How to Distinguish between XviD and DivX

[magician300]

Hello to all.

First off I'm very new at this so I hope that by reading and reviewing things on this site that will gradually change. I did some searching on here but I really couldn't find a clear-cut answer to this question..

I have a Philips DVP-642 player and I just bought myself a NEC ND-3520A DVD burner. I understand now about making files play on the burner I think..

The process I use is whatever file I'm interested in I use MPEG4 Modifier to check whether or not is has GMC or QPEL in it. If it does.. I've used Dr. Divx to re-encode the file without those two codecs..

The two questions I have are:

1.) What exactly *is* the difference between XviD and DivX? Quality? Wider compatibility range? And is there someway out there that I can tell if an .mpg or .avi file is encoded as a XviD or DivX file?

2.) When re-encoding with Dr. Divx I notice there is an option to re-encode with 1-pass versus 2-pass. Is there any significant advantage/disadvantage to either of the options besides the option of speed? Just curious as to opinions on this matter.

Thanks for all the wonderful information everyone and for your help in advance.

[yoda313]

Hello,

Gspot can tell you. And in windows you can set it to show the three letter file extension of the file.

1 pass is quicker and less involving. 2 pass or higher is intended to improve the quality by rendering differently. Not sure on the technical aspects of it though.

Kevin

---Xvid is an open source of divx now that divx is commercial I think ---

[magician300]

When you mention Windows I assume you mean letting it show file extensions (Ex: .avi, .mpg, .jpg, etc etc..) But if GSpot will tell me whether or not a file is encoded as a XviD or a DivX file then awesome that's great. I shall give it a try.

This may be a dumb question but I'm assuming that any file such as an .avi or a .mpg can be a XviD or a DivX file?

Also thanks for the info about 1-pass vs. 2-pass. When I do the re-encoding I usually leave it at the default of 800. Should that be good or do you think it'd be much of a difference to up it to maybe 900 or 1,000?

[dougwx]

Doesn't your Philips DVP-642 play Xvid files too.
I have it and mine plays Xvid as well as Divx 5.21. I don't have alot of Xvid discs, only about 4 or 5, but they all play fine. I have used a program called AviCodec to see how the files are encoded.

Doug

[yoda313]

Hello,

MPG is NOT divx or xvid. Can't and won't be ever!

NTSC (NTSC Film)



Video:
Up to 9.8 Mbps* (9800 kbps*) MPEG2 video
Up to 1.856 Mbps (1856 kbps) MPEG1 video
720 x 480 pixels MPEG2 (Called Full-D1)
704 x 480 pixels MPEG2
352 x 480 pixels MPEG2 (Called Half-D1, same as the CVD Standard)
352 x 240 pixels MPEG2
352 x 240 pixels MPEG1 (Same as the VCD Standard)
29,97 fps*
23,976 fps with 3:2 pulldown = 29,97 playback fps (NTSC Film, this is only supported by MPEG2 video)
16:9 Anamorphic (only supported by 720x480)

MPEG is a special video format used for DVD when in the MPEG 2 format.

AVI is a video container. XVID or DIVX is a variant of the MPEG4 codec. This is used to compress video to fit on a smaller storage medium.

Kevin

[jimmalenko]

FWIW:

AVI is a video container. XVID or DIVX is a variant of the MPEG4 codec.

I seem to recall a thread a while back that suggested that an AVI can be MPEG-1 or MPEG-2, due to AVI just being a container format. I think it was BJ_M that found this out. Of course it would be rare, but AFAIK it could be done.

[yoda313]

FWIW:

AVI is a video container. XVID or DIVX is a variant of the MPEG4 codec.

I seem to recall a thread a while back that suggested that an AVI can be MPEG-1 or MPEG-2, due to AVI just being a container format. I think it was BJ_M that found this out. Of course it would be rare, but AFAIK it could be done.

Hello,

Ok but that is NOT VERY COMMON

Kevin

[magician300]

To Doug.. yes my player plays XviD as well as DivX.. however everything I keep reading seems to point that playing DivX is the better way to go when it comes to quality.. unless it just happened to be the threads I read and people's opinion?

Also thanks for the heads up on AviCodec.. I'll give that a try as well.

And thanks again for the info Kevin.. I'm starting to get it a bit better and appreciate the info regarding the differences.

[yoda313]

Hello,

And thanks again for the info Kevin.. I'm starting to get it a bit better and appreciate the info regarding the differences

No problem - glad to help

And the glossary and guides section on this website are second to none thanks to the hard work of BALDRICK and the mods. We're here when you need us

Kevin

[celtic_druid]

XviD is generally regarded as offering better quality. When you open the file with MPEG4Modifier you can see if it is XviD or DivX by the userdata tags.

You might also want to check out AviCheck. It is designed for sigma based players but it will tell you if a file uses qpel or gmc much faster than MPEG4Modifer.