questions about avi, mpg, divx encoding and decoding.!!!!!!

[crazylegs]

ok is there a way to take your avi-divx files and extract them into mpg2 format in a way that will not lose quality? I mean if someone ripps a dvd in to a avi-divx file, can't you go back to its ariginal source with out losing quality? if so how?

question #2....
can you take and divx-avi file that was encoded is 3.11 alpha codec and re-encode them into to 4x or 5x format with out losing quality? If so how?

The reason im asking this questions is becuase i just recieved my XCARD ((divx player) from sigmadesigns and it is not compatible with 3x apha encoded movies... and when i change my divx files into svcd they dont look as good as original divx.

[vcd4me]

Wow cool you got the xcard how do you like it so far?

I don't know the answers to your questions but I would like some info about the xcard do you mind if I pm you with some questions?

[crazylegs]

vcd4me..... here is my review on it!


Installation was simple, anyone can do it. I'm using a celeron 667mhz with 128ram on board video with win98. The xcard ran fine with this configuration. my tv is a hitachi HDTV ultravision 16x9 format.

CONS: I was a bit disappointed with the compatibility with movies out there.... I had a collection of 20 movies and only 3 played. the only way around this was for me to change the format of those avi. into SVCD format... (this is due to 3.x alpha codec incompatibility) once i did that they kept the aspect ratio and all my movies played! Of course my quality dropped a bit but not too noticeable since i jacked up all the settings so i wouldn't lose picture quality. The aspect ratio of the movies are all cropped for a standard 4x3 tv. Since my tv can change the aspect view of movies i was able to get around this problem. It was still a bit distorted, but very watchable.

PROS: The divx quality being playback on my tv was truly incredible. I set my settings for 16x9 720p and i also tryied 1080i. The divx under this setting actually looked better than the playback of a digital satellite, and a standard tv with a dvd player! I was truly blown away by that! Also movies that were split into 2 cds, when loaded on the HD they played instantly back to back with out you even noticing that it jumped to the second part. Sound quality was great. DD and DTS were decoded with no problems. The remote control was a nice feature. When you hit the power button the divx console pops up and you can select your movies and play them. very nicely done. The xcard comes with the ability for you to hook it up to every tv-monitor posible PAL or NTSC.

Recommendation: Well if you have a 16x9 HDTV then yes, other wise no. The xcard still needs a bit of work. They need to fix the compatibility issues of movies (this can be fixed if you change your avi to svcd's) and the aspect ratio bugs. I'm confident that they will have new drivers and software updates soon enough to solve this issues. So if you have one be patient because fixes will be released! The xcard is truly revolutionary and has great potential! It could easily turn to be one great hardware purchase. Another good thing is no more wasting time and money burning SVCDs to play back on my dvd player. I now have a jukebox with all my movies and they are a click away to watch. When i rent my dvds now and i don't have time to watch them, i'll just rip it and watch it later...

Oh btw. your dvds on 720p look damn good!

[vcd4me]

Well let me ask you I have an old computer that I want' to convert to a divx player to put in my home theater and it has a small hardrive

so what I was thinking is if I took my divx files and burned them to a cdr without converting.Then I could just pop them in like a dvd.

Are you saying that it doesn't work with the old divx files only 4 and up or am I confused?

[crazylegs]

VCD4ME:

The aspect ratio issue will be fixed very shortly, according SIGMA. New drivers will be out in about a week, and they will correctly handle non-4:3 ratios.

Now the bad news. I mentioned that only three of my movies played, out of 20. This is consistent with my estimation of what percentage of all DivX video currently in circulation was encoded with the still-reigning 3.11 alpha codec (some 90%). The Sigma Designs employee, after being asked directly, did not beat about the bush: The Xcard will NEVER be able to play 3.11 alpha DivX movies.

And just to be perfectly clear about what that implies.. Yes, it does indeed mean that if you want to watch the vast bulk of your DivX files with the Xcard, you'll need to go through the time-consuming, degrading and wasteful process of reencoding them into a format the Xcard can handle, for every DivX 3.11 alpha file you have. That is unless someone dicides to hack the Xcard and make it compatible!

But the answer is yes.... you can just burn your avi files straight to your cd and play them just like a dvd player.

I'm trying to find out what is the best way to decode an avi file or re-encode it on a format that the Xcard can read with out the lose of picture quality.

[kjmacke]

Hey vcd4me, and crazyleggs, If your divx files are on a cd-r burned as a data file then just hook up a t.v. out to your computer to view them on your t.v. You don,t need anything fancy or expensive.

[crazylegs]

kjmacke:

Explain that process further!!!! Do you mean i can burned my divx-avi files into a standard data file and play them with my xcard with out the need to convert them to anything different?????

[vcd4me]

crazylegs, That's what I was atrying toask you that's what I heard and now I don't know if you try this andit works let me know.

Kjmacke, Yeah please explain it some more. I have heard this before but have never met anyone who done this.I know that I can use my current video card to go out to my tv. but this is diffrent

Are you saying that If I took a divx file that I downloaded and burn it as a data disc using nero I could just watch it right of the disc,video card to tv.I've been waiting because I wanted remote controlled card.

I would try it but all my divx files I've already converted to vcd

Thanks in advance VCD4ME

[vcd4me]

crazylegs, That's what I was trying to ask you. that's what I heard and now I don't know. Because of what you said.If you try this and it works let me know.

Kjmacke, Yeah please explain it some more. I have heard this before but have never met anyone who done this.I know that I can use my current video card to go out to my tv. but this is diffrent

Are you saying that If I took a divx file that I downloaded and burn it as a data disc using nero I could just watch it right of the disc,video card to tv.I've been waiting because I wanted remote controlled card.

I would try it but all my divx files I've already converted to vcd

Thanks in advance VCD4ME

[crazylegs]

well ok... i will try right now... i have a few movies that are still in divx-avi format and i will burn them using nero as a standard data file i will let you know if it works in 30min.... i will use my xcard to see if it can play it back...

[vcd4me]

8) Cool 8) if this works I'm buying a xcard No more converting. It would be great

Oh sorry about that double post computer locked up for a second

[crazylegs]

i still dont understand what difference this will make.... or how this could help? if anyone has any more info on this please reply...

[crazylegs]

VCD4ME: NO it did not work..... i figured it was too good to be true.... It gave me a massege that this file needs to be divx 4 or later to be compatible.

back to the drawing board!

[vcd4me]

Well at last you tried

I'v got another question

Is that how the xcard is supposed to work with the divx on cdr and then you use the remote?
I mean I can already play a avi file out of myvideo card and into my tv but like said I want to ue my old computer to use in the tv room just like a dvd player

well let me know if you can do it with the 4.xx and up divx

Thanks for posting back

[crazylegs]

VCD4ME:
NO, you dont really have to have your movies saved on a cd, but you can. I have mine saved on a 40Gig HD. I'm using my PC as a movie jukebox with a dvd player. Its preaty cool actually. My setup is quite suffisticated, I made a stand alone multimedia pc that is hooked up to my office network with out the use of a monitor, key board and mouse. I'm using a program called remote administrator to remotely connect to my "moviepc" from my home office. Remote administrator works very similar to pc anywhere but with 3 times the power. I can log on to any of my PCs and do everything you would normaly do on a pc from my office. I can log on and off, reset and even turn off a pc remotely. You can do everything except log onto it through dos. Its windows based only.

As far as the next step that needs to be taken, i've made a post under "Editing, cutting and joining" to figure out how to re-encode my encoded 3x alpha movies into the newer 4x or 5x... From some of my reply it seems to lose a bit of quality when i convert it. Hopefuly since i have an HDTV i can jack up the resolution on it and not notice a difference. I hope sigma fixes this issue soon. please make a post on how to do this if you find out before me!

[vcd4me]

Wow that system sounds good!

As I said the computer I want to put te x-card in has a small hardrive and I just figiured I would put it in my home theater just as a player and not hook it up into the other computer in my library/office that's why I was asking about the disc thing.

I'm going to ask some questions on divx.com I saw they just made a guide to teach you how to put together a machine.

Ok If I find out anything I'll let you know.

Talk to you soon VCD4ME