[Archangel]

Anybody here have any experience with this codec? From what I understand it's a variant of MPEG-4 (which is what DIVX uses,yes?). I'd appreciate any information about this as I need a solution for encoding about 2 hours of video to fit onto one CD (I know it'll be a tight fit, so I might just go to 2 CDs). TIA.

[Niubi]

3ivx being a better encoder then the famed divx would most definitely be the codec to use in getting 2 hours of video on one CD, although I have no idea how you would go about encoding it y'know

You can get longer CD's perhaps if you don't want the output to be to grainy because of the encoding, perhaps you could try sorenson 3 codec instead as it may be easier to encode from quicktime player pro...I have never found any real good mac encoding software taht you didn't have to pay loads for

btw anyone know whats up with mac.divx.st... all my divxes no longer play properly, because apparently there is a new divx plyer out, although downloading this new one is impossable cos their site is down!

oh well hth a little Archangel

[neutrino23]

Originally posted by Archangel:
<STRONG>Anybody here have any experience with this codec? From what I understand it's a variant of MPEG-4 (which is what DIVX uses,yes?). I'd appreciate any information about this as I need a solution for encoding about 2 hours of video to fit onto one CD (I know it'll be a tight fit, so I might just go to 2 CDs). TIA.</STRONG>

I've tried it a little though I'm not an expert at this.

You simply install the codec then it is available in QT as one of the possible codecs. Using it like this is quite easy. Simply export the movie, select OPTIONS, then select the 3ivx codec. You can only select the level of quality in the free version.

There is no problem with fitting two hours of video on a CD, you just keep scaling down the quality and resolution till it fits. You can't expect full screen, DVD quality video at that level of compression.

If this is serious work I think I would just farm out the job to a pro. From what I've learned of this you need more than one tool and a good dose of experience to arrive at a good result.

If this is more akin to a hobby then charge on. Personally, I think an hour of video per CD is more reasonable. Making someone sit through two hours of highly compressed video is not a way to make friends.

As the other poster mentioned, the free codecs work OK but they work better when you buy them. Media Cleaner Pro also seems to be the tool of choice.

[Felix]

The quality of 3ivx is pretty good, of course.

However, I experience a very strange playback performance when playing a film with 720 * 400 in 1:1 size. Actually the film does not play, but you only get to see a frame from time to time. I doubt my Pismo 500 is not powerful enough for this, as a Sorenson encoded movie in the same size plays just fine with about the same quality.

Yes, I use the latest 3.5 version. The previous one behaved the same.

[Millennium]

Are you trying to encode a widescreen video with the black bars still in place? If so, crop the movie to delete the black bars; for some reason those really kill 3ivX's performance.

Mind you, I can't see why that would be the case; I would think that a solid block of black would be the ideal thing to compress. But apparently, that's the case with 3ivx, and could turn out to be one of only two real weaknesses it has (the other being that it's still a proprietary format, even if it is made to be highly portable).

[Felix]

Yes, it is a widescreen-picture. I think the original size is 720*405, but I think the problem remains. 400 should be better anyway, is it is divideable by 16.

No, there are no black bars on the original picture.

I will have to try with a smaller size and see what is happening there. Nevertheless, switching to a smaller size is not a soluton for me.

[lucylawless]

Originally posted by Felix:
<STRONG>The quality of 3ivx is pretty good, of course.

However, I experience a very strange playback performance when playing a film with 720 * 400 in 1:1 size. Actually the film does not play, but you only get to see a frame from time to time. I doubt my Pismo 500 is not powerful enough for this, as a Sorenson encoded movie in the same size plays just fine with about the same quality.

Yes, I use the latest 3.5 version. The previous one behaved the same.</STRONG>

I saw that, too. I transcoded a divx file to 3ivx, and I thought it hadn't worked, because I saw one frame every 3 seconds or so. But then I played the same file on a G4 tower (I have a Pismo 400) and it looked fantastic. So I guess there's something about our computers (not necessarily just the G3) that's just not fast enough...