Preffered codecs - newbie!

[alexb76]

Well, I read as much as I could and I am more confused now! What's best codec to use? I know there's no "one" absolute best... I have used xVid, DivX, wmv, 3ivx, mpeg1, apple... and it's hard for me to decide which is best. One thing I think is true is that at lower bitrates, NOTHING beats wmv, but I dont own the codec... so need something else. It seems people like xVid more than DivX but I could see much difference, and xVid encodes slower...

So, for the following different purposes what's generally accepted as being superior?

1. Slow motion video at 300-400 kbps
2. Fast motion video at 300-400 kbps
3. codec for Reducing size of mpeg1-1150kbps videos
4. Best codec for DVD movies (regardless of kbps)
5. Cartoons/animations
6. Fastest encoding speed for quality

There are a lot of diffent aritcles with no particular answer, so I have searched but need to know the answer to the above. I have quite a few downloaded videos that are terribly encoded (mpeg1 codec, with PCM audio) and like to shrink them in size without losing quality... so don't know what's best for that and also the rest of my list!

Thnx a lot folks

[nufan292]

It's probably because xvid is free and has functions that divx does not (what they are, I don't know). Here is the wmv codec to decode and encode (I was sure it was free, but haven't tried it).

[celtic_druid]

WMV is free for encoding and playback, at least under windows.

For lowbitrates I would suggest checking out, Nero/Ateme's h.264/AVC codec, SNOW, VP6.2 and RV9EHQ/10.

XviD's speed varies greatly on the settings, like if you have VHQ set to 4 then it will be slow, especially if you have it enabled for b frames.

To not lose quality you need to use a lossless codec, now for the PCM audio you could actually shrink it with say flac, with the video though if you go with lossless it is going to get bigger.

[lordsmurf]

I hate them all.

You never mentioned what you want to do.
Therefore hard to give advice.

MPEG-2 with decent res and bitrate, and match source's interlace settings, is what looks best on a tv set.

DVD does not have a "codec". I suggest you read some of the "what is" guides on the menu on the left of the page.

[alexb76]

I hate them all.

You never mentioned what you want to do.
Therefore hard to give advice.

MPEG-2 with decent res and bitrate, and match source's interlace settings, is what looks best on a tv set.

DVD does not have a "codec". I suggest you read some of the "what is" guides on the menu on the left of the page.

Well, I basically want to retain my downloads at same quality with smaller size. Also, I have a Philips DVD/divX/xVid player and have lots of downloads and want to know what's best for viewing those videos... as long as quality is not compromised.

DVD is mpeg-2 isn't it? So, my question was, when ripping from DVD, what coded will keep the same quality?

[lordsmurf]

None. Re-encoding loses quality, period.
Leave them as is, see if they play. If not, convert to MPEG (DVD).

[jimmalenko]

Well, I basically want to retain my downloads at same quality with smaller size. Also, I have a Philips DVD/divX/xVid player and have lots of downloads and want to know what's best for viewing those videos... as long as quality is not compromised.

Anything I download is viewed on my PC because it's generally not worth the hassle to convert it to watch on TV, and generally it's not of a decent quality to start with, either. I drop anything I download into Windows Movie Maker 2 and convert to WMV on the "High Quality video (small)" setting, which does a reasonable job IMO at retaining the quality and minimising the file size.