DVD to MP4

[jchri66]

I normally used Nero Recode to convert DVD to Mp4 for my D-Link DSM-320/TVersity setup. Always worked great but lately I have noticed that I get choppy video on some DVDs. I upgraded to Nero 11 and those MP4 will not play on the DSM-320 at all. I have experimented with xilisoft and have gotten interesting results that I would like to understand.

If I use the xilisoft MP4 convertor only software, which can convert 1 VOB to a MP4, the video looks great.
If I use the xilisoft DVD to MP4 software the video looks choppy.

Any idea why this is?

[FulciLives]

I suggest using HandBrake instead because:

1.) It is free so that is always nice and it exists for Windows, Mac and Linux
2.) It is simple and easy-to-use and most of the time it will deinterlace and/or perform an IVTC correctly. Chances are this is your problem with other software (i.e., choppy playback).
3.) The program comes with some presets and I don't know which would work best with your D-Link but I'm sure at least one of them would work well. My suggestion would be to rip something short (like a Trailer) from a DVD and try encoding that using various presets and then see which play back on your device. Chances are the NORMAL regular preset will work fine.

[jchri66]

I have tried Handbrake in the past and never had success with it playing on the DSM-320. Are there certain settings when creating a MP4 that will get you everytime? So for instance during my experimentation with Xilisoft I found that if I encoded in ASP instead of H.264 is will work. But even though it only works with ASP I still get hung up on the resolution piece. If I let Xilisoft encode with defaults the video works on the PC but doesn't work from the DSM-320, I believe do to a reasolution issue. If I pick 720x576 or lower the MP4 works on the DSM-320 but on the PC it does not fill the whole screen. Video coding is a pain... Any hints at a common default settings would be much appreciated.

[chicken264]

Don't know about DSM-320. But I guess the problem with handbrake is the variable frame rate. Check "Constant Framerate" option in Video tab. I don't know why that is not the default option in HB.

[FulciLives]

Don't know about DSM-320. But I guess the problem with handbrake is the variable frame rate. Check "Constant Framerate" option in Video tab. I don't know why that is not the default option in HB.

I agree. That is a stupid option PERIOD little alone making it the DEFAULT.

But I doubt that is the problem here.

I'm guessing that media player has a manual (if you lost it look up PDF on the maker's website) that might give some info on what codecs are possible and possibly profile or bitrate and resolution info etc.

[jchri66]

Those are the things I have always not understood properly. I see multiple points of failure in the displaying of the video to the TV.

1. The uPNP server software (I use TVersity)
2. The codecs on that server
3. What the player can handle
4. What the TV is set it.

What I took for granted was the older version of Nero recode worked by default for the whole setup. I could encode a video, throw it on the server and it would play. Seemed simply....

When I look at past videos I have encoded with the older Nero the information doesn't seem standard so I see some videos with higher res, fps, etc. Nothing I could latch on and match the setting with another software.

In looking up the manual for the player is there something specific I should look for? I kind of figured it was a passthrough with the real transcoding/formatting happening on the server. How much of the success comes from the other pieces in the setup(Tversity, codecs etc).

[jchri66]

Here is what is on the DSM-320 website:

MPEG 1
MPEG 2
MPEG 45
XviD
with MP3 or PCM
AVI (MPEG-4 layer only)
SSF (Supported Subtitle Format)

Don't laugh.... It is old but has worked amazing for me.

[jchri66]

Some more infor from the manual:

MPEG-4 (ASP - Advanced Simple Profile)*
* Advance Simple Profile only, without quarterpixel and global motion compensation.

[Baldrick]

I would convert to avi with xvid/divx. Use for example the old good autogk, fairuse wizard or handbrake 0.9.3.

[jchri66]

For the handbrake gurus, can someone translate what the settings are to match this blurb?
I have tried about 10 different combos....

Seems like this part is important:

"When encoding following the HTP/StP for example you cant use QPEL or GMC and use only 1 B-Frame. therefore basically the HTP/StP are a tradeoff between quality and usability with old hardware decoder chips."

Here is the full blurb:

MPEG-4 ASP on Hardware - DivX/NeroDigital Certification / Private MPEG-4 Profiles

Some first generation hardware decoder chips werent able to handle important tools the ASP offers (ie QPEL and GMC). Today's chips are more powerful and support for example QPEL and 1 Warppoint GMC already (none supports 3WP GMC till now).
For being able to support also players, which uses even the oldest chip, DivXNetworks and Nero created something which can be called private MPEG-4 Profiles, namely the DXN Home Theater Profile (DXN HTP) and the ND Standard Profile (ND StP). Every player who is able as a minimum to handle the DXN HTP and ND StP (next to other stuff) can get a Certification from DivXNetworks and/or Nero.
When encoding following the HTP/StP for example you cant use QPEL or GMC and use only 1 B-Frame. therefore basically the HTP/StP are a tradeoff between quality and usability with old hardware decoder chips.
Of course these private certifications also help DivXNetworks and Nero to establish their brand-names even more.

Still the correct expression for what we need a player to support is MPEG-4 ASP@L5, if a player is offering this you should be able to play your encodes following MPEG-4 ASP (no matter what encoder was used) without problems.

[FulciLives]

Well if you are going with DivX / XviD AVI then I suggest NOT using Handbrake.

autoGK is a popular one for doing that type of encoding (I used to use it myself in the past) and another good one is XviD4PSP which also works very well and has a lot of options (these days that is what I would use instead of autoGK when doing AVI files of this type).

Here's a screen shot of XviD4PSP 6.04 Portable





As you can see in the first screen shot there are various AVI setting. Your device probably only handles SD resolutions (I'm guessing) so you would want to pick one of the DVD 640x or DVD 720x choices. 720x is better if it is supported by your device.

Anyway those options will create an AVI with the proper settings.

Here's a MediaInfo output of an XviD AVI that was encoded using XviD4PSP

General
Complete name                            : J:\VIDEOS\samplevideo.avi
Format                                   : AVI
Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
File size                                : 23.1 MiB
Duration                                 : 53s 808ms
Overall bit rate                         : 3 606 Kbps
Writing application                      : XviD4PSP 6.0 / 53.6.0

Video
ID                                       : 0
Format                                   : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                           : Advanced Simple@L5
Format settings, BVOP                    : 1
Format settings, QPel                    : No
Format settings, GMC                     : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix                  : Default (H.263)
Codec ID                                 : XVID
Codec ID/Hint                            : XviD
Duration                                 : 53s 679ms
Bit rate                                 : 3 344 Kbps
Width                                    : 640 pixels
Height                                   : 360 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 23.976 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.605
Stream size                              : 21.4 MiB (93%)
Writing library                          : XviD 64

Audio
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : MPEG Audio
Format version                           : Version 1
Format profile                           : Layer 3
Mode                                     : Joint stereo
Codec ID                                 : 55
Codec ID/Hint                            : MP3
Duration                                 : 53s 808ms
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 256 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 1.64 MiB (7%)
Alignment                                : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration                     : 24 ms (0.57 video frame)
Writing library                          : LAME3.98.2

By the way you can RIGHT CLICK with your mouse on any of the two images above and select "Open image in new tab" to see the original full resolution (the image gets resized to a smaller one here in the post)

[jchri66]

Is MPEG-4 ASP an .AVI?

[FulciLives]

Is MPEG-4 ASP an .AVI?

Basically we are talking XviD or DivX with MP3 or AC-3 audio in an AVI file.

http://www.afterdawn.com/glossary/term.cfm/mpeg_4_asp

MPEG-4 ASP, or Active Simple Profile, is a video Compression standard defined in MPEG-4 Part 2. The most common implementations of MPEG-4 ASP are probably DivX and XviD, although a number of other codecs are also available. Being a standard, rather than a specific Codec, any decoder certified to playback MPEG-4 ASP can play standards compliant video encoded with any tool. In other words, a DivX decoder should have no problems playing XviD video.