Seeking advise on my encoding methods...

[angelleye]

I capture video on a regular basis which I then use Divx to encode. My captures are usually about 3 or 4 hours long and I go through and cut out clips that I encode to Divx.

Currently, it takes quite a while because I run 2 passes for each clip and I have to select my clip in VDubMOD, then switch to First Pass, save, and then go back in and switch to Nth pass and save again. This takes quite awhile when cutting out about 40 clips or so.

Is there a way I can save a profile or something that tells the Divx encoder that I want to do 2 passes and does all that part on its own, allowing me to simply make my selection and save it once?

Any information on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[DigitAl56K]

There are lots of cool tricks you can apply here.

First of all, if your multipass settings are always the same you can choose to defer jobs to the job queue in VirtualDub when you save a file. Press F4 in VirtualDub to see the jobs list.

By defering a first pass and nth pass job to the list, then starting the jobs list running, you don't have to be at the computer to manually start encoding. You could even save hundreds of jobs to the list and leave the machine to encode overnight.

You can also get a little smarter then that, and process entire directories of capture files automatically using VirtualDub's command line:

http://www.virtualdub.org/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=20

The command line will let you run jobs pretty easily using 1-Pass mode, but might not help too much with 2-pass encoding (although if you are good at scripting you could create a script to edit the job list automatically for you for each input file you have, then run VirtualDub - the jobs list is just a text file so it's easy to parse).

Fear not, however! If you use the latest He-3 codec from www.divxlabs.com you can now use a new mode that somewhat resembles the outcome of multipass encoding but without control of the average bitrate - you instead do a 1-pass with a target quantizer (think of it as "quality"). By setting a target quantizer of around 5 you're going to get good quality video. Lower numbers give better quality but larger file sizes.

You may also find that with the new Fastest and High Performance modes in the He-3 codec you can capture directly into DivX.

Hope some of this helps!

[angelleye]

I don't think I explained myself very well.

I'm already using the job list. I have one large capture about 4 hours long. I go through with VDubMOD and cut out clips, usually anywhere from 30 - 40 clips per capture. Each clip that I save to Divx I run 2 passes on. I've experimented with 1-pass quality base (quantizer) but I've found I can achieve similar results with a much smaller file size if I go the 2-pass route.

So, let's say I've got my first little section of the video selected to make my first clip from. I have to go into the compression options, select 1st pass, then save-as pass1.avi. I check the box to not begin yet so that it will add to my job list. I then have to go right back into the compression options and change from 1st pass to Nth pass, make whatever other changes I want like the High Motion or Low Motion slider, and then save again as pass2.avi.

When I do this 30 or 40 times I'm constantly changing the settings back and forth. Rater tedius and time consuming and it seems like there should be a better way. It would be nice if I could simply save-as one time for each clip I select out and have it automatically know somehow to put both a first and second pass into the job que with pre-selected settings for each pass.

[stephanV]

You can open the joblists --> edit --> set process directory. and do this once for both passes.

after doing this you will have to re-order the jobslist so the right 2nd pass comes after the right 1st one. still not exactly what you want, but till now the closest you can get.

[mgh]

If you do not mind all your clips (after editing) being joined together before encoding, you can load the original clip via avisynth into virtualdub mod and insert the trim points one after the other via tools-script editor( Hit F5 or File save-refresh after inserting all the trim points).You will get a big clip with all your little clips together which you can then proceed to save.
You do not need to know much of avisynth(vdubmod has builtin templates for avisynth script generation for almost any type of video file). Once you have the script open, select your first clip, go to new line in script, edit-select trim with range. The trim range will be inserted, type ++ after that in same line, select next clip and so on. Do not put ++ after last clip. Then hit File-save &refresh.
Whenever you feel like, you can load that script in any virtualdub version and encode as you want.

[ChronoCross]

I think I'm understanding a little better what he means. it's not the clips that are bugging him(he isn't joining them into a single file). It's having to do the divx settings over and over and over and over. He's wondering if there is a way to tell divx to use multipass Kinda like MeGUI's Automated two pass option without having to set each pass every time.

[angelleye]

Chrono: You're exactly right. In the Divx codec settings I can create profiles that hold the settings for each pass, but then I just need some way to tell virtual dub to automatically run a 2 pass encode using those profiles (1st pass profile & 2nd pass profile) automatically.

I kinda figured this would be something that's already been implemented and I just didn't know where to find it. I guess I'm finding out that's not true...???

[Skelsgard]

Fear not, however! If you use the latest He-3 codec from www.divxlabs.com you can now use a new mode that somewhat resembles the outcome of multipass encoding but without control of the average bitrate - you instead do a 1-pass with a target quantizer (think of it as "quality"). By setting a target quantizer of around 5 you're going to get good quality video. Lower numbers give better quality but larger file sizes.

You may also find that with the new Fastest and High Performance modes in the He-3 codec you can capture directly into DivX.

Hope some of this helps!
__________________
Download DivX 6 today and check out all the latest DivX technology at DivX Labs.

Basically what divX 5.0.2 up to 5.0.5 where able to do (Single Pass with a specific bitrate + Max and Min Quantizer) BUT the DivX Team so "intelligently" removed form the new releases.

[angelleye]

The option is still there, they just put it under the unconstrained mode. Which means, if I understand correctly, that it's not guaranteed to play in Divx certified players because it doesn't have a profile attached to it. Kind of defeats the purpose if you ask me.

That is the way I'm doing it just to save time since there seems to be no other solution. I use one-pass quality based with a quantizer of 3. I'm pretty happy with the results, but I am able to get equal results with smaller file sizes using multi-pass with a bitrate of the max 4Mbit.

Sure would be nice to have a way to do multi-pass encodes w/o having to change all those settings back and forth over and over.

[ariga]

The option is still there, they just put it under the unconstrained mode. Which means, if I understand correctly, that it's not guaranteed to play in Divx certified players because it doesn't have a profile attached to it. Kind of defeats the purpose if you ask me.
That was in 6.0. Now (6.1) that option is enabled even when you select a profile.