split a large divx file into two or more sections for backup burning to dvdr?

[poisondeathray]

Playback for DivX on xbox 360 is limited to 5Mbps, 720p
http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/2007/11/30/december-2007-video-playback-faq.aspx

I don't know what the maxmimum bitrate is for DivX, I just tried and it wouldn't let me go over 5Mbps anyway

If you are shooting for "top quality", why not use h.264? By all objective and subjective tests h.264 > DivX. Check out Doom9 forums. Xbox also supports 1080p, 10Mbps officially

You can easily split large DivX files into sections using direct stream copy (for audio & video) in virtualdub

Good luck

[yoda313]

If you are shooting for "top quality", why not use h.264? By all objective and subjective tests h.264 > DivX. Check out Doom9 forums. Xbox also supports 1080p, 10Mbps officially

I know the 360 does mpeg4, I am uncertain about h264 as I have not done any encodes into that format. Can you do 720p and 1080i in h264? What are some good apps for h264?

You can easily split large DivX files into sections using direct stream copy (for audio & video) in virtualdub

Oh ok I never tried so that's why I asked.

So if the 360 officially only supports 10mbps does that mean you are essentially "limited" to roughly 10000 kpbs bitrate? I am assuming that 1000 kpbs is 1mpbs

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into it.

[jagabo]

Use Divx's 720HD profile and you can go up to about 9,800 kbps. With the 1080HD profile you can go as high as 20,000 kbps. Use the Unconstrained profile and go as high 218,000 kbps. Actually, forget kbps, use the Unconstrained profile, turn off B frames, and use constant quality encoding with a target quantizer of 1 if you want to the best possible results from Divx. Using an D1 recording of between channel static I was able to get as high as 140,000 kbps with those settings.

[yoda313]

Use Divx's 720HD profile and you can go up to about 9,800 kbps. With the 1080HD profile you can go as high as 20,000 kbps. Use the Unconstrained profile and go as high 218,000 kbps. Actually, forget kbps and use constant quality encoding with a target quantizer of 1 if you want to take up disk space.

Thanks. I'll have to try that. I seemed to be limited to 5gb but now that I think of it that was for a dvd conversion using 480 dvd resolution.

[jagabo]

Yoda, I added a little more to my previous post. And here's a little more:

I encoded a 90 second VOB movie trailer that I have sitting around for testing. The source is about 5,000 kbps VOB. With Divx unconstrained Q=1 the result was about 2.5 times larger than the source.

[yoda313]

Yoda, I added a little more to my previous post. And here's a little more:

I encoded a 90 second VOB movie trailer that I have sitting around for testing. The source is about 5,000 kbps VOB. With Divx unconstrained Q=1 the result was about 2.5 times larger than the source.

Thanks.

Now about your previous statement:

Use the Unconstrained profile and go as high 218,000 kbps

Does that mean you could essentially make a divx with the same bitrate as the captured transport stream mpg file?

[jagabo]

Yes, you can make a Divx with a higher bitrate than the transport stream source. It's a waste of space though since it won't look any better.

Oh, and if you want big files just for the sake of having big files, be sure to set the encoding mode to fastest so it doesn't find any motion vectors. It will save you time too! Or use only I frames. That will really blow the file size up!

Q=2 and no B frames is the practical highest quality setting. Q=1 won't be discernibly better at normal playback speed.

[yoda313]

Thanks jagabo. I'll try this out this weekend.

[poisondeathray]

Remember the official DivX support is only 5Mbps for Xbox360; rumors are you can go over... If you are able to playback >5Mbs DivX successfully on the xbox360, let us know. (Or did you just ditch the Xbox idea?)

[yoda313]

Nope I actually like the playback of divx better through the xbox 360 than the ps3.

I'll report back later and let you know how I can go.

[jagabo]

Two Xbox 360 reports at Divx Test:

http://divxtest.surdvd.com/form/divxtest2_view.php?lang=eng&id_326=1
http://divxtest.surdvd.com/form/divxtest2_view.php?lang=eng&id_472=1

Shows Divx max around 4500 kbps, AVC around 6000.

[yoda313]

Ok one thing I did find out for sure is the UNCONSTRAINED profile in divx is only avaialable in the PRO package. So i enabled a free trial in divx 6.5. I haven't tested it yet but I will today.

I will test converting a dvd rip to equal bitrate and test it on the 360 - the full dual layer not shrunk to single. I'll aim for 6 or 6.5gb.

[jagabo]

Or just use Xvid.

[yoda313]

I have not tested xvid on the ps3 or xbox 360. Is it the same support or would I need something like a fourcc changer to "convince" them it is divx?

[jagabo]

I would stay away from Xvid's GMC option. Xvid uses the more sophisticated three warp point GMC (Divx uses one warp point) that many players can't handle.

[yoda313]

I am currently testing out XVID4PSP.

I am targeting avi hardware hd with xvid but using the divx profile. I am keeping it 1920x1080 but I don't have an estimated file size that I can tell. This my first time using the program so I am not sure where the target output size would be located.

I am interested in seeing how this works out.

[jagabo]

According to the Divx Test CD links, the Xbox 360 doesn't support HD Divx. Maybe things have changed since then?

[yoda313]

Well I'll let you know. I'll also try to get a gspot screen print of my final file from xvid4psp. Then we'll be sure what I am actually testing on the 360.

Hopefully I'll find a way to test it on the ps3 as well. However if it is larger than 8gb than I won't be able to burn it to a dual layer dvd unless I split the file. I am planning on sending it to my mac formatted usb harddrive for testing on the 360. THe drive is undetectable on the ps3. Actually this is my last evaluation day for the macdrive 7 on the vista pc. I'll have to reformat it to windows if I don't want to buy it.