DivX vs. H.264. vs. Divx HD: What best for playback on Philips BDP5320 ???

[Lord Stinkfoot]

Hi folks,
I hope some smart gurus can please point me in the right direction here.
I just bought the Philips Blu Ray BDP5320, which says it plays the following formats:

DivX (ver.6),
MPEG-2,
AVCHD,
H.264,
VC-1

Audio:
DTS,
PCM,
MP3

I was hoping it played DivX HD files which i wanted to try to burn to DVD to compare with normal Divx files... i'm curious how much better that quality is as i'm trying to put multiple cartoons for my daughter onto one DVD. Normal DivX quality kinda sux. But then I noticed it claims to play H.264 files...

My questions are:
1. Can H.264 be saved in a relatively smaller file size that this player can play?
(I usually use ffmpegX (on a G5 Mac) when i select the H.264 option, it only saves as an MP4 file, which my player won't play?)
2. If so, what settings would work best?
3. What's the quality/size difference between Divx HD and a H.264 file?


Any help is greatly appreciated before i start burning coasters!

[mh2360]

Isn't DivX HD just a MKV container with H.264 video and AAC audio (plus other data: subs, chapters, etc)?

It should be easy enough to put your MP4 files into a MKV container using MKVtoolnix

[fritzi93]

1) Yes.

2) Convert to H.264 and put in AVCHD "container". Many members here re-encode Blu-Ray movies and burn to AVCHD. It's sort of a Blu-Ray "lite", essentially the same file structure, but burnt to DVDR. AVCHD is getting fairly widespread support in newer BD standalone players. It was dicey in the early days.

Or put H.264 in MKV "container", no menus but chapters, switchable streams, etc. A fair number of standalones support it, dunno about yours. I don't see that your player explicitly supports MKV, you'll have to try and see. Just burn an MKV to DVDR as data with ImgBurn, using UDF 2.50. MPEG2, AVC (H.264, same thing), and VC-1 are the standard Blu-Ray codecs.

3) Can't help much about DivX HD, sorry. But it looks to be essentially the same thing as H.264 in MKV. Don't know how well supported it is.

As to converting video files to H.264 to put in AVCHD or MKV, runtime depends on resolution. You could get maybe 5-6 hours at the outside of SD video on a single-layer DVDR. For a Blu-Ray rip, about 2 hours at most and it will depend on the individual movie as to how well it compresses.

Good luck.

[jagabo]

Divx HD is h.264 (using MainConcept's encoder which they bought a year or so ago) in an MKV container.

Roughly, MPEG 4 part 10 (h.264 AVC) can be encoded to about 2/3 the bitrate of MPEG 4 Part 2 (Divx/Xvid ASP) and still have the same quality. But a lot depends on the properties of the source and settings used.

[Lord Stinkfoot]

Thanks for the quick reply guys. I did see Divx HD referred to as the MKV container, but this player doesnt support that, nor does it mention .avi or Xvid files being supported. Keep in mind, I'm on a Macintosh, and ffmpegx doesnt offer an export in AVCHD... when i try to use Toast, it's asking for a camera connection, not a source file. Wah. Tried a few test burns... no luck. Wish Philips would explain just HOW to make this player read the supported H.264 files.

[jagabo]

Try h.264 in MP4 or MKV. Burn as data discs. Ie, the same way you would copy a bunch of word processing files to a disc for transfer or backup. If the player has a USB port try copying the files to a USB thumb drive.

[fritzi93]

I found some reviews for your player and it looks like it will play DivX (and almost certainly XviD too), and *perhaps* DivX HD and MKV. It's not perfectly clear from the review below if U.S. models currently have the capability. Perhaps in a future firmware upgrade.

http://www.blurayfreak.com/2010/01/ces-2010-new-philips-bluray-players-add-netflix-and...v-shun-3d.html

An AVCHD disc must be authored with something like tsMuxer (which will work on a MAC). If the contents of an MKV file are Blu-ray compliant, it's a simple task. If not compliant, it must be re-encoded. Then burn it as UDF 2.50.

[dylz]

Divx Plus HD isn't just h.264 in a mkv container it's a specific set of settings you can use for x264 and so on here are the settings for handbrake:
level=40:ref=2:bframes=2ubq=6:mixed-refs=0:
weightb=0:8x8dct=0:trellis=0:vbv-maxrate=20000: http://labs.divx.com/node/15257
vbv-bufsize=25000

Staxrip: I think divxHD profile is included in staxrip. site: http://labs.divx.com/node/14989

and for the thread Q: DivX is the most common then if it has mkv support or mp4 use h.264 but if it says divxHD support only and mkv isn't working try the above settings from the divX site in handbrake or staxrip.

[mh2360]

From what information I can find about this player, it's DivX playback capabilities are as follows.



So it seems that DivX HD is not an option.

The player does seem to support AVCHD, so multiAVCHD will allow you burn HD files to a disc to view with this player, i'm not sure if there's a Mac version of multiAVCHD or something similar out there.

[Lord Stinkfoot]

Thanks for all the help folks. I wound up returning this player as i got frustrated that it not only didn't play divx HD, but it also didn't play any of my older regular divx files. None. Files made with ffmpegX saved as .avi files with divx 3 and 4 codecs... none of them played. Bummer.

I wound up getting the LG BD630 which the divx website claims is certified under 1.2 but alas, it also does not play the older .avi files. It does play .mkv so i was able to use Handbrake on a slideshow project and have the photos look almost HD, as opposed to burning to DVD and being all grainy/blurry/crappy.... this is a step in the right direction... but why can't we find a simply solution to playing Blu Ray AND divX HD AND dixX regular?

I have options:
1. re-encode my entire library of old divx files. (doh!)
2. find another divx player for just the old divx stuff and have two players hooked up. (mehhh)
3. keep looking for my Blu Ray/DivX/DivX-HD player

Any more suggestions? Is there no one else in my boat?

[yoda313]

@lord stinkfoot -

Perhaps you could work at changing the fourcc headers on the old divx files? Theres a tool around here somewhere that does it forgot the name at the moment.

Do a forum search for the phrase "change fourcc" and you'll find a lot of information on it. I don't know if it will solve your problem or not but its an area to investigate.

It should not do any reencoding at all. It should be a simple remux with a new header tag.

[jagabo]

Fourcc Code Changer is the tool. But I doubt it will work. Divx 3 and Divx 4 are very different from Divx 5 and later.

My WDTV Live plays Divx 3 AVI -- fourcc DIV3. I don't have any Divx 4 files to test.

later...

I downloaded an AVI file that claimed to be Divx4, fourcc DIVX, and the WDTV Live played it fine.

[dylz]

The LG bluray specs say it doesn't play avi or divx files.....mkv, vc1, mpeg2 and avchd is all it will play but if you read the manual there might be some extra containers like mp4, I doubt even xvix in a mkv container weill work since it's not designed for that format.

The BD670 will do what you need and more.

[jagabo]

The BD670 will do what you need and more.

Are you sure it plays Divx 3 and Divx 4 videos?

[dylz]

I can't say everything it'll play excepty what the site tells me but when I brought my LG bd player it said divxHD and all mkv playback and it ended up playing .divx, avi, mp4, mkv, mpeg PS & TS avchd +all bluray vc1.....

I would guess when it's divx/divxHD certified then it would play most divx formats or any created in the last 5years at least.

[jagabo]

I would guess when it's divx/divxHD certified then it would play most divx formats or any created in the last 5years at least.

Divx3 isn't included in Divx certification (and is much more than 5 years old). I'm not sure about Divx4.

[Lord Stinkfoot]

The BD670 will do what you need and more.

I also bought and returned the LG BD650, as i could not get it to play the old divx files either, so i'm a little gun-shy to try the 670... it seems like much of the same machine.

What I'd REALLY like to see, is a Blu Ray player that has the new "DivX Plus HD Certified" logo on the box.

The DivX site claims that:
"DivX Plus HD Certified devices will playback all previous versions of DivX video and DivX Plus HD video files with the .mkv file extension and AAC audio created with thirdparty tools."

That is what I'm looking for. Panasonic seems to have released a contender, the BDT300. Only available used on Amazon... wonder why?

[jagabo]

What I'd REALLY like to see, is a Blu Ray player that has the new "DivX Plus HD Certified" logo on the box.

The DivX site claims that:
"DivX Plus HD Certified devices will playback all previous versions of DivX video and DivX Plus HD video files with the .mkv file extension and AAC audio created with thirdparty tools."

I believe what they mean is all previous Divx certification versions. Divx certification has never included Div3. Don't count on support for anything before Divx 5 -- which I believe is when they started the certification program.

[mh2360]

I have been drooling over the LG BX580, which has USB, WiFi and DLNA as well as an impressive list of supported video file formats.



I'll check out a few more reviews before I take the plunge though.

[jagabo]

Attached is a small Div3 AVI file from the Divx Test CD:

http://divxtest.surdvd.com/sommaire.php3?lang=en

You can also see how different players' Divx support compares there. I don't think it's been updated with Blu-ray players though.

[Lord Stinkfoot]

@lord stinkfoot -

Perhaps you could work at changing the fourcc headers on the old divx files?

Thanks you Yoda & Jag for this solution! I had never heard of such a thing before. I tried multiple settings with the "AviFourCCChangerX" and with my DivX 5/DX50 .avi files, the setting of Xvid/Xvid now play on my LG BD630!

About to try it on a Divx4 file.... hold on a sec...

WOOT!

The Divx4 file also plays now!

Weirdest thing though on this player, there is no audio out of the stereo outputs UNLESS i first play a .mkv or .mp4 file. THEN i can play my .avi files with sound. Through the coaxial audio out it works fine though.. weird eh?

Anyways, thanks guys, you rock!

[jagabo]

Yeah, I tried changing the fourcc from DIVX to DX50 in the Divx 4 file I mentioned earlier. It still played properly everywhere. The same trick doesn't work with DIV3 files though.

[Lord Stinkfoot]

The ONLY setting that worked for my divx 4 & 5 .avi files was changing both the 4cc code and 4cc codec to Xvid. Another unintended plus side of this is that now i can also place .srt files in the same folder as a movie file, and it actually plays subtitles! My old player couldn't handle that, had to burn them in using ffmpegX so my wife could read along... very tedious task indeed. If anybody is interested the 4cc codec settings, here ya go! (this is from my HD slideshow video)

General / Container Stream # 1
Total Video Streams for this File -> 1
Total Audio Streams for this File -> 1
Video Codecs Used -> XviD
Audio Codecs Used -> MPEG-1 Audio layer 3
File Format -> DivX
Total File Size -> 14.5 MiB
Total Stream BitRate -> 4 185 Kbps
Video Stream # 1
Codec (Human Name) -> MPEG-4 Visual
Codec (FourCC) -> XVID
Frame Width -> 1 280 pixels
Frame Height -> 720 pixels
Frame Rate -> 30.000 fps
Total Frames -> 872
Display Aspect Ratio -> 16/9
Scan Type -> Progressive
Codec Settings (Summary) -> BVOP / Packed Bitstream
Video Stream Length -> 29s 66ms
Video Stream BitRate -> 4 013 Kbps
Video Encoder -> DivX503b2310p
Audio Stream # 1
Codec -> MPEG Audio
Codec (FourCC) -> 55
Codec Profile -> Joint stereo
Audio Stream Length -> 29s 33ms
Audio Stream BitRate -> 160 Kbps
Audio Stream BitRate Mode -> CBR
Number of Audio Channels -> 2
Sampling Rate -> 44.1 KHz
Bit Depth -> 16 bits
Audio Stream Size -> 567 KiB (4%)
Audio Stream Title -> Audio

[yoda313]

@lord stinkfoot - I'm glad there was some benefit to you. I haven't needed it myself but I have read about it over the years and thought it was worth mentioning.

[Lord Stinkfoot]

Ahoy folks!

Hey Yoda... if you or anybody else happen to stumble across this post again, I don't suppose you know of a similar tool for converting the headers of .mp4 files?

Similar to my old divx files, i have some problems playing certain .mp4 files on my player, says "format not supported"... while others play fine.

Is there a Mac tool for such a thing?

Thanks,
LS

[jman98]

Next time just make a new post instead of grave robbing AND hijacking this thread. This thread was specific to the Philips DBP5320 and formats other than MP4. Your post is not.

I doubt that your problem can be solved by headers. Posting MediaInfo grabs of a file that plays fine and one that does not could be helpful, but I'm hesitant to encourage you to do so here as then it would be like encouraging your behavior. Just start a new thread and ask for help and post the grabs there rather than continuing to misappropriate this thread which should have been left alone.

[Ai Haibara]

Considering Lord Stinkfoot is this thread's OP, shouldn't he be able to revive the thread and tangent it, if he wants?