Best DV to divx conversion settings

[tarrickb]

Hello, I'm not too experienced converting to divx and was wondering what the best settings are for me to choose when converting to divx 6 from virtualdub.
I'm trying to convert captured footage of an hour long Tv-show from my canopus ADVC-100.
THANKS..


Some more specific questions about individual settings are:
1. Do I select de-interlace source?
2. Is it best to leave it one single pass?
3. Is it wise to encode audio to .mp3

Btw...I'm not worried about encoding time, just looking for the highest quality conversion.

[redwudz]

1. Yes, deinterlace for Divx from DV. That adjustment is in the codec settings.

2. 2 passes will generally give better quality, but it's harder to predict the filesize.

3. MP3 is a good choice for Divx. You can also use AC3 by converting the DV audio with a program like ffmpeggui.

4. (Though you didn't list it.) The encoder settings are important. The number of passes is just one. Divx does help you a little there. You can use the 'Home Theatre Profile' for decent quality. From there, you need to read more.

I use Xvid most of the time. You can also use DivxToDVD for easy conversion from DV to Xvid, or AutoGK. Or just use VirtualDub and adjust the codec settings there.

EDIT: Not DivxToDVD for converting to Xvid. Thanks, guns1inger. I got my MPEGs and AVIs mixed up momentarily.

[guns1inger]

2 passes should make the filesize very predictable - better allocation of bitrate within the parameters set.

If you must use MP2, use CBR not VBR, as it is much more compatible.

DivxtoDVD will convert DV to DVD, but not to Xvid or any other avi codec.

[whitejremiah]

highest quality output would be to set the video compression to a quality setting of 1.....however i kinda doubt that you will want to do this as the output file will likely be pretty huge......i havent really worked with DV much to speak of, so im not sure if it will end up being larger than the input...but it very well may be.....depending on exactly what your intentions are, you may be better off directly converting to dvd, or just spanning the DV file across a few discs (if your just intending to back it up outright) as for audio compression......thats completely up to you........what are your space restrictions, if any? if there's no real set filesize that your looking to achieve, i'd rather not touch the audio at all.....