Does Xvid files have audio syncing issues?

[jesse40902]

EAch file is about 40 minute long and 250 megs....how much videobirate would i need so i wont lose much quality? thanks guys, And all theese files known to have audio syncing issues?

[jimmalenko]

EAch file is about 40 minute long and 250 megs....how much videobirate would i need so i wont lose much quality?

847kbps.

And all theese files known to have audio syncing issues?

If joining, possibly.

[jesse40902]

u sure thats enough to maintain a good quailty picture? 847 kbs....dvd are around 5k kbs.....

[mats.hogberg]

DVD's are mpeg2. XviD is mpeg4. Much more efficient codec.
Sync issues are mostly related to using VBR audio in AVI together with any type of video codec (including but not limited to XviD).

/Mats

[jesse40902]

Well i just want to know how many episodes i can fit on a regular dvd before losing quality. So with xvid codec and 40 minute long-250 meg each file...how many can I fit and watch on standalone w/o losing quality?

[mats.hogberg]

I'd use avi.net, single pass q2 setting, DivX6 or XviD and encode away. It's a 15-20 minute thing. A 33 minutes TV capture I just did came out at 626 MB. Undistinguishable from the source mpg which was 952 MB (not that much gained, but...)
What is your source video? 40 minutes, 250 MB - Sounds like awfully low quality (or low resolution) to me, regardless of codec.

Take it from the top: What have you got, and what do you want in the end?

/Mats

[jesse40902]

my video source is xvid and I think i'll just use nero to encode it...I want to put about 8-12 40 minute eposides on the disc....

for example: sex and the city series, can i put one season on one disc or on two disc? its about 12 shows in one season.

[guns1inger]

It is simple bitrate calculations, regardless of encoding method. You have a certain amount of space (your disk), a run time you want to make fit (12 episodes of TV show X). Put these into a bitrate calculator and you get your bitrate. If it is to low, you can either get a bigger disk (dual layer) or put less runtime on it (go to 8 episodes).

What is an appropriate bitrate depends on whether or not you want mpeg2 or mpeg4 video on the disk. Personally, I wouldn't go more than 3 hours on a single sided, single layer disk at full D1, maybe 4 - 5 at half-D1.

For mpeg4 (xvid/divx) you should be able to get a comfortable 8 hours at around 1140 kbps with 128kbps MP3 audio.

[jesse40902]

So for Xvid files, 1140ks is fine? Thanks!

Also does it really matter if its full D1 and halfD1?

[lordsmurf]

I don't think I have ever seen an XVID or DIVX file that was not off by a couple frames minimum. This is probably all user error, but I'm sure a great deal of it can be blamed on software too, or maybe the systems that did the encoding.

[guns1inger]

D1 only applies to DVD. If you are going down the mpeg4 route then I would suggest you resize down a)to save space and b) to get square pixels.

[jesse40902]

so if ur format is xvid, im better off using half d1 right?

[mats.hogberg]

OK, so you start with XviD encoded episodes, and want a regular Video DVD?
Then, if you reencode to VCD specs (but use 48 kHz audio) you can fit 6-7 hours on a DVD.
Generally, to do your sources full justice if you encode from DivX/XviD to mpeg2 (DVD), using 4x AVI bitrate is a rule of thumb.

/Mats

[jesse40902]

so if avi birate is 200, all i need is 1k birate to encode?

[mats.hogberg]

800, according to that rule. But your average DivX/XviD AVI is usually like 800-1000 kbps, so you encode to 3-4000 kbps mpg. 200 kbps is really, really low, so encoding to VCD specs mpg should be adequate. Then author as DVD with TMPGEnc DVD Author. Like I said, you can fit 6-7 hours to a 4.37 GB DVD that way, 9-10 40 minutes episodes.

/Mats

[jesse40902]

How do you check your xvid/divx original birate? Where does it tell you?

[jimmalenko]

How do you check your xvid/divx original birate? Where does it tell you?

GSpot or AVICodec tells you.

[jesse40902]

any easier way?

[jesse40902]

damn, i just found out my episodes are about 1k birate each.....and i just put all 6 shows on 1 disc with 1.4k birate...

It should be about 4k birate right? i cant fix all 6 on one disc then...

[jimmalenko]

IMHO I think you need to do a little more "prac" and a little less theory


We can all give our recommendations to you here, but you'll get audiophiles telling you anything less than DTS is a waste of time, videophiles telling you that anything less than Hi-Def is a waste of time, crammers telling you that KVCD, KDVD and/or 6-15 hours on a DVD is fine, old-schoolers who are *still* making VCDs, "efficient" people telling you to buy a DivX player and not have to convert anything, and then the rest of us sit somewhere inbetween all these.


The way I would go about it is as follows:

http://members.dodo.net.au/~jimmalenko/AVI2DVD.htm walks you through using a bitrate calculator, as well as encoding with TMPGEnc Plus, and also contains some handy hints regarding your source, and what frame sizes to use for different bitrates etc etc.

Isolate a 1 minute sample video from one of your eps, that contains a reasonable amount of fast-motion. If your encode looks good when there's fast motion, then the whole thing will look good so it's a good test IMHO. Calculate what bitrates you need to use to achieve 4, 6, 8, 10 & 12 episodes on a disc. Encode the 1 min sample file using each of those bitrates. Author the 5 sample clips using your favorite authoring software and test playback on your settop DVD Player. Take note of where the quality degrades below your quality threshold (you may find 12 eps is fine) and then base your calculations on that.

IMHO the most important thing is here is that you get the results you require. It's kinda pointless you getting the results I desire, since you may be more or less tolerant than I, and I will more than likely never be critiqueing your encoding skills, whereas these are you pride and joy that you'll watch countless times. The way to find all this out is to experiment. Pick a guide, and follow it. If it's not for you, try another guide.

[jesse40902]

thanks guys, i solve my problem.