Dumb Questions about x264,mp4 etc...

[kuurgen]

I've been a divx codec user for years, however last week I got a 44 minute episode of a tv show encoded with x264 in an .mp4 extension. I am absolutely blown away by the file size and the quality.
Combined that I just got a Blu Ray burner, I've been thinking how nice it would be to put a few seasons of a show on one disc.

I did a test run using multiavchd which boasts the ability of taking any format and making it playable on a blu ray player. (is it safe to assume that there is no other piece of software does what this does?)
I used it to make a blu ray disc image and was pleasantly surprised to see the file size didn't go up that much more. So my questions are this:

1. Is it worth it to convert my existing divx stuff to mp4 with the intention that I can fit a ton of episodes on a blu ray?
2. I'm assuming that x264 and h264 are NOT the same?
3. any recommended software for working with x264?

[Baldrick]

1. How much do you shrink your divx files? It's not worth it if you are justing making them a few percent smaller and your blu-ray player support divx/avi files then.
2. The x264 encoder is a h264/avc video encoder.
3. I use vidcoder or handbrake to convert. For editing latest avidemux 2.6 beta.

[Ai Haibara]

If you're re-encoding just for the sake of making a smaller file, I'd say you shouldn't do it. Your DivX/Xvid videos may already be of lackluster quality and will take a quality hit from unnecessarily re-encoding them - but, of course, the end result might be acceptable to you (you'd have to take a look at each re-encode and judge for yourself).

If you were compressing to h.264 .mkv or .mp4 from an original, good-quality source, then it's not as much of an issue. Of course, the best option would be to leave the videos in their original format, and not recompress them, if you have no problems storing and playing them.