re-encoding divx

[sdsu2pop]

I need some help with re-encoding a divx file to reduce the bitrate so I can play it properly on the ps2 reality media player. The divx file is 700mb, 640x272, 50min, and about 1500 kb/s. I want to re-encode it down to about 1000 kb/s or less so it plays smoothly on the ps2. I already tried Dr divx and the video was good but the audio was out of sync by about a second. The original divx had AC3 448 kb/s CBR audio so I chose the closest to that which was mp3 320 kb/s CBR audio encoding options. Could these selections have caused the out of sync audio? Also the re-encoding process took almost 3 hours! is this normal? and what's 1st pass and 2nd pass? I noticed some different encoding speeds, so is there significant change in video quality from standard speed to fast speed?

Some more questions: are there other divx/xvid re-encoding programs out there that work? I also want to reduce the bitrate of some xvid files I have. Would it be better to reduce bitrate and convert divx to xvid? Does the re-encoding process time depend on the speed of your PC? I'm just wondering because mine is PIII 800Mhz

Can anybody help me out?

[jimmalenko]

I would have used virtualdubmod, set the audio to direct stream copy and set the video bitrate to 1000kbps or whatever you want it to be. Look in the guides section here.

[sdsu2pop]

I searched in the guides section but there aren't any Divx2Divx guides using virtualdubmod but found one using virtualdub. Are these 2 programs basically the same? Can somebody give me a direct link to Divx2Divx guide using virtualdubmod?

[BJ_M]

same thing for divx

[jimmalenko]

Open the file in virtualdub (any flavour). Set compression to DivX, and set specifics such as required bitrate, and any audio compression, etc etc. Save to new file. It is exactly the same as importing anything into virtualdub and saving out to an AVI, so that's why any of those guides I linked to above can help you. All you need to do is choose a guide, ignore all the pre-work before virtualdub and then just pick up the guide where a file is imported into virtualdub.

[sdsu2pop]

I found a guide I can use. Thanks for the replies. If I don't want to re-encode the audio, do I choose "direct stream copy"? will this make the whole re-encoding process any faster?

[jimmalenko]

I found a guide I can use. Thanks for the replies. If I don't want to re-encode the audio, do I choose "direct stream copy"? will this make the whole re-encoding process any faster?

Spot on. It will make the process a little faster, but not cut it in half or any siginifcant improvement like that.

[sdsu2pop]

I got this error while re-encoding with virtualdub:

An out-of-bounds memory access (access violation) occurred in module 'DivX412'...
...while decompressing video frame 6364 with "DivX Codec 4.12" [biCompression=33564944] (VideoSource.cpp:1618)...
...while running thread "Processing" (thread.cpp:120).

I chose Divx 5.2.1 as video compression but why is it using Divx 4.12? I did it a few times and always get an error on the same frame 6364. Anybody know what's wrong?

[jimmalenko]

Have you checked for bad frames ?

guides here or here

[sdsu2pop]

I checked the divx file with virtualdub mp3 freeze but no bad frames found. What else could it be?

[jimmalenko]

reinstall the codec. reinstall virtualdub. Apart from that, I'm beat

[monzie]

Your problem is that bad video frame (and probably a lot of frames afterwards..).....cut them out, (direct Stream Copy using Key frames video and audio and then re-asemble) these sort of problems are not 'fixable' by 'quick fix' software solutions (as such)..then re-encode....they will play fine in a media player because DirectShow is MUCH more tolerant than pure codec based software like Virtuladub.

But, with that bitrate avi and its 5.1 AC3 audio why not just convert to DVD using TMPG/Xpress (DirectShow based)? You could of done this conversion 30 times over (or more) for the amount of agro its causing you (and the end result will play just as good on a PS2 and any DVD player).

[sdsu2pop]

After I cut out that single frame, everything worked OK. Thanks for all your help guys

[stillmars321]

try DVDSanta!

Excellent program that accepts just about everyting and outputs DVD files ready for burning