DivX 5 Encoding

[Nickhamm]

I am using VirtualDubMod to encode files in DivX 5, but even if I set the bitrate low, the filesize is still very large. How can I compress movies into DivX that still look great but are a lot smaller (I downloaded a 30min video that was 152MB but still looked great).

[DarrellS]

I am using VirtualDubMod to encode files in DivX 5, but even if I set the bitrate low, the filesize is still very large. How can I compress movies into DivX that still look great but are a lot smaller (I downloaded a 30min video that was 152MB but still looked great).

I assume that you downloaded this file from a fair use website? If so, then we can talk about it. The file you downloaded is probably already compressed to XviD so trying to compress it to DivX is a waste of time since the file will be bigger than the XviD. Also, make sure that the audio is compressed.

152 MB for a 30 minute video is small so trying to get it any smaller by reducing the bitrate will only deteriorate the movie even more.

[manono]

Hi-

Yeah, you weren't very clear about the process you're using. Like, what is the source, a DVD, or another AVI? If it's an AVI that you're just opening in VDubMod, I suspect you're allowing the audio to get converted to WAV audio, which would account for the bloated sizes you're getting. You can open the completed DivX file in GSpot to confirm. In that case, you'd set the Audio to Direct Stream Copy to keep the MP3 or whatever the original audio is. If that's not it, then please be more specific as to your process and settings.

[celtic_druid]

Default setting is direct streaming, although it doesn't work with mpg input.

If you set the bitrate, low and the file is too large, then either you didn't set it low enough or the codecs rate control is off. Use 2 passes (or I guess more in the case of DivX) and not only should the rate control be more accurate, but the quality should be better.

[Nickhamm]

Okay, let me try to be a bit clearer on this. I downloaded the third episode of The Broken off of their site and it was 152MB, but the quality was pretty decent. I decided that for my website, I wanted to create and distribute some video content I recorded myself. I have the content recorded on to the computer an uncompressed AVI. I loaded up the episode of The Broken in G-Spot and it told me it was encoded in XviD at 557kbps. I tried to encode my video at that bitrate in both DivX and XviD but I still end up with a 45MB fle tha only holds about 5 minutes of video and the quality is not as good as what I had hoped. I want to know how I can compress video in a better way using DivX or XviD and keep the quality up but the filesize down. According to this compression on this video, 1 minute shound be a little less than 5MB.

[manono]

Hi-

Your comparison between your DV (?) and this Broken sample may be an apples to oranges comparison. That is, different sources compress differently. Maybe this Broken sample is a nice clean easy-to-compress example, and your source is noisy, grainy, taken with a handheld camera, and is very difficult to compress. I don't know, but just because the one looks good, and yours looks lousy at the same bitrate doesn't really say much about either. Are the resolutions the same, or are you encoding yours at a higher resolution? Is the audio the same, and done at the same bitrate, or is The broken done with MP3 and yours with WAV audio? Are they both progressive, or is The Broken progressive and yours interlaced? All these things as well as other factors can make a huge difference.

[DarrellS]

Okay, let me try to be a bit clearer on this

That didn't make it any more clearer than before. You still have not given any details.

Could be anything that Manono said. If the internet XviD is a typical internet XviD then it sounds like it's pretty good quality. If your AVI is a high resolution capture then you will need alot higher bitrate for it to be the same quality as the XviD and of coarse, the file will be alot bigger than the XviD clip that you downloaded.

If you are going to put this video on your website, you have to decide whether you want a good quality clip or a small clip for bandwidth's sake. You can't have both.

Most website owners use WMV9 since it compresses to the smallest size but the quality takes a really big hit.