Hi all, first and foremost great forum. Very informative. Well up to now I've been using ConvertXtoDVD to convert my avi files into DVD format. But I've noticed that on all of my DVD conversions/burns there is always some sort of pixelation/artifacting, mostly in the particularly dark scenes. Scenes that show the night sky, dark walls, heavy shadows, solid colored walls, etc. I know that once I convert an AVI file into DVD format the quality will be worse than that of the original AVI file, but the artifacting/pixelation that occurs is somewhat unbearable and is very noticeable. I make sure to always use a high quality AVI video source, I'll get my hands on "dvd-rips" for example, and the quality will be severely worsened once burnt to DVD. Particulary the dark scenes, as explained above. There'll be little multi-colored blocks, pixelation, artifacting, etc. So I'm now looking for an alternative. I'm a newby and I've only tried a handful of programs (ConvertXtoDVD and WinAVI to be precise) and I'm looking for a new alternative. It doesn't have to be an "all-in-one" solution like ConvertXtoDVD and WinAVI are. I don't mind using multiple programs in order to get the best quality possible. But keep in mind I am a newby. Thanks for any and all help, I appreciate it.
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I mentioned in my original post that I had already used WinAVI, so I obviously was not pleased with the quality. Again, thanks for replying. Thanks for all the help thus far guys, keep it coming :]
As I consider ConvertXtoDVD to be the best 1 step program out there, my choice for an alternative would be an encoder, an authoring program and a burning program. There are lots of each and after using many, settled on MainConcept to encode and Ulead MovieFactory to author and burn. UMF is slower than others but is also creating the vob's from the mpg of MC. MC is slower than ConvertXtoDVD but, then, only WinAvi is faster. There are many settings to tweak but MC is good as you get it and there is an openended trial that puts a watermark in your video that may or may not bother you. I'm pretty fussy and it didn't bother me except I knew it was there. Also, kinda overpriced but I figure a few trips to the theatre pay for it and besides, the quality is great. It also allows you to use wav as the audio source but most encoders do. It's handy for AC3 as it tends to be faint. You would also need a bitrate calculator to determine file size and G Spot for audio and resolution (aspect ratio) details. A resolution calculator is neat as I dislike widescreen (letterboxing) and prefer the black bars as small as possible. Long post but a big question and you'll probably get as many answers as there are encoders.
Thanks for replying mistycat. You mention getting an encoder, specifically "MainConcept". Any idea on how it compares to other encoders such as TMPEG? I've been hearing good things about TMPEG, but have yet to try it out myself. I really want the best quality possible, so what would you guys reccomend I acquire as far as encoders go? Same for the authoring program, you mention Ulead Movie Factory. I'll look into it and see how it compares to other authoring programs, but as always, I'd like to get some more second opinions before I make my move. So please keep the suggestions coming guys, I really appreciate it. I apologize if I come off as picky but after about a year of bad encodes/burns, I'm ready for something better.
I have TMPGEnc Plus, actually started out with it and while it's good, I don't feel the quality is as good as MainConcept. But that pales in comparison to it's speed. An average 2 pass VBR encoding takes me about 9 1/2 hours and I have a fast machine. I have heard good things about CCE Basic's quality and speed but I couldn't use it because it wouldn't open my XVID's which are the majority of my video's. Also, because it works best with Avisynth (not necessary and very complicated), the trial only encodes 3 minutes and, like TMPGEnc, it's not very good with audio and I'm not sure if it accepts wav and UMF won't combine an elementary mpg and a wav. There are lots of authoring programs: TMPGEnc DVD Author, DVD Lab, DVD Lab Pro which I hear good things about and others but I have only used Ulead MovieFactory.
Thanks for the quick response! Hmm well I want the best quality afterall, so I'll look into Mainconcepts once I finish picking out the software I think I'll need. You mentioned a 9 hour conversion time, which program was that? TMPGENC or the Main Concepts encoder? That's a really long time, or maybe I'm just used to the speed of convertxtodvd. It's no big deal, I'm after quality. Also, I'll look into the dvd authoring programs you suggested and compare. As always, more suggestions and opinions are appreciated. Thanks
The 9 1/2 hour encode was with TMPGEnc Plus and I have read of times that are more than twice that, A 1 pass should be half that time but with less quality. Either way, 1 or 2 pass, the more filters you use, the longer the encoding time but the better the quality and that applies to all encoders. But, even with every filter enabled, MainConcept is still twice as fast as TMPGEnc with better quality. That should start a war with TMPGEnc users. And in default mode, MainConcept is 3 - 3 1/2 times faster. I haven't seen any encoder (alone) whose times are close to ConvertXtoDVD and I've tried a lot.
As I've mentioned elsewhere I've used many different conversion programs and none comes close to ConvertXtoDVD for quality or speed-plus they update it on a very regular basis-now if it would just support dual core processors.
Hi, I have no alternative to suggest for the time for being but I know vso has implemented an image processor filter in convertxtodvd this should improve the quality of the final result for some files, making the image sharper. Look for this in the next coming versions. I wonder if this would help out here in your case.
Now that dvd players that can play divx avis cost less than $50 US, maybe, like me, you could ask yourself "how much is my time worth?". Plus you can get 5 or 6 movies on one single layer DVD-R and up to 12 on a dual layer disk.
Yes, a DIVX capable player is the way to go for oneself but if others wish to view those video's on their own standalones, chances are that they probably won't be able to.
Then why not give them the avi and let them do the processing? I am not my brother's keeper, especially if my brother is a cheapskate. Also, my own situation is that if I download avi material, it is for my own personal use.
There's nothing 'high quality' about your Xvid DVD rips. Your source has been compromised. These are highly compressed files that have taken a quality hit, and aren't meant to be reconverted to DVD. If it's 'high quality' you want, download the full DVD. The problems you describe, dark scenes being blocky, are a fact of life. I've used Nero, ConvertX and MainConcept for conversions and all exhibit this trait to one extent or another.
The video is for my personal use and isn't meant to be lent out but some have been viewed on up to 10 different standalones and a lot of those people don't have computers to do their own processng; it's not about being a cheapskate. And I don't mind, I'm doing them for myself initially. It may take a few hours but I end with a video that can rival commercial DVD (not always but still excellent). Burning the avi as data would be much faster and ensure the bast quality, though.
That doesn't make sense. I hope you're not talking about cinema type movies because that would be piracy. Now surely that IS piracy?
It does make sense; the video is converted and burned to DVD for myself but other people have seen it playing an my standalone and want to borrow it and it goes from there. As for what type it is, the rules are ambiguous but clearly state you can assist with pirated material, just not link to it but this thread isn't even about that. Edit: spelling error
