XViD Conversion: Professional solution?

[plugues]

What would be the most professional way to convert videos to XViD?

Are there any freeware/open-source programs that have many features typical of commercial products, such as saving job files and batch encoding?

[guns1inger]

An odd question. I don't know of any studio or professional organisation that encodes to Xvid or provides movies encoded using the Xvid codec. There is no 'gold standard' for Xvid encoding.

That said, there are plenty of freeware/open-source tools for encoding to Xvid. All the good ones are either free or open source.

What is best depends on your source, your level of expertise, and your output needs.

If you want the most control, virtualdub with the Xvid codec installed. It gives you complete control over the settings, and has batch capabilities.

If you are converting mpeg-2 or DVD source to Xvid and want good quality with minimal involvement, AutoGK would be my choice.

If you have a wider range of source formats and want something simpler than Virtualdub, Xvid4PSP is very good.

If your target is standalone DVD players and similar hardware then you have to work within the restrictions these devices impose, some of which reduce the high quality features. Programs like AutoGK and Xvid4PSP understand these limitations and have settings to ensure you don't breach them.

[plugues]

My target is indeed standalone DVD players. I need to batch produce a LOT of discs with XViD files.

What I actually needed was something like Handbrake, but for PCs.

[freebird73717]

The older 0.9.3 version of handbrake does support xvid and batch encoding. The newer versions have dropped this feature.
You can get the windows verison here
https://www.videohelp.com/download/HandBrake-0.9.3-Win_GUI.exe

[edDV]

Handbreak is available for Windows.

Since xvid is outside the DVD standard, you will be at the mercy of individual hardware DVD player specs. Some won't play xvid at all. Most will limit frame size to 720x480 or 720x576, they will vary by max bit rate allowed or extremes of variable bit rate. To play on the largest number of players you need to target the least common denominator player specs.

I'll let others suggest the parameters. I only know what plays on my 3 players that support xvid.

[Alexstarfire]

WinMencoder is another option.

[manono]

Since xvid is outside the DVD standard, you will be at the mercy of individual hardware DVD player specs.

AutoGK with the ESS chipset option turned on is designed to be compatible with DVD/MPEG-4 players.

[jman98]

My target is indeed standalone DVD players. I need to batch produce a LOT of discs with XViD files.

What I actually needed was something like Handbrake, but for PCs.

Why? Are you a bootlegger? Handbrake works on PCs by the way.

As edDV says, there are no guarantees. Some DVD players don't support Divx/Xvid at all. Others have specific requirements and if files are too large in resolution, or have a bit rate that is too high, or use certain encoding options like GMC or QPel, they won't play the files. Xvid encoders tend to use VBR MP3 audio, which I think is a terrible idea. VBR MP3 audio just introduces the possibility of synchronization problems for very little space savings. If you use MP3 audio I recommend that you use CBR and not VBR.

[lordsmurf]

Yeah, you beat me to it, gunslinger: Professionals do not use XVID.

It went from MPEG-2 to H.264 for physical and broadcast distribution.

Along the line, there were attempts by Apple, Real and MS to define web video. All of them failed.
In the end, a consortium won out, with Adobe making it easy for all.
MainConcept created an excellent encoder, and the rest is history.

[freebird73717]

Guys I agree that professionals don't use xvid for production. But come on. Lets give the guy a brake.

The "Professional Solution" part may just be a poorly worded question or even a language barrier issue since our op is from Brazil I'm going to assume that English is not his native language. Of course I am assuming and you know what happens when you assume.

Until the OP gives a little more detail as to what he is doing and what he hopes to accomplish by encoding videos to xvid then the best we can do is offer software suggestions...

@plugues
Use the handbrake software I linked to in my first post or use autogk like manono suggested. If that doesn't suite your needs then you need to provide more info for us.