DVD to mpeg versus divx to mpeg quality.

[guitar_george_skank]

I've noticed that when i rip a DVD to an XVCD (lets say 100mins), the quality is worse than when i convert a downloaded divx of the same length. I'm using the same settings for both types. Has anyone else noticed this? Should i rip a DVD to a divx and then encode the divx to an mpeg? This would take much longer but would mean better quality XVCD's. Any ideas?

[LeeBear]

Quality is a subjective thing. What is most likely happening is the DiVX is a lossy compression format so bits of information has already been thrown out so when you encoded to XVCD the encoder has an easier time because the source is less detailed (from the DiVX compression). Your finally XVCD may look like a higher quality but infact it probably has less detail then the DVD to XVCD rip. My guess is the DiVX-XVCD gives a softer picture and the DVD-XVCD gives a grainier appearance, most people perceive the softer picture as higher quality. I personally prefer detail picture myself. If you prefer the softer look instead of going DVD-DiVX-XVCD, you may just try encoding from DVD using some sort of smoothing filter.

-LeeBear

[guitar_george_skank]

That makes a lot of sense, thanks for that. I'm using tmpgenc to encode with. Do you know of a good setting to get that smoother feel?