Most User Friendly DivX Encoder?

[Gog]

So far I've tried GKnot and FlaskMpeg, and both have been a pain in the a$$.

With GKnot(using divx4), I managed to create the final avi, it looked great, but the audio was completely out of synch.... I went to doom9.org to check out a fix and it looked way complicated so I figured I'd give another program a try.

So I then tried Flask Mpeg(divx3)... after installing the this program and trying to run it, an error message popped up that said it was missing some sort of add on...

Problems, problems, problems....

Can anyone recommend an encoder that is very user friendly... I'd appreciate it

 

[lotust]

try this i love it Text

select 23.xx framerate NTSC it works the best

 

[Pyromidion]

Gknot is what i use, and seems to be the only one that i can get to put out a decent avi (im using divx 3.1, but id like to compare someday soon). if its not that hard to get to your avi, you can always resync the audio by
1. loading nandub
2. opening your avi
3. video menu, "select direct stream copy"
4. audio menu, mp3 (if thats what your using)
5. audio menu interleaving and select how much its off

lucky for the audio, it only takes about 5 mins for a 2 hour movie, instead of the 7 (in my case) hours to encode. ive only used mp3, so if your trying ac3 im not sure if it gives you the same options for the interleave

 

[NEVERwinter]

hum... try VirtualDub. but I recommend XMPEG for better result.
check the guides over VCDhelp or a page on Tom's Hardware about DivX encoding
enjoy

 

[powerMarkymark]

I use Vidomi and it works great. It is both an encoding program and a player. You can find it here at Vidomi.


I think that the one thing that stands out is that Vidomi is a one step encoding operation, not requiring any other operations to sync audio/video and the like.

Product Highlights of Version 0.441 are:

Easy to use interface to encode and play DivX? Mpeg4 files

Encodes video and audio in one step

Vidomi Enhanced AVI? allows you to add chapters and subtitles to your encodes

Multiple Language Support provides international accessibility

Distributed Encoding: Encode more in less time using using multiple computers on a network

Source range selection to encode only the video you want. Select up to 32 cut points for output as a single file

Create job lists: up to 256 jobs of up to 64 files per job

Variable Bit Rate for optimum quality and file size

YV12 Encoding The fastest possible method of converting MPEG 2 to divx

Create job lists: up to 64 jobs of up to 64 files per job

Splits files to fit on CD-Rs and maintain audio synch

Hyper functions automatically eliminate top and bottom black bars, adjust for aspect ratio, and scale video

Advanced, automated post-processing (deinterlace, scale, re-sample)

Improved Integrated player designed specifically for playing DivX? files with keyframe and single frame advance and full-screen playback

Playlist support for over 32,000 files

And, it's fast!


You can also find links to users whom have created Vidomi user guides that are very useful.

 

[Gog]

Thanks for all the advice guys.

Pyromidion and NEVERwinter, I've considered using nandub and virtualDub, but the entire process seems to much work. Not only am I a Newb, but quite a lazy Newb!:disgust:

I need a program that is more less simple (which GK isn't, many, many features, that are good for people who know what they are doing), and has a straight forward interface.

I will be giving easydivx and Vidomi a try soon... thanks guys, happy ripping!

 

[powerMarkymark]

<< I will be giving easydivx and Vidomi a try soon... thanks guys, happy ripping!

>>



I have had absolutely NO LUCK with Easy DivX, let me know how your experience goes. For me, Vidomi is king.

 

[Gog]

PowerMarkymark, about Vidomi, what have people been saying about it?Does it have a large following?

Are there any issues with the it, like audio synch probs like in the other encoders out there?

I will be giving it a try tomorrow night after I print out the 2 guides on their web site.

Thanks again for giving me a heads up on this program... I noticed they came out with a new version yesterday... supports the Divx 5 codec.... I believe one of the first to do so. Impressive

 

[gregor7777]

Here's my take on the situation as I was in your position not too long ago:

Virtiual Dub through GKnot is the hands down, no alternative winner for quality.

Now, that being said let me address the other contenders:

Xmpeg: If you want some stuttering garbage, on the off chance you MIGHT get a workable movie, Xmpeg is your winner. It comes up with very undescriptive error's all the time (just check the forum on doom9, or just take it from me) causing you to have to install your codecs again in a very precise order, only for it to mess up again a few movies down the road.

Vidiomi: A Virtual Dub ripoff(documented), but people say it works well and is generally easy to use.

EasyDivx: For juniors mostly, VERY unflexable.

Now, if you are using divx 4, Gknot can do the entire encode (including audio) in one fell swoop. Sure, there are a lot of menus, but just stick to doom9's guide, and it'll come out looking great. After you've played around for awhile with it, you'll come to love all the features. GKnot takes the best off all the available progies and puts them in a very easy to use interface. I wouldn't waste my time with anything else.

BTW, don't learn anything Divx from Tomshardware, unless you plan on knowing less after you're done reading.

 

[AMDScooter]

Ok here is another question for the advanced users. Are there any encoding proggies that take advantage of SMP?? I have several dual processor rigs Dual P3 1 Gig, Dual TB 1.2 MP and Dual XP 1800+. All the proggies I've used so far cap at 50% cpu usage . Seems like a waste to fire up these systems for this usage. Any suggestions???

 

[gregor7777]

Without any direct expierence, everyone I've heard talk about it says that divx 5 at the very least takes full advantage of it with Vdub. I'm not saying the others don't, but this is the only one I can remember for sure.

Sorry I couldn't help more.

 

[AMDScooter]

Thanx for the input. I'm gunna give Vidomi a try here in a few minutes as soon as smart ripper finishes. I'll post back and let ya know.

 

[MrBond]

<< PowerMarkymark, about Vidomi, what have people been saying about it?Does it have a large following? >>

It seems like more of a sleeper program. I found a guide to using it accidently on the web the other day, so I gave it a try. It's super easy (the initial config takes like 5 minutes, otherwise it's click and convert).

Here's the guide I found:

link

I used it to create a DVD Rip of Shrek and Braveheart (going with one cd for every 90 minutes of movie) and both copies came out supurb. Only saw stuttering once in shrek, I haven't watched my copy of Braveheart yet (other then the first battle, just to check for artifacting)

 

[AMDScooter]

*update* Vidomi takes advantage of SMP . Ripping some Monty Python now, let u know how it turns out later(approx 5 hours for 2 pass)

 

[AMDScooter]

Well Vidomi came up with a runtime error part of the way thru the second pass . I'm gunna reboot and start it again. Feel like I just wasted 3.5 hours....

 

[powerMarkymark]

<< PowerMarkymark, about Vidomi, what have people been saying about it?Does it have a large following?

Are there any issues with the it, like audio synch probs like in the other encoders out there?

I will be giving it a try tomorrow night after I print out the 2 guides on their web site.

Thanks again for giving me a heads up on this program... I noticed they came out with a new version yesterday... supports the Divx 5 codec.... I believe one of the first to do so. Impressive >>



It's always fun to be able to turn others on to a fun, useful and easy to use program. I just hope you get as good of results as I do.

I don't really know what others have been saying about it, After trying Easy DivX and Flask Mpeg, both without success, I happenned upon Vidomi and never looked back.

Tips
Personnally I do not use DivX 4 - two pass as it dosen't seem to serve any purpose other than to try and fit the movie onto selected number of media disks. For some reason it has not worked for me. I choose two disks (higher fps rate = better quality video) and I wind up with two files of 700MB and always a third od about 115MB. So I prefer to use DivX 4 - one pass and guesstemate the fps to wind up with two 700MB files. After a while I have gotten pretty good at guessing based on the Vob files I am encoding.

I also normalize audio to 98% as it seems to give a better result.

On those rare occassions when you get an resulting DivX file that has the audio and video out of sync, the fix is to go Options/Select Source Range .. and put the slider for the Start Piosition a little into the intro to the movie. This should fix the problem as it has for me.

Happy encoding.

Email me if you need help.

 

[gregor7777]

Well, lets clear the air a bit here:

First off, Vidiomi is a pretty face on the code for VirtualDub. It was stolen, then they had to break it up into several programs to avoid a law suit. But, like a few people have said, I've heard it's relatvely stable.

Second, ALWAYS use 2 Pass if you want quality. IMHO at least. It does more than just get a better idea of final filesize(which on its own is pretty important), but on the first pass it adjusts certain points (through adjusting quantisizers) to get better quality and predictability on the second and final pass.

I, along with many others here I'm sure, have used all three divx codecs and so far have actually found Divx 5 to be the most stable so far. I'm not yet convinced all the extra features like B-frames and GMC are of any real use yet, but it has yet to error on me once. I use Virtual Dub through GKnot, which is BY FAR the most stable and best quality of ANY program.

Third, I'll say it again, if you are even slightly serious about divx (or any other codec like Xvid for that matter) use Vdub. There are really no other alternatives at this point. Once you learn to use GKnot, you'll probably never look back.

BTW, I'm not bashing Vidiomi, as I've never used it. If it works well for you, that's all that matters.

 

[mastermynd27]

I think that your problem with Flask is that you didn't download everything that you need. You have to download the main Flask program, then there is also a separate download based on your processor type (amd or intel) You download the amd path (in my case) and then you take that .exe file and overwrite the one in the basic flask folder and then you should be good to go. I have used Flask many times and while it might take a couple tried to get the bitrate just right, I find it to be quite a good program.

 

[rbV5]

<< First off, Vidiomi is a pretty face on the code for VirtualDub. It was stolen, >>



How could it be stolen? VirtualDub is released under the GNU General Public License, and the source is freely available?

Anyway, I use VirualDub for most of my processing, but I use Nandub to encode my edited AVI files, and Gnot to encode my MPEG-2 files, using the divx 3.11a codec. VirtualDub also makes it easy to fix sync problems.

 

[gregor7777]

@rbV5

What happened was that they took code from a progie under the GPL and put it in a private code.

Here is what I'm talking about:

Vidomi made from VDUB code

Resoloution as code is then split

The issue is now resolved, but the code remains in the program like I said.

 

[Gog]

Great... tonight I will be trying out Vidomi... just printed out their guide and hope everything goes as planned...

Thanks for the advice about the prog PowerMarkymark, I'll be using DivX 5 with Vidomi tonight and hopefully there shoulnd't be any errs...

will be adding a post-mortem to this thread tomorrow

 

[AMDScooter]

Well so far my Vidomi experiences are not soo good. I've had a terrible time trying to use it with 2 pass VBR, the message board at the site is full of peeps with the same error. When I use the standard DivX Network 2 pass encode I get a .avi file that The Player and Windows Media Player cannot open but IrFranview can..?? Ifranview opens the file and the video looks great but the audio cuts out after about 4 seconds and never comes back. I am currently using Lame, Limit Lame to Mpeg1 samples, Two pass normalize to 98%, Audio1 English, Constand Bitrate, Joint Stereo, 128Kbps and Normal quality. Any suggestions??

I also tried Easy DivX 0.80 last nite. The software refused to operate after setup claiming it could not open a .txt file or some such nonsense. The best luck I have had so far is using DvdX 1.8. But evem there the video quality is suck and stutters a bit and the audio cracks and is uot of sync. I'd love to get the bugs worked out of Vidomi as it uses both processors and cuts encoding time down a ton. Guess I'll tweak it a bit more tonite and see what I can come up with...

 

[rbV5]

gregor7777, I couldn't make heads or tails of those slashdot threads , but I am a big fan of Avery Lee's awesome VirtualDub and I would venture to bet that if there was an issue concerning violation of the GPL, that he was very likely on the correct side. I noticed no mention of this issue on his site, so apparently its been resolved to his satisfaction, and thats good enough for me. I've not used Vidomi, and may give it a shot just to check it out.

 

[gregor7777]

My take as an outsider from the whole situation is that some of VDub public code was taken and implemented in the encoding portion of Vidomi (which is legal), but then not in turn made public (which is not legal) under the GPL.

So, under legal threats, the authors of Vidomi then split the program up and made the encoder portion publicly available, which was the right and legal thing to do.

Now it's all resolved and everyone is more or less happy, legal wise.

 

[hoihtah]

all in all... i feel like there's just too much confusion in the ripping/encoding community.

take vcdhelp for an example.
there are so many different ways to slice up a cake.
so far, i've seen at least 3 different methods/applications.
if i want some detail info on how to get through a specific process, it links me to outdated or a different method of slicing.

anyhow... so far, i've yet to find a faq that was easy to understand.
the other issue with this whole process is that there are just too many updates
to either the whole process of things or a part of a process that it'd difficult to know exactly what you're dealing with.

anyhow...
it'd be nice if someone could come up with a software/faq that'll simplify the process while keeping the quality at it's top.

would it be so difficult to say pop in a dvd in a dvd-rom and have these options...
1. encoding method : divx3, divx4, divx5, sbc, xvid

2. signal : pal, ntsc.

3. audio : mp3 2 channel, acs

4. subtitile : none, english, spanish, french... etc.

5. # file(s) x size , format:
- 1 x optimum (hd storage), avi
- 1 x 700 (1 cd), iso
- 2 x 700 (2 cd), iso
- 3 x 700 (3 cd), iso
- 4 x 700 (4 cd), iso


after answering these 5 questions, it'll drop the files that you requested.

so perhaps 6 click process... to get what you want.
all the settings will be set for optimum setting.

is there a software out there that can do this?