How do they do this.......

[pcostanza]

I search the torrents for tv programs that I miss and would like to watch and wonder how they are able to get a 1 hour show (48 min. w/o commercials) in under 500 meg files. I would like to do this but I can only capture in mpeg. Assuming I can capture in avi, using divx, how do they get such good quality in such a small file? I even see some that are HD under 700 meg.
If I'm in the wrong board, sorry but please send me in the right direction.
Thanks in advance.

[pijetro]

Assuming I can capture in avi, using divx, how do they get such good quality in such a small file?

Yes, capturing in .AVI would be the way to go, although using DivX compression isn't a good idea.Use Huffy or PicVideo for capturing and DivX for final compression.
The small file size is due to the alogorithms and compression format within the DivX structure. I believe it's an offshoot of the .ASF format..
The quality is due to the fact that a) The source was good to begin with, and b) Usually a two pass encode happens, in where precious bitrate gets allocated to fast scenes..It's all about the bitrate.

Every codec has a good and bad side to it..DivX is one of the better streaming codecs. Therefore popular in the torrrrrent world..

[pcostanza]

Thanks for the info.

[wijdbeens]

Assuming I can capture in avi, using divx, how do they get such good quality in such a small file?

Yes, capturing in .AVI would be the way to go, although using DivX compression isn't a good idea.Use Huffy or PicVideo for capturing and DivX for final compression.

Do u mean "Do NOT" capture directly into divx ? I'm looking for the same issue .... have 75 minutes of something, but i can't get it under 20mB/minute , others do 90 minutes under 700mB with pretty big frame and more than normal quality imo ...

Where do i find the best setting and stuff.

I know how to capture analog in picvideo 704x576 >

Changed some settings in virtualvcr, but i think thats not the way to go ...

[pijetro]

Do u mean "Do NOT" capture directly into divx ?

Correctomondo...

As far as DivX encoding goes, you'll have to go to some bitrate calculators, and punch those numbers..
Don't forget, much of the DivX community is working with DVD rips..
Quality is great to begin with, therefore low bitrates are achievable..

As far as capture goes, this is usually done with people who have archiving in mind..
Since DVD's are cheap nowadays, DivX isn't the first choice for archivers. Especially for home users. Rather DVD is the natural pick..

[wijdbeens]

I just want to share something where quality ain't that much of an issue, but i i choose divx/xvid as compression method i just don't know which setting too go for, such as kbp/s and layer etc ....

Followed tuto (how to) DV > Divx , but then i need too cap to dv first and resize whole project, if possible i want to skip this stage ....

So what are reasonable settings is the main question ?

Deal with quality later :P

M

[pijetro]

So what are reasonable settings is the main question ?
Deal with quality later

Your friends don't perhaps have DivX codec installed on their system, so i'd suggest Windows .WMV format...Load your .AVI into Media Encoder, and output for .WMV at 320x240 resolution.
Use about 500kbps for video, and about 8bit 22khz mono audio...

Start another thread for your specific question..Otherwise, this should get you on the road to shareable videos...

[wijdbeens]

oke, thanks.