Xvid - PITA

[yadda]

Several files that I have obtained recently have been encoded in xvid. What a PITA. I have noticed that the amount of people asking xvid conversion questions has seemed to have increased in recent weeks in the Forums. Normal video encoders such as TMPGenc seem to handle this xvid and on conversion to MPG they have no sound. Using Canopus Procoder it just hangs as soon as you start the conversion. Why is it that these 2 programs will not handle xvid encoded AVIs??? Or is it as simple as we will need to use different encoders for different sources???

I have had luck using Film Machine and VSO/DiVX but I would love to know why TMPGenc and Canopus Procoder cannot handle xvid files. I have even tried to modify the priority on the ffdshow to 2 but I still had no sound on the resulting MPG file.

According to Gspot it says there are 4 compatible codecs installed for the video. 3 compatible for the audio

Video :
runtime - 0:21:00 (37,748 fr)
x:y - 512x384 (1.33:1) [=4:3]
bitrate - 1022 kb/s
FPS - 29.970
QF - 0.173 bits/pixel

Audio - (which seems to be my problem)
Name - 0x0055(MP3) ID'd as MPEG-1 Layer 3
bitrate - 133 kb/s (66/ch, stereo) VBR
Fs - 48000 Hz

Thanks for any tips

Y

[johns0]

Its a well known fact that tmpgenc cant handle vbr mp3 audio,what you need to do is extract the audio in full processing mode with virtualdub and use that for the audio input for tmpgenc encoding.

Theres tons of references to this problem if you do a search on it.

[yadda]

Thanks Johns0 I will try this...

I have pored over these forums for the last 6 months. Not sure how I missed this one if it has been talked about a lot.

Y

[p_l]

Its a well known fact that tmpgenc cant handle vbr mp3 audio,what you need to do is extract the audio in full processing mode with virtualdub and use that for the audio input for tmpgenc encoding.

Theres tons of references to this problem if you do a search on it.

Like this one.

[pbar]

I use Procoder without any problems. I convert 23.97fps NTSC Xvid AVI files to 25fps PAL MPEG2 DVD. Superb quality. Easy to use but very powerful. Fabulous program.

[mats.hogberg]

XviD is a video codec, and has nothing to do with audio problems. I think, as XviD isn't really main stream video, those who use XviD for their video encodes, also stay out of the main stream when it comes to audio encoding, going for AC3 or VBR mp3, or ogg or... causing problems for the encoder (which focuses on video, and seems to have audio capabilites thrown in as an afterthought).

/Mats

/Mats

[yadda]

Its a well known fact that tmpgenc cant handle vbr mp3 audio,what you need to do is extract the audio in full processing mode with virtualdub and use that for the audio input for tmpgenc encoding.

Theres tons of references to this problem if you do a search on it.

Like this one.

I tried to convert using the tips on this thread and I have severe lip synch problems.

[mats.hogberg]

Is the AVI error free? - and in what way do the sync problems manifest themselves?

/Mats

[yadda]

I believe it is error free. VSO DivXToDVD can convert the file but I don't like the fact that I have no options and I think the quality was better in TMPGenc.

The mouths (video) is not matching the audio. It is off by a good 2 sec.

Y

[mats.hogberg]

Ok, so I take it the audio is off from start to end by the same amount.
That's a pretty simple issue to fix - extract and decode audio from AVI to wav. Encode with TMPGEnc, AVI as video source, WAV as audio source.
Do a short test to see if they sync up. If not, adjust the "Audio gap correct" that for some reason (on my version of TMPGEnc) is found under the Source range setting.

/Mats

[Gurm]

XVID lets you tinker with the video a lot.

Of course, the big problem is that there are a half dozen different XVID releases, all of which claiming to be "official", because the XVID people themselves refuse to compile their own code - largely because it is based on stolen code from Microsoft, and they're a bunch of hackers and pirates.

[vitualis]

Um... no.

XviD is not based on any stolen code.

However, you need to pay royalty license fees to release an MPEG-4 codec, hence the offical site itself only has the source code. Irritating, but don't blame the group.

Regards.

[lpn1160]

Yeah ppl who code open-source should be shot, according to Bill Gate$
anyway!!

[mats.hogberg]

Absolutely! People doing stuff for free and just giving it away should be shot at sight. They are a danger to the economy and society as we know it.

/Mats

[celtic_druid]

Especailly when it works better than the MS alternative.
Interestingly enough though MS is in trouble for distributing WMV9/VC-1 because it breaches patents not owned by MS.

These would be the same kind of patents that XviD breaches.

[Gurm]

Look harder. XVid is, in part, based on the 3ivX/DIVX3 code, which was, in fact, pilfered from MS.

[vitualis]

I'm looking pretty hard. XviD is not based only any DivX3 code. Its pretty hard for it to be based on DivX3 code since it was proprietary and the source code wasn't ever released to the public.

XviD had its roots in Project Mayo and then OpenDivx as the open source implementation of the DivX codec. The original Project Mayo was created to create a free MPEG-4 codec that was legal. Just as DivX5 is free from any MS code (though compatible with it), XviD is free from MS code.

XviD is entirely legal though it cannot technically be freely distributed in its compiled form due to (stupid) licensing issues.

Regards.

[Gurm]

Why not?

Koepi and Nick compile it. They haven't been sued yet. Why can't the actual folks involved compile it?

Like I said, I don't buy the licensing argument. It's BS. Not only that, but it contributes to the appalling number (although it's gotten much better recently) of piss-poor XVID builds out there that fail in any number of spectacular ways.

[celtic_druid]

Notice how there are no binaries on the offical lame site? Having binaries on the official site is way different from having them on Nic or Koepi's site.

Koepi would be one of the folks involved anyway and I am pretty sure that some of the DS code was submitted by Nic.

Where exactly are all these piss poor builds? I haven't had any major problems with any build of XviD.

Oh by the way if it makes you happy XviD uses some MS headers for VfW and dshow.

One thing you have to remember is that XviD is purely an educational project. It was started because a bunch of people wanted to continue working on an opensource ASP MPEG4 video codec. You don't have to use it and unlike a commercial product the developers don't have to provide support.

[Gurm]

The piss-poor builds are largely a thing of the past, thankfully. As 1.0 approached they started to drop off. But 9 months ago, every other build of xvid was broken - big green blops on the screen, whole thing turning purple for no reason, etc.