DivX using virtualdub, nandub, or gordian knot...

[Hpar_]

last night I was able to make a half way decent divx from an mjpeg video file using win2k using virtualdub. I was just wondering, has anyone had very much success with divx and the g400 marvel cards? if so, what software and method was used?
if I captured at 704x480, should I keep it that or goto half screen? what filters should I apply in virtualdub or nandub? here are the file size results:

a 16min 41sec clip used 110megs@352x240 using 1pass quality based with divx5.0.2 pro and without resizing (704x480) it was 272megs. I used 128khz/16bit mp3 for the audio.

should I use 128bit audio all the time or go lower? for example 96bit/12khz (or whatever it is)??

I understand divx is a relative thing but I was very interested in hearing what others have been able to do with a marvel g400tv and divx. if I can get divx to jam out decent video, I will just use it right now since, tmpgenc keeps dropping the audio track a few mins into the thing for what ever reason. I guess I could try encoding the audio and the video then remux it together. I am not sure yet until I get some input from you guys.

also, for some reason nandub, I get no audio at all unlike tmpgenc which gives you some audio then it drops out. can you ever win with this digital video thing? heh.


thankyou very much.

sys config:
-mainboard: abit kt7a/1.4tbird/512micron
-harddisks: boot-ibm 10k wide scsi, backup drive-7200rpm hitachi 18gig wide scsi, capture and mass storage drive-western digital wd1200jb 120gig
-video: matrox marvel g400tv
-cdrom readers/recorders: all plextor scsi

[kropotkin]

For the first part, you didn't said what quality did you choosed at the "1pass quality based". If you choosed something like 80 90 whatevr you couldn't get much comprsssion. Use better 1pass bitrate based and choose whatevr you like, 1000 kbps ... or lower. Experiment!
The sound it's okay, and virtualdub should do the work you need.

[Hpar_]

I used whatever the default setting was on "1 pass quality based" so the quantizer was set to 4 in the box, and it said 93%, whatever that means. the source interlace on the next tab was set to "all frames are progressive". I captured from svideo tv is the actual source. so, what about all those other settings? or is it all just one experiment?

:P

[Indiana]

Use 2-Pass encoding and set the min quantizer to 2-3 and the max. quantizer to 6-7, bitrate to 1200-1400 and turn those extra features on.

It will take some time but gives great quality at 2CDs per movie.

[Hpar_]

I tried the "2pass, first pass-2pass, second pass" thing but it just gives me a black screen so, I dont know what to think about that. I am interested in making high quality. 1hour/disk for high quality, and 2hours to 1 700mb disk for other stuff that is not as high a quality, how do I do that?

[Indiana]

If the two-pass ecnoder doesn't work, you're doing something wrong.
You need to run it first with it set to first pass (it'll take some hours for a 2 hour movie). This will give you just a black screen.
After that you need to rerun it (just leave VDub open, reselect the video-compressor and ONLY change the setting to second pass), then - after again a few hours - you should get a ~1.4GB file for a 120min movie in excellent quality with the above mentioned parameters.
if you want a 700MB file for a 2hour movie, you should select higher quantizer values like 3-4 for min quantizer and 9 for max. quantizer and set the bitrate to ~800.
Audio: mp3 at 160KBps for the HQ/ 2CD version, at 112KBps for the 1 CD version.

If you really can't figure out the 2pass version, you can always try the above mentioned settings with the 1pass VBR encoding.

[Hpar_]

ok lets forget about 2pass right now...how do you calculate a disk to exactly 699megs for a 1hour 38min movie using "1 pass quality based" and what settings should I use for it? I cannot seem to figure out how to calculate a bit rate using 1 pass quality based.

thanks.