dv to divx problem

[anajat]

Hi,
I have a Sony DV (dcr-hc39e) camera and lots (I really mean lots) of DV tapes I made on my trips (some are recorded as 4:3, and some as 16:9).
My goal is to have on one dvd about 6-8 hours of recorded material, and I would like that this dvd (or cd) is playable on every divx-player and on every computer.
So I have been trying to make my dv tapes into div-x, and xvid.
How can I achieve this?

In the past I have worked only with 4:3 mode, but recently I have made some tapes with 16:9. Regardles of the mode I have problem with turning dv tapes into watchable divx.
When I capture, I don`t use any compression. An hour of raw material is 11-13 gigs. I have no problem with editing the film, nor how to get the final product in the mpeg2 version (then everything is ok, sound and tone are in line). But this version for me is too big.

What I do not know is this: how to create div-x,-xvid (an hour or two that will be about 700 MB) and that the sound and picture are in sync, that the picture is clear and that is viewable on different DivX players and computers ?

I have used (after capturing and editing) "Virtual Dub", which has a variety of compression codecs for audio and video but I usually did not get what I want. After compression the sound does not follow the image, or the quality is bad. Some materials that were good and that I have burnt on cd/dvd few years ago, won`t open today.

I have tried several programs for editing (Windows Movie Maker, Pinnacle Studio, MGI videowave, adobe premiere) but with all of them I didn`t get what I have wanted: div-x film (lasting an hour or two) with the size of about 700 mb.
I have asked around but sadly no one gave me the answer.. Maybe these programs can do what I want them to do but I just I don`t know how.

Since I am perfectly able to get mpeg2 version, I've come to an idea to convert mpeg version into divx- with some of the converters (like xilisoft, ojosft, any video converter) but also I had no luck. Usually the quality of the picture is very bad.


The second part of the problem is this. Last year I have shot in 16:9 format. With that mode I have the same problems as mentioned above with 4:3 (bad quality divx) plus even an wxtra problem: even when I select to capture dv in 16:9 mode, the final product come as 4:3. Which editing programe can produce 16:9 divx as final product?

And last, something I haven`t tried yet but I am wondering: how do I merge film taped in 16:9 and the film taped in 4:3. How to do it?
Thanks

[edDV]

Some real world perspective

480i DV original is reasonably high quality, editable and looks good when played through a quality deinterlacer.

DVD format and DVD players allow a quality 480i DVD. The player is fine with 480i source. The bit rate needed depends on the quality of the source. Consumer handheld camcorder source is best encoded at 8-9 Mbps (one hour mode) if quality matters.

For reference, broadcast and cable high quality 480i source is sent to home at approx 2-3 Mb/s. That creates a file ~1.3 GB/hr for the quality you see on TV. Lower quality source will look worse.

If you want to go to lower file size, you need to up your encoding game or deinterlace for xvid or h.264*. Deinterlace cuts about half the motion. Quality will suffer unless shot for low frame rate.

Deinterlace followed by h.264 encode can get your bit rate down to your desired file size.

DV audio is uncompressed stereo PCM (1500 Kbps just for audio). This needs to be encoded to 128 Kbps or so mp2 or ac3.


*interlace h.264 is possible as well but requires somewhat higher bit rates depending on source quality.

[edDV]

When you drop to xvid, better to use square pixels and degraded resolution.

SD 4:3 DV is 720x480. This typically gets resized to 640x480.

SD 16:9 DV is also 720x480. If resized horizontally for square pixel it would be ~854x480. But many small low quality fans deinterlace and go for ~720x405 vertical resize.

[Bonie81]

Hi,
I have tried several programs for editing (Windows Movie Maker, Pinnacle Studio, MGI videowave, adobe premiere) but with all of them I didn`t get what I have wanted: div-x film (lasting an hour or two) with the size of about 700 mb.
I have asked around but sadly no one gave me the answer.. Maybe these programs can do what I want them to do but I just I don`t know how.
Thanks

if running time varies from clip to clip, you have to configure XViD each time prior to actual encode to match the running time of the clip you are encoding. In this case you will get output size nearly 700 mb. Search on internet for How to configure XViD.