DVD or mpeg w/ ac3 to VCD, DIVx, anything?

[coolmen777]

Hello all
I did some basic research as to the conversion from DVD format to DIVx. Trying to find a best tool and easier approach to get this project done.
I just finished authoring my wedding. I worked in Vegas 4.0 and have as a result mpeg file with separate ac3 5.1 surround sound. I used DVD Architect to put the DVD together. 1st DVD is 1:50 minutes, another is 1:40. This works great for me. My problem is that I want to share this with my friends that don't have DVD players at home or on the computer (hopefully pretty soon everyone can have one). So I figure there should be a way to convert this to burn on a regular CD they can enjoy.
I would like to keep it on 2 CDs, I understand that I will have to give up quit a bit of quality. That is fine, that's what they get for being cheap.
Which route should I take from here? VCD, DIVx, any other? I think to play DIVx encoded files, they need a codec, or something, right? How do VCDs differ?
What files should I convert from? My original mpeg2 with separate ac3, or should I use vob files that resulted from preparation to burn to DVD? Is there a different in quality, speed?
Should I use TMPGEnc to do that conversion? I heard that it is not the fastest but does a good job with 2 pass encoding, please confirm and direct. Any advice and all the information is much appreciated. I will monitor and respond. Sorry for such a long post. My first one on here. Thanks & good luck.

Val

[timmyp]

You would get better quality using DivX (or a similar mp4 codec), however you will then face the issue of whether the person has that codec on their system and trying to explain to people how to download and install said codec, etc.

My advice, for simplicity sake mainly, would be to convert to either the VCD format and burn to CD's, or just convert straight to MPEG1 files and burn those onto CD's (that they can view on their computers).

MPEG1 is nearly universal and will not require any additional codecs on a Windows machine.

Just my 2 cents.....

Good luck.

[daamon]

Hi coolmen777,

Look into DVD2SVCD - It does DVD to SVCD and VCD, as well as other uses (e.g. AVI to (S)VCD, but that's not relevant here).

Both VCD & SVCD should be played on a PC without the need for installing new codecs - I don't know how (S)VCD compares to Divx in terms of visual quality, but I'd guess that there's not much in it - my instinct and limited experience is that SVCD woudl be the best bet (but don't quote me).

There are plenty of guides and info on how to use DVD2SVCD and what you'll need etc.

Also, once you've got your MPEGs (from something like TMPGEnc - free for MPG1/VCD) - either 1 for VCD or 2 for SVCD - VCDEasy is another good tool.

Hope that helps. Good look...

[monzie]

Just a thought, but why not include a copy of VideoLan (vlc media player and freeware) on each cd (it has self contained avi and mpeg codecs and doesnt require 'installing' as such making it pretty much fool proof)?

I would go the divx/xvid route personally and use mp3 for the audio as the video quality should be higher than SVCD and much higher than VCD and fit on one cd for each video, unlike SVCD (borderline of 2 or 3cd's per video) and VCD (2 CD's per video).

[coolmen777]

Thanks guys. I think I am in good shape. Will probably take the SVCD route and make it simple. Good luck to everyone!
Val