Best software for encoding to DivX...

[Cobra]

What is the best software for encoding to DivX? I want to make some nice, high-res, noise-free DivX files for use in TMPGEnc to make VCDs out of. I have tried D2V files, but the quality is (surprizingly) not as good as DVD to DivX to VCD.

I currently use Rippack to encode to DivX, but I want to try making SVCDs now and it crashes if I try to encode a movie in anything but the lowest resolution. This is why I am looking for another piece of software. However, if anyone knows how to fix this, I would be very grateful.

Is there another way I can get TMPGEnc to read .VOB files directly?

Thanks,

CobraDMX

[banjazzer]

If you get better quality going from DVD to Divx to (S)VCD rather than DVD to (S)VCD directly you must be doing something seriously wrong. An extra encoding stage should only make things worse, not improve the quality.

I suggest you take a look at http://www.svcd.cc/index.htm The procedures for VCD are pretty similar to those for SVCD.

[Cobra]

I have found that encoding to SVCD using .d2v files returns fantastic results, but encoding to VCD will result in a "noisy" image as compared to DivX. Could this be down to the resolution of VCD as comapred to SVCD?

Thanks for the quick, and extremely helpful, reply. I had a quick read of that site you recommended and I think I am going to learn a lot

CobraDMX

[Cobra]

(Forgot this bit)

When I use a .d2v file as a source for TMPGEnc, the aspect ratio takes some fixing before it works out correctly. It always appears squashed horizontally. Is this normal, and could it be contributing to the poor quality in VCD, as everything gets resized?

CobraDMX

[banjazzer]

I'm not sure how you are creating VCDs. I use DVD2AVI to produce the d2v and wav file after first ripping with Smartripper. The DVD2AVI stage reveals either 16:9(mostly) or 4:3 aspect ratio. I use this for the Source aspect ratio setting in TMPGEnc, with either PAL or NTSC as appropriate. Basically the standard VCD templates give me excellent results, bearing in mind the limitations of VCD. (Plus motion search precision set to high quality.)