DVD to Divx for Stand-Alone

[Beavis]

I'd like to convert DVDs (already on the hard drive) to Divx AVI files to watch on a stand-alone player.

The player's manual gives these details on the files it will play:

DivX 3.11 contents
DivX 4 contents (Based on MPEG-4 Simple Profile)
DivX 5 contents (MPEG-4 simple profile plus additional features such as bi-directional frames)

In another section it lists:

Basic DivX format DivX3.11 / 4.12/ 5.x
DivX Pro


Supported resolution is up to 720 x 480 @30 frames / 720 x 576 @25 frames.
Max Bitrate is 4 Mbps.

Can anyone suggest a good free program to use to convert as painlessly as possible? Thanks.

[jagabo]

AutoGK

[Beavis]

I installed the program, but it's not working.

I set up the job and let it start, but then VirtualDub errors out and says Video Compression Error: The source image format is not acceptable. The is just a regular standard DVD, so not sure what could possibly be the problem.....

Any other ideas or alternate programs?

[hello_hello]

I would have recommended AutoGK too. The reason being, if you select the "ESS" compatibility option in hidden settings (CTRL+F9), you'll produce an AVI which will play in any DVD player without a problem.

Have you tried more than one DVD? And which DVD file are you opening?
I've used AutoGK for years and never had that sort of problem with DVDs. What it might pay to do....

Open the ripped DVD using DVD Shrink. In options, set the output size to DVD-9 so DVD Shrink won't try to re-encode. Select the re-author button. In the right hand pane there should be one large title (ie the movie). Drag it from the right pane to the left. Select the compression settings tab. There you can deselect the audio video streams you don't want. Now use DVD Shrink's backup function to save the re-authored DVD to your hard drive.

Try opening the newly saved version with AutoGK. DVD Shrink should backup the DVD using a single vts file and a single set of vob files, so it's hard to go wrong opening the DVD with AutoGK from there.

[Beavis]

Open the ripped DVD using DVD Shrink.

Thanks... I did this and for some reason it didn't error out and made it through the conversion OK. I'll keep working with it.

[hello_hello]

The DVD really needs to be "prepared" correctly for converting. You probably opened the wrong vts or vob file originally, but preparing the DVD with DVD Shrink should stop that from happening.

I think AutoGK gives you an option, when opening a "full" DVD, to pick the correct title for encoding, but I'm not sure that function has ever worked correctly. I can't remember.... I've always either ripped just the movie in the first place, or used DVD Shrink on the ripped files first.

By the way, if you're encoding an "episodic" DVD, using the above method will allow you to resave the DVD with each episode having it's own set of vts/vob files, which you can then open with AutoGK and convert each episode individually. Instead of dragging the main movie title from the right to left pane, there'll be a title (or sometimes more than one) for each episode. To work out which is the correct title, I open the DVD using MPC-HC and play each episode. MPC-HC will display the episode's title number in the status bar.

[smitbret]

Handbrake v0.9.3.