Mpeg vs Avi (divX)

[Boltman]

Hello there

I am new to capturing.

Most people on the net seem to capture video clips, simpson's episodes, south park episodes, etc... in mpeg format. Why is this?

Visually, I can't notice any difference between DivX-avi and mpeg. I have the settings set so the 2 files are the same size. The only difference is, DivX-avi encodes (from an uncompressed avi file) a heck of a lot faster than what encoding to mpeg does.

I am about to rip a heck of a lot of stuff. Can anyone please tell me why I should spend MANY more hours ripping into mpeg rather than DivX-avi?

(I am aware that Divx-avi needs the Div-x plugin and a reasonable computer to run them properly, BUT don't most people have reasonable computers these days? and the plugin isn't exactly hard to get)

Any comments very welcome

BOLTMAN

[ChrisX]

I am only having MPEG to record from TV or some other video source. DivX is only available as downloading of video clips and movies from the Internet. Not for capturing.

There is no public availablity of a DivX recording program as such. I am not aware of any capturing program that you can get of DivX. None! The DivX Playa is that, it plays only.

I hope one day I would be able to get the capturing of DivX, it is excellent, it is superb and wonderful to to able to record something then put the video into a CD. The video is so compressed, just like an MP3 of video.

If someone as any idea if a Divx recorder is available, please let me know.

[JHebert]

The best format depends on how you intend to view your videos.

If you plan to watch them on your PC then DivX is probably the best choice for DVD rips. The compression is more efficient than mpeg1 or mpeg2, so you can encode at or close to full original resolution at relatively low bitrates for close to DVD quality. If your source is TV captures the quality of your capture will make all the difference in the quality of your encodes.
However you cannot play DivX in any current standalone DVD player or game console system. You could connect a TV-out card from your PC to the TV but usually the quality is not great.

If you plan to watch them on TV then mpeg1 and mpeg2 authored as VCD or SVCD are the way to go. Many standalone DVD players can play VCD and SVCD on cd-r media. Standard compliant VCD is 74/80 minutes per 650/700MB cd-r but you can fit less or more per cd-r using non-compliant variations of these formats, provided your player will support them. The quality of standard VCD is good, although much inferior to DVD. SVCD is closer to DVD quality if done correctly.