Nero Digital is so fast.. why use Xvid?

[pray4all]

Did an experiment with 2 pass encoding on a DVD downto 600kbps bitrate (about 850MB file size)

With my core 2 duo 2GHz laptop, it takes 40 mins with Nero.

It takes almost 2hr and 50 mins with autoGK and the sound is delayed...what'up with that?

The quality of the video is very good with Nero.

Now I am not sure why everyone likes Xvid/Divx etc.. am i missing something? other than to play with standalone player, what are other benefits with Xivd/Divx?

[Soopafresh]

For the same reasons that you park in the driveway, yet drive on the parkway...

[guns1inger]

other than to play with standalone player

That, and the fact that encoding to Nero Digital requires install Nero on a my PC, including Nero Showtime, possibly the worst player out there, including WMP.

[pray4all]

You could custom the installation. I only installed burning ROM, recode and showtime. if you don't like showtime, you could leave it out.

WMP plays nero MP4 just fine. what are other good players? I want to try if they works with nero MP4

For me, 4x encoding time difference is just too much.

[CobraPilot]

While many more DVD players will play DivX or Xvid, Nero Digital can be played on the Avayon DXP-1000 (www.avayon.com), which also plays DivX/Xvid. I've got one and am very pleased with it. (It seems to be the only brand sold in the US which will play Nero Digital.)

On my 42" plasma TV, I can seldom see the difference between a DVD movie and the Nero Digital Recode version when the total run time is less than about 2:15, and a file size of about 700 mb.

The biggest drawback I've noticed is that the audio volume is noticeably less than on the original DVD. However, Nero 7 has two "boost volume" settings that make that problem a little less noticeable.

[celtic_druid]

All Nero's extra features (chapters and VOBSubs) have been reverse engineered so any dshow player should be able to play them back. I would imagine that support will be added for their AC3 audio implementation to.

Haven't tried Nero Digital recently, but in the past, the speed came at the price of quality. Also remember to take audio into account. If you use 80kb aac audio instead of 160k mp3 audio, then that means extra bits for the video.

Also Xvid, DivX and ND aren't the only ASP MPEG-4 encoders.

[jman98]

Now I am not sure why everyone likes Xvid/Divx etc.. am i missing something? other than to play with standalone player, what are other benefits with Xivd/Divx?

There are almost no standalone DVD players that support Nero encoded files. Watching movies on my PC is not my favorite thing to do and anything that locks me into a PC is less than optimal for me.

I have no objections to or problems with Nero Digital, I'm just pointing out one reason why I prefer Divx/Xvid.

[ron spencer]

Reason? Nero Digital is MIA for all standalones...never will catch on; too late for them

[Timoleon]

pray4all ---

I've grown to like Nero Digital more and more over time. The speed is very good, and the quality is excellent --- *if* you use the "one-third DVD" size setting. Just run the output through MP4Cam2AVI afterwards (it takes about 7 to 10 minutes!) to put it in a proper container, and you'll have a beautifully compatible avi file that you can play on your DiVX certified player.

I back up all my DVDs this way, and I end up getting three movies on a DVDR+ disk. Just make an iso of the files and burn with ImgBurn. The quality looks great on my Toshiba 32A43 32" CRT TV.

[steveryan]

Timoleon, you don't need to build an ISO for ImgBurn. If you have ImgBurn 2.1.0.0 It will burn raw files.

[Timoleon]

Timoleon, you don't need to build an ISO for ImgBurn. If you have ImgBurn 2.1.0.0 It will burn raw files.

...I knew that...

Thanks!

[pray4all]

pray4all ---

I've grown to like Nero Digital more and more over time. The speed is very good, and the quality is excellent --- *if* you use the "one-third DVD" size setting. Just run the output through MP4Cam2AVI afterwards (it takes about 7 to 10 minutes!) to put it in a proper container, and you'll have a beautifully compatible avi file that you can play on your DiVX certified player.

I back up all my DVDs this way, and I end up getting three movies on a DVDR+ disk. Just make an iso of the files and burn with ImgBurn. The quality looks great on my Toshiba 32A43 32" CRT TV.

excellent! will try it.
What I have set up now is a laptop as home Theater PC and hook up with the LCD through s video or D-sub. it works good. I believe the new home theater will become more and more computer-like, so you could run different player/codecs (nero, rmvb,...) the standalone player will disappear eventually IMO

[pray4all]

The biggest drawback I've noticed is that the audio volume is noticeably less than on the original DVD. However, Nero 7 has two "boost volume" settings that make that problem a little less noticeable.

Where is the boost volume setting? in 'expert mode'? Thx

[lacywest]

Good info ... Thank you

[nwo]

Did an experiment with 2 pass encoding on a DVD downto 600kbps bitrate (about 850MB file size)

With my core 2 duo 2GHz laptop, it takes 40 mins with Nero.

It takes almost 2hr and 50 mins with autoGK and the sound is delayed...what'up with that?

The quality of the video is very good with Nero.

Now I am not sure why everyone likes Xvid/Divx etc.. am i missing something? other than to play with standalone player, what are other benefits with Xivd/Divx?

avi.NET takes about the same time on 2 pass xvid, plus if i share my own films or trailers on my
website! it a lot easyer for people to use a Xvid codec, and it's free unlike nero.