A few silly questions regarding compression/DiVx/ [Archive]

rich_1104

23rd February 2003, 15:04

first allow me to apologize for what may well be stupid questions. Basically I'm interested in putting together a video library on my HD. I am able to rip DVD to my hard drive, which produced the VOB files. I want to be able to compress them into smaller files, possibly for copy to CD.

I was told that DivX was the best tool to use, yet after downloading it I was confused in only finding the player and the codex confuration program.

I kind of figured out that DivX wouldn't work without some other software so I used Gorton Knot. I did compress to DivX Pro 5.03. The result was a bunch of files that didn't have the audio track on them and that the Divx player didn't recognize.

I know I'm so new to this entire world that my questions may be too broad to answer. Still, these past two days I've done little less than stagger around trying to find the answer.

I guess my question is, what can I use to get the highest quality compressed video file?

Also, how to I link the audio and video track? I noticed that some of my output files are listed as AC3 files.

Is my solution different if I want to export to a video CD than if I want to play on Divx? If DivX is a better quality, then I'd rather go there.

I have a bunch of software already downloaded (smart ripper, DVD2AVI). I also am running ATI's All-in-wonder card (which has the players etc. - in case this information helps)

I think I want to go to DivX, because quality is most important to me - more than being able to put on CD. I can run my video feed from my PC to my TV.

Any advice would be extremely welcomed. And again, I apologize for the list of questions - I'd like nothing more than to learn, yet surfing the volumes of FAQs and guides can be overwhelming for a true newbie.

Thank-you

killingspree

23rd February 2003, 16:00

Originally posted by rich_1104
I was told that DivX was the best tool to use, yet after downloading it I was confused in only finding the player and the codex confuration program.

divx is not an encoding tool, but simply a codec. the player is an extra feature which you do not have to use. you can aswell play your files in windows media player or any other .avi player of you choice

I kind of figured out that DivX wouldn't work without some other software so I used Gorton Knot. I did compress to DivX Pro 5.03. The result was a bunch of files that didn't have the audio track on them and that the Divx player didn't recognize.

well you chose the right method! divx 5.03 and gknot are known to have problems with each other though. so you might either step back to 5.02, or look at this small guide (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=44936). the easier method would be to step back to 5.02 though.

I know I'm so new to this entire world that my questions may be too broad to answer. Still, these past two days I've done little less than stagger around trying to find the answer.

well two days isn't too bad... we've all spent a huge amount of time to learn about divX. in the beginning it always seems to be an overhelming load of things to understand, but i guarantee it will get somewhat clearer very soon!!

I guess my question is, what can I use to get the highest quality compressed video file?

this question cannot be answered directly... still I would recommend divx and gknot for the best quality / difficulty ratio.

Also, how to I link the audio and video track? I noticed that some of my output files are listed as AC3 files.

see the guides for details, it is all explained in great detail!

Is my solution different if I want to export to a video CD than if I want to play on Divx? If DivX is a better quality, then I'd rather go there.

again a question nobody can answer for you as you have to simply decide what fits you needs best. if you just watch movies on your computer or via the TV out on you TV, stay with DivX. if you want to watch your movies on your standalone player, encode them to VCD or SVCD

I have a bunch of software already downloaded (smart ripper, DVD2AVI). I also am running ATI's All-in-wonder card (which has the players etc. - in case this information helps)

get GordianKnot and Divx (and maybe VirtualDubMod) ... this is all you need if you decide to go for divX movies!

Any advice would be extremely welcomed. And again, I apologize for the list of questions - I'd like nothing more than to learn, yet surfing the volumes of FAQs and guides can be overwhelming for a true newbie.

of course it is overhelming, but i suggest you reread the appropriate guides:
DivX guide (http://www.doom9.org/gknot-main3.htm)
VCD/SVCD guide (http://www.doom9.org/mpg/dvd2svcd.htm)
oh and read these (http://forum.doom9.org/forum-rules.htm) one more time too :-P especially 1) and 1a)
and for your audio problems here's the guide (http://www.doom9.org/ac3tomp3.htm) you'll most likely need

hope this helped somewhat... if you still have questions after reading the guides and following them STEP BY STEP feel free to come back and ask some more!!

regards
steVe

rich_1104

23rd February 2003, 16:24

Steve:

Thank you for taking the time to work through my questions, I truly appreciate it. let me ask just one more question - is there a way to RIP the DVD so that the audio track is laced in with the video or will I always have to dub them together, no matter what software I sue?

Hiro2k

23rd February 2003, 18:26

You will always have to mux them together. And that's better IMO since you can choose the bitrate for MP3, or you can decide to use the original AC3, or even the DTS track if it's available.

manono

23rd February 2003, 18:48

You're good, killingspree. I'm glad you're around to help out.

Time to upgrade your name to unstoppable, on the way to godlike (your name's a UT reference, isn't it?) :)

killingspree

23rd February 2003, 19:19

Originally posted by manono

Time to upgrade your name to unstoppable, on the way to godlike (your name's a UT reference, isn't it?) :)

thanks

yes it is...
i'm a huge Unreal Tournament Fan :-P

Hiro2k

23rd February 2003, 19:50

MEMEME MEGA KILL! Good Job killingspree

rich_1104

23rd February 2003, 22:12

okay, so I have compressed a DVD down from about 7 gig to a video file of about 1.7 gig and 4 audio files, each about 202 MB.

Now I need to run them together. From my past experience with dubbing audio over video tape, the audio track would lay over the video.

Not sure how that works here. When I play my video track, there's no audio (using Micr Soft's Media Player). Do I need to mix them in order for them to play together or is there a way to indicate both files to the player and let the player sync them?

If I need to mix them - how do I do it. I've looked at NanDub abd Virtual Dub but can't seem to find if and how they will let me blend the two.

Not sure if the fact that I'm using the ATI graphics card, All In Wonder - prohibits me from using Viral Dub.

Thanks again for any help you might have to offer me.

Regards,
Rich

nFury8

24th February 2003, 04:18

@rich_1104

1. Open your encoded AVI file in Nandub (or VirtualDubMod)

2. Choose Direct Stream Copy from the Video pull-down menu

3. Next, hit the Audio pull-down menu and either choose AC3 if you intend to
just multiplex your AC3 to your video file, otherwise choose (VBR) MP3 Audio

4. If you chose AC3 you'll need to select Interleaving from the Audio
menu and there you'll see some options like Preload, Interleave audio every,
and Audio skew correction, for the first option you can leave the default
500 default for preload, for Interleaving Audio, I always use 2 frames and
never had problems with it, and for the Delay Audio option, you have to make
sure the value here is the same as the one showed in the demuxed AC3 file
from DVD2AVI

5. Then just save your file as blahblah.avi and that's it.

Hope this helps.

killingspree

24th February 2003, 08:27

Originally posted by rich_1104

Now I need to run them together. From my past experience with dubbing audio over video tape, the audio track would lay over the video.

Not sure how that works here. When I play my video track, there's no audio (using Micr Soft's Media Player). Do I need to mix them in order for them to play together or is there a way to indicate both files to the player and let the player sync them?

If I need to mix them - how do I do it. I've looked at NanDub abd Virtual Dub but can't seem to find if and how they will let me blend the two.

this is digital video and audio, so these operations are completely different. but nfury8 has explained this already.
in addition i've already pointed you to the appropriate guides, for muxing two audio tracks go here (http://www.doom9.org/dual-audio.htm). oh and i don't believe you can mux 4 audio streams into one .avi file.
You should probably go for another container, like .ogm.

Not sure if the fact that I'm using the ATI graphics card, All In Wonder - prohibits me from using Viral Dub.

no, don't think so...

@manoano & Hiro2k: thanks for the nice feedback, greatly appreciated :D

regards
steVe

PS: pls read the guides completely (one more time, if you've read them once already)

rich_1104

25th February 2003, 03:28

thanks for taking the time to help me out. Your advice has been great. I'm trialing the tools and working my way through the guides. I have run Nandub a few times and outputted some new files . . although still no sound.

Looks like when MS Media Player tries to open the file it gets an error reading/downloading the codex file. That may be why I'm not getting sound. I don't know. Either way, I'm still working through it. Thanks again for your help.

Regards,
Rich

manono

25th February 2003, 06:49

What happens when you play just the audio tracks themselves? No sound? Then you won't hear anything after adding them to the video (called multiplexing or muxing for short) either. You'll need filters. If the audio is AC3 (check the extension after the audio file name). then you need the AC3 Filter (http://www.doom9.org/Soft21/Filters/ac3filter_0_63b.exe). And while you're at it, you'd better have the general Audio Filters (http://www.doom9.org/Soft21/Filters/audiofilters.zip).

rich_1104

25th February 2003, 14:01

No, when I played the tracks alone, they were fine, they sounded fantastic. It was after I ran the multiplexing that the video still didn't have the sound.

Anyway, I did get it to work this morning. I can't tell you how great grateful I am to this website and each of you that responded and how cool it is that everyone lends their expertise to newbies like myself. I will stick around and hopefully develop enough knowledge here, over time, to give back to the site.

Bottom line on my conversion is that I converted a 7 gig video down to 2 gig. Does that sound about right? The quality seems okay. I do see some jaggies etc. but for a 3 to 1 conversion, maybe I shouldn't complain. I did end up using the Microsoft compression because the DiVx seemed to give me problems when I used it from Gordian Knot. Do you think that the MS compression is as good as any other?

Given that I used the MS conversion and got a 7 down to a 2 - would you tell me there may be a better answer to quality? Perhaps a better compression algorythm? Is a 2 gig file about what I should expect?

If I wanted to go to CD video (not DVD), would I lose some of the quality? Would Nero be my best bet?

This is great fun - again, my sincere thanks to all of you.

Rich

killingspree

25th February 2003, 19:14

Originally posted by rich_1104

Bottom line on my conversion is that I converted a 7 gig video down to 2 gig. Does that sound about right? The quality seems okay. I do see some jaggies etc. but for a 3 to 1 conversion, maybe I shouldn't complain. I did end up using the Microsoft compression because the DiVx seemed to give me problems when I used it from Gordian Knot. Do you think that the MS compression is as good as any other?

Given that I used the MS conversion and got a 7 down to a 2 - would you tell me there may be a better answer to quality? Perhaps a better compression algorythm? Is a 2 gig file about what I should expect?

well i mean of course you have to decide what you want, but i would not be satisfied with these results. what i want, and what i am going for is a one or two CD rip. (700 or 1400 MB) so i can easily store it on as few CDs as possible. If you're just intending to leave it on your hard disk or delte it since it was only for trial this might be fine though. of course the lower you want your size the worse your movie gets. so a few "jaggies" have to be acceptable.
about the MS codec: i have never really used it, except for some quality comparisons about one and a half years ago (not relevant therefore). It gives you far worse results than a properly set up divX or Xvid movie. (i don't know how it works with wm9 codec though) anyway, if i were you i'd go for divx. the problems you had with divX are probably the result of you using divX 5.03 with gknot. look above in my first reply, if posted a link to another post of myself. if you exactly follow this guide and connect it with the guide on doom9 i pointed you to, you should be able to do a divx encode. i just advise you to stay away from the M$ codecs (or programs in general)

If I wanted to go to CD video (not DVD), would I lose some of the quality? Would Nero be my best bet?

well of course you can use Nero to burn your video files to CD. for the process of creating video CDs (VCD- playable on your standalone) i would rather suggest you use another method- all of them also described in the doom9 guides.

pls do some more reading on the basics @ doom9 and probably search the forum for a few hours too... they both hold a huge amount of collected knowledge and will most likely be able to answer almost any question you have!

regards and good luck
steVe

rich_1104

26th February 2003, 14:12

I can see where this can become a real problem. I spend my entire weekend and both last night and the night before running tests and reading threads on this site. My wife keeps asking, "what are you doing?" And it's not that I'm not normally on the computer, I am. This just seems to be so fascinating I can't get away. I find myself here in the morning as well before work.

It does take time to convert two hour movies. As I mentioned, I was able to get one 2 hour movie down to 1.7 gig (Cast Away) muxing audio, it came out to just under 2 GB. But I agree, I would like to be able to put it on one disk if I can. I read through some pretty entertaining threads last night, one in which one guy is proposing his settings for doing a one CD rips were the best. Others, apparently, disagreed.

Anyway - trying to get it down to a smaller file size (this time I used Road to Perdition), I used an earlier copy of Divx (not the Pro) - I used GNOT and did a DVD2AVI. It came out great, 793 KB - still a little too big once I put the audio on but, I'm progressing.

What's interesting is that when I did this DVD2AVI using Divx on Road to Perdition, it produced one very large audio file, 1.3 gig. Where, with the MS codex on Cast Away, it created four separate, yet seemingly similiar audio files:
1) AC3 T02 3_2ch 448 KBPS delay 0 MS (this file was about 471 KB)
2) AC3 T03 2_0CH 192 KBPS delay 0 MS (this file was 202 KB)
3) AC3 T04 2_0CH 192 KBPS delay 0 MS (this file was 202 KB)
3) AC3 T04 2_0CH 192 KBPS delay 0 MS (this file was 202 KB)
4) AC3 T05 2_CH 192 KBPS delay 0 MS (this file was 202 KB)

These files all appeared to have the same audio on them. With that in mind, I muxed one of the 202 KB files with my video, giving me a final video of 1.9 GB for Cast Away

So, here I am with a nice Divx video file but such a large audio file, there's no way I can keep the size small.

Should I be looking to rerun DVD2AVI with other audio options that will create a smaller audio file? Or should I post-process this audio file to create a smaller audio file?

Or, does the movie I use as input dtermine how many small or large audio files are generated?

Thanks!

Rich

manono

26th February 2003, 15:55

Hi-

According to IMDB (http://us.imdb.com/DVD?0257044), Road To Perdition has only DD 5.1 and DD 2.0 Surround. For the audio file size to be 1.3GB, you must have Decoded into .wav (check the file extension), whereas you should have just Demuxed. You can either go back and get one of the Dolby Digital Tracks, or let GKnot convert it to MP3, or do it yourself following one of the guides. By the way, the .txt file created by your ripper will tell you what audio tracks are included.

As for Cast Away, according to IMDB (http://us.imdb.com/DVD?0162222), There's a DTS track, an English DD 5.1 and a French 2.0. I don't know how you got those extra tracks.

As for how many CDs, let the GKnot Compression Test tell you how many CDs and at what resolution for the quality you're aiming for. Cast Away is almost 2.5 hours long, and I went for 2 CDs when I did it. I haven't done Perdition, so I don't know. But since it's almost 2 hours long, it probably also deserves 2 CDs. It just depends on how much of a stickler for quality you are. Generally, though, if you go for the AC3, you're usually committed to 2 CDs, because of the extra space it takes up when compared to MP3.

Also, for you to wind up with those screwy file sizes (neither just under 1 CD, nor just under 2 CDs), then you're doing something slightly wrong. If you do it correctly, the sizes should come out just right. But you're still learning, and you'll get the hang of it.

It's fun, isn't it?

ammck55

26th February 2003, 17:47

Originally posted by rich_1104
I can see where this can become a real problem. I spend my entire weekend and both last night and the night before running tests and reading threads on this site. My wife keeps asking, "what are you doing?" And it's not that I'm not normally on the computer, I am. This just seems to be so fascinating I can't get away. I find myself here in the morning as well before work.

Welcome to the club! You'll soon get to the point where you can manipulate your tools properly and it's extremely rewarding at that point, I mean, not having to fight for every inch that you gain. Once you get there, you can branch out and get a sense of the knowledge stored here. It's staggering! It's easy for a lot of noobs to get intimidated, not do any tests, and just start posting with a lot of "Why's" and "Help's", with no log files to look at or results to describe. You've taken the time to test, describe your problems in a clear, coherent fashion, and look at the help you've gotten. I think this is in large part due to your observance of forum rules and Doom9's posting protocols, and evidence of a good deal of work on your part before posting with your problem. I'm certainly not trying to insult your powers of observation with this next remark, but I've noticed that some real heavyweights have come to help you (that doesn't include me!).

There's more to be learned in this thread than the solutions to the problems described within, and IMHO, this is a really good thing. And yes, this is the first place I come to in the mornings and the last site I visit before logging off and going to bed. Addicting, isn't it?

ammck55

rich_1104

27th February 2003, 16:16

At the risk of repeating myself, thanks to all who took the time to respond to my broad, often misguided, questions. It's coming together for me now. I did begin to adjust bitrates to size my avi output. I also seem to have gotten the hang of BeSweet to do my audio conversions.

Now that I've been able to get through the process with somewhat of an understanding, I'm going to go back to increase my size to see if I can improve the quality. My latest version is 775 MB, the sound is fantastic and the video is pretty good. I do see some blurring here and there . . around the edges of things, etc.

So, I'll run somemore tests (although they do take all of two hours or more to run - maybe I can speed up the conversions?)

Then I'll need to figure out what do use to write them to multiple VCDs. I'm used to my burning tools just telling me it can't fit my file on the medium. I'll need to figure out which tool to use and how to tell it to go to two volumes.

Either way, some real satisfaction here at finally closing the loop on my first complete cycle. Lot's of room for experiment and improvement . . .

Again - thanks!

killingspree

27th February 2003, 17:39

Originally posted by rich_1104
My latest version is 775 MB, the sound is fantastic and the video is pretty good. I do see some blurring here and there . . around the edges of things, etc.

well nice to know you finally got close to an acceptable filesize and like the results. some blurring around the edges and other artifacts are quite common in this stage of compression, but i promise you won't even notice them when actually watching the movie...

So, I'll run somemore tests (although they do take all of two hours or more to run - maybe I can speed up the conversions?)

well it depends on what you want. if you want to make tests about filesize etc. two hours is a good time anyway. when you are just going to test quality issues at a certain bitrate or using certain filters there's no need to encode the whole movie. if you are using avisynth you can use the SelectEvery() command. see more one the avisynth homepage (syntax etc.) www.avisynth.org

Either way, some real satisfaction here at finally closing the loop on my first complete cycle.

oh i told you there will ;-)

Lot's of room for experiment and improvement . . .

there always is... (:

have fun encoding AND especially watching the movies you encode. and be aware of the adicitveness of this "profession" :-P

regards
steVe

manono

27th February 2003, 22:11

Hi-

I'll need to figure out which tool to use and how to tell it to go to two volumes.

You have to split 2 CD .avis yourself before burning. Here's Doom9's VDub Procedures Guide (http://www.doom9.org/virtualdub_procedures.htm). About a third of the way down is a method for "Splitting AVIs". Use Nandub for this instead of VDub.

Edit: Or you might prefer Avi Splitter (http://www.billssoftwarepicks.com/software/graphics/miscellaneous/AVI_Splitter_BRIZ_Software.html).

rich_1104

27th February 2003, 23:40

addictive? I took today off so that I could get through a one-CD version.

Still, I'm hung up a bit. I have the AVI video down to 660MB. The AC3 file out of the rip is 164 MB. Does 164 MB seem too big? I used BeSweet to convert to MP3. Still, I only got it down to 108 MB. Does that seem right? This is for Road to Perdition, which is 117 minutes.

Rich

manono

27th February 2003, 23:52

Hi-

The figure for the MP3 is about right, but will vary depending on whether or not its CBR/ABR or VBR, and on the bitrate you chose. The figure for the AC3 is also right, assuming you started with the DD 2.0.

I'm still not sure why your file sizes are so far off. Are you using GKnot as a front end for all this? And are you filling in the audio file size and the overhead before getting the video bitrate?

rich_1104

28th February 2003, 00:57

So, are my file sizes still screwy? My video is 660 MB and my audio files, AC3 are 164 MB.

I did use GKNOT for a front end, at least for the video side. I need to go back and try out my options there, especially if you think my file sizes are out of sync.

One last question - when I went to copy a AVI file I have that is 550MB to VCD through Nero - I told Nero it was a Video CD. Somehow it saw it as like twice the 550MB.

Thanks -

manono

28th February 2003, 04:53

Hi-

Ordinarily you'd want to fill the CD, and use every bit of the space available to improve the video quality. But something you said gave me pause. Are you trying to make VCDs, like to play on your standalone DVD player? If so, then you don't want to make .avis. You might as well go direct from DVD to VCD. But I'd recommend making SVCDs instead because of the higher resolution and quality. If you're not sure that your player can play VCD/SVCD, then go to DVDRHelp.com (http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdplayers), and find your DVD player and check.

.avis are MPEG-4, and VCDs are MPEG-1 and SVCDs are MPEG-2. The program you want is DVD2SVCD (http://gknot.doom9.org/D2S112B1.zip). It includes everything you'll need except for the encoder (TMPG or CCE). And you can make VCDs with it, and also convert your .avis to one or the other. If you're interested, here's Doom9's DVD2SVCD Guide (http://www.doom9.org/mpg/dvd2svcd.htm). Here's another fuller Guide (http://www.doom9.org/mpg/dvd2svcd_newbieref.html). And here's a whole slew of Guides (http://www.doom9.org/doc-overview.htm#svcd). You don't use Nero for the encoding. When DVD2SVCD gets done, it spits out Bin-Cue files ready to burn. Then in Nero, you go File-Burn Image to burn to CD.

As for burning the .avi, just drag and drop into Nero and burn.

I was told that DivX was the best tool to use

That's from your very first post. That's how we (I?) got the idea that you wanted to make .avis. It's still good training, but unless you have video-out on your video card so you can connect to your TV, you'll be watching them on your computer monitor.

rich_1104

28th February 2003, 13:38

thanks. And yes, to your point - I did plan to watch on or through my computer. I have an ATI video card with TV out, it also has S-Video out, so I can watch them on my TV, which I have done and they look pretty good. (although the picture seems slightly skewed to the right . . very slightly) that way.

And you're right, that wasand is my goal. But, then there's the side of me that continues to explore . . asking myself, how will this work on a stand-alone CD - can I bring a copy upstairs to watch on my other DVD player .etc. So again, I'm exploring the possibilities.

Although I do plan to go back to work today, I still want to see about burning a stand-alone. I'll look through the SDVD stuff. Actuually I began to look at that last night.

Thanks again - I'll let you know how I do.

Regards,
Rich

killingspree

28th February 2003, 13:51

hey again
honestly i'm a little confused now... i was following this thread closely and always had the impression that you wanted to create .avi files. Anyway, i guess you should somehow seperate your questions about .avi (divx) and VCD/SVCD. just tell us at the beginning of a question which one of the two you are talking about. this can avoid further confusion.

oh and to your problem when using Nero. if you will just watch the files on your computer you don't burn them in the VCD mode but in normald file (data) mode. do it the same way as burning normal files (e.g. word documents) on a cd. this way you just ahve to make sure the file is smaller than 702 MB (to be exact)

if you have any more questions let us know

regards
steVe

manono

28th February 2003, 14:16

So I wasn't the only one confused there for a minute? :)

rich_1104

28th February 2003, 14:56

apologize for the confusion, yes I'm trying to do both and will certainly prefix my questions/comments going forward.

I'm running DVDSVCD right now, I'll let you know how it comes out. As for the AVI files, well, it would be interesting to be able to export them to VCD or SVCD - say I was to be given an AVI file that I wanted to put on a stand alone.

Anyway - you're responses have made clear to me the very real distinction between AVI files played from the desktop to VCD files played on stand alones.

Thanks for your help!

Rich

killingspree

28th February 2003, 15:19

good ... at least this has been clarified

as for encoding .avis to VCD: you don't want to do this if you don't need to do it. not that it would be too difficult, but it will result in quite a loss of quality. but if you really got a video and need to play it on standalone you can also use DVD2SVCD for the task afaik. i've never tried it because i do not make SVCDs (neither VCDs) because my standalone doesn't support them. Anyway i think you should just look into the VCD SVCD guides section pointed out by manono. i think the process is desribed there.

@manono: no i've been more and more confused too... but i think now we've got everything settled out again :-)

regards
steVe

rich_1104

1st March 2003, 14:19

okay, well I finally finished my SVCD rip! Wow, it look forever. Elapased time almost 24 hours. With that said, my daughter did reboot the machine in the middle of it, but DVD2SVCD does allow to restart where it left off.

Still, it was CPU intensive. My computer, which is an Intel 1.9 GHZ machine with 512 Rambus RAM, was taken to a crawl. Now, maybe the fact that I ran other things while it was running helped to slow it down somewhat but still, I started it yesterday morning at about 8:30AM. It finished this morning at about 7:00AM. I would guess about 12 hours of actual processing time.

I used Harry Potter as a test and ultimately only burned the first of three CDs it produced. The video qulaity was pretty good, although it skipped a lot, which I think is due to the fact that the CPU was doing other things and this process requires the CPU's full attention.

Anyway - I suppose it's an option but I'll probably stick with AVI files for now. A lot quicker for sure.

Just thought you would like to know. So today - I play with some more GKNOT conversions -

Regards,
Rich

zsolo

2nd March 2003, 13:38

Hi,
I am a newbie in the DVD and DivX world, but willing to learn. I have read some of the guides on this site, and as a result, I'm able to rip and encode a DVD to a DivX avi. My first project was Event Horizon (anyone remember this film?). It is not a long movie, so it looks really good on 2 CDs. I used GordianKnot and the DivX 5 tutorial, and I'm satisfied with my first results. But there is a slight problem...
I am Hungarian but I prefer to keep the original english audio. So, the audio is in english and I use hungarian subtitles. Well, here is the problem. Following what the guide said I got the subtitles files: a sub and an idx file (using Vobsub). But the sub file seems to be a raw format (I looked at the file in a text editor and it was just a bunch of funny charachters, so it seems to be a binary file.) How do I convert this file into a real sub file, that I can read and use with the movie? I do not want to burn it into the movie, just want a separate subtitle file. Anyone can shed some light on this matter? Or point me to the appropriate tutorial?
Thanks a lot!

killingspree

2nd March 2003, 13:57

hi zsolo and welcome to the forum!
i don't know how the *.sub files should look like since i've never used them, but afaik it should be a bitmap file. try opening it in your favourite graphics application and see if they appear right there.

Anyway IMHO it is easier (less space consuming) to use subripper with OCR. A subtitle file for a full movie will then only have a few hundred kb max. and they are also played back by vonsub. (although you do not need it for playback in players like Bsplayer)
here's the link for the appropriate guide (http://www.doom9.org/subtitle_guide.htm)

hope this answers your question!
regards
steVe

PS: this is actually a seperate question so please post it as a seperate thread next time. thanks