Divx Conversion Question

[RonnyK]

I have a 90minute movie broken into two divx/avi files. Virtualdub tells me the resolution is 352x240 at 14.985 fps (29,97 fps internal).

Question #1: Does this fps information mean that the source is in progressive mode? What setting should be used in TMPGenc to produce the correct framerate?

I attempted to convert with TMPGenc to SVCD. Instead of accepting the 480x480, I tried to keep the original ratio of 352:240 or 1.46:1 and thus, changed the size to 480x328 (16:9, full screen). This produced MPEG-2 files that were very small, such that nearly the whole movie could fit on a single Nero-burned SVCD. When played, the picture seemed to be appropriately letterboxed but the picture was extremely blocky.

Question #2: Given the resolution and framerate of the original divx file, am I better off just converting this to VCD? Or was the blockiness something that I introduced by virtue of my tampering with the dimensions from the original 480x480?

Thanks in advance for the help!

[banjazzer]

DivX will be progressive. You have an NTSC DivX so you need to load an NTSC SVCD template. You should accept the 480x480 resolution, or else you won't have a SVCD! You keep the original resolution by choosing a Video arrange method which states *keep aspect ratio*. I would start off trying Full Screen (keep aspect ratio).

As you seem new to this, I would advise starting out converting to VCD first. When you are happy with what you are doing, try SVCD. 8)

[RonnyK]

Thanks Banjazzer... you're right, I may be getting ahead of myself.

Is a 352x240 divx movie a "natural" for VCD given that the resolution matches so closely with the VCD standard?

If I go the VCD route, should I just load the NTSC VCD (film) template and not worry about the frame rate?

[Solnzevo]

Right - do so! Try some minutes encoding first and check the MPG. Sometimes there is no video, just audio. To fix this Problem easily go here:

http://www.homepagemodules.de/board/topic.php?&board=1213&id=46801&forum=1860

Good luck!

[banjazzer]

Is a 352x240 divx movie a "natural" for VCD given that the resolution matches so closely with the VCD standard?

If I go the VCD route, should I just load the NTSC VCD (film) template and not worry about the frame rate?

350x240 is NTSC VCD. You won't get any extra quality by going to SVCD. Loading the correct template (PAL, NTSC, NTSC(film)) ensures the correct template for the source material, which means the framerate will be correct.