Need urgent help, mkv to avi divx

[sexymonkeys]

I had downloaded an anime with a lot of fast movement and I intended to watch it on my divx player. However it's in mkv form so I had spent all day trying to find a good way of converting it to .avi form on TMPGEnc 4 XPress. It is now 1:50AM after spending all day on this, so I thought it was about time I requested help.

Last night, I attempted to convert the mkv files to avi using the DivX Pro 6.8.4 codec using 1-pass bitrate. When I woke up the next morning, I found the video was all blocky. Since then, I've found that using quality based encoding on a quantizer of 4 was acceptable for my standards. However, this resulted in a lot of the fast scenes being slower than the original mkv file. Because of this, I decided to try 2-pass encoding using the same codec, but I have no idea how...

There's an option for "Multipass - 1st pass" and then an option for "Multipass - Nth pass." I tried the "Multipass - 1st pass" option, but then I'm lost as to what to do after that...

Can someone please explain to me how I would leave TMPGEnc 4 Xpress on overnight so that I could convert 25 24min episodes using 2 pass encoding?

Would I have to batch encode a whole bunch of things? And how would I batch encode them? Should I add all 25 episodes at once at the source stage and then at the format stage should I pick "Output all clips into one file (or one set of files)" or "Output each clip in a seperate file (or seperate set of files" for output mode?

When I attempt to encode the first pass, it only makes a 30mb file with no video and only audio. Will encoding again with the "Multipass - Nth pass" option automatically take the previous pass' data and do the 2 pass encoding even though the first pass is in a different file?

And the most important question is will 2 pass encoding actually make the fast scenes smoother?

I'm sorry for asking so many questions but I'm really confused. Help would be appreciated.

[jman98]

I use Dr. Divx for Divx encoding. It's free and it can use the Divx Pro codec you have. Try it. I don't recommend TMPGenc for Divx encoding.

Welcome to the forums, but your admission of the source of your video (BitTorrent isn't a problem, but admitting to downloading non-free material IS a problem here) will surely get your post locked and you'll get a warning.

[sexymonkeys]

Editted my OP.

I'm converting to an AVI though, using the DivX codec. Is that the same thing?

[jagabo]

"Divx" can refer to the codec and/or the container. The container is just an extension of the AVI container. If you don't use those extensions the container is the same. All you have to do is rename the file from .DIVX to .AVI. If you do use the extensions players that don't support them will usually just ignore them.

That said, getting video out of an MKV container is usually very difficult. Your best bet is to use AviSynth's DirectShowSource("filename.mkv", fps=29.97, convertfps=true). Substitute the correct filename and fps, obviously.

[sexymonkeys]

I don't seem to understand how AviSynth works...

Anyhow today I used MKVextract to take out all the seperate files.

There's a raw h264 file, and an mp3 file, and an ass file. The problem now is, that I can't open the raw h264 file in VirtualDubMod... How would I go about putting all these files into an appropriate container?

I think my divx player is compatible with divx video formats, mpeg2 and WMV9HD, so what should I do and how?

Please tell me which container I should put all the seperate tracks into and how to do it. I'm a noob so I won't understand a lot of technical stuff.

[poisondeathray]

If you don't feel like reading or searching for the many posts that deal with this topic, an easy way would be to use XviD4PSP. (free)

Select "AVI Hardware" for format, and it should do the rest for you, including autogenerating avisynth scripts. You can queue up several episodes and do it overnight. It has settings you can play adjust, but if you just leave defaults it should be pretty good and compatible with a standalone player

If your video dimensions are larger than 720x480 (for NTSC), you have to resize (the settings are found: video=>resolution/aspect) to be compatible. 720x576 for PAL - although most hardware players should be able to do both

[sexymonkeys]

Thanks for the help, but I think I found a good way of doing it now.

Just one more question... I decided to use two passes on Xvid, but I'm not sure which quantization type will be best.

I'm converting a 170mbish file at about 780kbps. I've tried using H.263 -> H.263 and H.263 -> New Modulated HQ as my quantization type and the second method seems to be better than the first. However I'm wondering if MPEG -> MPEG will serve me better, because using H.263 seems to make some parts of the video a bit pixelated (not too bad, but noticeable). Would MPEG -> MPEG be better? I don't know if I should try yet because it takes an hour to encode...

Another question is what is a high bitrate and low bitrate? Like what are the ranges for them? Is 780 high or low?

Thanks.

[jagabo]

So what program/procedure is working for you now?

The MPEG matrix is a little sharper but will require higher bitrates to keep from breaking up into visible macroblock artifacts.

The bitrate required will depend on the nature of the video. Large frame sizes and high frame rates require more bitrate. Video that has lots of motion, heavy rain or smoke, fast flashing strobe lights, lots of detail, lots of noise, etc will require more bitrate.

Go back to single pass quality based encoding if you want quality output and don't care about the exact file size. There's no reason this should be jerky. Something simply went wrong with your earlier encode.

[sexymonkeys]

I'm using TMPGEnc 4.0 Xpress still. I had downloaded a whole heap of programs yesterday, but none of them worked as well.

I'm making an avi file with the Xvid codec, using 2 passes. I've got GMC and quarter pel ticked as well with motion search precision set at 5. Quantization is set at "H.263" for the first pass and "New Modulated HQ" for the second.

And about the single pass quality based encoding... I've tried it a few times, but they all came out the same. There are a lot of fast scenes, and if you compare the output with the source, the camera tilts and pans aren't as smooth. It feels a lot more empty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHPRAI1RMZw

If you look at this video there's a bit of an example. If you just check the beginning of it with the blue background and a bunch of lines, it's nowhere near as smooth when I did the single pass. It's like the lines are teleporting a bit, instead of travelling.

So I don't think the single pass quality based encoding works well for this anime.

[jagabo]

Try a quantizer of 2 or 3. 2 will be nearly indistinguishable from the source but the file will be pretty large. 3 will show a little macroblocking but the file sizes will be more reasonable. I almost always use 3.

[sexymonkeys]

I've used 3 before and although the images were of a higher quality, it still had the problem of being jerkier than the source. It's very noticeable as well. It's not that much of a problem though anymore, because I think I'll just watch the source on my computer instead. I might as well stop being so anal about it.

Thanks for your help anyway

[jagabo]

I've used 3 before and although the images were of a higher quality, it still had the problem of being jerkier than the source.

Then something was not working right. At Q=3 if you compare the input and output frame-by-frame you should see that every frame is there and there is only a small amount of macroblocking. If you enable Xvid's or Divx's deblocking option even those will mostly disappear.

The FLV file you posted was extremely poor quality. Probably caused by the conversion to FLV.

[jagabo]

I've got GMC and quarter pel ticked

That's just asking for trouble. Many set-top players will not play GMC and QPEL. In fact, I believe there are no set-top player that will play Xvid's 3 warp point GMC.