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  1. I got some movies as AVI files burned as data files and would like to watch them on my DVD player. I'm sure they've been encoded for download as they are all around 650 to 700MB (DivX's codec in Virtualdub has those as bitrate presets). I've used Avisynth and HC Encoder (TMPGE Xpress takes too long and I like the control of the .avs scripts) to do a DVD one at a bitrate to fit on a single-layer DVD and it looks good on TV. My question is that since its been compressed to around 700MB, is there any point in encoding the film at a high bitrate?

    I haven't tried it yet and I just wanted to ask around since I probably won't do it for a few days but would it be more sensible to encode to MPEG-2 at a bitrate that turns out a size closer to the original AVI file or would the quality be worse since such a bitrate is incredibly low for an MPEG-2 file?
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  2. I'm a MEGA Super Moderator Baldrick's Avatar
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    Yep, it would be too low for mpeg-2 video. MPEG-2 requires higher bitrate to get similiar quality as the divx. I would use at least 3Mbit or about 3-4x bigger than the divx.
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  3. Banned
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    Good questions ecc. Well, if your DVD player doesn't support Divx and it's important to you to watch these on your DVD player (it's not always convenient to watch on a PC in my opinion, so I definitely understand this) then I would say it might be worthwhile to encode to MPEG-2 and make a DVD from them. A very general rule is to use a bit rate AT LEAST twice the Divx bit rate for the same quality, but if your movies are that size, they've been highly compressed already and encoding to MPEG-2 will just magnify the problems that are inherent in the films already. Don't be surprised if you see macroblocks in the final product. They're almost certainly in your AVI files too, but the (probably) smaller resolution of the AVI files hides this. Watch them in full screen on a PC and you'll get an idea of what to expect with your final encode. Baldrick's advice is good and if using double the bit rate as I suggest ends up being less than what Baldrick says to do, do what he says instead.
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  4. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
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    if you are going to burn it to dvd you may as well fill the entire dvd. no sense leaving any wasted space. use a bitrate calculator like -
    http://dvd-hq.info/bitrate_calculator.php#Calculator
    to determine the best bitrate, or use a "helper app" like the filmmachine to do the math and grunt work. another good choice for avi to dvd is convertxtodvd which has gotten to the point of being pretty darn good.
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  5. If the running time is long and you want to put the entire video on one single layer DVD your bitrate will be constrained by that requirement. If the running time is short, or you don't mind splitting a long video over whatever number of DVDs is necessary, use constant quality encoding. Select the quality you want and the encoder will use whatever bitrate is necessary to deliver that quality.

    HCEnc calls this Constant Quantization. You select the quality via the Quant Value. The lower the value the higher the quality.
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  6. another good choice for avi to dvd is convertxtodvd which has gotten to the point of being pretty darn good.
    I'll have to look at that one. It sounds like it's faster than TMPGE Xpress.

    if you are going to burn it to dvd you may as well fill the entire dvd. no sense leaving any wasted space.
    That's why I was asking. If it was sensible to pick a bitrate to get a similar size MPEG2 to the size of the AVI then I'd put a couple films on one disc. When I've used a bitrate to fill the DVD, I have noticed the artifacts on my PC monitor but things look relatively clean on my TV screen (not digital).
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    Originally Posted by aedipuss
    another good choice for avi to dvd is convertxtodvd which has gotten to the point of being pretty darn good.
    Agreed. I use that to convert AVI files to DVD for playback in friends' standalones, and pick DVD-5 (single layer) as my target size from a dropdown menu.
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    When I want a quick avi to dvd conversion,I'll use CX2DVD..But if I want a higher quality one I'll switch to FAVC...JMHO!...To each their own,right?...
    " Who needs Google, my wife knows everything"
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  9. I've tried ConvertXtoDVD and it is impressive and works great for putting two movies on one disc but with one movie you have that annoying front menu which is only useful when you have more than one track. The other annoyance is with a movie that I set for 16:9 since the AVI was sized for 1.85:1. It looks good but only plays in 16:9 even on 4:3 TV's. This can usually be solved by selecting "4:3 LB" in the DVD player's setup menu (or going into IFO Edit and selecting "automatic letterbox") but nothing could change the display to 4:3 letterbox with the title authored by ConvertXtoDVD (I've run into something similar with the retail disc of THE PAGE TURNER which played cropped on both of my DVD players and no messing with the player setup could display it letterboxed).
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  10. Banned
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    If you know what you are doing PRIOR to burning, you can use IFOEdit and change the aspect ratio in the BOTH the VIDEO_TS.IFO file and the IFO for your VOB to 4:3, save the changes, and then burn and it will be a 4:3 DVD.
    You'll need to look for some guides on how to do this as it's been a long time
    since I've had to do this and I don't remember the exact steps, I just can tell you that IFOEdit can do it.
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  11. I want a DVD that's 16:9 but compatible with 4:3 TVs. When I encode with HC Encoder and author using DVDAuthorGUI, I get a 16:9 DVD file that's flagged for both letterbox and pan-and-scan so I go into IFO edit and uncheck the pan-and-scan option and get a DVD that will play letterboxed on 4:3 TVs.

    I made the changes with IFO Edit to the ConvertXtoDVD authored project and burned it again and it was still squeezed and stretched on the 4:3 TV. Are there different types of file flags for display based on the authoring program?
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  12. Always Watching guns1inger's Avatar
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    I have never had this problem with ConvertxtoDVD, and the only time I have had it with FAVC was because I fed it an anamorphic source via avisynth, and FAVC thought it was a 4:3 video. DVD Patcher and IFOEdit soon fixed the problem.
    Read my blog here.
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  13. Member MysticE's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by ecc
    I've tried ConvertXtoDVD and it is impressive and works great for putting two movies on one disc but with one movie you have that annoying front menu which is only useful when you have more than one track. The other annoyance is with a movie that I set for 16:9 since the AVI was sized for 1.85:1. It looks good but only plays in 16:9 even on 4:3 TV's. This can usually be solved by selecting "4:3 LB" in the DVD player's setup menu (or going into IFO Edit and selecting "automatic letterbox") but nothing could change the display to 4:3 letterbox with the title authored by ConvertXtoDVD (I've run into something similar with the retail disc of THE PAGE TURNER which played cropped on both of my DVD players and no messing with the player setup could display it letterboxed).
    Turn off the Menu in settings. If using version 3 choose 'No menu' under Default Template and tick 'Don't create tile menu for single title'. Seems the last should do it alone but it doesn't seem to.
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