Please, I Need Advice On Encoding

[SherFiles]

Hello. I am writing from Buenos Aires - Argentina. I would like to request your advice on the following subject.

I have a movie in AVI format to which I have added the corresponding subtitles (.srt format) through VirtualDub following a tutorial of yours.

I would like to know how I could encode the AVI movie into the MPEG format for VCD and SVCD considering that the size of the movie file is of 750 MB and its length (in hours and minutes) is of 1hour and 33 minutes and 38 seconds.

I have read many tutorials suggesting the use of several tools for encoding. I have a myriad of questions regarding this issue.

1.- Must I always SEPARATE the audio from the video in order to encode it to MPEG? or is there a method simple and easy that entails the non separation of audio from video for encoding?

2.- Most tutorials suggest the use of TMPGENC for encoding. I do not understand what should I choose on the Audio source since the AVI Movie has the audio embedded.

3.- What version of TMPGENC is the best for encoding?

4.- How do I keep or better the resolution of the AVI movie when encoding so that it will NOT change its size (will keep the original size). I have read of many cases in which as single file of 250 MB became a files of 3 GB.

5- How do I know that the AVI’s audio is compressed, uncompressed, wav or mp3 or AC3 or what format is it?

6.- How do I know the AVI’s technical characteristics (frame, stereo, stereo surround, bitrate and the like).

The AVI movie when played displays the DIVX logo.

7.- When encoding for VCD is different from encoding for SVCD?. What should I consider when encoding for SVCD?.

8.- If there is any other information or tip I should consider, please do let me know

Thank you so much.

SherFiles

[steveryan]

1. If you are using TMPGEnc then seperating the audio is advisable. Load your Divx file into Virtualdub, select audio/full processing mode then select audio/conversion. If you intend to convert to VCD/SVCD choose 44000 or DVD choose 48000. Hit file/save WAV.
2. Use the WAV file you have created.
3. They're all good.
4. It's all to do with bitrate, even using VCD specs your file will be near 1GB.
5. Virtualdub - hit file/file information. Or use Gspot.
6. See above.
7. It's the same process.

[redwudz]

If it were an average Xvid movie (Divx would be similar), I would expect the 700MB file size to grow to around 1.5GB when encoded to DVD specs. With SVCD specs, about the same. It would take two CDs. VCD, you might get it on one CD, but the quality would really suffer.

To find out about the Divx file, use AVIcodec or Gspot.

That will tell you the audio format, along with other useful information. It's probably MP3 audio, so you have to convert it anyway. That's another reason to separate it out. For SVCD filesize, use a bitrate calculator. That way you get the optimum size for your format. (In 'Tools' to the left. <<<)

Sorry, there's a lot to learn. It just takes time.