iMovie HD and AVI DIVX

[VoxOrion]

PowerBook G4 Rev1 with SuperDrive
OS X 10.3 Panther
iMovie HD
iDVD 5 (set to encode at best performance, not quality)
All patches installed for everything.


Quick question/request for help.

I have AVI DIVX files that I want to make DVD's out of.

So far, I have imported these AVI files into iMovie HD, made my chapter breaks, then opened in iDVD where I make a pretty menu, tell it to encode, and I'm on my way.

At every step of the way, preview displays a nice smooth image at the resolution quality I would expect based on the source files (i.e. pretty good).

Everything works when the DVD is done cooking. I can put it in any DVD player, get to my menus, and play my files.

However, the video is "choppy" - as if one out of every three frames is missing. It gets a bit worse when there is a lot of motion on the screen. The audio stays in sync, it's certainly watchable - but it is also kind of annoying.

The process (except for the time it takes) was so easy, I should have expected something would go wrong - it was just too good to be true.

Anyway - I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to deal with this. I have two thoughts:

1. Would converting to mpg first get rid of the choppyness?
2. Is this just the way iDVD deals with the "best performance" over "best quality" setting I chose in order to fit two hours of video onto the disc?

Thanks in advance!

[Frobozz]

It could be a media problem that would be solved with better quality media. If you had saved a disc image with iDVD you could mount and play it on the Mac to see if the encoding is at fault.

[edDV]

Does iMovie import DivX files? Or HD DivX files?
That is news to me.

Divx -> DVD Mpeg2 conversion is probably required before iMovie/iDVD.

Just looked at
http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/import.html

Support Formats

* HDV (720p & 1080i)
* MPEG-4 (Simple Profile)
* iSight
* DV
* DV Widescreen

So I guess you have a shot.

[VoxOrion]

Does iMovie import DivX files? Or HD DivX files?
That is news to me.

Hmm. I just go to File/Import and select the AVI. Wait a couple hours, and it's there in iMovie HD. Maybe it's not DIVX, but I'm fairly certain it is - I'll double check.

[edDV]

Does iMovie import DivX files? Or HD DivX files?
That is news to me.

Hmm. I just go to File/Import and select the AVI. Wait a couple hours, and it's there in iMovie HD. Maybe it's not DIVX, but I'm fairly certain it is - I'll double check.

Huh? AVI can be any of dozens of formats. iDVD knows nothing about HDTV. It is supposed to downconvert a HDV file but I'm pretty sure your AVI isn't HDV.

[VoxOrion]

Does iMovie import DivX files? Or HD DivX files?
That is news to me.

Hmm. I just go to File/Import and select the AVI. Wait a couple hours, and it's there in iMovie HD. Maybe it's not DIVX, but I'm fairly certain it is - I'll double check.

Huh? AVI can be any of dozens of formats. iDVD knows nothing about HDTV. It is supposed to downconvert a HDV file but I'm pretty sure your AVI isn't HDV.

The file is an XVID AVI.

[edDV]

You just need to convince iMovie that it is a MPEG-4 (Simple Profile) or convert it.

[MikieV]

The file is an XVID AVI.

Do you have one of the Divx, Xvid, or 3vix codecs installed on your computer?

If so, that may allow the video to play fine on-screen, but not convert well to DVD (mpeg2) unless you specifically exported it from Quicktime in a format iMovie expects.

[terryj]

Thank you MikieV, you hit it on the head.

What iMovie is doing is just giving you a preview
of what the file is when you are playing it.
But for it to convert it out into DV form
from native XVID? Geez, your asking a lot,
why not ask it to make you dinner too while your at it...?


PLEASE TRY AND REMEMBER THIS RULE:

Q.R.E.A.M.
(Quicktime Rules Everything (on) A Macintosh).

If the file isn't native QT (.mov), or QT Compatible format
(Mpeg-4, DV) then forget it. It may play fine, but all those
little drops in your encoding tell you that iMovie said

"forget it I can't maintain a framerate with this crap,
so i'm dropping frames like bad checks!"

And no, iDVD's "Best Performance" vs. "Best Quality"
doesn't have crap to do with it. it has to do with
trying to take native XVID into mpeg2, which is
just about asking to get screwed without getting
lubed first.

if you have QT Pro (and you SHOULD),
and ffmpegx, then do the following:

Take the files into ffmpegx.
Convert them to MPEG4{.mov] (ffmpeg)
open in QT PRO
Export as DV Streams
Open iMovie HD
import the DV Streams.

Now your native file typing into iMovie HD,
and iMovie will thank you for it when it sends
the files over to iDVD.

[havema-1]

What is the video standard, frame rate and resolution of the input? Are they the same as the output??

FWIW QuickTime does a poor job in converting different frame rates. With NTSC -> PAL it just skips frames and with NTSC->PAL it just duplicates frames producing jerky movements. Apps like JES Deinterlacer produce smoother motion by intelligently mixing fields from different frames together.