G. Knot and Size (Xvid)

[Ruxo]

Hello to everyone, i got a problem ripping "American Beauty" (My first rip ).
I´m reading this guide http://www.rita.lt/guides/GKnot_DVDtoAVI.htm to do this, and in the size of the movie i had checked "2 CD" and "700 MB" but when the rip is over, I only get a 1.20 gb movie, it looks good the rip, but i want to use those extra 200 mb for better quality, so, anyone can tell me why this happens?

Thanks!

[manono]

Hi-

So, it's 1.2 GB with the audio already muxed in? And you're sure you gave it the proper bitrate? There could be a number of reasons for being undersized, but it's usually that you already got maximum quality for your settings. It already looks very good, doesn't it? To get a larger size (fill the 2 CDs), you can try such things as increasing the resolution, not using B-Frames, not using any of the filters you may be using, or even increasing the audio quality (AC3 instead of MP3, for example).

You said you're just beginning, so I don't think this applies, but if you've upgraded your XviD codec without first completely uninstalling the older version, that could also account for it.

Also, you didn't say if you were using AutoGK or GKnot. If using AutoGK, check the log for a compress test result in excess of 100%. That's an indication that you'll never reach your chosen file size. If using GKnot, run the compress test first and look for a similar result. You usually want something in the 60-80% range.

Rita has a good site, and writes good guides, doesn't she?

[Ruxo]

Thanks for your reply, very helpfull. I think it´s for the compress test, if i don´t remember bad was about 110-115% the "5% test". So i´ll try with that.

I´ve been using "ffmpeg" to decrease the quality of the .ac3 file (the dvd source doesn´t have anything else than ac3), and the size of the audio file lowered to half size. That maybe another reason for the problem of the total movie size...? when i opened the ".d2v" on GKnot, maybe because i had modified the ac3 file, something doesn´t match and this size error appears? i don´t know im guesing :P

That guide of rita was VERY HELPFUL, i´m a real good newbie :P

EDIT: A doubt with that guide... when i "Crop" the black borders, on the guide says after croping on "Pixel" mode, i select "Smart Crop All", when i do that, on the preview window i see that some of the "scene" on the movie is croped, so that´s bad (lol). There´s no problem if i don´t select "Smart Crop All"?

[manono]

Hi-

Yes, I always use just the Pixel Crop. Personally, I don't think that the Smart Crop is always so smart. Use the Pixel Crop and keep an eye on the Aspect Error to let you know if you should adjust the resolution or cut a few more pixels into the video. For me, having the Aspect Error at or less than about 0.5% is good enough.

As for that audio, if you filled in the original audio, but used the smaller audio instead, then that could also account for the undersize. You might try and replace the reencoded AC3 with the original in the AVI to see if you get closer to filling the 2 CDs. That might save you doing all the encoding again

[Ruxo]

I´ve been having a WEIRD issue... when i set the start frame for the credits on the movie (to lower the bitrate), when the rip is finished, the movie finishes at the frame where i set the credits to start . The curious thing is that of four rips (doing the same thing) one was with the credits, the others finished when they started.... what´s wrong? it´s very annoying.... i´ve re-encoded the entire movie for the fourth time for that!

Thanks again for the replies

[manono]

Hi-

It sounds as if, instead of giving the credits lower quality, you're trimming (cutting them off) instead. If you open the .avs of one of them, most likely you'll find a line, "Trim(0,xxxx) where xxxx is the frame where the credits start. I'll assume you're encoding for XviD. In that case, you set the credits compression in the Zones of XviD, and not through GKnot. In the main XviD Configuration screen, hit "Add" to add a Zone, double-click it, set the frame to begin the credits, and then either give it a weight, or a quantizer. I prefer quantizer. It may have worked once before if you were encoding using the DivX codec. There's some guessing on my part going on, though. If you have further problems with it, then maybe post the log and the .avs (leaving off the lines beginning with "#", since they don't do anything).