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DVD to Divx
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ampa
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Oct 23, 2010, 06:44 PM
 
I have turned my old G5 into a media server, and i am ripping my dvds to divx so i can watch them on my tv and xbox. I am using handbrake, but i am getting files over a gb and the quality is not great. Can anyone help.

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AKcrab
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Oct 23, 2010, 07:10 PM
 
Handbrake will encode divx?

What settings or presets are you using?
     
turtle777
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Oct 23, 2010, 07:46 PM
 
Originally Posted by ampa View Post
I have turned my old G5 into a media server, and i am ripping my dvds to divx so i can watch them on my tv and xbox. I am using handbrake, but i am getting files over a gb and the quality is not great.
What length material ?

A feature fill movie will most likely be more than 1GB in good quality, no matter what encoder you use.

It very much depends on how you encode sound, and also what type of movie it is (I.e. fast changing scenes will cause a bigger file.)

-t
     
ampa  (op)
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Oct 23, 2010, 08:11 PM
 
its not the size that bothers me, its the quality. its barely above VHS quality. I have divx file that i have not ripped that look great at 700mb. i'm wondering if i should use a better app or a certain settings for handbreak.
     
Cold Warrior
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Oct 23, 2010, 08:43 PM
 
Older versions of handbrake had support for divx, the latest deprecated that option.

The current version supports only H263 output. Try its various presets or a target size.

I know it requires VLC to rip a DVD, and the newer VLC releases are Intel-only, but if you can find the last VLC PPC release and place it in Applications, Handbrake should be able to use its DVD binary just fine.
     
reader50
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Oct 23, 2010, 10:53 PM
 
VLC continues to support PPC, including the latest 1.1.4.1 release.
     
Cold Warrior
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Oct 23, 2010, 11:13 PM
 
How 'bout that.

Definitely try h263 on the latest handbrake.
     
Lateralus
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Oct 24, 2010, 06:10 AM
 
^h.264*
I like chicken
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Meow Mix, Meow Mix
Please de-liv-er
     
cgc
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Oct 24, 2010, 08:11 AM
 
Originally Posted by AKcrab View Post
Handbrake will encode divx?

What settings or presets are you using?
HB removed divx a year ago or so.
"Like a midget at a urinal, I was going to have to stay on my toes." Frank Drebin, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult
     
cgc
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Oct 24, 2010, 08:16 AM
 
I had a need to do batch encodes. HB doesn't do them and the devs won't add it so I looked for an alternative. iSkySoft's iMediaConverter which does do divx and avis (which are easier to play on my DLNA TV). It uses multiple cores, is easy to use, has tons of presets, and does batch encodes (e.g. folders at a time if necessary). Great app...
"Like a midget at a urinal, I was going to have to stay on my toes." Frank Drebin, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult
     
mduell
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Oct 24, 2010, 04:48 PM
 
Originally Posted by Cold Warrior View Post
Older versions of handbrake had support for divx, the latest deprecated that option.

The current version supports only H263 output.
The current HandBrake supports encoding MPEG4 ASP ("MPEG4 Video") and MPEG4 AVC ("H.264").

Originally Posted by cgc View Post
I had a need to do batch encodes. HB doesn't do them and the devs won't add it so I looked for an alternative. iSkySoft's iMediaConverter which does do divx and avis (which are easier to play on my DLNA TV). It uses multiple cores, is easy to use, has tons of presets, and does batch encodes (e.g. folders at a time if necessary). Great app...
It's pretty trivial to script the encoding of an entire folder.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Oct 24, 2010, 05:30 PM
 
Originally Posted by cgc View Post
I had a need to do batch encodes. HB doesn't do them and the devs won't add it so I looked for an alternative. iSkySoft's iMediaConverter which does do divx and avis (which are easier to play on my DLNA TV). It uses multiple cores, is easy to use, has tons of presets, and does batch encodes (e.g. folders at a time if necessary). Great app...
iSkySoft have spammed this forum a dozen times and should be ****ing out of business for that.

They let you have a free download and then charge $49 for USING it, and it's 100% surely not even their own code, but a wrapper around something free.

I can't believe I actually see someone recommending it.

Next up, people will be buying Xilisoft and expecting it to work (I've actually met four people who spent money on that steaming pile of shit and then came round asking why it didn't work, only to be flabbergasted that Handbrake does and is free).
     
EmmEff
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Oct 24, 2010, 10:50 PM
 
I haven't tried this yet but am planning on installing the command-line utility ffmpeg from any of the ports "suites" and using that. Should be possible to wrap some Automator script around this anc make it pretty as well.
     
AKcrab
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Oct 24, 2010, 10:58 PM
 
What's wrong with Handbrake? You can get/compile a CLI version if that's what you want.
     
EmmEff
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Oct 24, 2010, 11:03 PM
 
I'm pretty sure we established earlier in the thread that handbrake no longer supports divx encoding.
     
AKcrab
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Oct 24, 2010, 11:24 PM
 
I keep forgetting that someone would actually want divx.
     
EmmEff
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Oct 25, 2010, 05:38 AM
 
I understand but it is the topic of the thread. Given the fact that most movies and TV shows downloaded are in divx format, there are a lot of users that still want it. It's sort of a lowest common denominator in the codec world and yet there's not an easy way to make one in OS X. That is actually pathetic whether you agree or use the format or not.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Oct 25, 2010, 06:31 AM
 
Being able to *play* it makes sense.

being able to *create* it, not so much. It's not 2003 anymore.
     
angelmb
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Oct 25, 2010, 11:02 AM
 
Not sure if DivX Converter is the answer to your needs, but it does convert movies to divx just fine.

It's not 2003 anymore.
The DivX Converter looks more dated than that !! Makes the OS X Chess speech feedback window look gorgeous.



but hey, it works here; did choose the 'mobile' preset on purpose, there is one for home theater.



Also, you can create a job list and schedule conversions as well.
     
EmmEff
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Oct 25, 2010, 11:22 AM
 
It's also a paid app, but I guess if you need it badly...
     
P
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Oct 25, 2010, 12:02 PM
 
FFmpegX can do it, but it doesn't seem to have been updated in two years. Not sure how well it works anymore.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
cgc
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Oct 25, 2010, 12:09 PM
 
I have no desire to write a script to batch encode a folder of files. DIVX is relevant for some folks like myself who have DLNA TVs that play DIVX files perfectly but choke on H.264 MP4 files (sometimes they work, sometimes they don't...check the Samsung DLNA forums for all the problems associated with MP4 containers). I never saw any spam from the company...I'll take your word on it, but in spite of their crappy public relations and reputation, their product is still very good and it makes some things easier than HB.
"Like a midget at a urinal, I was going to have to stay on my toes." Frank Drebin, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult
     
EmmEff
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Oct 25, 2010, 12:47 PM
 
I hear ya, cgc. I used to divx encode my MythTV recordings from my Linux box to playback on my XBox 360. I had the same poor luck with finding the right combination of settings to create a compatible MP4.
     
mduell
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Oct 25, 2010, 05:50 PM
 
X360 plays H.264 quite well, why would you bother with DivX?
     
EmmEff
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Oct 25, 2010, 10:25 PM
 
It was always a toss-up whether the generated H.264 file would work... I've wasted too much time on this crap. I wish I never had to see it again.
     
turtle777
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Oct 26, 2010, 05:27 AM
 
Originally Posted by EmmEff View Post
It was always a toss-up whether the generated H.264 file would work... I've wasted too much time on this crap. I wish I never had to see it again.
You mean converted with the same settings, it would sometimes play, and sometimes not ?

-t
     
EmmEff
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Oct 26, 2010, 08:27 AM
 
Originally Posted by turtle777 View Post
You mean converted with the same settings, it would sometimes play, and sometimes not ?
Definitely! I tried to use ffmpeg/ffmpegX on Linux and OS X mostly but tried everything else that was available and free. I cannot believe how cocked up this stuff is. What baffled me is that the developers of this app couldn't simply have sane defaults. Sure, there were defaults for creating a low-resolution, low quality file which was totally useless.

I have forgotten the details because this was a while back. I simply threw my hands up in disgust and gave up on it. I use HandBrake now for creating AppleTV compatible MP4s from DVDs, which seemingly work well on the XBox360.
     
turtle777
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Oct 26, 2010, 08:33 AM
 
Well, I can't speak for other apps, but Handbrake is pretty consistent in my experience.

-t
     
cgc
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Oct 26, 2010, 10:52 AM
 
Originally Posted by EmmEff View Post
It was always a toss-up whether the generated H.264 file would work... I've wasted too much time on this crap. I wish I never had to see it again.
Yes. Samsungs DLNA TVs are picky and erratic when dealing with anything other than divx avi files.
"Like a midget at a urinal, I was going to have to stay on my toes." Frank Drebin, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult
     
EmmEff
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Oct 26, 2010, 11:43 AM
 
Originally Posted by cgc View Post
Yes. Samsungs DLNA TVs are picky and erratic when dealing with anything other than divx avi files.
Same goes for the XBox360. Many of the divx files I download don't play on it due to codec variances.
     
   
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