How to get good quality in DVD to Divx ??

[darkness]

I followed the dvd to divx guide here..
http://forum.vcdhelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=78732

But all the movies I do to 1 cd come out looking a little blocky and just not great quality, I got much MUCH better quality doing them to SVCD..

Anyway, my question is how can I get great quality Divx's ?? Some of the Divx movies I have downloaded have been really awesome quality and still fit on 1 cd.. so I dont know what im doing wrong..

Is there a better guide somewhere for better quality ?

And what resolution should I be encoding to for NTSC & PAL movies ?
For PAL I have been encoding to 720 x 576 is this right ?

Thanks for any help..

[trinidad_hbo]

I encode superior quality divx movies using a program called GordianKnot. It's not too hard to learn and at: http://www.doom9.net/, they have to easy to understand guides. I would recommend that you stick with the divx 4.11 or 4.12 codec, and download the GordianKnot .21b and .23 updated versions.

Try to stay away from the new divx 5 codec at first because currently the GordianKnot program is not written/coded to automatically use that codec, only the 3.11 and or the 4x versions.

This program is by far superior over any other divx encoding program and if you're still using flaskmpeg, that is very much outdated.

[RoopeT]

With a resolution of 720x576 it's no wonder you can't get good quality. Always use 640x272 (widescreen), 640x352 (16:9), 640x480 (4:3) or preferable LESS (unless you want to make a 2 CD rip). Gordian knot is a very good tool for estimating the best encoding resolution.

got much MUCH better quality doing them to SVCD

And did you fit the whole film on one CD? I guess not!

[darkness]

With a resolution of 720x576 it's no wonder you can't get good quality. Always use 640x272 (widescreen), 640x352 (16:9), 640x480 (4:3) or preferable LESS (unless you want to make a 2 CD rip). Gordian knot is a very good tool for estimating the best encoding resolution.

got much MUCH better quality doing them to SVCD

And did you fit the whole film on one CD? I guess not!

Ahh thats why then, I wish the guide would have said that about the resolutions

Thanks guys for the help, Ill try out that G K now..

And nope, the SVCD's were 2 cds

Cheers.

[dmonty]

I have had great results creating Divx rips using Xmpeg. I have my screen res set to 720x480 and I use a bitrate calc to find the best bitrate that will still fit on one CD.

[Mordant]

Also, I would suggest anyone who is new to DivX take a look at FairUse and Madrona. They can be found on Doom9's site. FairUse does a nice Divx 3 encode. It does 4 encodes at different settings (Fast/Low) and then cross cuts between them to give the best encode for the requested file size. Cropping is generally handled with one click...and it will also rip and hard code the subs into the movie. FairUse only does video, but Madrona runs as a shell around it and takes care of the audio encoding and muxing.

Really, it gives great results and is very easy to use. Most choices can be made by hitting the "auto" button.

The one drawback that it has is that it takes a long time. It does four encodes, so 4 times the length of a single pass encode...or twice the length of a 2 pass encode with other methods.

[RoopeT]

dmonty: I'm sure your results would have been even better if you chose a somewhat lower resolution.