DivX to (S)VCD & Quality

[luismeyer]

I have several episodes of a series recorded from air tv in .AVI files (DivX v3) and I'm look forward to converting them to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 to burn a few DVDs and play it in a standalone DVD player.

The question is, given that the series has been recorded from air tv and the quality of the image in the .AVI files is far from DVD quality, is there a way to decide how to re-encode the .AVIs (encoder parameters) to optimize final file size?

I understand that depending on the encoder I can choose targe size (700 mb, 900 mb) in Avi2dvd or bitrate? in TMPGEnc, but I don't know what to choose to avoid loosing more quality or to avoid files larger than needed.

How should I decide between MPEG-1 or of MPEG-2?

I've pasted below the data from two of the files, which I don't fully understand yet but I guess part of the answer is there.


File 1:

File: 193 MB (193 MB), duration: 0:40:21, type: AVI, 1 audio stream(s), quality: 30 %
Video: 177 MB, 614 Kbps, 29.970 fps, 320*224 (4:3), DIV3 = DivX v3 ;-) MPEG-4 (Low-Motion), Supported
Audio : 16.08 MB, 55 Kbps, 44100 Hz, 1 channels, 0x55 = MPEG Layer-3, Supported

File 2:
File : 161 MB (161 MB), duration: 0:42:10, type: AVI, 1 audio stream(s), quality: 28 %
Video : 145 MB, 481 Kbps, 29.970 fps, 320*240 (4:3), DIV3 = DivX v3 ;-) MPEG-4 (Low-Motion), Supported
Audio : 16.80 MB, 55 Kbps, 44100 Hz, 1 channels, 0x55 = MPEG Layer-3, Supported

Thanks in advance,

Luis

[guns1inger]

You have three choices

1. Get a Divx certified player and keep the files as is. This will give you the best possible quality from these files as no further conversion is required.

2. Convert to mpeg-1 at VCD specification (but with a higher allowable bitrate) with 48khz audio and author

3. Convert to mpeg-2 at any DVD compliant resolution.

Given the low quality and low resolution of these files, I would opt for option 2 but with a slightly higher bitrate - around the 1500 mark. This saves you having to go through the resizing and filter required to enlarge them to higher DVD resolutions, but gives you extra overhead to retain whatever original quality remains.

[SingSing]

The cost of blank DVD is so low, most people will just go ahead and convert them to DVD.

[jimmalenko]

http://members.dodo.net.au/~jimmalenko/AVI2DVD.htm might have some useful advice for you.