Best way to XVid or Divx

[cophi]

Hi
I am a very newbie.
My process to produce XVid or DivX is the following :

- I record TV on my PC from an Hauppauge WinTV USB2 external box.
- it produces mpg file of about 7Gb for an average film
- then I capture this mpeg in Studio 9 from Pinnacle to cut the extras I don't need (beginning, end, ads, .....)
- then I produce an AVI file from studio 9. the size of this AVI is about 17 Gb
- finally I use AutoGK in order to get a 1,4 Gb XVid or DivX file

The total process time is 3 to 5 hours and sometimes it takes 2 days and AutoGK fails in the compressibility test pass

Could anyone tell me if my process could be simplified ?

thank you in advance

[CWR03]

Assuming your first step in which you have a 7GB .mpg file is an MPEG-2 format, rather than edit and save as an AVI you could edit with Cuttermaran and save your original capture without re-rendering. Editing is fast and easy, and saving only takes a minute or two at most. You will need to extract the audio first, which only takes a minute or so with DGIndex.

You should also be able to reduce your filesize by capturing in DVD-compliant MPEG-2 which yields 2GB per hour of video at 720 x 480. If you're exceeding those settings your encode time will be longer.

I usually have TV captures take about 2 1/2 hours for every hour of video to convert to XviD.

[mod]

finally I use AutoGK in order to get a 1,4 Gb XVid or DivX file

If your final goal is mpeg4, with not the highest quality, you can directly capture in mpeg4 with VirtualDub..
Use near keyframes, then cut out the parts you don't want, encode audio.

if you record 2 hours, you'll need just another half to edit, compress audio and burn..

[cophi]

Assuming your first step in which you have a 7GB .mpg file is an MPEG-2 format, rather than edit and save as an AVI you could edit with Cuttermaran and save your original capture without re-rendering. Editing is fast and easy, and saving only takes a minute or two at most. You will need to extract the audio first, which only takes a minute or so with DGIndex.

You should also be able to reduce your filesize by capturing in DVD-compliant MPEG-2 which yields 2GB per hour of video at 720 x 480. If you're exceeding those settings your encode time will be longer.

I usually have TV captures take about 2 1/2 hours for every hour of video to convert to XviD.


Thank you very much your advice is very useful !

It seems that I can't capture in 720x480 with WinTV. I browse the settings and the standard resolution called "DVD standard play" is 720x576. I suppose that is why my file are bigger than expected.

Thanks again

[cophi]

If your final goal is mpeg4, with not the highest quality, you can directly encode in mpeg4 with VirtualDub..
Use near keyframes, then cut out the parts you don't want, encode audio.

if you record 2 hours, you'll need just another half to edit, compress audio and burn..


As I read many things about VirtualDub and all these fine softwares, I am a little bit afraid by all the settings one needs to manage to use VirtualDub.

I'll try later if I improve my knowledge of all this stuff

Thanks

[CWR03]

720 x 576 is PAL, whereas the one I mentioned is NTSC, but there's also the factor of bitrate. If you're not already using the "DVD standard play," that's what you should select.

[cophi]

720 x 576 is PAL, whereas the one I mentioned is NTSC, but there's also the factor of bitrate. If you're not already using the "DVD standard play," that's what you should select.


The possible settings with WinTV2000 for Bitrate is either "constant" or "variable" : default is "variable" with Bitrate Value = 4800 and Bitrate Value PEAK = 4800
Another parameter is GOPs value 6 or 15 (default is 15)

That's chinese for me !

[mod]

I'll try later if I improve my knowledge of all this stuff

Why not starting with this? ;)

[cophi]

Why not starting with this? ;)


You mean start with Virtualdub ?

Don't you think it's very hard ?

[Guest]

@cophi

Best way to XVid or Divx Please read and follow forum rules, specifically, rule 12: do not ask what's best. Thank you.

[cophi]

Sorry I am very newbie !
I should have write "Better way" than the one I use .....

[jggimi]

If you have not already done so, please review our Analog Capture Guide (http://www.doom9.org/capture/start.html) and the supporting Capture FAQ (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=32575).

[mod]

You mean start with Virtualdub ?

Don't you think it's very hard ?

I don't think so.. and for realtime capture it's really good..
You can find a lot of helpful posts over this forum, just try it, and see what you get :)