Jerky Playback Season DVDs to Xvid/Divx

[Syro]

I'm trying to convert my CSI Season DVDs to Xvid/Divx. So far I've tried HandBrake on Mac OS X and SimpleDivx on WinXP and both don't give me smooth playback. I've tried different encoding settings and no matter what I do I get the jerks. I'm assuming I'm not using the best encoding settings for TV shows/Season DVDs.

What encoding settings should I be using for season/episode DVDs (resolution, video bitrate, 1 or 2 pass, audio bitrate, etc.)?

TIA

[yoda313]

Have you tried deinterlacing them???

Many tv shows are interlaced. Perhaps that might clean it up.

[mikiem]

I'd suggest 1st starting with the source.

Depending on how far you want to go with different tools etc. I'd recomend checking your orig. DVD with DGIndex to see if it's film with pulldown added. If so, you can use it to go backwards and get a video that's much closer to the original before it was put on DVD. Then encode that. If not film, De-interlace or IVT might help.

RE: encoder settings, I'd start off checking sites/guides etc for the software you're using. Generally multiple passes give a better video for a given file size or bitrate, but alone they won't improve quality. Bitrate = qual = file size. The more bitrate the better the quality the less the compression the bigger the file, so adjust to your requirements. As far as resolution goes, the smaller the frame size, the less data there is to compress, so for a given file size you can then increase the bitrate & use lower levels of compression. At the same time however, you're reducing the amount of data stored per frame, and quality starts to decrease.

[manono]

both don't give me smooth playback. I've tried different encoding settings and no matter what I do I get the jerks.

I'll assume this is from an NTSC source and you're encoding it at 29.97fps, whereas you should be encoding for 23.976fps. If film, encoding for 29.97fps will make it play jerky, waste bits, and make it look nasty.

What encoding settings should I be using for season/episode DVDs (resolution, video bitrate, 1 or 2 pass, audio bitrate, etc.)?

None of that has any bearing on your jerky playback problem. If it is Film, then either Force Film in DGIndex if possible, or use Honor Pulldown Flags and IVTC it using AviSynth to frameserve the video to VDubMod. If you don't know how to do any of that, then use AutoGK to do it right for you.

[ryukurai]

I wonder if this is actually another cute trick (of two I have not seen any info on here). The video, if I'm not mistaken, is probably playing back where it jerks back in time about half a second at one second intervals (which, I believe, is the length of time between B frames). This seems to be something in the one or more langauge(s) on the disc, if any. They stream the file data with out of order frames and since not one program I've used can properly use the IFO files to play the VOBs back the same way a DVD player does (standalone hardware or PC software based), you get these jerks. Any thoughts ?

[festmaster]

Have you tried deinterlacing them???

Many tv shows are interlaced. Perhaps that might clean it up.

This is good advice, and AVI.NET has a checkbox under options to de-interlace interlaced material. I have not tried it on CSI, but it is necessary on Southpark and Newsradio and makes for very smooth video.

[gll99]

Are you playing these divx/xvid on computer or on a standalone divx compatible dvd player?

Your profile is not filled in so I didn't know if you own one.

[FulciLives]

Try using autoGK

- John "FulciLives" Coleman