DVD or DIVX ?

[Debbie]

If I'm just interested in watching the movie and I only have a standard T.V. set. Why should I bother with authoring a DVD when I could get almost the same end product with lesser hustle on DivX ?

This is a rethorical question !

Debbie

[Apulo]

Depends on how you record your movies. I mean, if you don't use menus, authoring a DVD isn't any hustle. So if you have the recording in MPG2, it's easier to stay in that format.

Hustle is when you use a progressive display and you need to pulldown & deinterlace. The encode to MPG2 or DIVX that follows, makes no difference. I rarely bother with menus. They look pretty but I seldom give a glance to even the most elaborate DVD menu - in fact they are an annoyance because you have to find how to make all settings and start the movie. I rather choose audio and subtitles via the remote but some DVDs allow those settings only via menu.

[Debbie]

With you all the way Apulo and the more so menu wise.
Thats what I mean. Wouldn't a simple CD be more stable (media wise) and less less expnceive for just a plain movie. Players that also incorporate DivX are produceing very good results for an ordinary T.V. set

[landrover]

You're right, Debbie. CD-R's are a lot more reliable than DVD recordables currently, whether it's "+" or "-" makes no difference, in terms of durability as well as burning quality. So for that matter it makes perfect sense to use DivX.
Besides, since DivX takes op less space (because it produces the same quality at lower bitrates) it would also be suitable for storing very long or several films onto one DVD.

I don't know anything about DivX compatible DVD players, but what would happen if you'd author a DVD with menus and all, but use DivX encoding for the .VOB files (just encode to DivX and rename .avi to .vob). It probably wouldn't work but it leaves me a little curious.

[paulw]

Unfortunatly I don't have a DVD player that will play back Divx so I still have to convert to MPEG2 usually SVCD.


However just out of interest, are there any authoring programs that will create a menued Divx disk??

[Debbie]

I think the beauty with DivX is the type of media that can be used (CDs).
Perhaps somewhat a bit more fragile than DVD, because of the coating protection, but otherwise, as I said earlyer, for a standard T.V. set , I'm quite happy with the results I'm getting from DivX on compatible players. Just burn and view. What could be more simple! If you want to skip just FF>> or vice versa.

[xortam]

For that matter, people compress HD material with DivX and get very good results. I still prefer to watch the ATSC capture but I'm not having to archive these shows either ... I'd probably use DivX if I was. Most HD material on P2P networks is DivX encoded. I haven't participated in P2P but I got a few Star Trek episodes that I missed from a friend who solely uses P2P now, even though he has all sorts of ways to receive and record HD himself.

[Fred H]

I think the beauty with DivX is the type of media that can be used (CDs).
Perhaps somewhat a bit more fragile than DVD, because of the coating protection, but otherwise, as I said earlyer, for a standard T.V. set , I'm quite happy with the results I'm getting from DivX on compatible players. Just burn and view. What could be more simple! If you want to skip just FF>> or vice versa.

They are some of the points I tried to say in another thread.
I have no DVD player with DivX capabilities, but my son-in-law has, and he is super satisfied with the DivX playback.
As I told you, you only copy the video file and a subtitle text file to the same CD/DVD and you can watch a Japanese movie with English subtitles without any authoring or menus.

For some times ago I do the same: I burn CDs with DivX (Xvid) format to play (still) on my PC and on a DivX compatible DVD player in the future.
I also burn shorter videos to CD or DVD in MPEG2 without authoring (max 2 GB files on DVD). The simle is best
You can also burn 2-3 movies to one DVD, in DivX files.
Regards,
Fred

[cuddles]

Just 2p worth.
Is it possible to burn VCD's to DVD media.
One of my DVD players can view jpg & Mpg 1 & 2 files but does not recognise mpg 4 (divx)

[Fred H]

Yes, but don’t author them: Just burn the MPEG1/ 2 files right on to DVD.
Most of DVD players (maybe not all) recognize them. You will se a list of the files and select what you want. I use to do so. Just try it.
/Fred

[edited] Do not burn multi session CD/DVD. Burn as "Disk at once"

[cuddles]

Off course the .DAT files are just the mpg 1 files renamed.

Hmmm, the average movie in VCD is about 1 GB or 2 CD's, so 4 good quality VCD sized movies per DVD disk sounds good stuff.

Yep I found out the hard way about NO multi session, it will only read the first burn

Thanks

[Debbie]

Thanks Fred for your helpfull tips regarding sub tiling for DivX.

MPEG 1 will not produce good quality like DivX.
Anything I have or acquire that is in DivX will remain as is.
On a "stand alone" player that takes DixX the quality is fantastic. On a PC is rarther inferiour. I have noticed this while playing the same movie on both devices. Hardware decompression play an important part in the process.

[Apulo]

Umm... I think proper calibration of screens has more to do with it than decompression in hardware.

Computer monitors are often not well calibrated for video playback, too much contrast for one. This will make artefacts like blocking show up. Badly set-up TV sets have the same problem.