Jerky, Skippy movie Hopefully an easy question

[Karl_Hungus]

I’m having difficulty in creating a good divx file. I’ve tried using different versions of divx, e.g. divx 4 and 5, Xvid (I think it’s that) for my files even mpg and they all seem to be skippy or jerk frequently throughout the movies. I’ve played them using several different players including BSPlayer 0.85, Windows Media Player (whatever came with XP Pro), Zoom Player, DaPlaya, and a few others I can’t think of right now.

It seems that DaPlaya (which came with the Divx bundle) plays the videos the best but if I try to search ahead in the movie it restarts the audio from the beginning.

I’m using Xmpeg to decode my vob files; I have used both 2-pass and single pass methods with it. I’ve also tried Gordian Knot using the walkthrough but I ran into some difficulties getting it to read its compressibility check.

I’m just wondering if this is a normal problem with a solution that is realistic with the programs I am using. Is it with the players? Or the programs I’m using to make the files? I tried several searches but couldn’t find anything that addressed this exactly, thanks in advance for any help!

Just realized I didn't say anything about the computer I'm using.

ASUS (can't remember which off hand) motherbord
AMD 1500
640 Ram
64 meg GForce 2
SB Live

[jggimi]

Your hardware is certainly powerful enough that you should be able to playback DivX 4, DivX 5, or XviD seamlessly.

Jerky/Skippy behaviour could be caused by any number of things ... sound: soundcard drivers, audio encoding format, audio codec, audio interleaving; video: video drivers, video encoding settings, video codec, audio format, audio interleaving; hardware: heat; software: operating system problems, or having other software applications or services running in the background.

You can determine if audio or audio interleaving is the culprit fairly easily, by creating a video-only .avi file from an existing .avi file. This can be done with Virtual Dub, Nandub, or, if you're adventerous, Microsoft's GraphEdit. If your silent .avi plays smoothly and properly, then the problem is either the audio stream or the type of .avi interleaving chosen.

By the way, the .avi player you like -- "The Playa" -- DivX Network's first .avi player -- was more limited in capability than most of it's competitors. For example, it did not support variable bitrate .mp3 audio, and would cause your symptoms, and worse symptoms, when .avi files with vbr mp3 audio streams were played. Reviews and polls of users here at Doom9's forum routinely placed it at the bottom of everyone's list of favorite players. With the release of DivX 5, they replaced that player with a new product.

[Karl_Hungus]

Thanks jggimi,

I realize this should have been obvious but somehow in the process of learning all this I got stuck thinking it was just the video decoding, it was the sound. I did try it without the sound and it works much better. I'll try different sound settings, hopefully that'll work.

Thanks again!