archos ( divx ) to dvd conversion

[wertert]

Hi - I hope this is the right section to post this - if not please point me in the right direction. I have some .avi files that were created on a Archos video recorder. GSPOT reports them as divx files.

Divx
25 fps
Qf 0.794
320x320 ( resolution )
1524 kbps

I want to convert these and use trusty DVDLAB to author a new DVD containing a bunch of these movies. I have come up with a conversion process which uses ;

1) AVIsynth to resize the movie to 352 x 288 which I read somewhere is acceptable to alot of stand alone dvd players.
2) CCE to reencode the divx file ( via the avs script ) to MPEG2 ( 2 pass CBR 1.15 Mb/s video / 192kbps 48,000Hz audio )
3) edit out anything I don't like in MPEGVCR
4) import and author in DVDLAB

Quality is not bad and it's not great but then again the source is very small and has a low bit rate. I have kept the mpeg 2 bitrate the same as the divx bitrate.

Questions;

1) Will the target resolution of 352 x 288 give me any problems ?
2) Anyone know of any guides that cover this. I've only spent 2/3 hours on this so someone somewhere must have does it before.
All my googleing only results in guides to covert mpeg to archos ( divx ) format....
3) Is matching the two bitrates ( divx & mpeg ) a wise idea ? I want to try and preserve what quality there is.

Thanks in advance

[Matthew]

This Archos device obviously just uses the well known DivX codec. So you can forget about the word Archos being at all relevant when doing any searches.

When resizing be sure to take account of differences in pixel aspect ratio. Q62 of the DVD2SVCD is a great source of info in this regard, IMO.

AFAIK DVD-spec only permits 352 x 288 for MPEG1, not MPEG2. 352 x 576 (half-D1) may be used for MPEG2 though. This is not to say your player will bitch and moan.

MPEG-1 is CBR-only but with MPEG-2 you are best off using 2-pass VBR (or better). And increase the bitrate - after deciding how many mins you want on the DVD. BTW DivX is a much more compressed format than MPEG1/MPEG2 so you can't compare bitrates. 1524 is not low for DivX (well, at least for multipass DVD rips ;)) but that's a crap resolution (can't you change your settings?).

Don't use CCE for audio, BeSweet is better (extract audio first).

Editing might best be done on the avi using vdub(mod) before conversion. Editing MPEG2 can be rather annoying.

And of course there is a guide or 2 for divx/xvid conversion on the mian doom9.org site...

[wertert]

Originally posted by Matthew
This Archos device obviously just uses the well known DivX codec. So you can forget about the word Archos being at all relevant when doing any searches.

When resizing be sure to take account of differences in pixel aspect ratio. Q62 of the DVD2SVCD is a great source of info in this regard, IMO.

AFAIK DVD-spec only permits 352 x 288 for MPEG1, not MPEG2. 352 x 576 (half-D1) may be used for MPEG2 though. This is not to say your player will bitch and moan.

MPEG-1 is CBR-only but with MPEG-2 you are best off using 2-pass VBR (or better). And increase the bitrate - after deciding how many mins you want on the DVD. BTW DivX is a much more compressed format than MPEG1/MPEG2 so you can't compare bitrates. 1524 is not low for DivX (well, at least for multipass DVD rips ;)) but that's a crap resolution (can't you change your settings?).

Don't use CCE for audio, BeSweet is better (extract audio first).

Editing might best be done on the avi using vdub(mod) before conversion. Editing MPEG2 can be rather annoying.

And of course there is a guide or 2 for divx/xvid conversion on the mian doom9.org site...

You are right about not using cce for audio - lipsync is WAY out.
The source resolution is 320x240 which is very dull and I already have all the source AVIs - am I right to say that there is no point in using a 352 x 576 resolution with MPEG2 ? Better of sticking to MPEG1 CBR 352 x 288 ?

I have 18 movies each 40 mins. I'm thinking that 3 dvds will give me
780Mb per video so thats a CBR of approx 2200 kbps MPEG1 CBR 352 x 288....

or am I better of going for half-dvd ie expand 320x240 to 358x576 and use MPEG2 ie superior codec/encode ? multipass

[Matthew]

I expect you'd get better results with 352 x 576 MPEG-2. At 4 hours per disc I'd use this - 2200 multipass VBR is a good enough bitrate for half-D1.

Unless I'm mistaken, with MPEG-1 if you want to remain DVD compliant, the bitrate choices are minimum. The Scenarist help file says the max is ~1800.

If you aren't sure you can always encode one episode both ways.