Marvel G200, MS Pro 5.x, and DIVX question

[pigseye]

Hi all,
Real newbie question here.

I have a Marvel G200 and media studio pro 5.x. I'm trying to capture video off my analog camcorder and then convert it to DVIX format. WHen I capture using media studio pro, I use the Atrox MPEG format (MJPEG?). My goal is to balance quality with file size.

As I understand, this results in an avi file that is not readable by non-Matrox hardware. Is that accurate? I presume then that this format cannot be used by AVI to DIVX converters.

My goal was to convert this captured video into the DIVX format to distribute to my family. But I'm not sure what the best tools are to use. Nor do I know what's the best way to create the highest quality video in a compressed format.

Could someone point me in the right direction? I'm not asking you to spell it all out here like a recipe, just provide some guidance on where to look and what tools would work best for my HW and SW.

Thanks so much,
Pigseye

[Sciascia]

From what I understand it looks like you want to capture and then edit your video. If this is the case then MJPEG is probably your best option for ease vs. quality.

I would suggest capturing the video with either the Ulead vidcap or try avi_io for it's stability and the fact that it keeps your video a constant rate. The PC VCR program tends to drift and MSP will have to rerender all of your clips.

Edit your clips in MSP with the project settings the exact same as your captured files. This will speed things up a lot.

Create an avi using the DivX codec as your compression scheme. If it does not work (for some strange reason), try saving the entire file in the Matrox MJPEG. Then use Virtual dub to convert it to DivX and I would suggest using mp3 audio.

Now DivX is great for filesize, but the quality does diminish pretty quickly. If the video is not too long, try MPEG1 or 2. MPEG1 is supported by the basic install of Win Media Player and is better qulaity than DivX. I don't suggest using the built in MPEG1 encoder in MSP, but a seperate one like TMPGEnc. It is free and is a lot better quality. Again you would have to feed the MJPEG project file into the encoder.

[pigseye]

Hi Sciascia,
I really appreciate your response. A few clarification responses and then some questions.

I have been using Ulead vid cap and was happy with the capture results.

I was using MSP to convert to MPEG1 but was changing the video settings and it was taking 5 to 6 hours to do a 30 minutes clip. As you noted the results aren't that great and I was not impressed. That's why i thought DIVX might be better.

How do I use the DIVX codec in MSP? I don't know how to load compression codecs into MSP. Pardon my ignorance again.

Can I use TMPGEnc to convert an MJPEG file to MPEG1? Does it work because I'm using a MATROX video card? Could I use TMPGEnc on a non-Matrox machine to convert MJPEG to MPEG1?

Sorry for all the questions but I'm trying to gain a better understanding of the HW and Sw limitations of my set up. Eventually I would like to upgrade my PC to 1.8 to 2Gig HZ but am not sure which video capture card I should get. I'm hoping having a better understanding of the limitations of the Marvel G200 will help me with a future purchase.

Thanks Again,
Pigseye

[Sciascia]

If you already haev DivX installed on your computer then it should be one of the available compression formats in the output settings. I haven't used MSP5 for a while, but you should be able to select it in the File>create video file>compression tab. There is a drop down menu and it should be in there. If not save the file in MJPEG and use Virtual Dub to convert it to DivX. You can do a lot more in Virtual Dub to try to make it look a little nicer, like deinterlace and some cleaning and a bunch of other stuff.

Yes you can use TMPGEnc to converta MJPEG file in to MPEG1 or 2. Just load the file and go at it.

You can use the MJPEG file on other machines, you just need to install a MJPEG codec like Picvideo or Morgan. Both links are on the Desktop Video world "Links" section.

Not real familiar with the G200, I haev a G400. I believe they are similar except for the 3D and maybe a little newer.

[pigseye]

Hi Sciascia,
I really appreciate your help.

I did convert one file with TMPGEnc from MJPEG to MPEG1 and it worked and looks great. Fast too.

I also found the DIVX codecs in the area you pointed out. I presume the codec I would want to use is the "fast motion" codec. I would like to do some experimenting with DIVX just for fun.

I'm going to experiment with TMPGEnc some more. You are right, there are a lot of options and it seems to work quite a bit faster than MSP 5.2.

One more question.
If I capture a clip with Ulead vidcap at the highest possible MJPEG picture quality, does it improve the end result when I compress it to MPEG1 with TMPGEnc? Or is there a limit where the captured quality has little affect on the final MPEG1 quality?

I can do my own experimenting but it would be nice to hear what you know.

Thanks So Much Again,
Pigseye

[Sciascia]

Glad to hear that you are a little happier.

I recommend the low motion codec for DivX. It tends to look a lot better. I know that the other seems like it would by the name, but it is misleading.

You should capture in the highest quality setting. What this does is compress the video less, leaving more of the original video data intact. When you send it to another encoder there is more image data for it to choose from resulting in a better final product. This is why so many people like to use uncompressed video for encoding. Unfortunately it is tough to capture and edit with. The filesizes are huge as well. In order to capture uncompressed you need a very fast HD (usually RAID) and you will probably hit the 2G filesize limit very quickly.

I really recommend using Virtual Dub to recompress your video to DivX. Some of those filters make all of the difference (samrt deinterlace, 2D cleaner and temporal cleaner on low settings) in the word.

Take a look here and you can DL it for free.

http://www.virtualdub.org/index

[TnT]

The new DivX 4 may not be stable on some machines but the quality is better than DivX 3.11. Get it at http://www.divx.com. Also it comes with a help file to better explain the settings.

[pigseye]

Sciascia,
I've made my first video clip with TMPGenc with MPEG1 and it looks much better than the MSP MEPG1 version. I appreciate your tips.

TNT,
I'm going to try codec 3.11 first and see how it looks. Then I'll upgrade to 4.0 and compare the difference.

Thanks to both of you,
Pigseye

[Sciascia]

Wouldn't waste my time with 3.11. Go ahead and go for broke with the newest DivX here . Checkout doom9 for the latest details on it. There are probably some new guides as well.

[pigseye]

Thanks again Sciascia. I'll try 4.0 first.
Pigseye