Getting rid of the blocky spot in dark spot. (With Xvid)

[SeeChestlickRun]

Hello,

What I'm doing here is to encode the Blu-Ray rips I ripped on my computer, and my whole life was based on encoding x264 for Xbox, but then soon enough I realized that I could preserve more detail and quality if I encode the rips into Xvid at half HD resolution (960x540), and have it playable on the Xbox (modded with XBMC) but the only problem I faced so far was the weird blocky thing in darker spot or brighter spot.

Of course, I want to get rid of them.

I've browsed through all over this site, all I can find was this (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=258863#post258863). But I'm afraid that its way outdated!!

The link say it all. It doesn't seem to work. Anyone care to point me to right direction?? Or is it enough to say that Xvid is outdated and its time for me to build better HTPC to run my Blu-Ray rips?

Thanks for all your help.

ChestLick

PS. The biggest factor in blocky area is probably because of bitrate at 1500 - 2000 depending on the aspect ratio of movie. I kept them low so they would be run-able on XBOX! Any higher, then its a lagfest.

[CWR03]

The "blocky thing" cannot be avoided completely, not even with insane bitrates. You can minimize it, but I don't see how going to half-HD res would help. You're only ending up with larger blocks, and despite your claim you lose detail with lower resolution unless you use the same bitrate for full-and half-.

[SeeChestlickRun]

The only reason why I didnt encode it at Full-HD is because of XBOX's limited hardware (700 mhz, 64 mb ram, etc.). Even if I could do Full-HD, the bitrate will have to be VERY low, resulting in a very ugly video.

Assuming you understand that the xbox would have to decode 1280x720 = 921600 pixels (depending on aspect ratio) compared to 960x540 = 518400 pixels. So with less pixels to worry about, it is possible to increase bitrate at that resolution making video look much better compared to lower bitrate Full-HD.

That's why I do Half-HD, but as you say that the blocky area is unavoidable, I guess its up to me to experiment and compare the encode of Half-HD Xvid and ever smaller resolution of x264.

Unless I'm completely wrong, please explain by what you mean.

[dat720]

Maybe it's time you look at more powerful hardware........

XBOX 360's are pretty cheap now and i have personally played back 1920x1080 content at 15-20mbps over a network with no frame drops or jerks

[SeeChestlickRun]

Yeah, that's true. The only reason why I like XBOX over 360 is because of the program, XBMC, which is excellent!! Unless there's some kind of program that 360 that I overlooked. But I find that funny coming from you because of your sig. Lol.

I will be building HTPC soon. The XBOX is in my bedroom hooked up to 40 inches LCD, obviously it is not my main theater.

Anyway, an update to this. I have finally decided to go for x264 at 720x480 size with bitrate of 1k. It looked BEAUTIFUL even on my another 50 inches LCD!! (Compared to Xvid) Way much better color and WAY less blocky. I have Wall-E in both Blu-Ray and DVD, and of course the video that was encoded from Blu-Ray source looked better than the DVD source.

So, it is decided. I'm dumping Xvid for good now. It been good years.

ChestLick

PS. To get playable x264 on XBOX, go to this site (http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=HOW-TO_Encode_H.264_Videos_Compatible_With_XBMC_For_Xbox)... I know that the bitrate could be a little bit higher. I was just testing with x264 encoding.

[dat720]

I still have a XBOX 360.... but it's only used as the "front end" to my arcade driving machine.... Forza Motor Sport 2 in a arcade racing cockpit with force feedback steering wheel = the shit!!!

The PS3 is a better media player... but it's twice the price of a 360!

To stream BluRay to the PS3 all i do is demux the tracks and mux them to a M2TS container...