Converting .avi to KSVCD, using DIKO

[_Coaster_]

Converting .avi -> KSVCD, using DIKO.


THEORY

DIKO (DivX in KSVCD/KDVD out) is a one click DivX/XVid to KDVD/KSVCD conversion tool. It works with many other softwares to achieve the best quality and efficiency possible in this conversion.


You'll soon discover many things you can do with DIKO. The important thing now is understand how it all works!


In DIKO, the process of 'transforming' any given movie always go through a series of stages, which are the following:


STAGE 1 - Calculating audio and video sizes

STAGE 2 - Splitting audio from video

STAGE 3 - Processing subtitles (if chosen)

STAGE 4 - Converting the video

STAGE 5 - Converting the audio

STAGE 6 - Multiplexing audio + video

STAGE 7 - Authoring and creating the .bin / .cue files

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STAGE 1 - Calculating audio and video sizes


The process of 'transforming' the video (which in the future i shall call converting) will lead to a series of changes from the original file(s). This will mean that the size of the final file will change accordingly. Generally, the more the space, the more the quality, even though quality is pretty much dependable on many other factors such as resolution, bitrate, amongst others, which i shall explain later

So, it's obvious that, as you might be thinking (or not), the problem with the size of the converted movie will be if it's too big to fit on a cd.

Calculating the maximum size that each of the two components of the movie (audio+video) should have according if one has chosen 1 or 2 cd's, is what DIKO does at this stage. If all goes well, you'll have either 1 or 2 movie files (.mpg) which will fit respectively 1 or 2 cd's, without any waste of space.



STAGE 2 - Splitting audio from video


This stage is among the most important of all: splitting the audio from the video. These two components of every .avi movie have got different caracteristics among them. That means that they will have to be converted (or encoded) seperately.






Roughly enough, it's this that DIKO does at this stage. Through the .avi file, DIKO can manage to separate the audio, which will have the extension of .mp2 , as well as the video, which will be .mpv.



STAGE 3 - Processing subtitles (if chosen)


You may, if you want to (and probably if you're neither english nor american :P), choose to incorporate subtitles to your movies


Subtitles come in many sorts of way. They generally consist of a text file, containing every speech of the movie, and the differences between each type of subs will lay on how those speeches are handled. Eg, Subrip subs show the 'timing' of each speech that will appear on screen, while Vobsub subs show at which 'frame' they appear.
(NOTE: A 'frame' is the most infimous part of any movie. It's like a photograph at any precise moment. Each movie is composed of millions of frames, as you may imagine)

Among many types of subtitles, these are the most common:

- Subrip (extension: .srt)
- Vobsub (extension: .sub)


This is just an extra knowledge. You don't have to know this to incorporate subtitles in your movies with DIKO. Nevertheless, you have to be aware that DIKO only works with .srt subs, but you can use any type, as long as you convert it first to Subrip subtitles (.srt.



STAGE 4 - Converting the video


This will be the longest stage, due to the complexity and size of the component in question. On a Pentium IV 2.6Ghz, 512MB RAMit takes +/- 3h converting a movie.

As you might have noticed on an image from the 2nd STAGE, the video in DIKO is converted using FreeEnc, which is intelligently among the programs within the installation package of DIKO .

At the end of this STAGE, DIKO will have created a .mpv file (as i said earlier), corresponding to the video component already encoded.



STAGE 5 - Converting the audio


The audio conversion is handled by a program called BeSweet. You have little to worry about this STAGE, because it's all pretty much automatic.

At the end of this STAGE, DIKO will have created an .mp2 (as i also said earlier), corresponding to the audio component already encoded



STAGE 6 - Multiplexing audio + video


Now that we've got both components encoded, we'll have to multiplex them into the final file.



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So, joining the audio (.mp2) with the video - (.mpv) , will originate the movie - (.mpg).


It is relevant to mention at this point that sometimes DIKO fails to execute this stage perfectly, especially if you've selected the 'Header trick' option (which we'll understand further on), resulting in a size-deficient .mpg

In spite of this, because every other STAGE was completed successfully, you'll be able to recover the progress. Check here on how to do so:

TUTORIAL: What to do when DIKO creates a small .mpg file?



STAGE 7 - Authoring and creating the .bin / .cue files


This stage will be for authoring (if you were doing a KDVD) and creating the .bin / .cue files

And what's that about .bin and .cue files?

.bin and .cue files are cd image files. They are like a 'compilation' of every file that any given cd should have, and so they are ready to be copied.

What's really great about this is that DIKO creates (or should create) these two files, so that it's easier for you to burn them to a CD.


_________________________________


Should every stage have been successfully accomplished , you'll have in the end your cd image file in your 'working folder'


But this is just the theory, and you'll have a lot to do to have your own movie in your DVD player, so let's get to it!





PRACTICE


Now that you've been introduced to working with DIKO, you'll now learn how to work with it. As i said before, i'll (at least try to) explain every detail and every aspect of DIKO according to AVI -> KSVCD conversions.

Yet, this does not mean that DIKO is confined to this type of conversion. You'll find that DIKO also creates KDVD, and so on...

Before we begin, it will be wise to check any compatibility between VCD's and your DVD player, to ensure it is really capable of reading what you'll be creating.

Just follow these links:

https://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers or http://www.vetorial.net/~bj/ksvcd/tabela.html

Anyway, the best thing for you to do is to test your DVD player yourself. I'll explain how to do so later.
NOTA: Even though you'll be creating an SVCD, as long as your player supports VCD movies, you're OK. There's an option in DIKO, the 'Header Trick' option, that allows you to make the player believe you are giving him a VCD, instead of an (K)SVCD



1º STEP

Download DIKO at:

http://www.i-svcd.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/vmesquita/DIKOSetup.exe <- BETA 2

http://www.jltoca.uaivip.com.br/files/DIKOSetup076B3-Upgrade.exe <- BETA 3

You'll have to download BETAS 2 and 3,install primeiro o BETA 2 first and then BETA 3, because the last is a patch .

You may want to regularly check this site:

http://www.jltoca.uaivip.com.br/en/download.htm

..for the most recent version of DIKO.


Even though DIKO carries almost every program needed to convert movies, you'll have to install yourself CODEC's (enCOde -> DECode). These little 'programs' allow DIKO to convert movies and are indispensable.

The most frequent CODEC's on the market are DiVX and XVid. This last also comes with DIKO, so you'll probably don't have to worry much about them. I would advise you though to install the most recent DiVX codec, which you may download (current version: 5.2.1.) at:

http://www.divx.com/divx/download/

Again, check regularly on the main site, http://www.divx.com, for the most recent CODEC.

Later in the tutorial, i'll talk about some other programs which you'll have to install, but i'll mention them as we go.


2º STEP

Now that you've downloaded DIKO, open it:




3º STEP

At the moment, you'r on the main window of DIKO. Let's now configure DIKO in the best way possible so that you'll be able to create the best KSVCD's.

1 - Start by pressing 'Configuration'.




2 - You'll see several tabs, if you notice:



We'll go through each one, paying atention to what should be changed or not.


4º STEP

You'll be on the 'Path' tab. Here, we'll just have to define the folder where DIKO will process the movie, meaning, where it will create the files ('Working Folder'):





Sugestion: Either change the working folder to one that is easily access or create a 'shortcut', for eg, on the desktop, to easen the access to it. To create a shortcut, you'll have to...............hmm...i assume you know how to create a shorcut :P

NOTE: The 'Working folder' shall never be 'read-only' or else DIKO will not be able to convert.


5º STEP

1 - Hit 'Parameters':



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a) 'Mode'




In 'Mode', choose KSVCD (K-SUPER-VIDEO-COMPACT-DISC).
(NOTE: As you press KSVCD, you may notice several changes on some fields, don't worry about them)


b) 'System'




In 'System', you'll have to specify whether your video is PAL or NTSC.


PAL and NTSC are two TV standards. (It's like km/h, for Europe and mph, for the USA)

'PAL' is the acronym for 'Phase Alternating Line' and it's the main standard in Europe. The important bit you'll have to know is that it uses 25 frames per second (fps).

'NTSC' is the acronym for 'National Television Standards Commitee' and it's the main standard in the USA. This standard uses 23.976 fps.

Well, you'll have to know for sure whether your movie is PAL or NTSC. You have many sorts of ways to know this but, as you'll probably going to use this later, i'll explain how to do it in VirtualDub:

http://belnet.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/virtualdubmod/VirtualDubMod_1_5_10_1_All_inclusive.zip.


i) Install and then run VirtualDub:



ii) Go to 'File' and then hit 'Open video file'



iii) Locate your movie and press 'Open':



iv) A window might appear, just ignore it by clicking 'Yes'



v) Now, over again to 'File', but this time go to 'File Information...'



vi) You'll see a little window with virtually every relevant information about your movie file..



..and among that information is the standard, right on the first field, where it displays the fps. In this case, as you may notice, the film uses 23.976 fps, which means that it's NTSC.

If you saw 25 fps, you would know it would be PAL.


Remember:

PAL -> 25 fps
NTSC -> 23.976 fps


Now that you know in which standard is your movie, let's go back to DIKO:



Choose between PAL or NTSC according to your .avi file.


c) 'Video Encoder'



I advise you to choose 'FreeEnc', in this field. 'FreeEnc' is an encoder just like 'Cinema Craft Encoder (CCE)' or TMPGenc, which was programmed by the same person which developed DIKO, vmesquita, the great. This program, like every other encoder, is responsible for converting the component video of your .avi into .mpv.
The good thing about FreeEnc is that it's FREE and has some parameters that you can easily set, but we're not going through that in here, it's just for you to know.


d) 'Media Size'



'Media Size' will set the maximum size that can be used byDIKO for the conversion, in a way that each of the final .mpg files will perfectly fit 1 or 2 cd's.

Now, you may be wondering: well, my cd's are just 700MB, not 795..now what?

Yes, it's true, the maximum capacity of your cd's is 700MB, but, for some reason (which you may investigate if you want to), 800MB of film fit 700MB of a CD. Pretty cool, han?

Bottom line, change nothing in this field.


e) 'Overhead'



'Overhead', in an explanation based on 'common sense', is a portion of space that every VCD has to have, so that your DVD player can recognize your movie as a readable movie. For that, you'll need these 15MB margin.

Just like on the previous parameter, change nothing here.


f) 'Number of CD's'



You may choose between 1 or 2 cd's for which the movie will fit in.


g) 'Ignore Pulldown Failure'



Pulldown is a little program (already included with DIKO) that, for NTSC movies, creates some sort of 'flag' , indispensable on these kind of movies, to make the DVD player understand that it's handling a 29.970 fps movie, rather than a 23.976 fps one.

Why?? :P I really have not yet gone that deep..i just know that for some reason, the DVD players do not recognize 23.976 and so this little 'cheat' is need (if i may say so).

So, if pulldown is really needed, there's really no point in ignoring pulldown failure. In some cases, it might be useful, but chances are that you will not have to worry about this whatsoever.

Just leave it as it is.


h) 'Shutdown when finished process'



If you want to, you can order DIKO to shutdown the PC after the process is finished. There's really nothing else to it.


i) 'Remove temp files'



Some files, created by DIKO, are only temporary, thus not necessary. You should leave this option on if you frequently are low on HD space.


j) 'Use avisynth monitor'



Enabling this option will make a window of avisynth (a program that comes with DIKO), appear, to predict the final result. This will not be necessary. Enable this only if you know what you are doing!


k) 'Interface language'



You'll be able to change into any language pack available.


6º STEP

Let's go over to 'Authoring':



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a) 'Author Disc'



'Authoring' is the word used to create menus, chapters, cd image files, etc. In a word, personalizing.

DIKO only gives you the ability to create chapters, and if enable will create the cd images for you.

I strongly advise you to enable 'Author Disc'


b) 'Chapters every minutes'



As i said before, DIKO can create chapters in your movie for you. You may choose between every 5, 10, 15 or 20 minutes and there's also the option 'don't add chapters'.


c) 'Header trick (Mux as VCD)'



Remember me saying that any SVCD needed an 'additional' space so that the DVD player could understand what it was dealing with?

Well, this option lets you "fool" the DVD player into thinking it's handling a VCD, instead of an SVCD

Advantages: allows SVCD non-suported DVD players to play them.

Desvantagens: There's a 'bug' within DIKO that disables 'authoring' with 'Header trick'. Nevertheless, it is possible to 'manually' (that means not with DIKO), finish the process of creating the KSVCD.

Learn how to do so here:

What to do when DIKO creates a small .mpg file


7º STEP

Let's move on to 'video':



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a) 'Encoding Mode'



This to define whether you want DIKO to process the movie right away ( '1 Pass VBR' ), or scan it first and then process it ( 'Multi-pass VBR' )

If you choose 1 pass VBR, you'll get less quality, but it's faster.
Choosing Multi-pass VBR, you'll get more quality, but the encoding time doubles.

It's really up to you.


b) 'Overscan'



'Overscan' is the area on the edges of the screen that is covered to prevent distortion effects

It goes like this:



The best thing for you to do is really test it first and then use the one you prefer. To start with, i would suggest '1'.


c) 'Resolution'




The resolution of any video is the scale , in pixels , between these two measures:

Width x Height

For example, a 528 x 480 movie would be something like this:



What you really need to know is that the standard resolution for any SVCD is 480 x 480, for NTSC videos, and 480 x 576 for PAL.

Even though you should be using these standard specifications, it is possible to change them, in order to get more quality. This depends on whether your DVD player suports this or not.

Yet, bear in mind this: suppose you had a 96 x 96 image:



If we increase its size, we'll get this:



You certainly don't want this to happen to your movie, so watch out for any much higher resolution than your source.

As always, the best thing for you to do is to make tests first.

As i said before, the standard is 480 x 480 or 480 x 576, so start with those first, according to your NTSC or PAL movie.


d) 'Widescreen Material'



Leave it as it is - 'Letterbox and Encode at 4:3 (recommended)'


8º STEP

Continuing our little journey, let's go over to 'audio'



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a) 'Bitrate for 2.0 audio'



This option lets you define the 'bitrate' that you want for your audio. But what's bitrate?

'Bitrate' is the average number of bits that the video or the audio (in this case the audio) will consume per second. Generally, the higher the bitrate, the better the quality of the component, but also the bigger it will be.

So, if you choose 160kbps , it means that the component audio will spend 160 kilobits per second of the 795MB available.

Because the diference in quality is very little from 160 to 128kbps, you might want to choose 128kbps, so that you can have more space for the video, but it's really up to you and your experience with this sort of thing.


b) 'Use 44.1 Khz in SVCD'



The standard format for audio in SVCD's is 44.1 Khz , yet, chances are that your player will support 48 Khz audio, and this is really recommended if you want increased quality

Enable this option, only if you tested that your player does not support 48 Khz audio.

So, disable 'Use 44.1 Khz in SVCD'.


c) 'Always reencode if bitrate is different than chosen'



You'll only have to worry about this if you're doing a KDVD, which is not the case.

So, "ignore" this option.


d) 'Delete Soft Encode Registry Key HKLM to avoid the Dying bug'



The same as c).



e) 'Delete Soft Encode Registry Key HKLU to avoid the Dying bug'



What do you know...ignore it :P


9º STEP

Last TAB!! 'Subtitles'



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This TAB referts to subtitles, and there's something more to it than you can see. First of all, select fixed subtitles:




This will prevent any error that might occur.
Another question is the style of the subtitles. It is not possible to change it from here, but you can do that another way.

Learn how to change the style of your subs (color, font, size...) here:

How to change the style of the subs in DIKO Free


Last note about subtitles:

Remember me saying that DIKO, at the moment, only worked with Subrip - (.srt) subtitles? Well, the time has come to explain to you how you can use any subtitle format in DIKO, by converting it to .srt

Just follow these steps:

i) Download 'Subtitle Workshop' ( http://www.urusoft.net/download.php?id=sw&mirror=2 ).


ii) Open the program:




iii) Hit 'Menu' and then 'Load subtitle...'




iv) Browse the subtitles you want to convert and press 'Open...'




v) Next, go over again to 'Menu', but this time press 'Save as...'




vi) A window should appear, showing almost every subtitle format there is. Yet, we will want to choose .srt, so, double click on 'Subrip'




vii) Choose the folder where you want the converted subs to go:




And that's it! You'll have your converted subtitles, ready to be used!


10º STEP

Now that everything is properly set, we'll begin the conversion process by creating a little 'sample' to test your DVD player. We'll use VirtualDubMod for this.


1 - If you haven't got the program download it here:

http://belnet.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/virtualdubmod/VirtualDubMod_1_5_10_1_All_inclusive.zip


2 - Repeat some of the previous steps by going to 'File' and then pressing 'Open video file'




3 - Locate your movie and then press 'Open':




4 - Don't bother if an error message appears. Just click 'Yes'




5 - Now, you want to limit the "quantity" of movie you want to process. To do that, click on the button that is not blurred:



This will set the beginning point of the short sample.

Now, you need to move the exploration bar over to the final position. A sample of 0:00:30 to 0:01:00 should be enough. You can see the lenght on the bottom status bar(Sugestion: Hold 'Shift' while you move the bar, it'll go faster)



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Next, press the not-blurred button to set the end of the sample:





6 - Now that you've set your sample, press 'Video' and then choose 'Direct Stream Copy'. This will allow the creation of a small .avi file which will not differ much from the original source, meaning, it will not go through any filter




7 - Hit 'File', then 'Save as...':




8 - Now name the new file:




And that will be your sample file


11º STEP

Let's convert!

Back at the main window of DIKO, press 'New Conversion':




12º STEP

Now: if your movie has 2 parts, you should browse each one where it says 'Movie file 1' and 'Movie file 2', accordingly. The same for subtitles: each subtitle file should appear in 'Movie Subtitles File 1' and 'Movie Subtitles File 2'.



If your movie is in 1 part, like this case, both movie and subtitle, should come in the first positions:



Now to convert your sample: select the .avi file that VirtualDub created and then any subtitle file, as this is just a test...



...press 'Start Conversion'...



...and finally press 'Yes' if a window asking if it's the last movie appears




And the conversion has started!
DIKO will now be creating every file it should create and because this is just a sample, it shouldn't take more than 10 min.


13º STEP

Let's now take a look at what DIKO has created



As you can see from the image, several files have been created. You don't have to worry about many of them, but i'll give some explanation of some, just for you to know what's going on:


a) '.mp2 file'



You should probably recognized this file by now. From your .avi, DIKO splitted the video from the audio, so that this .mp2 corresponds to the converted audio.


b) '.mpg file'



This is your movie fully converted, containing: audio + video.


c) '.mpv' file



This is the video component, already encoded.


d) '.bin / .cue files'



These files will be the most important, as it will allow you to burn the movie to cd, easily, as i will show later on.


e) '.log file'



This file will be important if something has gone wrong with your conversion. Whenever you want to ask for help in the kvcd forum you should post along with your message this .log, so that people answering to you can know what has happened.


f) '.avs file'



The .avs file allows you to understand any problems that could be happening within 'Avisynth', a program which comes with DIKO.

First of all, an .avs file is, if i can say so, a file that contains information about the movie you want to convert, such as: filters to be used, subtitles to be displayed, etc.

To see the error, you'll have to follow these steps:

i) Open VirtualDub:




ii) Go to 'File' and then 'Open video file':




iii) Locate the movie0.avs file:




iv) Then an error window will (or not, i hope) appear, like this one:



This error tells me, for eg, that the codec DIV3 is not installed, and this is a great help, believe me.



g) '.wav file'



This is a temporary file and represents the audio directly as you hear it from your .avi source, which means that it hasn't been encoded yet


14º STEP

Now that we've understood the meaning of each file DIKO creates, let's now burn the image to disc.

It's very easy to do so. Proceed this way:

1 - Use Nero Burning Rom (other any other image burning program) to be able to burn the image to the cd. I'll use NERO to demonstrate.


2 - Open NERO




3 - Now press 'Disc image or saved project'




4 - After browsing for your working folder, where you should have the .bin and .cue file, press 'Every image and NERO compilation', and change this to 'Image files (*.nrg;*.iso;*.cue)'.




5 - Hit 'Open'




6 - Press 'Start' to begin burning.





And that's it! Your movie is being burnt to cd and when that is finished you can test it on your DVD player.

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Short resume


How to convert in very few STEPS:


1 - Check if your movie is NTSC or PAL. For more efficiency, i would advise you to use 'BSPlayer' ( http://dl.bsplayer.org/c73931e79e130b6f686c4fd425d84d19/bsplayer100.812.exe ) or any other player equivalent to it.

Remember:

23.976 -> NTSC
25 -> PAL


2 - If you want subtitles, check if you have them in the right format: Subrip (.srt).


3 - Start DIKO. In 'Configuration', check if your option are the following:

a) 'Path' -> 'Working folder' set and not 'read-only'


b) 'Parameters'

b1) 'System' -> NTSC ou PAL, according to the movie in question.

b2) 'Number of CD's' -> one or two cd's, that's your call.


c) 'Video' -> 'Resolution' according to what you've tested on your DVD player.


d) 'Subtitles' -> Fixed.


4 - Press 'OK'. Back at the main window, hit 'New Conversion'.


5 - Select the movie you want to convert, as well as the subtitles, on 'Movie File' and 'Movie Subtitles File', both 1 and/or 2, depending on your source.


6 - Hit 'Start Conversion'.


7 - In the end, burn the .bin / .cue files created, using a burning program (such as NERO).


This is what you'll have to do in order to create KSVCD's in DIKO. I hope you liked it, and good luck !


____________________________________


Some notes:


If something has gone wrong that is not specified in this tutorial, see more information at http://www.kvcd.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=79 , and if necessary, post about your problem



:arrow: For other guides and tutorials, follow:

http://www.kvcd.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14406



I think that's it. Please be free to ask anything or make any remark.

Thanks

See you later!

peace [ ]

[vmesquita287]

Hi Coaster,

The guide looks great! Very well designed and explained!

I just don't get the point of change PAL/NTSC according to the source, since DIKO does this framerate of conversion automatically... Wouldn't be better to save the trouble and have a disc in the standard used in your area (what also makes the disc more compatible?)

[gidxg03]

Coaster excellent guide. Would there be any chance you (or anyone else) could highlight the different settings needed to convert to a KDVD instead on KSVCD.

[qajfat]

Hi, First of all that's a great guide you wrote..... Well done, Coaster!
I did a couple of conversions and they worked fine. Now I just tried a 2 CD conversion, but unfortunately after over 8 hours work DIKO crashed after writing the first .BIN file. So I have ended up with a lot of huge files but only one BIN file. Is there a way of saving all the work and carry on from where it stopped -DVD authoring (unfortunately I tried the conversion recovery and the LOG file was overwritten). Can you please help me? Thank you

[yowie]

Howdy

My movie was a two part CD set

The first part came out fine by first looks.

But something happened to the 2nd part- sound but no picture.

I was watching the process at certain points and noticed it say ERROR 64 Unable to get ogg.dll interfaces.

go download and install ogg vorbis DS (Direct Show Filter) from doom9....
website.

Would this be what caused the error in part 2??

Thanks Yowie