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BTP · Oct 19, 2002, 07:39 PM

Besides VLC, that is. Is there an XVID CODEC for Quicktime, like Divx? VLC crashes a LOT and I'd like to use QT or something else.

Can I convert XVID to .mov? I want to cut a bit of it up if I can, but that is secondary to being able to seeing it.

Any suggestions on what I might try?

lucylawless · Oct 19, 2002, 09:45 PM

the 3ivx and divx codecs both play Xvid content. You might have the change the FourCC of the Xvid avi to DX50 first (you can do this with Divx Tool or a Hex editor)

if it's not an avi file it might be tricky

BTP · Oct 19, 2002, 11:08 PM

LL! Good to cross paths with you again.

I tried what you said, using Divx Tool and I changed the creator to DIVX (5? The last option on the drop down menu) and it plays using the Divx codec. Then the sound is absent, so I used Avi2Mov and that seemed to solve the sound issue, but now the video pixelates (is that a word?) badly.

Any more thoughts for me?

lucylawless · Oct 20, 2002, 12:07 AM

Hi BTP. I'm starting to creep up on my addiction...almost time to find a new name. I tried Dinner Dog, because I have a nice cartoon of it and I smile every time I think of it, but the name is taken by someone who's never even posted! well, enough rambling

It's well known that Avi2Mov drops the keyframes from divx 4/5 movies (among other problems), which as you might imagine screws the movie up pretty badly. You can use Divx Doctor 2, but that will demand the 3ivx codec (DD2 is nice, but I don't like how it produces movies hard-coded to need the 3ivx codec irrespective of their content). I recommend you use the CLI utility getMp3 that comes with the Divosx package, and then add the mp3 to the video manually with QTPro (Add Scaled if it doesn't sync with Add). Of course if you just want to watch the movie and not save a self-contained MOV, you can just use DD2 with the self-contained switch off, and it's quite speedy that way.

BTP · Oct 20, 2002, 12:44 AM

LL, keep the name! I have enough trouble figuring out who is who here. What are you doing in on a Saturday night? ..not that *I* mind, since you are helping me out.

I just found that Divosx Tool is no longer available, as it leads to 404 on mac.com. <sigh> I have seen a LOT of those lately. Anyway, I guess I'll have to make due with the DD 2 and be tied to the 3ivx codec.

Tell me, do you know if I can install the Divx, 3ivx and qtffmepg codecs without any adverse effects? I seem to recall that having more than one or some combination caused problems. Maybe I am wrong, I thought that was the case.

I played the converted movie again and it played crappy as before, but after 20-30 seconds, it improved to a watchabel state, exhibiting a lot of artifacts.

Know anywhere else to get Divosx Tool? And how do you know so much about this stuff? Is video work or hobby for you?

lucylawless · Oct 20, 2002, 02:48 AM

you can still get it from (I thought the original source) here:

http://mpeg4.jamby.net/

I don't know of any specific conflicts between the three qt components. the presence of the divx.com one overrides the ffmpeg one, and the presence of 3ivx overrides the other two. I don't like to have the divx one installed because it means I can't press the option key in any app with a quicktime connection (the divx options pop up if I do). The divx.com one is the only one that plays the latest divx files (5.0.2 with B-frames, whatever those are), so if you find such a file (I never have) you would have to remove the 3ivx component and restart quicktime.

yeah, it is kind of a hobby. I waste my spare seconds browsing the divx.com and 3ivx.com forums (neither of them is a full time job to read, like macnn is), and I do a lot of tv capturing and encoding. I also spent some time collecting all the Simpsons and related 'toons from the internet, which mostly come in the form of obsolete versions of divx and MSMPEG4 (asf). I haven't done much lately, because 3ivx keeps flaunting the imminent release of the next version which will be insanely great, making anything ripped with the current version rediculously obsolete (I exaggerate and they exaggerate, but even so it's hard to sit down and do anything with the current tools), which just means I have more time to sit around on the message boards

what am I doing here tonight? I have a presentation to give at work on monday (of course I haven't done anything on it today), and nothing makes you sit down and work on your hobbies quite like procrastination of a more important project!

BTP · Oct 20, 2002, 06:48 PM

OK, I understand a bit better. I think.

I couldn't find the link to the DivxOS Tool at Jamby, nor anywhere. It looks like it was just hosted on a .mac site, which is now gone.

I am intersted in what you said about the Simpsons, as I am looking to catalog the Family Guy episodes. I found it to be one of the funniest shows on TV and they cancel it.. <supressing rant>

Anyway, I want to learn this stuff as the episodes that I have found are in a range of formats, the WORST being asf, or maybe it is a really poor job of encoding and it is not the asf formats fault. I need to convert these and make them into a format that works for me. I don't know what that is, but I am thinking of maybe something that will play in my DVD player, either DVD or VCD. I'll have to borrow the DVD burner, but that is an option too.

Tell you what, I'll do your presentation and you can figure all this out for me. Deal?

lucylawless · Oct 21, 2002, 01:27 PM

well, I downloaded it before posting to make sure the link still worked. It's the one that says "You can dowload the divosx source code and test the binary."

here's the direct link, but I don't know if it will work from here:

http://mpeg4.jamby.net/modules.php?o...etit&lid=5

I believe it downloaded as "modules.php", but stuffit expanded it anyway (automatically with IE) into a folder with a dmg in it.

yeah, the series I have (all of!) are Family Guy, Futurama, Simpsons, Seinfeld and Andy Richter Controls the Universe. I'm keeping them just as data files, since I don't have a standalone dvd player anyway.

ASF is actually just a container format like AVI or MOV. The most common codecs for asf are MSMPEG4v3 (which is the same as DivX 3.11a) and MSMPEG4v2 for video and WMA or Voxware Metasound for audio. Newer asfs will likely have WMV7 or WMV8 for video. WMV9 I've heard is not playable on a mac.

For the MSMPEG4 codecs, you can directly copy the video into an AVI container with VirtualDub 1.3c in Windows (later versions of VirtualDub had the asf code removed at MS's request, but since it's open source someone added the asf code back to version 1.4 and called it 1.4c-asf or something, so you might find that somewhere). The audio you can encode to mp3 in VirtualDub too. I have been at PC's that don't have a codec for Voxware, and I've never been able to find the download, but I think it's supposed to be included in WMP 7.

If your asf has wmv video, VD can't decode it, but don't dispair. There's an app for OS 9 called ASFConverter that just takes whatever WMP for OS 9 can read (6.3 often reads voxware and mp3, though 7 doesn't) and re-encodes it to quicktime (audio is decompressed, so have your hard drives empty first). You can get it here
http://mornmist.2y.net/~blibbler/programs.html

if you should come across a RM file (thankfully they're almost extinct in ripping circles), you can convert it to divx with EO-video (pc only), it has pretty good results considering the source material.

good luck

BTP · Oct 21, 2002, 03:59 PM

Ok, I was thinking of something different. I thoug the DivxOS Tool was this:
http://www.versiontracker.com/morein...173&db=mac

I'll have to play with some of the ASF's, to convert them, but given how crappy they look, I suspect that there is nothing that can be done with them. They are small, 2x3, or something like that and they look horrible when made bigger. I have come across some .rm files, which are about equally crappy.

How much space do all of those shows take up?

lucylawless · Oct 21, 2002, 04:34 PM

2 x 3 pixels?!? yes, they will look bad. 320 x 240 is the standard, as that is about what VHS resolution is.

most of them WILL get better when played with a different player (actually a different decompressor). WMP for windows uses post processing of some kind (it must), but for mac there is none (I don't actually have specific knowledge of this, but it must be so, because it looks so bad). If you transfer the same video data to avi so the 3ivx or divx codecs can play it, they will use their own post processing algorithms, depending on how fast your machine is, and the same movies will look better. The ffmpeg-based solutions (ffmpeg.component from Divosx, VLC, MPlayer) also don't use post processing.

as for my movie warez, Futurama, Family Guy, and Seinfeld are each about 7 GB (less than 2 DVD-Rs). The simpsons weighs in at about 6 DVD-Rs. There are only about 7 episodes of Andy Richter