Youtube HD on slow PCs

[tommyleepark]

Hello all.
I have been downloading some HD videos from Youtube, and my computer can't play them. That's normal, due to resolution and bitrate. (I use KMPlayer, and computer is a AMD 2000XP+, 700mbs RAM)
I want to convert them, so I can play them with no problem in my computer. I don't want to keep HD, but want it to be good looking, like the normal AVI movies one find on the internet.

I thought about using MP4, X264 and AAC in SUPER since I heard it is good, but with 960kbits it still looks bad when there is a lot of motion. Also, it takes forever to encode.
I have also thought about using AVI, divx or xvid and mp3. But I have no idea on what to do, since I want it to encode fast while keeping good quality (not HD).

Youtube HD has H264 1280x720, 2000kbits video and AAC 128kbits audio. How can I convert it into a lighter file and do it fast? Like, same duration of the clip or so... ??

Thanks in advance.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Try playing with MPCHC, it works well on slower PC's.

[tommyleepark]

Thanks for the answer MovieGeek but I really want to convert it.
My main problems are:

1. Image quality looks bad. It's weird, if the source is good, it should give me at least a "clean" look, but no, it always has blocks, and artifacts, and image gets messy when there is a lot of motion.

2. Time. It takes forever to encode. I don't get why... I mean, Is X264 THAT heavy? Would Xvid or Divx do better? Or maybe it's because I use SUPER to convert, would it be different if I used VirtualDub for example?

Thanks!

[MOVIEGEEK]

A:
1. Anytime you download a YouTube video it will have macroblocks, not much you can do about that.
2.H.264 is extremely CPU intensive and you need a dual or quad core CPU to encode faster, if you get a dual or quad core CPU the video will also play better.

[tommyleepark]

Ok, so I have to stop using X264. It's good for quality, but not for speed. What should I use then?
Divx5? Xvid? Keep using SUPER or try other? Like virtualdub or mediacoder...

For example, with a source file: MP4, H264 codec, resolution 1280x720 at 2000kbits. What would be better to make it into an avi file, with a decent image (not HD) and still be fast encode?