800mb avi; Would want it to go onto a 700mb CD

[mark63534]

Original Video
AVIRecomp
DivX Movie

"This file is currently set to private. When a file is set to private by its owner only the owner of the file can access it..."

LOL! my fault. Will change immediately

[davexnet]

I took a quick look, don't have time to look at them properly yet, but a few observations: The "avirecomp" and "divx movie" both have difference bitrates, the avirecomp being quite a bit higher. Were either of those 700MB for the whole file? Regarding the source, it looks very blocky in places; perhaps turning on deblocking in the decoder may help. I'll have some more tomorrow.

[jagabo]

Recompressing an over compressed source is never going to look pretty. But if you must...

Try MSU Smart Deblocking (to remove blocks from the source), resizing to 592x408 (to fix the aspect ratio), cropping away the black borders and news scroll (leaving 592x320, smaller frame = better compression) and a 2-pass encode with the Xvid codec.

[davexnet]

Well I got back to it tonight. I followed Jagabo's advice, then set the bit rate to 1022.
(according to your stated length of 1 hour 29 minutes the calculator in the Divx config gave this bit rate assuming 89 minutes,
700MB & 56kbps (original audio) )
I encoded it using Divx 685, which I happened to have installed, I set the quality slider to 5
on the 2nd pass.
I'm not sure what difference xvid would give, most seem to prefer it, perhaps Jagabo would comment on that.
here's the partial I did -

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?znwwzjo21nj

[jagabo]

I find Xvid usually does a little better than Divx. But Xvid is a little slower. The difference is small enough that it's not really worth worrying about.

[mark63534]

So, do you think I have a dying chance, or do I really have to back it up 400/400 mb on each cd?

[davexnet]

It's really up to you whether you think the results are a fair compromise or not.
Use the MSU deblocking filter, and optional resize/trim, re-encode it in Virtualdub using the
suggested bitrate and then decide when you see the result.

[jagabo]

The down side of using a deblocking filter is that it leaves the video blurrier. The blocks are replaced with smooth gradients. At 15 cents a disc I would just split the game at half time and put it on two discs. I'd run it though Mpeg4Modifier and correct the PAR/DAR first though.

Here's your original sample after MSU deblocking, cropping and resizing to 592x320, about the same bitrate as your AviRecomp file:

http://kotuha.com/file/B4EEo-xvid.html

AviSynth with the addition of a DCT ringing removal filter would do a little better.

[davexnet]

Instead of MSU,
Divx, Xvid & FFDshow offer deblocking in the decoder post-processing.
How do their use compare to MSU? FFDshow & Divx both offer an "auto" setting,
presumably adjusting itself to the condition of the source.

[jagabo]

I find MSU's deblocking filters work better than the ones built into Divx, Xvid, and ffdshow. You should try them for yourself though.