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  1. Member
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    Title says it all. I have a choice to download either format for a video site and want to know what format is the best. I thought DivX was.
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  2. All are capable of good or bad results depending on the source and the settings used. There's no way of knowing which is better until you've downloaded and viewed them.
    Last edited by jagabo; 18th Apr 2011 at 20:17.
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  3. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    What are your playback/audience requirements? "The Best" for what?

    Scott
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    Originally Posted by Cornucopia View Post
    What are your playback/audience requirements? "The Best" for what?

    Scott

    I meant in general. Best in quality. I am going to convert it to mpeg to make a dvd. I thought some formats were better than others. I downloaded the wmv file and the avi file. Both looked fine. The wmv file is 160 MB and the avi file is 536 MB.
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  5. Which is best a used Mercedes Benz or a used Honda?
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    Originally Posted by dread View Post
    Originally Posted by Cornucopia View Post
    What are your playback/audience requirements? "The Best" for what?

    Scott

    I meant in general. Best in quality. I am going to convert it to mpeg to make a dvd. I thought some formats were better than others. I downloaded the wmv file and the avi file. Both looked fine. The wmv file is 160 MB and the avi file is 536 MB.
    Yeah i thought it was pretty obvious what you meant, but some people like to over complicate things


    Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    Which is best a used Mercedes Benz or a used Honda?
    Going over to the dark side eh....

    LOL!!!
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  7. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Noahtuck View Post
    Originally Posted by dread View Post
    Originally Posted by Cornucopia View Post
    What are your playback/audience requirements? "The Best" for what?

    Scott

    I meant in general. Best in quality. I am going to convert it to mpeg to make a dvd. I thought some formats were better than others. I downloaded the wmv file and the avi file. Both looked fine. The wmv file is 160 MB and the avi file is 536 MB.
    Yeah i thought it was pretty obvious what you meant, but some people like to over complicate things


    Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    Which is best a used Mercedes Benz or a used Honda?
    Going over to the dark side eh....

    LOL!!!
    WTF??? Yeah, silly me for not mind-reading. It's SO obvious!
    Thing is, I could take a Film or HDCam master and make any one of those better than any of the others, particularly Divx. It's MP4v2, whereas you can have h.264 FLV, VC-1 WMV, and h.264 MOV all painstakingly encoded to blow the sox off of a Divx/Xvid.
    And NO WHERE does the OP say what this is for - repurpose to DVD/BD, stick on a mobile/cellphone, use on an older PC/Mac... Come on.

    ***********

    dread,
    If you're going to convert it to MPEG for DVD, you'd probably want (in decending order of priority):
    A. An already to-DVD-spec high-bitrate MPEG2 file (from a high quality master) (so all you had to do was author + burn)
    B. An Uncompressed or Losslessly compressed HD high quality master (in AVI or MOV or other container format)
    C. A DI HD master using a visually lossless codec (like DNxHD or Cineform) in AVI or MOV container format
    D. A High-bitrate h.264 HD file in AVI, MOV, MP4, MKV format or VC-1 HD in WMV format
    E. A High-bitrate MP4/Xvid/Divx HD file in AVI/MOV/MP4/MKV or WMV9 HD file in WMV format
    F. A High=bitrate MPEG2 HD file in MPG-PS/TS format
    G. B, but in SD
    H. C, but in SD at High-to Medium bitrate, like DV or Wavelet
    I. D, but in SD at High-to Medium bitrate
    J. E, but in SD at High-to Medium bitrate
    K. F, but in SD at High-to Medium bitrate, but not quite to DVD spec
    L. repeat the cycle again but with low bitrates and/or lower-than-DVD resolution and/or less-efficient codecs

    That probably puts your Divx at what? J? E at best.
    FLV is probably I or L or worse, WMV could be D,E,I,J,K; and MOV might be B,C,D,E,G,G,I,J,K

    That's why more info is needed - to tailor the BEST answer to your needs.

    Scott
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    Here is what MediaInfo shows for the files

    Code:
    General
    Complete name                    : x:\xxx\xxx\xxxx.avi
    Format                           : AVI
    Format/Info                      : Audio Video Interleave
    File size                        : 537 MiB
    Duration                         : 18mn 6s
    Overall bit rate                 : 4 144 Kbps
    Writing application              : Lavf52.23.1
    
    Video
    ID                               : 0
    Format                           : MPEG-4 Visual
    Format profile                   : Simple@L1
    Format settings, BVOP            : No
    Format settings, QPel            : No
    Format settings, GMC             : No warppoints
    Format settings, Matrix          : Default (H.263)
    Codec ID                         : FMP4
    Duration                         : 18mn 6s
    Bit rate                         : 3 779 Kbps
    Width                            : 640 pixels
    Height                           : 480 pixels
    Display aspect ratio             : 4:3
    Frame rate                       : 25.000 fps
    Color space                      : YUV
    Chroma subsampling               : 4:2:0
    Bit depth                        : 8 bits
    Scan type                        : Progressive
    Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.492
    Stream size                      : 489 MiB (91%)
    Writing library                  : Lavc52.3.0
    
    Audio
    ID                               : 1
    Format                           : ADPCM
    Format profile                   : A-Law
    Codec ID                         : 6
    Codec ID/Hint                    : CCITT
    Duration                         : 18mn 6s
    Bit rate mode                    : Constant
    Bit rate                         : 352.8 Kbps
    Channel(s)                       : 1 channel
    Sampling rate                    : 44.1 KHz
    Bit depth                        : 8 bits
    Stream size                      : 45.7 MiB (9%)
    Interleave, duration             : 26 ms (0.65 video frame)
    Interleave, preload duration     : 26 ms
    Code:
    General
    Complete name                    : x:\xxx\xxx\xxxx.wmv
    Format                           : Windows Media
    File size                        : 161 MiB
    Duration                         : 18mn 57s
    Overall bit rate mode            : Constant
    Overall bit rate                 : 1 186 Kbps
    Maximum Overall bit rate         : 1 196 Kbps
    Encoded date                     : UTC 2011-01-05 17:39:07.105
    
    Video
    ID                               : 2
    Format                           : VC-1
    Format profile                   : MP@ML
    Codec ID                         : WMV3
    Codec ID/Info                    : Windows Media Video 9
    Codec ID/Hint                    : WMV3
    Description of the codec         : Windows Media Video 9 - Professional
    Duration                         : 18mn 57s
    Bit rate mode                    : Constant
    Bit rate                         : 1 151 Kbps
    Width                            : 640 pixels
    Height                           : 480 pixels
    Display aspect ratio             : 4:3
    Frame rate                       : 30.000 fps
    Bit depth                        : 8 bits
    Scan type                        : Progressive
    Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.125
    Stream size                      : 156 MiB (97%)
    Language                         : English (US)
    
    Audio
    ID                               : 1
    Format                           : WMA
    Format version                   : Version 2
    Codec ID                         : 161
    Codec ID/Info                    : Windows Media Audio
    Description of the codec         : Windows Media Audio 9.1 -  32 kbps, 44 kHz, mono (A/V) 1-pass CBR
    Duration                         : 18mn 57s
    Bit rate mode                    : Constant
    Bit rate                         : 32.0 Kbps
    Channel(s)                       : 1 channel
    Sampling rate                    : 44.1 KHz
    Bit depth                        : 16 bits
    Stream size                      : 4.34 MiB (3%)
    Language                         : English (US)
    Code:
    General
    Complete name                    : x:\xxx\xxx\xxxx.mov
    Format                           : MPEG-4
    Format profile                   : QuickTime
    Codec ID                         : qt  
    File size                        : 155 MiB
    Duration                         : 19mn 0s
    Overall bit rate                 : 1 139 Kbps
    
    Video
    ID                               : 1
    Format                           : AVC
    Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
    Format profile                   : Baseline@L1.3
    Format settings, CABAC           : No
    Format settings, ReFrames        : 1 frame
    Codec ID                         : avc1
    Codec ID/Info                    : Advanced Video Coding
    Duration                         : 19mn 0s
    Bit rate mode                    : Variable
    Bit rate                         : 783 Kbps
    Width                            : 480 pixels
    Height                           : 360 pixels
    Display aspect ratio             : 4:3
    Frame rate mode                  : Constant
    Frame rate                       : 30.000 fps
    Color space                      : YUV
    Chroma subsampling               : 4:2:0
    Bit depth                        : 8 bits
    Scan type                        : Progressive
    Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.151
    Stream size                      : 106 MiB (69%)
    Language                         : English
    
    Audio
    ID                               : 2
    Format                           : ADPCM
    Format profile                   : A-Law
    Codec ID                         : alaw
    Duration                         : 18mn 59s
    Bit rate mode                    : Constant
    Bit rate                         : 352.8 Kbps
    Channel(s)                       : 1 channel
    Sampling rate                    : 44.1 KHz
    Bit depth                        : 16 bits
    Stream size                      : 47.9 MiB (31%)
    Language                         : English
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  9. DECEASED
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    Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    Which is best a used Mercedes Benz or a used Honda?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_Firebird_(third_generation)

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  10. Some hints from the MediInfo reports:

    The AVI is MPEG 4 part 2 (Divx/Xvid/FMP4) at 640x480, 3779 kbps. The WMV is VC-1 at 640x480, 1151 kbps. VC-1 is potentially better than Divx at the same biterate but here Divx has 3x bitrate advantage. The AVI file might be better, depending on the skill of the person who converted them and the nature of the source video. But the AVI file is 25 fps and the WMV file 30 fps. Why? What frame rate was the source? At least one of them must have been frame rate converted. How?

    The MOV file uses AVC (h.264), potentially better than Divx, about the same as VC-1. But the bitrate is only 783 kbps and the frame size is only 480x360. Unless the source video was low resolution to begin with, reducing the frame size to 480x360 will have lost resolution. Again, the frame rate is 30 fps. Is that the source's frame rate or a conversion?

    Judging by the running times, I would guess the source was probably 24fps film. The 25 fps AVI probably came from a PAL DVD where the film is sped up to 25 fps. The 25 fps AVI retained that frame rate and probably has smooth, though slightly fast playback (compared to the original film). The 30 fps files probably came from an NTSC source where the film was telecined with 3:2 pulldown. Then the converters deinterlaced to make 30 fps files. That will result in several little jerks every second or blurry, blended frames, depending on the deinterlacing method.

    But it doesn't really matter what MediaInfo says. Look at the three videos in this post:

    https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/295672-A-problem-for-video-experts?p=1811057&viewfu...=1#post1811057

    The MediaInfo report for all three is the same except the bitrate. Which would you pick based on the MediaInfo report? Which has the best visual quality?

    Watch all three of your videos very carefully, full screen. Which looks the best? That's the one that's likely to look best after conversion to DVD.
    Last edited by jagabo; 19th Apr 2011 at 07:50.
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    I cannot tell a different between the 3 at full screen
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  12. Look frame by frame in avidemux , vdub or avisynth

    If you still can't tell a difference, then randomly choose.

    As mentioned above, there are probably specific issues with each of them, but it doesn't matter if YOU can't tell the difference

    Other people might see the difference, but that doesn't matter

    None of these stats mean anything without the other information about how they were converted, processing, settings etc...
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  13. The AVI file is least likely to give you problems when converting to DVD.
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