Encode PAL DV AVI with Dr. Divx

[tbrunner]

Hi

I would like to archive my PAL DV Tapes encoded with Dr. Divx on my harddisk and play them back with Pinnacle Showcenter on my (interlaced) television.

Here my questions:
- Dr. Divx wants to resize from 720*576 to 720*528. Does this make sense? Why change the resolution?
- Dr. Divx wants to deinterlace. Does this make sense if I am going to play back on an interlaced television?
- Which bitrate gives good results with DIVX? (For DVD MPEG I know 6000 average is considered as good.)

Thank yout very much for your help.

Regards

Thomas

[jggimi]

I don't use Dr DivX, but I'll try and answer what I can.

...resize from 720*576 to 720*528. Does this make sense?

Yes. AVI files usually use square pixels, because they are designed for playback on a PC. Your DV has an aspect ratio of 4:3. In square pixels, this would be 720x540. Unfortunately, 540 is only divisible by 4. This is a bad size for MPEG-4 codecs such as DivX, due to how they work. 528 is divisible by 16, which is much better, yet still close to 4:3, with a very small aspect error.

...wants to deinterlace. Does this make sense if I am going to play back on an interlaced television?... It depends on how your TV-Out works.

They are not all the same. You'll need to test it.

It depends if Dr DivX supports encoding interlaced content.

(The codec supports it, but I don't know if Dr DivX does.)When encoding interlaced, the codec compresses by field, not by frame, and the encoder (Dr DivX) needs to inform the codec. Assuming Dr DivX allows it, then I would test it, and see what it looks like through your TV-Out.

...Which bitrate gives good results with DIVX?

There is no good answer, because it is so dependant on your content. If size is not a consideration, then you may wish to consider a single pass, quality based encode. See the recent thread titled bitrate choice for latest DivX codec... (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=86088) for a more complete discussion.

[Kika]

On interlaced content, you never should resize the vertical resolution if you wan't the Videooutput also interlaced.

[jggimi]

Good point!

[SeeMoreDigital]

Why not use DrDivX to generate a full 720x576 "DivX" (Mpeg4) encode. And, MPEG4 Modifier to add 4:3 PAR signalling!

Then... provided you have a Mpeg4 DSdec filter installed which can detect PAR signalling, your encodes will display the correct AR on your PC monitor!

Plus, if you buy the right type of stand-alone player, you'll be able to view them on your TV properly too!


Cheers