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Dr. DivX ver 1.0.4
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A_Klingon
Moderator
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23. March 2004 @ 03:41 |
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Has anyone tried out the new all-in-one solution from DivX-Networks called "DR. DIVX"?
I've been playing around with it for some days now. (Just the free 15-day trial version).
This one program really does take the place of a _lot_ of separate software. I was blown away by the ease of use, compared to my "old" days of 3.11 alpha encoding, and the end results I am currently getting look VASTLY better than I ever got with codec 3.11. (Current codec is DivX Pro 5.1.1, and Gej (Jerome Rota) has announced a new version, 5.2, coming mid-summer).
I couldn't get Dr. Divx's Preview function to work on my Win98 box -- the program just froze), but on my Win-2000 box, the preview works perfectly. :-)
If you want it to, Dr. Divx will auto-resize and autocrop your output. You can specify what bitrate you want to use OR what final filesize you wish to have. The internal filesize calculation is *awesomely* accurate! It ALWAYS gives me a final size just a hair _under_ my request, which is perfect.
You can choose 44.1 downsampling if you wish (for older soundcards), or specify 48 kHz for your mp3 audio. Also the audio bitrate of course. You just type all of this stuff into the appropriate boxes!
By default, Dr. DivX makes a 2-pass encode. If you are a very new newbie, you don't have to specify *a thing!*. Just click on "High", "Medium', or "Low" for quality. I find that the 'High' setting usually outputs around 900 to 1000 kbps. (Myself, I prefer a bitrate in the 2000 range.)
I know I must sound like an infomercial or something, but like many of you, I have made a LOT of divx's the hard, old-fashioned way, but I can tell you, this Dr Divx package is the easiest I've ever used for straight divx-making. It will auto-deinterlace your video, auto-detect frame rate (23.976 or 29.970 for NTSC, and 25 fps for PAL), and I have found the audio/video sync to be *bang on* -- a serious advantage as you know.
Do you all know what the new DivX Certification program means? There are four standardized "Profiles" now, of which the most important one for me is "Home Theater", for the new divx-capable generation of set top DVD players which will be coming out this year. Here's the logo to look for on the DVD player's front panel:
If anyone has had any experience(s) with this Dr. DivX program, how did you like it?
-- Thnx --
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 23. March 2004 @ 03:52
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EIZOER
Junior Member
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8. April 2004 @ 07:34 |
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Dr. Divx is great for 4/5 mins, then the audio goes out of sync - every time, so i can't save tv episodes or films in mpeg-2 and convert them. Still good for totp videos though.
There is no help on the divx forums. They just say to use VirtualDub to fix it, besides defeating the point of the software this doesn't help as the audio is not simply out of step with the video.
If anyone has fixed this with a change of setting or otherwise could you please post, thanks.
I am using windows me with nforce2, xp1700+, 512mb ddr and a new hdd - is anything with this conflicting. I am shortly going to downgrade to a P4 1400/256 with pc600 eec (a dell) which will only use windows me (something to do with the bios) - might this fix it ?
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A_Klingon
Moderator
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8. April 2004 @ 19:44 |
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Audio/video sync has always been a curse with encoding programs in general, Eizoer. Unfortunately, I find Dr. DivX to be in the same category. There is no easy solution. I think the tried-and-true third-party programs (VirtualDub, DVD2AVI, etc.) will still have to be used to set things right. That in itself defeats the whole idea behind the "Dr. DivX Solution" and takes WAY too much time anyway.
I must admit, that after spending endless hours through a _couple_ of free "15-day trials" <gg>, I just sort of "gave up". Unfortunately, the ends, however desireable, do not justify the means (at least for me) because backing up various DVDs has proven so problematic. (I've only been using Dr. DivX to try backing up dvds).
Although my own backups exhibit a *slight* delay with the audio, that's still unacceptable. One would think, that *at least* with retail DVDs, DivX Networks could have gotten Dr. DivX's delay values right.
Also, for me, NTSC Region 1 *interlaced* DVDs are a TOTAL washout. interlaced dvds positively defy smooth encoding - with Dr. DivX, the motion was, without fail, unacceptably jerky. (With standard Progressive dvds, the motion was fine.)
It's too bad you know, because MPEG-4 compression beats the pants off MPEG-2, the standard used in dvds and broadcasting. You really *can* get four entirely decent-looking movies encoded onto a single blank DVD5 disc. (Double that to eight after the dual-layer diss get here).
I've made a goodly collection of cd and dvd backups however, which I will hold onto in case I ever feel the urge to get a divx-capable dvd player, which, right now, are as scarce as hens' teeth, and those that DO exist are plagued with problems, the (above, first post) "DivX Certified" profile logo, notwithstanding.
No no no...... I doubt very much changing your computer hardware and/or operating system will *ever* rectify (improve) the a/v sync problems you are having. (Sorry).
It was "fun" (sort of) while it lasted, but methinks I'll put the good Doctor to bed for the time being. <gg>
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zany
Junior Member
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12. April 2004 @ 12:33 |
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I backed up all my movies with Dr DivX and now want to encode them and put them on DVD I downloaded TMPGEnc-2.521.58.169-Free and followed the guide for encoding but when i checked it with the AVIcodec nothing seemed to match as below
Video : 729 MB, 911 Kbps, 25.0 fps, 512*272 (16:9), DX50 = DivXNetworks Divx v5, Supported
Is there away of encoding it????????
NEC DVD RW ND 1300A
NERO 6_DVD SHRINK_Ritek GO4 Silver Top + Verbatum
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UK London
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A_Klingon
Moderator
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13. April 2004 @ 02:22 |
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Zany.....
Unfortunately, you are creating problems for yourself. Let me try to explain:
You say that you have backed up all of your movies with Dr. DivX. OK, then they are now, already encoded. Specifically, you have converted (encoded) your dvd movies, which are in MPEG-2 format, into DivX movies, which are in MPEG-4 format.
Your question (how to encode them and put them on DVD) is a bit "off", because if you now use TMPGEnc to further encode them, you will be changing their format all over again. (Probably into mpeg-1 VCD - video-cd - if you use TMP).
While you can do this, it will take ages and ages, and all the re-re-converting will degrade the quality of your movies horribly.
The whole idea of using Dr. DivX was/is to simplify things. If you are lucky enough to have a DivX-capable DVD player, what you do is simply burn your divx files to a blank cd or dvd, then play it back on your TV. NO further encoding is necessary. You have already done the work.
If you wanted to forego Dr. DivX altogether, and make (say) Video-CDs (or preferably Super VCDs) with TMPGEnc, then that would yield you much better quality than converting your Divx's into something else.
There are helpful guides here at A/D that will show you how to do exactly that.
The VCDs that you produce with TMPGEnc will play back nicely on just about any dvd standalone player directly. (I've made hundreds of them). To a somewhat lesser extent, many dvd players will also play back Super VCDs as well (which you can also produce with TMP). The reason you are getting error messages is that your divx movies are encoded in a different format (mpeg-4) than what VCD demands.
(Things like bitrate, framerate, audio format, screen resolution, etc) must be *exactly* in the right mpeg-1 format if you want to make vcds. - Example - audio must be in .mp2 form (not .mp3), the video bitrate must be a constant 1150 kbps, etc). TMP will handle all of this for you, if you follow the A/D guides.
Basically, the whole idea behind Dr. DivX is to produce mpeg-4 movies that will play back easily on any DivX-certified player. (Mpeg-4 is a wonderful compression format - way more efficient than DVD's mpeg-2), but right now, for me at least, my divx movies are a little too problematic - mostly, the audio/video sync is off. Also, I simply cannot get Dr. DivX to give me smooth-motion encodes with many NTSC Region 1 *interlaced* discs.
Good Luck !
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The_OGS
Senior Member
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13. April 2004 @ 07:53 |
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I tried Dr.DivX and found it encoded everthing @29.97 fps, no settings offered. Have they changed that?
GKnot is maybe a little more complicated but far superior in results.
Thanks to the good Klingon, for an excellent reply. What zany is doing is akin to making an audio CD from MP3s - you get a large file size but only compressed quality (the worst of both worlds).
Regards
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A_Klingon
Moderator
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19. April 2004 @ 07:28 |
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That's a good analogy, The_OGS (making red book cd's from .mp3 files). While I've done this, it does indeed yield no better quality than the original .mp3s.
I don't know why some NTSC Region 1 dvds use 29.97 fps. (I think DVD2AVI calls it 'NTSC FILM'.)At least, that is the framerate that many softwares report - in practice though, I believe the framerate *always* gets converted to 23.97 fps by your set top dvd player. (Something to do with 'Inverse Telecine and/or 3:2 pulldown -- I'm really showing my ignorance here.  ).
Incidently, now that I think about it, while NTSC uses 23.97 fps, PAL uses 25 fps. Why the skunky difference with NTSC? 24 (and 25) is a much nicer, round figure. Does that tiny .03 fps really make a difference?
I wouldn't worry about Dr. DivX reporting 29.97 fps, The_OGS. That little idiosyncracy is automatically compensated for (reduced to 23.97 fps) internally.
Anyway, I've given up on Dr. DivX for now, because there are way too many Region 1 DVDs that cannot be converted satisfactorily. Too bad, because mpeg-4 compression, in-and-of itself, is flat-out awesome. Too bad mpeg-4 wasn't in common usage before our DVDs were locked into the mpeg-2 system. I doubt very strongly (I can just about 'guarantee' it), mpeg-2 compression will NOT be used when we see High-Definition DVDs arrive.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 19. April 2004 @ 07:30
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The_OGS
Senior Member
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19. April 2004 @ 09:16 |
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Region1 DVDs (progressive or 'film') use 23.976 fps.
NTSC televisions use 29.97 fps.
A set-top DVD player converts the former to the latter through Telecine. IVTC is the reverse, but only for Telcined program that was originally filmed @ 24 fps.
I used 24 or 30 fps in descriptions (but to be precise they are 24000/1001 and 30000/1001) but people would correct me, so now I use the exact fractions...
Yes easy to convert Film to PAL by speeding-up 1 fps; NTSC is bigger challenge.
DrDivX is outta my machine and DivX 5.1.1 is hanging on by a thread (should I be using XviD?)
Regards
ABit AB9 Pro
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2GB OCZ PC2-6400 Platinum XTC R2
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A_Klingon
Moderator
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19. April 2004 @ 09:49 |
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Thanks for the clarification.
No, myself, I wouldn't worry about Xvid, but that's just me. Everyone says it's more stable than DivX, but unless I see a LOT more DivX and Xvid-capable dvd players out there, I can't say I'll bother with either.
(Too problematic, no guarantee of success, precious little hardware support and much of what IS available is buggy as hell, some dvds not convertible, jerky motion, a/v off-sync), etc., and besides, dual-layer burning is on our doorstep, and already they're talking about *paper-based* blu-ray discs with anywhere from 25 to 50 gigabytes worth of real-estate per side.
Plus........ in comparison to backingup dvds with most of the "one-click" type softwares, divx/xvid making still takes forever and ever ........
Achhh!!! :-)
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EIZOER
Junior Member
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29. April 2004 @ 14:25 |
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I haven't tried dvds with dr. divx, but converting full PAL mpeg-2 to no more than 640 with the option - no. of files, etc - seems to have fixed the audio sync as long as you let the file play from start without jumping or fast-forwarding.
Is this a ntsc/pal compatability thing ?
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A_Klingon
Moderator
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29. April 2004 @ 19:49 |
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I don't know. But I suspect that it is not.
MANY people have complained about progressively worse a/v sync when using the >>FF or <<Rewind buttons. (You can check out the officia; DivX forums). I believe it to be just an unfortunate symptom of the format.
That limitation alone spoils DivX for me. (I have the same problem, even with just computer playback, and I'm using NTSC). I imagine the problem would be even worse on a standalone player.
It's bad enough we don't have any chapter stops (as with regular dvds), and so not having at least a *reliable* fast speed function, is unacceptable.
DivX = Great Encoding, but way, way too buggy in playback.
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The_OGS
Senior Member
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30. April 2004 @ 07:15 |
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Interesting to hear synch problems happening; I never have them with DivX Pro 5.1.1 and LAME (CBR) MP3 audio. I encode audio (Q=0) with RIFF WAV header and interleave with good ol' VirtualDub at the DivX-recommended 12 frames, or approx twice/second (NTSC). Every 10 frames is better and uses only an additional 200KB for a 700MB DivX AVI.
Even if AVI is interleaved every frame, 24/second, this is not the most space-efficient but SHOULD make any synch problems almost impossible... or what?
Synch probs must have something to do (with this or) with PAL; I'm in NTSCland and I can FF or jump around all I want, no worries.
?
ABit AB9 Pro
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 @ 2.4GHz
2GB OCZ PC2-6400 Platinum XTC R2
ATI Radeon X1900XT 512MB
Enermax Liberty 620W
320GB/16MB WD, 150GB/16MB Raptor
Plextor PX-755SA DVD (SATA)
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A_Klingon
Moderator
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30. April 2004 @ 11:57 |
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Still too buggy for me. Plus, you're doing a lot of work. Plus, my interlaced dvds are, on average, a jerky-motion-mess.
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