Motion-JPEG: (easy) convert to something smaller

[kwanbis]

My canon S1 IS records to Motion-JPEG. As far as i know, this is an uncompressed mode and at 640x480@30fps, it takes a lot of space. I want to compress to something smaller, and at first i thought of Xvid/DivX. The only must have requeriments are:

1) great size/quality.
2) Easy.
3) Free decoder.

Nice to have:
1) DVD players compatible
2) Zero codec install in XP/OSX/Linux
3) Free/Open source encoder.

I have read doom9's comparison and at first thought of Xvid, but i couldn't get any easy to use encoder. I'm as of now using DivX Create Bundle, for wich i got a free license key at a company aniversary or something like that. The decoder/player is free, so its mostly ok.

But i was wondering, is there a better choice? Why is no "Create-Bundle-Like" encoding app for Xvid? Can i use Xvid encoder with Create Bundle? Thanks.

[ammck55]

Auto Gordian Knot (AGK) will cover your first three criteria. It will not cover points 1 and 2 under "Nice to have". If you choose to run XviD encodes out of AGK and burn these to disc, you'll need an MPEG-4 compatible standalone to play them in. You'll also need to install the XviD codec on pc's you'd want to view these files on. If you're using some sort of DivX "bundle" at the moment, it's apparently already installed the appropriate codec on your computer if you're having success viewing your encoded files.

Manono has put together a very comprehensive selection of GK and AGK Guides. If you decide to go this route, just read the excellent documentation, dig in hard, and post back if you get stuck.

By the way, when you capture your footage to the hdrive, what file extension are you working with?

That Canon S1 IS is a sweet looking package, it looks as if you got a lot of bang for your buck.

ammck55

[kwanbis]

Hi, thanks for your responce. I actually first tried agk. I installed Xvid 1.1, and agk latest version. Open the .AVI files, and run it. It actually produced bigger files! So i then tried DivX Create Bundle, that is an oficial product, not something like the codec packs. It produced a file with 1/10 the size of the AVI, so i went that route. I would try to follow the guides and see why i got so big files at first. The S1 IS, about a year a go, was a really good buy. It still is for the price. I bought a 4GB hitachi microdrive for it, so i can record about 50 mins at 640x480@30fps. But it takes 4GB!

[ammck55]

Take a look at the Official AGK FAQ, specifically point 6.3.

6.3 I used to use old XviD and now I switched to XviD 1.0.x. Since then I _always_ have _very_ undersized/oversized files. What's the problem?
- old XviD has to be uninstalled properly, i.e. just installing new 1.0.x over it is not a proper way. Try uninstalling old one, then reinstalling new one.

This would be a good place to start in tracking down your filesize problem. When I installed AGK, I had no previous versions of XviD loaded so I've not personally dealt with this issue, but it's a widespread and common problem if it's in the FAQ. I'd go ahead and uninstall the old XviD and AGK, then install a fresh instance of AGK.

I couldn't help but chuckle a bit over what I perceived as your surprise at the filesizes generated upon capture of your motion footage. If you end up getting sucked into shooting much cam footage, you'll probably find it a good solution to buy a huge, inexpensive hdrive and dedicate it to your video files. You can pick up the old IDE drives on the cheap, now that the newer SATA's have gained a strong foothold in the market.

Shooting footage is just the tip of the iceberg. It's easy to shoot a boatload of footage, but when you get around to editing your individual clips and stringing them together with a video editor, maybe even going so far as to author custom menus, you'll find that your storage space doesn't get cleaned out as quickly as, say, when you're doing straight backups of your DVD collection. Have fun!

ammck55

[kwanbis]

i did what you told me. Uninstalled all, and reinstalled AGK, which includes its own copy of Xvid. Now, after running it, i selected the target quality option, and the default at 75%. Not much improvement, like from 34, to 29 mb. I then tried 50%. again, from 34 to 26 mb or something. Then i thought, ok, lets check the quality, and what do i see? a "DivX Video" watermark on the botom right of the screen!!!!!!!! how comes? I selected Xvid as the encoder. And in the worst case, my DivX encoded files dont have the watermark, cause i'm a registerd user! Any idea?

[ammck55]

Any ideas? Yeah, you're screwed! But seriously, since it's a given that AGK didn't insert this watermark, it's safe to assume that your other DivX program is still running around back there and creating havoc with AGK. Root around and try to track it down, you may have to go so far as to get into the registry to find the rascal, but if the program is deleted from your Control Panel and program files, first I'd try this:

Start > Rt-click My Computer > Manage > Find Device Manager > Sound, video, and game controllers > Video codecs > Properties tab

This will allow you to view every single video codec that's installed on your system. Locate and remove everything to do with "DivX" and you might find some joy. If not, post back with exactly what you've done and what results you're experiencing, and someone will help you out. You're getting closer, hang tough!

This system I'm on has only AGK installed with the accompanying video codec logged as "XviD MPEG-4 Video Codec". This one should be OK. Now, you know where to locate your audio/video codecs, and believe me, this won't be the last time you'll be in there.

Make sure you've deleted every last trace of that "bundle" you've been working with. Did you uninstall from the Control Panel as well as deleting it's folder from "Program Files"? If there's still a folder left in there somewhere, you might even have an automated uninstaller to help root this demon out.

ammck55

[kwanbis]

Originally Posted by ammck55

Manono has put together a very comprehensive selection of GK and AGK Guides. If you decide to go this route, just read the excellent documentation, dig in hard, and post back if you get stuck.

i follow manonos thread, but something is wrong.

It starts telling to install
GordianKnot Rippack
GordianKnot Codec pack

i have AutoGordianKnot.2.27.Setup.exe. I downloaded what he tells, but it looks older, is it wright? I'm following the link here:
http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/gknot-main4.htm

[ammck55]

That's the straight XviD guide you linked to. Try this one, or, open the folder where AGK lives; a copy of the guide is inside that install, or at least, it used to be.

ammck55