I have recently got comcast cable and so now i've been downloading divx movies from kazaa like crazy. Now since divx is dvd quality I assumed that if I burned them on a cd, then it would play on dvd players. 2 problems occured; first I could not fit most of the movies on one cd since they exceeded 700 kb, how can i just split the clip easily without any fancy digital editing programs. Also, even when it does fit on a single cd-r cd, HOW THE HECK CAN I GET IT TO PLAY ON A DVD PLAYER WITHOUT THOSE STUPID CODECS! I would apprecitate any help. Thx.
DivX is not a standard, nothing that any industrial body would recognize or nothing that ISO has approved. It uses MPEG-4, OK and that it standardized, but DVD players don't support it and I doubt that the current MPEG-4 streams never be supported by DVD players as they are.
You need to re-encode the clips -- this reduces the quality, as all the re-encoding options do, whatever the source/destination format is. Options are:
-VCD (most DVD players do support this)
-SVCD (around 50% of DVD players do support this)
-DVD-R (most DVD players support this, but you need to have DVD writer)
...VCD fits 74mins of video on one CD which means that most of the movies take 2 CDs. No way to change this.
...SVCD fits with good quality video appx. 40-55mins of video on one CD which means that most of the movies take 2-3CDs.
...DVD-R requires separate writer, which costs around $300 in the U.S. nowadays.
so, then that leaves 2 questions. 1: How do I convert divx to vcd. Then also, how do i split the clips. I just got virtualdub but have not clue on how to use it.
TMPGEnc is the answer and more detailed instructions are available on our article page (DivX+subs->VCD -- go directly to TMPGEnc if you don't need subs), our forums have _tons_ of questions and answers related to this and our article page has guide how to split and burn VCD-compliant MPEG-1 files.
If you plan to download more movies, there is a better way to watch them on your tv. Get a video card with video out, and then connect your tv to your pc.(Much cheaper than a dvd burner, and you won't lose the quality you will when re-encoding the file.) If your t.v. is to far away, and you dont want to run wires that far, you can get a wireless video sender. Don't get a 900 mghz get a 2.4 ghz. It can send the video through walls to over 100 feet away. Picture and sound. You can get one at radio shack, but I would recomend looking on x10.com. They have one at a much cheaper price, and it includes software and a remote for your pc. I have looked into getting a DVD burner, and its just not worth it. Divx is better quality in its true form. Look for 90 min cd's, Ebay has them, And most movies in Divx format will fit on those. You will need to download the codecs, but that's not that hard, just get DivxPro. Its free at Divx.com. If you want a more portable option, you can download software for free to play divx files in a sega dreamcast. It works decent, but you need to make sure your files are the right resoloution.(kind of a pain.)You can get that software at http://www.moosegate.com/betaboy/dcdivx/.
You don't need 90min cds, get the KVCD template for TMPGEnc, I can get most 2hr movies on one 80min CD, without quality sacraficing. it uses
variable bit rate instead of constant bit rate.
Here's what I do when I can a 2part movie to make one vcd.
combine the 2 parts with virtualdub's append feature. Sometimes the sound get out of sync so you might have to extract the sound to uncompressed PCM then do a direct stream video copy and repack the sound on each, then retry the append.
load up tmpgenc with the kvcd template and start encoding. the only thing I usually fool around with is the aspect ratio. if you use the wizard, don't rely on the file size giving on the last screen, that takes into account your using CBR instead of VBR. I have had files bigger then 800MB but when I burn them with nero
then fit on the cd fine.
Another thing I like to do is use vcdeasy and create chapters to make it easier to move thru the movie. My pioneer dvd is kinda weird when you want to ff/rw on vcds
