CCE VS DivX

[SteveF22]

Ive heard many good things about CinemaCraft Encoder. What about the audio for CCE? Do you have to assemble the audio separately?

What all in one program is best for DivX authoring? audio + video in one step?

What is your favorite between the two and why?, they have changed so much lately and would like to know the current hot encoder.

[guns1inger]

They are two different encoders and can't be compared except at a very high, functional level. CCE encodes mpeg-2 for DVD. Divx is, well, the Divx codec. Both are pretty easy to set up and use. Both have different functions. Neither are the hot encoder. If you want to be in the hot zone then you need to be using AVC. Of course you also need something to play it back.

If you want to author Divx discs, and you have a Divx Ultra Certified player then teh current TDA is the way to go. Of course if you don't have a Divx Ultra Certified player then it is moot, as you will get the same results just burning Divx encoded video to a data disc.

If you are talking about converting Divx files to DVD compliant structures for burning (your post is very unclear about exactly what you are trying to achieve) then ConvertXtoDVD is the best of the payware applications, and FAVC or DVD Flick are very good freeware tools.

[SteveF22]

Thanks for the reply Guns1inger, My main goal is to create archives of my movies using the vest picture quality/size available. I just picked up a Oppo DV980h and it plays DivX as well as some other formats.
http://www.oppodigital.com/dv980h/default.asp I was reading the specs on the player and did not see DivX Ultra. : ( Bummer. Anyways a straight data archive of the movie is desirable. Sorry when I said authorizing I meant converting.

Can you please clairify what "high functional level" means. Ive heard this in programming and not too sure what you mean. Also can you please tell me why AVC is so hot? Are you talking about H.264/MPEG-4 produced in 2003?

[guns1inger]

What I means is that they are both video encoders, and as such have many thing in common when it comes to interfaces and function : framerate/bitrate/resolutions etc. However because they encode using very different methods they cannot be compared in any way other than interface use.

AVC is hot because it is being used for HD compression in cameras and for HD-DVD/Blu-Ray. It provides higher quality than Divx in around 60% of the space or less. It current has two issues for consumers - it is slow to encode, even on fast processes, and requires at least a P4 3.0gHz to get consistently smooth playback, and no stand-alones support it yet. And yes, AVC is H.264

[SteveF22]

Thanks for clearing that up for me. The player uses DivX® 6 so I think I can get good archive quality from my movies without too much space. AVC is an interesting compression algorythim. If I was serious about this stuff I would look more into that.

CCE and DivX can both make AVI files, What do you like better? I belive the AVI CCE produces can be read on oppo dvd player.

Thanks

[guns1inger]

Don't know which version of CCE you are using. The versions I have used only output Mpeg-2. While this can technically be put in an AVI container, it is still mpeg-2.

[SteveF22]

My fault your right, MPEG2 only. Im using SP2 basic Trial with some good results. I will give DivX a shot also.

[guns1inger]

You should be able to get comparable quality to mpeg in around half to a third the bitrate. I would suggest that you use AutoGK for encoding DVDs to Divx/Xvid. Takes all the pain out of it and makes it a very predictable exercise.

[SteveF22]

I purchased DivX Pro and it came with converter. However that converter doesnt read the VOB and INFO files. Thanks for the tip about AutoGK for DivX creation. I noticed when installing Divx 1.2 comes with the program. How do I tell AutoGK to use DivX 6.6 for the conversion?

[guns1inger]

I don't believe you can, but you can use Dr Divx for encoding with Divx 6. It's not quite as smart but seems to work.