DivX and Xvid videos/Question

[alegator]

I have lots of videos in DivX and Xvid format. Is it worth encoding them to DVD format (which would take lots of time, sytem resources, etc) or just leave them as is and watching them directly with a suitable home player? (I would choose the 2nd option)

[mickle]

As it is a metter of personal choice, and you seem to have already made yours, then stick to it.

[alegator]

The reason for my post is that eventhough I have my position on this, I was interested in listening arguments in favor of DVD conversion to see if they justify spending so much time in the encoding....

[yoda313]

Hello,
You probably already know what I'm going to say. Sticking with divx will limit compatiblity. Sure you can play it back on any pc with the proper codecs, but not everybody has a settop divx player (I don't).

If you want everybody to play the disc wherever you are than choose dvd (of course you may still have - and + r compatibility issues ). So if your going to buy a divx player go ahead and save conversion time. Just remember you won't be able to pop in every player

Kevin
P.S. From what I've read you also can't make a menu for divx (the actual divx file) compatible dvd players, only vcd/dvds can. Just another consideration if you want fancy customized menus.

[Suntan]

How many people actually run around letting people use their copies of videos?

If all you are going to do is play them back for yourself then leave them as is. Converting to DVD will only degrade the quality (and kill a lot of your time.)

Now if you are implying that you don't already have an MPEG4 settop player, but you do have a DVD player and burner. Well, that is a cost justification you will have to calculate (cost of player vs. cost of converting to DVD). If you do already have an MPEG4 player I would think the choice is simple.

-Suntan

[yoda313]

Hello,

Suntan-How many people actually run around letting people use their copies of videos?

If you're referring to my earlier post I was mearly mentioning PLAYING the video at a friend or family members house. I wasn't really advocating sharing. It's just if he wants to show others his projects then the choice comes up on whether to use dvd or stick with divx.

I do believe I said leave it if you don't need full compatibility or you have a divx player. It's a lot quicker.
Kevin

[guns1inger]

I recently aquired a copy of an older film not available in this country (I believe it has been banned since release). The DivX version has been lifted from a DVD release, and was in very good condition at around 700mb. I demuxed the audio using virtualdub, to ensure sync when putting it back together, then loaded the lot into Vegas and encoded as full NTSC res with a dolby digital 2 channel audio track. DVD Lab finished the job.

Given the original was shot on 16mm, transferred to 35 mm for projection, the final copy I now have is surprisingly clean, and certainly better than a bootleg VHS copy.

If the source is good, and you are willing to take a little time, it may be worth converting some of these to DVD.