DivX/ffdshow decoding comparison

[m0rbidini]

Hi everyone!

I used the search and looked in the guides and in the FAQs and I didn't find a clear answer. I'd like to know if it's better to use Divx5 than to use ffdshow to decode DivX5 encoded movies... assuming that I'm using all the settings recommended in the doom9 guides.

The only thing I found is the playback settings used in the last codec comparison: Divx5 for SBC/DivX5 and ffdshow for XviD.

Playback:

For SBC and DivX5 I used the DivX5 filter at strength 4. I have been using the DivX5 filter to play back DivX3 movies a lot in the past and whenever I thought that something was odd I switched back to the DivX3 filter only to find out that the problem was the source, not the filter. I have also done the same during the comparison but I'm confident to say that the results would not be any different had I used the DivX3 filter for SBC playback (except for being more of a hassle to compare and make screenshots). For XviD I used ffdhow and set it to use XviD rather than ffdshow's own decoding routines. The build I got had internal XivD postprocessing turned on by default, in future versions you might have to turn on deblocking and deringing in the decoder options in the codec setup. Note that this postprocessing is brand new and the lead programmer suggesed that I used it for my comparisons. In SPR and Futurama, the CPU usage was above 90% so if you don't have a 2.8 GHz or higher CPU you should use Nic's filter (ffdshow has/had a bug when playing back XviD files where QPel was used). The other codecs do not permit postprocessing configuration.

Are these the recommended options and settings for decoding XviD/DivX? Is there any decode comparison?

Thank you.

[Hiro2k]

FFdshow can decode all MPEG4, and it uses less processing power. Also if you want to watch OGM's with Divx5 in them, you have to use FFDSHOW to decode them.

[m0rbidini]

Yes, I know that... but the question is if there's a quality difference between them. Has this been tested? Please tell me your experience.

Thanks.

[PowerMacG4]

Well of course there will be a difference, but in my opinion ffdshow is much 'smoother' or something.

[senritsu]

I personally prefer ffdshow but,really it'd be better if you tested them both for yourself and decided since its largely a matter of opinion and personal taste.What looks best to one person might look horrible to someone else.

[m0rbidini]

OK, for decoding I only use ffdshow. A single personal experience is not what I'm really looking for. I never had problems with ffdshow (or maybe I had and didn't know :P). But a friend of mine has been ripping a lot of movies to DivX v5.0.5. He says that his encodings are better decoded with DivX 5.0.5 than with ffdshow. The thing is that we are doing a very small FAQ about playing DivX/XviD in the computer. Until now we have been recommending ffdshow and ac3filter as the basic codec setup, nothing more. But now he says that his DivX5 movies are much better seen when Divx5 is used for decoding. He also says that he respects the codec options used in the Guides@Doom9 ? Did doom9 use those playback settings in the codec comparison only to follow the recommendations of DivX5? Or is it really better to use DivX5 as the decoder for DivX5 encoded movies?

Thanks again!

[m0rbidini]

Any ffdshow developer or doom9 himself :rolleyes: ...

cya

[Awatef]

A small note about an incompatibility:
If you play in BSPlayer while using the ffdshow filter, you won't be able to see VobSub subtitles. That's why I uninstalled ffdshow.

[manono]

Hi-

Awatef, I usually use Nic's decoder for decoding XviD. But that's the first I've heard of problems between BS Player, ffdshow, and VobSub. So I gave it a try. In the codecs screen, with both "XviD" and "Use Xvid" checked, you're right. BS Player crashes on XviD movies with my SSA subs. But if you uncheck "Use XviD", ffdshow plays it fine. And it plays DivX 3.11 fine. I don't have any DivX5 movies around right now to check, but I don't remember having any problems before.

He says that his encodings are better decoded with DivX 5.0.5 than with ffdshow.

m0rbidini, perhaps your friend is using an older version of ffdshow. There have been problems with artifacts in the past, but not with recent versions, as far as I know.

[Awatef]

@ manono
I was actually talking about something else. It's not crashing, VobSub doesn't load at all when playing anything in BSPlayer that would use ffdshow.
The same AVI loaded in Windows Media Player 6.4 using ffdshow doesn't block VobSub.

[manono]

Hi Awatef-

Yes, you're right. I misunderstood. I know that different people have problems with the different versions of VobSub, but using BS Player ver. 0.85, build 490, and VobSub 2.23, I don't have any problems. But I've got a couple of older VobSub versions lying around if you'd like to try them out. But if WMP 6.4 works OK for you, there's no need, I guess.