DivX Author 1.0 from Divx.com

[Tom Saurus]

I used the program to make another DVD. This time I used Mpeg files and it was just shy of 4 gb for nearly 6 hours of movies on the disc. It took about 5 hours once I got my menus designed and set up the way I want.

I think this program does what it says it will, quiet well. Something that concerns me, is that I am one that sometimes like to go back to DVD's I have made and extract a scene or two from them. With this being one big divx file and no real software that recognizes the different coponents other than the standalone Ultra Divx Player, that is something that concerns me.

I think it really shines when it converts .wmv, .asf and .mov to .divx. I think that this is a real benifit, because .wmv and .asf get distorted when I try to fast forward through them in their original format. Once they are in the .divx format, I can fastforward through them to something that has caught my interest. Of course I could also put a chapter right to that spot as well.

I think this will be of benifit to me when I want to put 6 hours worth of soaps to a disc, and once I buy the program and design my own custom menus, and be able to save them as templates for quick use. I am unsure about putting stuff on them, that I might want extract parts from later on, until something exists that can allow me to access all the files on the computer again, I am going to be shy about putting everything I record to this format.

I think I have done all the testing I should report about. I will just read this thread every so often to see what other people's experience and oppinions are. I am sorry for monopolizing it so much.

[gll99]

I won't touch anything with on-going activation....it is nonsense...deleted from my books.

Duly noted and certainly understandable. I'll take that back to the developers.

Sorry for the rant here but...
Count me on that no buy list too. One can understand the desire for an initial activation at the time of registration if a product is used online but not if it's to be used offline. Internet connectivity checking should be easy to program so it pops up as soon as the user goes online and has not finalized the activation of a registered product but not to the point of crippling it or penalizing the user who chooses not to do it.

More and more I see the need to keep my valuable installed software and setups away from the internet. The proof is how many hits the various blockers and gatekeeper software log. There are just too many spies and habit trackers killing the bandwidth as it is. Too many software report home every time you click a key or visit a site that's it hard to identify the real hackers anymore and we get all bogged down with multiple versions of adware blockers, virus checkers, spyware detectors etc... etc... and each one of them seems to find only some of the problems. Don't talk about routers as the end all be all, I have one of those too and none of the ports are forwarded. Each one touts their own little trojan/virus tool but none of them do it all. What's worse is even many of them call home or contain some type of tracking spyware of their own.

I just recently discovered that even the freeware AVG virus checker seems attached to a marketing company Net Access Corp who sell profile info on individual users whereabouts and activity so that they can better target their ads to individuals. If I block some of Net Access Corp ip's I can't dl any updates from AVG yet the address of the avg servers are totally different when it locates the updates. I'm now convinced that dl from avg are a 2 way street with the upload information from the user being exchanged with the tracker at the time of update.

A company can market how they want but with optional tools like tmpg software, the beauty is that if you don't even try intrusive limiting software like that then you don't miss it because you discover other ways to do the job. I'm not knocking the product itself but there is no reason to accept these types of limits when there are so many viable alternatives that can cost about the same or less or are sometimes even free without the encumbrance.

[TBoneit]

Tom, I haven't tried this yet so take it FWIW....

Try renaming a test .divx file to .avi and see if it opens in Virtualdub? If it opens and I suspect it will, then you should be able to cut out parts you want and save them.

a couple of gotchas....from what I can see this will only work if all the video in the file is in one title.... IOWs 6 hours of video all in one title. If you had 6 one hour videos in six titles then I suspect you would only be able to see the first title.

Anothe rtest try reopening the .divx in the creation program and see what happens, I haven't tried that yet.

[Mark_2800]

If you guys have any questions or feedback on DivX Author, let me know.

Also, if Author isn't the right solution for you, you might check out a new version of DivX Converter with more robust menu creation as well. Beta available here: http://labs.divx.com/node/269

-Kosmonaut
DivX, Inc.

Well, i just bought it and I can't say I'm too impressed. It didn't work at all- no menus, no chapters, took a perfect quality DVD file and "pixelated" it so it looks like crap, and what's worse, there are now little green streaks all over the screen???!!!!!!!!!!!

I followed the instructions to a T- what the heck happened?!

[TBoneit]

Mark, What happened to you didn't happen to me. I used the trial version and converted a DVD to .divx importing the chapters and creating a menu and it was good.

I fed it WMV's, MOVs and OGG and so on. They all converted to .divx fine. I did have to load the codecs for QT & Ogg for them to work. I suspect it would convert whatever you have codecs loaded for.

The first thing to keep in mind is a Divx player won't handle menus. It needa to be a Ultra Divx certified player such as the Phillips 5960. On the computer VLC for example will only see the first title and no menu. The true Divx software player should support all features.

Could it be your results are bad due to the player you used?

When you authored you did create a menu? Chapters?

I tried the trial version til it expired and at that point decided that since the TMPGEnc DVD Author 3 was out to buy that instead as it does the same thing Plus authors DVDs.

As I say it worked fine for me excpet when I accidently fed it corrupt WMVs.

Good Luck

[RabidDog]

I'm just trying this soft. and the FIRST thing I noticed is that after feeding it two good avis and setting up a simple menu it then goes off and starts re-encoding them. so maybe 14 hours later I will have two slightly worse files and a menu.
CAn the re-encoding be turned off?? otherwise this is a no-no .

The trial software seems quite crippled in that menu titles, thumbnails cant be moved.
I think just accepting pre-existing divx files with the option of no re-encoding would be the way to go. This should be a purely authoring (menu creation) app not an encoding app?
How does this fit in with divx converter ...(ok, but not top quality)
An indication of how much space menus might need would be good ? 10mb? 200mb?
Whilst pegasys write some good software they seem very keen to charge for minor upgrades, rather than making them free/low price

First test tho..

No ultra player as yet, but a 5960 pencilled in

[gyoshi]

This should be a purely authoring (menu creation) app not an encoding app?

I don't know about that. I kind of like the fact that it can encode practically any file I throw at it into a DivX Ultra file. If it forced me to use another app to encode my vids to DivX first before I could author a DivX DVD, then that'd kind of piss me off. That's just me tho. Also remember that it's gotta make one DivX Ultra file from multiple video files plus whatever menu you've created, so it seems to me that there's gotta be some encoding involved in any case.

An indication of how much space menus might need would be good ? 10mb? 200mb?

The space the menus take is included in the Output Size indicator at the bottom of the app's window. While you won't know the exact size of the menu, you will know if your media has the space for it.

[TBoneit]

I like that it can encode to .divx and have no desire to go back in time and redo old avi's.

One of the drawbacks of the older DVD author applications is the need for a encoder. I didn't mind and will still be encoding for DVDs with a different program.

OTOH the ability to feed it test clips and such is handy.

Being able to open ripped DVDs and import for divx authoring while keeping chapters is good.

I believe they hit the target they were shooting for. You can not make everybody happy and you'll just make yourself crazy trying......

I disagree that it should be purely an authoring app. If that were so then every file added to it would need to be converted to divx first including xvids.

I looked at .divx authoring and concluded that I didn't have the time to spare learning another app. The fact that this one works more or less like the DVD author 1.5 I've been using for DVDs or .divx authoring is great. I can just start in being productive and learn the new features as I go along.

That is one thing I hold against Vista. So many things are shifted around or hidden.

[Mark_2800]

The first thing to keep in mind is a Divx player won't handle menus. It needa to be a Ultra Divx certified player such as the Phillips 5960. On the computer VLC for example will only see the first title and no menu. The true Divx software player should support all features.

Could it be your results are bad due to the player you used?

When you authored you did create a menu? Chapters?

Good Luck

Thank you and yes, I created a menu and chapters (that was my sole reason for buying the thing) and also yes, as I NOW know, my DVD player is not one of the very few Div-X Ultra certified ones out there, so that of course explains the problems when I put the DVD in my DVD player.

The quality however, left something to be desired as well. I put in very good quality avi files and they came out worse quality (after many hours of encoding of course). Green specs and heavy pixelation.

Overall I'm not impressed with this program. However, I did receive a prompt reply to my complaint to Div-X, so I will give them kudos on the customer service at this point.

[TBoneit]

I'd have been surorised if the results were good using defaults when re-encoding a already compressed file. The Trial ran out on me and TDA 3 which has the same untionality came out so I bought that.

There are adjustments you can make to improve the encoding

[Tom Saurus]

I noticed something I really like about Divx Author and I am assuming this will be the same in Tmpgenc DVD Author 3. I recorded some footage with the following bitrate 6000-8000 kbps vbr, and I recorded a video of around the same length at 8000-1200kbs and the resulting file showed up at around 760mbs. So I am thinking this program is more sensitive to the length of the video then what the bitrate is. I should be able to set Hauppauge for higher bitrate captures, and get even higher quality Divx files within this program.

I find this a rather neat aspect of this program.

I think I was wrong about 6 hours of footage, fitting on the single layer 4 gb disc. It is between 5 and 6 hours. I think 5 and half hours. To fit 6 hours, you have to go in and lower the bitrate that the Divx is encoded at. But a slight adjustment to squeeze of a little bit more stuff, doesn't seem to be very noticable. But there is only so far you can push such things before you would notice.

My free trial is just about up and I am going to try out TDA 3. This is really neat technology. I hope that due to the Mp3 Microsoft Patent Issue that these programs and Ultra Divx Ceritfied Players can be made to use the Ogg Vorbis audio codec instead of mp3. I notice that in the audio options that Mp2 Layer 3 audio is an option, as is Dolby Digital. I have mostly stuck with what the default settings are.

[TBoneit]

Well The Dolby audio has no licensing problems as far as I know and all DVD players have to decode AC3 audio or they are not complying with the DVD specifications. Try the AC3 audio and see how it works and affects file size. Myself I like to keep the audio bitrate up since I like music.