VIDEO_TS to DivX Tutorial Questions

[Xonk]

OK, so I've been trying to use your provided guide on converting a VIDEO_TS folder to a DivX movie. (well written, by the way) I have a few questions/problems with the process.

1) Your suggested Preset Codec ("DivX (libavc) (PAL)")is not on my list, and I wasn't able to find it anywhere to download. So thus, I have to improvise.

2) If I try to use MPEG4 (ffmpeg) it fails because its an unknown format (I read in another post here that thats cause its an unsupported format for this... I need to select the individual .VOB files. I tried using 0SEx to combine the VOB files, but its manual was quite unhelpful and I wasn't able to get very far). Note, this setting also doesn't let me crop (which I am sure you are aware of)

3) If I try to use MPEG4 (mencoder) it seems to work, even though it has a few complaints in the info box. Note, I haven't completed the encoding of it as in the past it didn't work, and it is right now. Coincidence, I guess.

4) This is just a question. In your tutorial you said that if we wanted, we could keep the source AC3 audio track by just selecting AC3. I read somewhere else that basically you just copy the audio straight through. If we decide to use MP3, doesn't that mean a big loss in quality, as we are encoding lossy to lossy? Thus, are there any disadvantages to using AC3? Finally, why select 448 as the audio bitrate?

5) Last question, I promise . If I go to the options, and start selecting stuff, you claim it increases the quality of the encoding, but increases the time too. First part is, which of the options are the best? I don't care about time too much, as I can leave it encoding overnight and through the next day. Can I just select them all, and get a really nice quality one? Or do some conflict/be redundant. Second part is, how significant is the time increase? Right now, I think its gonna take me like 3 hours or so to encode this movie. About what percentage increase am I gonna get for selecting these options? If I do them all (well, all the good ones), is it gonna bump it up to like 10 hours? Or only make it like 5-6? I guess this is all superdependent on your specs, so I am running a G4 DP 1.25.

Thanks, and sorry for the long post

[major]

1) Your suggested Preset Codec ("DivX (libavc) (PAL)")is not on my list, and I wasn't able to find it anywhere to download. So thus, I have to improvise.

You're looking for it in the wrong menu. Check in the "Quick presets" popup button.

4) This is just a question. In your tutorial you said that if we wanted, we could keep the source AC3 audio track by just selecting AC3. I read somewhere else that basically you just copy the audio straight through. If we decide to use MP3, doesn't that mean a big loss in quality, as we are encoding lossy to lossy? Thus, are there any disadvantages to using AC3? Finally, why select 448 as the audio bitrate?

I would suggest to keep the AC3 stream if you have any means to play its 6 sound channels (you should set 448 as audio bitrate, as it is the usual bitrate of an AC3 stream). If you have a plain stereo equipment, converting to MP3 will not imply a significant loss in quality, though the file will be smaller, as MP3 bitrate would be normally 128.

5) Last question, I promise . If I go to the options, and start selecting stuff, you claim it increases the quality of the encoding, but increases the time too. First part is, which of the options are the best? I don't care about time too much, as I can leave it encoding overnight and through the next day. Can I just select them all, and get a really nice quality one? Or do some conflict/be redundant. Second part is, how significant is the time increase? Right now, I think its gonna take me like 3 hours or so to encode this movie. About what percentage increase am I gonna get for selecting these options? If I do them all (well, all the good ones), is it gonna bump it up to like 10 hours? Or only make it like 5-6? I guess this is all superdependent on your specs, so I am running a G4 DP 1.25.

There is no conflict and no redundancy between the options. To test the increase in quality, use the PSNR option. To test the decrease in speed, encode a 1-minute test clip.

[Xonk]

Thanks for the quick reply. Everything seems to be working, and all understood. I've actually messed around with some of the video encoding options, and they don't seem to be significant at all in terms of quality (I encoded 2 identical 5 second clips, one with like 5 special options selected and another with none, and I noticed no difference), but of course I'm not video-phile. At first, when I encoded some video before you replied, there was no audio, and it only did like the first 5 min of it, but after you replied and I tried again, it worked great.

Two more questions...

Is there a good way to find out the total length of the movie, for use with the bitrate calculator?

How can I encode the non-main movie parts of the VIDEO_TS, like Deleted Scenes or Extra features?

[major]

Is there a good way to find out the total length of the movie, for use with the bitrate calculator?

I'll add VIDEO_TS length auto-detection, for now you can use 0SEx to check the length of the available titles.

How can I encode the non-main movie parts of the VIDEO_TS, like Deleted Scenes or Extra features?

Set the "Title" number accordingly.