Converting/examining my video files and converting to have less pixelated?

SimpleSimon · Member Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Location: United States

I have some couple questions,one is how to clean my files up better an have less pixelated videos and the other is about converting one format to the other.

Ok,On some of my video files the picture is great and there is no need to clean them up only problem is they won't play on my divx/dvd player,Since the video is fine and everything i just was wondering if there is a tool i can use to examine the video file and find out the exact video resolution,bitrates,ect ect ect...so that i won't change ANYTHING but the format,I basicly need two tools one for examining and the other for converting it in the same way but just to another format.

Now,About the cleaning my video files up,I have some videos that get pretty pixelated during a lot of motion,But if i make the video player window smaller then u cant see it,so i was wondering if i can get a tool to help reduce the pixelated stuff and fix all these problems

im sorry if i sound confusing but you guys are great and have been great help in the past.

Thanks in advance

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

Gspot, MediaInfo

SimpleSimon · Member Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Location: United States

Ok,I got both of them,by looking at them they are both to examine the files right so i probably only need one,but now what converter should i use

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

We need to know what type of files you have and what type of files you want. Post screen caps from Gspot.

SimpleSimon · Member Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Location: United States

They are all different and say "unsupported" in my ps3.Some SAY they are AVI but they wont play on the game system only on pc.I'll post a screen cap of a file that is MOV but i only have 3 of them that need converted and fixed to play on the ps3 the others are AVI

Not sure where to post the screen cap,sorry

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

To upload an image use the Image/File Browse button down below the editing box.

guns1inger · So Very Tired Joined: 01 Apr 2004 Location: Miskatonic U

If these are standard 700/1400 MB avi files then the best you can hope for is to repackage them to play on the PS3. If you have to re-encode the best you can hope for it to keep the quality you have without making it worse. If the files are already showing macro-blocks then they have already been compressed too much and the damage is done. You could try a deblocker, but this will soften the image as well, and then you will have to re-encode.
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SimpleSimon · Member Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Location: United States

There i did the picture i hope it works.

guns,I am very willing to learn how to encode if you guys are willing to help me out,im just not sure where to start lol im a video noob.

something that really doesnt make sense on the ps3 when i goto the video files that says "unsupported data" i click information to see what it says and it says the exact same thing as a file that is supported give or take a few kbps on each file and resolution a little different but the video codecs seem the same and audio codec too,it just doesnt' make sense =(

gspot%20cap.bmp

guns1inger · So Very Tired Joined: 01 Apr 2004 Location: Miskatonic U

They won't play on your Divx player because they aren't divx files. They are quicktime videos encoded with Sorenson 3 compression. You might try converting them with Dr Divx or AlltoAVI, but the quality will be very low when blown up to TV screen size.
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SimpleSimon · Member Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Location: United States

Ok thanks,I have taken care of those 3 files and they are playable now (your right the quality isn't great)

Now for the next step,All of the files now that i have are amazing quality but they just won't play on the ps3(around 175mb each),I ran them through the gspot and media info programs to get their details and used "any video converter" to convert them to divx with mp3 audio,I used the all the details for bitrate,audio channels,kbps ect...I used the same things on the converter hoping they wuld come out the same exact quality only difference i wanted was for them to play on the ps3,Was that a good idea? and i was wondering if doing a bunch in a batch while i sleep is such a good idea since some of the files are a tab bit different in bitrates ect...because on the program i have to set the settings to one settings and it converts all of them that same way,one other thing that happened when i converted the 175 mb file some came out a little smaller then 175 isn't that bad and mean im losing quality because if i wanted to keep it the same just change formats wouldn't it have been the same size?

poisondeathray · Member Joined: 07 Sep 2007 Location: Canada

You will never get the same quality by using a lossy codec. It will always become worse.

To compensate and minimize quality loss , you have to use a higher bitrate (resulting in a larger filesize)

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

Forget bitrate. Use constant quality encoding. Select the quality you want and the encoder will use whatever bitrate is necessary to deliver that quality at each frame. In Divx it's called "1-pass quality-based". Try a quantizer of 3 for good compromise of quality and file size. Use 2 if you want higher quality (relative to the source, a bad source won't get better), 4 for lower quality. The files may grow a bit larger or smaller but the quality will always be what you specify.

SimpleSimon · Member Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Location: United States

Jagabo,That really sounds helpful but I really don't understand it,I'm sorry,I'm still here and trying to learn.

Could you guys tell me what freeware pros to use and i will just go with your methods on those pros.

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

There are two different approaches to encoding video: In one you select the file size (usually indirectly by specifying a bitrate) but you don't know what the quality will be. In the other approach you specify the quality but you don't know how big the file will turn out. I'm suggesting you use the second method.

If the software you are using gives you access to Divx's configuration dialogs select "1-pass quality-based" encoding and set the quantizer to 3:

In Xvid you set the Encoding Type to Single Pass, and the method to Target Quantizer, and set the quantizer value to 3:

If the software doesn't give you access to these dialogs look to see if it has similar settings somewhere. This is a single pass method, often called Target Quantizer, Constant Quantizer, Constant Quality, Quantizer Based, or some such.

SimpleSimon · Member Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Location: United States

Thanks man,I don't see them options...What is the program in this tut is it freeware? Cuz i would like to use it for the whole thing,just as you showed me...seems simple enough and i may not get to confused,I still havent recieved an answer on whether or not batch encoding is bad.

guns1inger · So Very Tired Joined: 01 Apr 2004 Location: Miskatonic U

They are the encoder options that are visible if you use a more manual tool such as virtualdub. If you use something like AutoGK then you have a lot of this detail hidden. You can set a quality encode based on a percentage amount instead.

Batch encoding is a good thing. I often batch 8 - 10 videos for conversion, and let it run while I am busy elsewhere. A couple of hours later they are all done.
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Read my obscure DVD reviews here and my general blah here

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

I think he was asking if batch encoding using the same settings for every video was a good idea. If that's the case, no, it's a bad thing.

SimpleSimon · Member Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Location: United States

Yeah i was askin if with the same settings was bad or not,thanks for the info.Are there programs that let me do batches and make the settings different for each and maybe i can do that for each by copying the details the other programs offer for the video files i am doing,or i will try and use virtualdub an see how it goes

i would like to set a target size (like someone mentioned earlier) but not sure if i do that yet,just want to to save space

guns1inger · So Very Tired Joined: 01 Apr 2004 Location: Miskatonic U

If you do quality based encoding then you may well be able to batch with the same settings, but getting different file sizes. If you want to nominate a file size but are concerned about quality, use a bitrate calculator to find the bitrates for various target sizes, and do some test encodes to see what works as the best compromise.
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The views expressed in this post are mine alone, unless plagiarised from others
Read my obscure DVD reviews here and my general blah here

SimpleSimon · Member Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Location: United States

I will try the quality and get different sizes way.I don't know how to use a bitrate calculator.

I downloaded vdub and now when i try to put the files in it i get this error.

vduderror.bmp

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

Install the Xvid codec.

SimpleSimon · Member Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Location: United States

Ok,I did that and that seemed to work thanks but now this new warning comes up should i do what its telling me to?

I want you guys to know i love this forum =)

vdubwarning.bmp

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

You can usually ignore that error. VBR audio used to be a problem but it was fixed in 1.8.x.

SimpleSimon · Member Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Location: United States

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

Video -> Compression... select Xvid codec in the left pane, press the Configure button.

If you're not doing any filtering you should also select Video -> Fast Recompress.

SimpleSimon · Member Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Location: United States

Ok,Got that part setup now do i start the whole process by clicking run analysis pass?

I know this is noob Sorry

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

No, just File -> Save as AVI.