Conversion Help MPG?

[sjet]

I got too file with a .mpg extension and another file with a .mpeg extension. I'm trying to convert them to divx. I don't know which codec the files are using? If there's a guide on this site, can u just paste me the link, cuz i didn't see anything regarding .mpg or .mpeg files.

[jggimi]

Files of type .mpg or .mpeg are MPEG-1, usually. That's the codec they are using.

Yes, you can re-encode these to DivX - I assume Divx 5. However there isn't a perfect match in the guides.

This are several that get you close. However, for simplicity, if not for the best encoding method, click on VCD to DivX conversion. It's an older guide, but should get you very close. The reason? A Video-CD (VCD) is an MPEG-1 encoding.

Step 1 of this procedure is to convert the VCD to an .mpg file. Ignore it, and the software needed to convert.

Step 2 and beyond show you one methodology of using Virtual Dub to do a conversion from .mpg to an .avi encoded with DivX 4, which is older, and not as capable as DivX 5. To use DivX5, you should go to the Doom9 download main page -- click on this (http://www.doom9.org/software2.htm) -- and download both the latest Virtual Dub and DivX 5, rather than use the links in the guide.

Personally, I would make several changes to the instructions in this guide, that I believe would improve the speed of the encoding, and the quality of the output. The assumption is that disk space is not an issue. Your output file is likely to be smaller than your input MPEG-1 files.[list=1] I would NOT use any filters in Virtual Dub, no cropping, no resizing. That way, I could change the settings from "Video...Full Processing" to "Video...Fast Recompress" -- you won't be able to watch the frames go by, but the encoding will be much, much faster. Perhaps an order of magnitude faster. I would change the DivX configuration to 1-pass, 100% quality. This will give you the maximum possible quality video in DivX format from your MPEG-1 source.[/list=1] There are other methods that provide more flexibility, or higher quality audio, but they will require more knowledge and experience -- as there are no step-by-step guides already written.

I hope this helps you get started.