Video editing: normal avi = xdiv or divx?

[jammer20002]

I want to extract video from a DVD abd get an avi file.
I want to edit this avi file in an editor.
The one I'm using is Ulead.
(OK... so not the best one in the world... but it's the one I've got... and it does the job for me.)

I want to know if I will have problems editing divx or xdiv files?

AND... also... how long does it take to convert a DVD into avi?
OK... so I will be trying out anyway...
But... this will be in 2 days time (I have no PC apart from an old laptop now).
It would be good to know if the whole process takes a loooong time.

Thanks.


Jam

[BJ_M]

divx or xdiv files are not really editing formats (pre say - very high bitrate xvid could be) and you sure would be wasting a lot of time and quality ..

it will take however long it takes -- since it is dependent on your system specs and the length ..


it is like asking me how long is this piece of rope in my garage under the lawnmower ..

[jammer20002]

hey thanks for the reply.

ok... so what program would u recommend for converting dvd to avi?

how long is a piece of string? lol.
point taken.
my system: p4 2.8, 1gb ram, plenty of hd space.
i kind of wanted to know if it takes 10 hours plus to convert on an average system say.

[BJ_M]

converting dvd to avi for editing, you have a lot of choices . and also a lot of codecs.

you could just edit the mpeg, convert it to DV , Huffyuv, uncompressed, M-JPEG and plenty of other offerings ...

you can use virtualdubmod

[edDV]

AVI can be many formats. It is a wrapper or envelope into which tens of formats (codecs) can be suffed. Are you talking about MJPEG, DV, huffyuv, XviD, Indeo, Cenepak, video1, DivX???

You are only offering a opportunity to "guess the format" when you say AVI.

[BJ_M]

AVI can be many formats. It is a wrapper or envelope into which tens of formats (codecs) can be suffed. Are you talking about MJPEG, DV, huffyuv, XviD, Indeo, Cenepak, video1, DivX???

You are only offering a opportunity to "guess the format" when you say AVI.

he said divx already in first post - why i was trying to steer him to a more proper editable format

[edDV]

I was reacting to "normal AVI". There is no "normal AVI"

I agree "best" editing formats are DV, MJPEG, uncompressed, Huffyuv, etc. and not the temporal compressed formats. This is not to say you can't somewhat salvage highly compressed formats.

Emphasis is on "somewhat" and $$$ investment in reconstruction software and time investment.

Highly compressed formats like MPeg4 based DivX, XviD, WMV, h.264, et.al. are intended for distribution, not as an input for editing. Same can be said for MPeg2. This is not to say low compression versions of these formats can't be edited with some quality. Everything is a tradeoff.

[celtic_druid]

h.264 supports lossless encoding, so I guess it could be usefull for editing. For editng though it is best to stick with keyframes only.

If you wanted to use XviD for editing you could use a low fixed quant, a high quality matrix and only use I frames. Problem is that most editing apps aren't designed to work with XviD and other codecs like it.