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skyout
15th March 2002, 06:11
Xvid'ers,

I have been capturing and encoding my home videos with DivX for the past year. I have 6 years out of 15 already encoded and stored on CDROM. Since the release of DivX 5 and their spyware version, I have decided to give XviD a go. I believe that XviD has the potential to surpass DivX just like DivX has surpassed Microsoft.

The main difference with my encoding is that I'm capturing home videos, not DVD movies, or TV shows. These videos are a mixture of 2-hr VHS, 20-30 min VHS-C, 2-hr 8mm, 3-hr 8mm, and 1-hr digital. For my analog video, I'm capturing using Huffyuv at 640x480, then using VirtualDub to encode. I'm using a variety of filters but mostly those from Donald Graft. After I encode, I then cut the avi file up into individual scene files (eg. Christmas, birthdays, sports, etc). I then burn the files to CDROM in a chronological sort of order but sometimes I'll group like scenes together.

When I began my quest, I read every post that ChristianHJW wrote about DivX 2-pass encoding and then chose the following DivX settings.

DivX 2-Pass, Slowest Performance/Quality
Output Video Bit Stream = 1600
Max KeyFrame Interval = 300
100% CPU, No Deinterlace
Max Quantizer = 4
Min Quantizer = 2
Rate Control Average = 2000 (default)
Rate Control Reaction = 10 (default)
Rate Control Up/Down = 20 (default)
Post Processing = 4

Here is the rational behind my settings:

Bit Stream of 1600 - Through all of my research, it seemed that between 1500 and 2000 was the best. I tried 2000 and it produced file sizes that were a bit too large. I was aiming at around 1hr/gb, but I was flexible. I then tried 1600 just because it's a nice multiple of 16, it gave me about 50 min/gb, I liked the quality, and it's the number of yards I swim every day.

KeyFrame = 300 - I really would like 30 but the file sizes for that were way too large. But I still wanted to be able to fast forward through the video, and most people recommended 300 (I think it is the default).

Max/Min Quantizer - this is where I really did a lot of research however I can't remember exactly why I chose those numbers. But it had to do with forum posts that went into fast and slow action scenes.

RCA, RCR, RCUD - These I left at the default. Most DVD rippers change the RCA to 200000, which in essence negates any averaging. But I contend, that a home video is not a DVD movie and that there was some intelligent logic behind the DivX developers setting these values as the average. I haved tried 200000 with no visible difference in quality or file size. I have not been able to find anyone who captures home videos to comment on any of these DivX settings.

Post Processing - What ever my computer can handle.

So, with XviD, I'm looking for recommended settings that would compare or better those I've been using with DivX. I have printed and read the XviD Options Explained Guide by Dirk Knop and while it's a very good guide, I have to admit, it's a bit over my head. I don't really understand the engineering behind video encoding. I just rely on other experts to help me work out the best settings.

If any of you guys out there could help and shed some light on XviD for me, I would really appreciate it. I just want to encode some of my home videos to verify that XviD is a suitable alternative to DivX. I'll try any suggestions. What I have to test are some progressive digital videos. Those are nice since I don't have to deinterlace or use any filters. It makes it a bit faster encoding and the source is very good.

Hoping to switch from DivX to XviD,

Mark.

chemmajik
16th March 2002, 20:05
I'll try to do some testing & test out your settings, I've just been waiting for someone to give me a ball park setting to start with. Same goes for divx5 pro for that matter in the 640x480 range. Finally got some blanks so I have room to finally do some testing.

chemmajik
20th March 2002, 08:02
Well I didnt test XVid but you may want to try DiVX Pro5 again, you dont have to mess with all them settings. I just raised my bit rate to 3000 for tests purposes, did two pass, and the results well came out 2megs smaller then 3.11 alpha & scene changes has been fixed. No more blocks and this was just using default settings. Just use ad-aware... But I'll give XVid a shot since they did do some cpu utilization improvements in the last build. Almost a 20-30% less cpu use, compared to other codecs, which is great for preventing dropped frames.

chemmajik
1st April 2002, 15:48
Well after doing some comparisons of XVid & Pro5 final conversions after using picVideo, XVid has come a long way in the latest builds. The colors on Xvid, what can I say look like what they are suppose to be, I'm impressed & I'm not going to start a debate. But I think I'm a convert to XVid... I'll just say from the 3-3 build to 3-30 build the block sizes have reduced from 1/4 down to 3/4 of that 1/4 size on that final size. As soon as the final discussion on smooth or alt curve is finalized vs dsfilter processing it my just be my last codec.