which codec is best

[fiiido]

If I capture a video on a webcam and need to save it in its most compressed form, which codec do I use and should I use VirtualDub for this?

Thanks

[ofbarea]

DivX 5.1

[lordsmurf]

WMV9

[fiiido]

If I encode to either of these codecs which would then be more suitable if you send the file to other people?

Would I use Vdub to encode once these codecs are installed?

[SaSi]

I believe there is equal opprtunity that any person will have either of these codecs installed on their machines.

Both codecs work in basically the same way (MPEG-4), and people with Internet Explorer 6 or Windows Media Player 9 will probably have Windows Media codecs installed.

Between the two, I would rather prefer DivX.

[fingernailX]

Since your running XP, download MovieMaker 2 (free from M$) and use the Video Capture Wizard to capture a video for email.

see https://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=80#

[ofbarea]

For DivX you can Encode with VirtualDub.

For WMV9, just use MovieMaker 2

[BJ_M]

if you are not going to pass this webcam movie around -- you could also use the free VP6 codec from on2 -- which has superb quality and compression ... otherwise i would go with wmv9 also ..

[DivXExpert]

XviD

[Innershield]

XviD

[johns0]

xvid,divx dropped frames like crazy.

[poerschr]

Don't listen to anyone who tells you different....

XVID

DVD quality but without the billions of extra bits.....

[BJ_M]

xvid is not as good as other codecs , it compressed a lot yes -- but there are a lot of artifacts -- plus for archiving , using a codec which is even not finalized or future support is questional, is crazy ...
it is nowhere dvd quality unless you really bump the bit rate up over what ive seen as samples .. even then ive seen inconsistant results , just blow up a xvid frame and you can easly see for yourself ..

[K(c)offee]

I love Xvid myself I use it for all my movie back ups but thats from DVD quality mpeg2 I dont know if it would work that well for I assume lower quality webcam footage. Everything has its place.

[tigerman8u]

I saw a codec on another forum called, 3ivx. It's at www.3ivx.com
has anybody used this codec and have any comments on it. i'm not familiar with it but it's freeware so i d/l it. at the website it states it's mpeg4. thanx for any replies.

[DivXExpert]

I wouldn't recommend 3ivX. It kinda smears things. and there are tons of artifacts.

I tried XviD on some clean sources. And there were no artifacts at
0.1 bits/[pixel*frame]

Can't say the same for DivX.

[eliteplayer]

if your gonna share your personal webcam with you wankin off, I suggest use Divx or Xvid ( as many people have it )

that way they don't have to download other unknown codec and watch you wankin off

:P

[mgh]

vp6 codec from on2-miles ahead of the much hyped DivX in terms of both quality and compression + no artifacts.

[DivXExpert]

I just got VP6, and haven't done any testing with it. but it looks pretty good. Not very many people have it. But the dial-up stream from the website looks much better than any other format right now. I don't know about the 700kbps stream, very comparable to XviD and DivX.