DVD to DivX ?

[cnelson87]

forgive me if the answer is in the forum somewhere, but after wading thru all the PC "how to" guides I gave up and decided to just ask.

first of all, I don't yet have a DivX capable DVD player. I'm probably going to get the Phillips 642, or I might get a Mac Mini to use as a HTPC, or *maybe* even build a Wintel box to use as a networked media server / HTPC. So, a wide range of compatibility is a must.

ok, so what is the bestest and fastest way to convert a decrypted VIDEO_TS folder to a multi-compatible mpeg4/Divx file?

for a test I used South Park season 3 DVD 1 and individually ripped episodes with MTR (I used ep 1, Rainforest Shmainforest). I cropped 10 pixels from the left side and 6 from the right, and resized down to 640x480. ffmpegX took 2 hours and allowed ac3 passthru, which is cool. Handbrake took just under 90 mins with mp3 audio. that's about as far as I got. I need something that will batch export 'cause this is taking forever. And I would REALLY like to trim off the end credits with a nice fade to black and audio fade without having to first convert to uncompressed mov.

heh heh, I also used Streamclip to demux to m2v and aif so Quicktime could have a whack at it. DivX 5 avi export - 2 pass - took 12 hrs. hey DivX! I want my money back!!!

start discussion.

[tgpo]

I think Handbrake is always the way to go for easy Divx creation.

If you are wanting to have the video editted and have a fade out and everything, you'll have to go to a quicktime format that can be editted with some sort of editting program, such as Final Cut Pro.

As for things taking time, it just a factor of video you have to live with. Compressing takes time.

[galactica]

you can take a look at either tgpo's or my handbrake tutorial and you should be good to go.

[cnelson87]

I agree Handbrake is very easy to use, and the fastest I've tried so far. it would be perfect but for a few small details. it lacks ac3 passthru, which I think is a cool feature of ffmpegX. cropping more than 10 pixels off the total width will automatically resize the video with no user control. and no batch processing. batch processing would be most excellent!
oh well.

[major]

and the fastest I've tried so far

Just to be precise here, "DivX mencoder" preset in ffmpegX is faster than Handbrake "ffmpeg" preset (both use the same codec which is not mencoder nor ffmpeg but libavcodec mpeg-4).

Check benchmarks at http://homepage.mac.com/major4/benchmarks.html

[badtz]

Just to be precise here, "DivX mencoder" preset in ffmpegX is faster than Handbrake "ffmpeg" preset (both use the same codec which is not mencoder nor ffmpeg but libavcodec mpeg-4).

Check benchmarks at http://homepage.mac.com/major4/benchmarks.html

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/16486


D-Vision is a friendly GUI for mencoder.

Would this work as a better alternative to Handbrake?

[cnelson87]

major,
with similar settings, Handbrake is faster on my machine, a G4 sawtooth upgraded to 1Ghz. 90 mins to convert a 22 min DVD, compared to 120 with ffmpegX. ymmv, I guess.

badtz,
thank! I'll check that out.

[major]

According to my data, on an iBook G4 800 the same VOB clip converted to 970 kbps and 640x272 and crop, encodes at 18.9fps on ffmpegX "mencoder mpeg-4" and 12.2fps on Handbrake. On G5 1.8 Dual the figures become 64.8fps on ffmpegX "mencoder mpeg-4" vs 59.3fps on Handbrake.

[babgolis]

I've had playback problems on my rj1500 with files made using handbrake. I get better results using ffmpegx xvid codec. SLOW SLOW SLOW SLOW SLOW. It might be the older chipset. Otherwise that badboy plays ANYTHING.

I agree ac3 passthrough would be great & would save some time.

[Mucx]

What about D-Vision ? it allows AC3 passthrough...I am not a big user of that program and only whip it out on the occasion Handbrake cannot convert the odd DVD now and then but it does do a good job though.

There is a slight problem with image cropping and AC3 passthrough I have heard?

Nobody seems to mention D-Vision, what does everyone think about it?

David

[AntnyMD]

I like D-Vision for passing through 3ivx video with AIFF audio to a 3ivx with MP3 audio. Its on the only program I know of that does it easily. I dont use it for anything else, though.