DVD to DIVX using only xmpeg

[macmac15]

I have read alot of information on diffent ways to do this with alot of applications. I'm not sure if I'm missing something but this is what I have been doing with some success.

I place my DVD in the DVD drive, startup xmpeg 5.1 and point it at the DVD.

I use the LAMEmp3 for Audio, and divix 5.0.5 PRO. This seems for the most part to get the Job done.

When I first started doing this I used DVDdecrypter to do the decrypting of the DVD and place the files on my harddrive. But I have found that there does not seem to be a need for this, because I get the same thing doing it direct from the DVD.

Now this is where I'm having issues. This all works fine for Single pass encoding with the Divx format, but I would like to do at least a second pass, with the DIVX to compress the files more. But xmpeg crashes after the first pass. Now I have tried many things and each time I get the same resualts. Any help would be great.

[divi2323]

I dont think i'm having exactly the same problem, but it is similar.

I use one pass encoding direct to divx from the drive. The movie encodes fine for me, but crashes right at the end.

If i'm not the only one having the problem, can someone help me out?

win2k, sp4, xmpeg 5.01, divx 5.05

[divi2323]

To all who have read this post and are waiting for a reply. I was looking around and found that if you do not "process whole file" then the program will not crash.

what i'm saying is, first find out how many total frames there are in your movie. then take off the last 10-20 of them... i.e. with a movie with 212051 frames total, you only want to process 212031 of them. Go into options, and then the general tab i believe and then uncheck the box that says "process whole file" and then tell it you want to process a certain number of frames, and enter that number into the box.

i've tried this on two known to be crashing dvd's and so far it has worked both times. i'll continue testing to see if this was the case, but i'm certain this will fix the multiple pass and end of file crashing problems we've seen.

drop me a line if this works for you:

ryan@ryanmcbride.net

[xtreemkareem]

Personally I don't use XMPEG b/c w/ all versions of it, it's a real bitch for Win2K users. People using XP seem to have no probs at all, but using all the SPK of Win2K, I always get probs with XMPEG. Screw XMPEG and go DVDx 2.2. Works flawlesly and also encodes in YUY2 colorspace to give me realtime encodeing speeds. Real easy, nice freindly gui, and it works! Lots of options too.

[huntingtheasphyx]

Firstly, it is a good idea to always copy the DVD to your hard drive using DVDDecrypter or some other tool, since a 2 pass conversion of a movie can take anywhere from 3 hours (super fast PC) to over a day (PIII anyone??). This puts a lot of unneccessary reading time on your DVD drive.

Sure it reads at about 1x but this is reducing the life of the drive (all drives have a mean time before failure). So a 15 minute rip to your hard drive can save your drive immensely.

Xmpeg is very sensitive with any settings you make or change, it has always been buggy and very unreliable, plus it is a hit and miss affair getting the bitrate worked out perfectly to achieve the exact file size you want.

My suggestion is to give Gordian Knot a try, it is highly stable (never crashes) uses VirtualDub (always a good thing) is completely automated and you can do batch encodes, which means you can get more than one film done while your sleeping, or at work if you PC is fast enough.

Take a look at www.Doom9.org there are guides and downloads to get you going.

Once you try it and see the results you will never go back to Xmpeg and the annoyance of it crashing every time you use it.
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[divi2323]

thanks for the replies guys.

I do appreciate the input, perhaps maybe you can lead me the right direction.

I used DVDx for a few test runs, but it constantly shot out crappy quality copies... this of course was into mpeg-1 files and i'm sure the divx 5.05 codec will change all of that, it just didnt sit well with me.

As for Gordion knot, i've installed it but found it to be a bit complicated. i'm sure that it suits many purposes, but I dont require alot of functionality as i'm going from dvd straight to DivX with no frills.

Xmpeg is buggy at times, but once you learn to work with them, to me, they are acceptable. i've always gotten quality rips from it aside from it crashing at the end of the movie which I posted the fix for here.

I get by dvd writer by UPS today, so perhaps i'll give dvdx another shot just to make sure that it wasnt the codec, an old version, or just user error

Thank you all for the advice though. Its easy to find questions here, not so easy to find answers.

ryan

[xtreemkareem]

I found DVDx ok for MPEG-1, but god intended another tool for MPEG-1 - that tool is called TMPGenc. I always ripped the vob files to my hard drive using DVDDecrypter, then I load the ifo into DVDx.
For DivX, I always (for NTSC movies) encode as NTSC film - gives more data per frame that way. For Premiere avi export, select YUY2 and for resize filter use BiCubic SSE/3d Now for best quality or BiLinear SSE2 for ok quality. Do 2 pass encode and trust me, you will be happy. Oh and one thing - when transitioning from pass 1 to pass 2, the program may "freeze up" for a whil - usually no more than 15 minutes max. This is normal... just ingnore it and the 2nd pass encode will continue as normal. On ocassion you get a stupid error message at the end- it doesn't matter when your movie is done!

[huntingtheasphyx]

@divi2323

If you find Gordian Knot intimidating due to the vast array of options a new tool has been produced to simplify the entire conversion, GordianKnotItFast4U
More info of how to use it and a link to download can be found here..

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=64266

I know people like to stick with what they know, but if it IS broke...then fix it!!

[madymo3d]

. I always ripped the vob files to my hard drive using DVDDecrypter, then I load the ifo into DVDx.

I downloaded DVDx couple days ago and I'm having trouble using it. I have couple DVD ripped from SmartRipper using settings from one of Sefy's guide (ie, set to Movie, not File or Backup). When I try to use DVDx, either by Open DVD Root or IFO file, I get a message about "auth.dll can't authenticate drive. disk may not be locked." I have DVD Decryptor as well but don't use it as often because I find Smart Ripper a little easier. I'll start using DVD Decryptor if it'll help me in using DVDx.


Guides I've found say to use DVDx to rip directly to x format; I have not found one that tell me how to use it with already ripped files.


Is my problem that I used Movie setting in Smart Ripper and I should be using Files or Backup?
Andy

[Sefy]

If you ripped the DVD first, then in DVDx you must disable the Authentication

[feeras]

Hi,

I too have had problems with XMPEG. Initially, XMPEG worked very well encoding three movies I had without any problem. But subsequent to these, XMPEG started acting up and like divi2323, XMPEG tended to crash right at the end of the encoding, no matter what movie it was. Not sure what went wrong but I have moved onto Dr Divx 1.03 and this has been quite good. Divi2323, you can download a trial version of Dr Divx so if you want give it a go. Dr Divx is the easiest program to do 2pass encoding that I have seen.

Cheers,
feeras