simpsons, futurama, family guy with AutoGK

[henningdalgaard]

Which resolution/setting/format should I convert to. I would like to use autogk since I am a newbie. Is it possible to get a good result?
I would like to have a filesize around 50 mb. Is this too small?
Is xvid with cartoon mode to prefer over divx 5.2?
Does AutoGK use 2nd pass, if not, how do I do this manually?

thanks for your help!

[Mnl]

Which size you should choose per episode is rather hard to tell, as this differs from person to person. I recommend that you try different filesizes to find the size that yields the quality you find accetable for your backups. (just que up an episode using different filesizes overnight and it won't be much of a hassle).

If you are a newbie AutoGK is a really good choise, and imho xvid + cartoon mode is the way to go.

If you choose a specific filesize AutoGK will use 2-pass encoding. (1-pass encoding is used if you select target quality percentage)

Hth, Mnl

[niamh]

AutoGK does everything save decrypting and the dishes, so you would have nothing much to do at all..

50 mb sounds very little, those types of episodes would be usually encoded to 1/3 CD with very good results, you could maybe squish them in 150 mb for playback on TV, but 50 mb...............ouch :)

Xvid / divx is a question of personal taste, though xvid IMO compresses better...cartoon mode suits those series, but anyway, autoGK would decide all this for you, and it yields extremely good results.

as Mnl said, try one encode @ 233mb(1/3 CD), one @ 140 (1/5 CD) and one @ 50 mb, and see for yourself when the loss of quality becomes too obvious compared with the space gain, for your eyes.

[henningdalgaard]

okay thanks. I guess I said 50mb because that is often the size you find these shows at on the internet.
I will try various sizes from 50 to 200mb.
What about resolution? Should I always let AutoGk decide (auto width)

[len0x]

Actually for 20-22 min episodes the most suitable size is 175Mb (i.e. 4 eps per CD). 233Mb is a bit overkill. This should allow you a comfortable resolutions upto 576*xxx (4:3 ratio I assume) with 2ch AC3 Audio.

If you're encoding the whole seasons then you should run a couple of random episodes with auto width to get an idea what looks good and then use fixed width for all of it.

[techz]

I,ve ripped all three shows dvd,s

Resolution : 320x240
Size: Final Size set to 115 MB
Codec: DivX

Looks great and I can fit 6 episodes onto 1 cd :D

The order of the Family Guy eps on the dvd isnt correct, ive done all three seasons, and they all had some mixups, check always after ripping.

[len0x]

Originally posted by techz
Resolution : 320x240


isn't that a bit low ?

[pdottz]

im encoding the family guy dvds right now as i type. ive done the futurama dvds. i encode everything at 512x384 128vbr mp3 at a set filesize of 140 megs per episode with excellent results. it's hard to tell the difference. i'm doing family guy in divx5. i might redo them all to xvid like i did with futurama. why? cause family guy has the same problems futurama did. some frames overlap and blend and interlace. and autogk doesn't pick this up since it's not a continuous thing throughout each episode. i was able to ALMOST completely fix these problems in autogk using the hidden options to create the .ivtc file for xvid. since i've been up and down these boards looking for answers to these problesm, i am now convinced that its impossible to complete fix these issues. and what works for me is using xvid with ivtc. hope this helps you.

[len0x]

Originally posted by pdottz
.ivtc file for xvid.

Its not codec relevant. It works with DivX as well.

[techz]

I know 320x240 is a bit low, but I started out like that, and for 115mb per episode, a good balance between bit rate, res, and number of pixels or something, i dont remember! It was a good balance i guess, any suggestions? Always open to them...:D

[henningdalgaard]

Originally posted by pdottz
im encoding the family guy dvds right now as i type. ive done the futurama dvds. i encode everything at 512x384 128vbr mp3 at a set filesize of 140 megs per episode with excellent results. it's hard to tell the difference. i'm doing family guy in divx5. i might redo them all to xvid like i did with futurama. why? cause family guy has the same problems futurama did. some frames overlap and blend and interlace. and autogk doesn't pick this up since it's not a continuous thing throughout each episode. i was able to ALMOST completely fix these problems in autogk using the hidden options to create the .ivtc file for xvid. since i've been up and down these boards looking for answers to these problesm, i am now convinced that its impossible to complete fix these issues. and what works for me is using xvid with ivtc. hope this helps you.

Can you explain using hidden options and what is an .ivtc file?

[Slogra]

The clean futurama looks great with 175MB at 512*384. The new clean (season 3?) family guy episodes even look very reasonable 116MB at 512*384.

Older Family Guy episodes The Simpsons are quite noisy so they probably don't look good even with 175MB episodes at 512*384, unless you use some good filters...

[HartleySan]

What filters do you recommend?

[CWR03]

HartleySan, you might note that Slogra posts only once or twice a year now, and probably won't see your question for a while. You might also note that the two threads in which you posted have been inactive for a while, one for a year and the other for almost three. Lastly, you might note that AutoGK doesn't have much in the way of filters other than a few checkboxes in Hidden Options that you seem to have found already.