| Author |
Message |
Henk van Loon
Guest
|
 Posted:
Mon Jul 18, 2005 6:30 pm Post subject:
What's the best HARDWARE DivX encoder? |
|
|
I am encoding DV material into DivX movies for website publishing, now
using ffmpegx for Apple. But I think this software encoding is not
optimal so I'm considering getting a hardware encoder for Apple or PC.
What's the best one, and do these hardware encoders the same options
as the software codecs, like for example the possibility to crop the
movie to get rid of the dirty edges on top and bottom?
Thanks,
Henk
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S Akky
Guest
|
| Posted:
Mon Jul 18, 2005 8:59 pm Post subject:
Re: What's the best HARDWARE DivX encoder? |
|
|
Henk van Loon put fingers to keyboard and typed...
| Quote: | I am encoding DV material into DivX movies for website publishing, now
using ffmpegx for Apple. But I think this software encoding is not
optimal so I'm considering getting a hardware encoder for Apple or PC.
What's the best one, and do these hardware encoders the same options
as the software codecs, like for example the possibility to crop the
movie to get rid of the dirty edges on top and bottom?
Thanks,
Henk
|
The only two I found doing a quick google were
Miglia EvolutionTV
http://www.miglia.com/products/video/evolutiontv/index.html
and Plextor ConvertX PX-M402U
http://www.plextor.com/english/products/ConvertX2.htm
I'm sure you could find the information you want by searching a bit more,
posting to other forums etc.
HTH
--
Shabs. |
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Henk van Loon
Guest
|
| Posted:
Mon Jul 18, 2005 9:26 pm Post subject:
Re: What's the best HARDWARE DivX encoder? |
|
|
On Mon, 18 Jul 2005 15:59:59 GMT, S Akky <nospamforme@themoment.com>
wrote:
| Quote: | Henk van Loon put fingers to keyboard and typed...
I am encoding DV material into DivX movies for website publishing, now
using ffmpegx for Apple. But I think this software encoding is not
optimal so I'm considering getting a hardware encoder for Apple or PC.
What's the best one, and do these hardware encoders the same options
as the software codecs, like for example the possibility to crop the
movie to get rid of the dirty edges on top and bottom?
Thanks,
Henk
The only two I found doing a quick google were
Miglia EvolutionTV
http://www.miglia.com/products/video/evolutiontv/index.html
and Plextor ConvertX PX-M402U
http://www.plextor.com/english/products/ConvertX2.htm
I'm sure you could find the information you want by searching a bit more,
posting to other forums etc.
|
Thanks. Both look interesting. But none has DV (firewire) input
connector.
Do you think that with these external boxes I will be able to convert
a DV file on my harddrive to an avi file? The page about the plextor
says it comes with possibilty to edit DV material?
Henk |
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|
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Alan Pollock
Guest
|
| Posted:
Tue Jul 19, 2005 5:29 am Post subject:
Re: What's the best HARDWARE DivX encoder? |
|
|
Henk van Loon <henkvanloon@mail.com> wrote:
| Quote: | On Mon, 18 Jul 2005 15:59:59 GMT, S Akky <nospamforme@themoment.com
wrote:
Henk van Loon put fingers to keyboard and typed...
I am encoding DV material into DivX movies for website publishing, now
using ffmpegx for Apple. But I think this software encoding is not
optimal so I'm considering getting a hardware encoder for Apple or PC.
What's the best one, and do these hardware encoders the same options
as the software codecs, like for example the possibility to crop the
movie to get rid of the dirty edges on top and bottom?
Thanks,
Henk
The only two I found doing a quick google were
Miglia EvolutionTV
http://www.miglia.com/products/video/evolutiontv/index.html
and Plextor ConvertX PX-M402U
http://www.plextor.com/english/products/ConvertX2.htm
I'm sure you could find the information you want by searching a bit more,
posting to other forums etc.
Thanks. Both look interesting. But none has DV (firewire) input
connector.
Do you think that with these external boxes I will be able to convert
a DV file on my harddrive to an avi file? The page about the plextor
says it comes with possibilty to edit DV material?
Henk
|
Moreover, affordable one-pass hardware encoders - if the other ones are
anything like the 402U that I've got - don't give you the same space-savings
that two-pass software encoders do for the same quality. More efficient than
mpeg2, but that's not saying much, is it? The 402U is useful, it does save you
some space and of course it does mpeg2 well so you won't throw it in a closet,
but after being bedazzled with its divx product those first few days I rapidly
reverted to two-pass software encoding for quality (mostly xvid btw, and now
with the disgusting divx 6 software I got conned into buying, well, that's
another story).
I guess it's unfair to expect a one-pass encoder - hardware or software - to
be terribly impressive in the quality/space department. I'm guessing that the
more (much more) expensive one-pass hardware encoders do a good job though.
Nex |
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|
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Alan Pollock
Guest
|
| Posted:
Tue Jul 19, 2005 5:31 pm Post subject:
Re: What's the best HARDWARE DivX encoder? |
|
|
Henk van Loon <henkvanloon@mail.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Hi Nex,
I was considering getting a hardware encoder because I thought that
would provide me with better quality at same compression ratio. But
you're saying that a software codec in two-pass mode can achieve
better results, right?
I am new to DivX and video-compression in general and am now using
ffmpegx on the mac and it has a lot of options but no guidelines, no
help files. But there is a 2-pass option. I will give that a try!
And if i would encode something with xvid, in what player will my
clients be able to view that material? Do xvid files play in WMP,
quicktime and DivX player?
Thanks,
Henk
|
xvid seems to play in anything that plays divx as far as I can see, and xvid
plays just fine on my Philips dvp642 standalone divx-capable player as well.
In answer to your first question yes, two-pass encoding gives you a much
better picture at smaller file sizes, period. There's really no comparison.
I'd hazard to say the sizes for comparable quality would be less than half the
size after a two-pass. But more than that, two-pass in my experience gives you
a much higher quality-ceiling; places a one-pass encode simply can't go.
Again, I'm basing all this not on one-pass vs two-pass software encoding, but
on one-pass hardware (~$100 units) vs two-pass software encodes. It's possible
that the more expensive one-pass hardware encoders do a better job. Nex |
|
| Back to top |
|
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Henk van Loon
Guest
|
| Posted:
Tue Jul 19, 2005 8:01 pm Post subject:
Re: What's the best HARDWARE DivX encoder? |
|
|
On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 05:29:32 +0000 (UTC), Alan Pollock
<nex@nopanix.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Henk van Loon <henkvanloon@mail.com> wrote:
On Mon, 18 Jul 2005 15:59:59 GMT, S Akky <nospamforme@themoment.com
wrote:
Henk van Loon put fingers to keyboard and typed...
I am encoding DV material into DivX movies for website publishing, now
using ffmpegx for Apple. But I think this software encoding is not
optimal so I'm considering getting a hardware encoder for Apple or PC.
What's the best one, and do these hardware encoders the same options
as the software codecs, like for example the possibility to crop the
movie to get rid of the dirty edges on top and bottom?
Thanks,
Henk
The only two I found doing a quick google were
Miglia EvolutionTV
http://www.miglia.com/products/video/evolutiontv/index.html
and Plextor ConvertX PX-M402U
http://www.plextor.com/english/products/ConvertX2.htm
I'm sure you could find the information you want by searching a bit more,
posting to other forums etc.
Thanks. Both look interesting. But none has DV (firewire) input
connector.
Do you think that with these external boxes I will be able to convert
a DV file on my harddrive to an avi file? The page about the plextor
says it comes with possibilty to edit DV material?
Henk
Moreover, affordable one-pass hardware encoders - if the other ones are
anything like the 402U that I've got - don't give you the same space-savings
that two-pass software encoders do for the same quality. More efficient than
mpeg2, but that's not saying much, is it? The 402U is useful, it does save you
some space and of course it does mpeg2 well so you won't throw it in a closet,
but after being bedazzled with its divx product those first few days I rapidly
reverted to two-pass software encoding for quality (mostly xvid btw, and now
with the disgusting divx 6 software I got conned into buying, well, that's
another story).
I guess it's unfair to expect a one-pass encoder - hardware or software - to
be terribly impressive in the quality/space department. I'm guessing that the
more (much more) expensive one-pass hardware encoders do a good job though.
Nex
|
Hi Nex,
I was considering getting a hardware encoder because I thought that
would provide me with better quality at same compression ratio. But
you're saying that a software codec in two-pass mode can achieve
better results, right?
I am new to DivX and video-compression in general and am now using
ffmpegx on the mac and it has a lot of options but no guidelines, no
help files. But there is a 2-pass option. I will give that a try!
And if i would encode something with xvid, in what player will my
clients be able to view that material? Do xvid files play in WMP,
quicktime and DivX player?
Thanks,
Henk |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jan Panteltje
Guest
|
| Posted:
Tue Jul 19, 2005 11:03 pm Post subject:
Re: What's the best HARDWARE DivX encoder? |
|
|
On a sunny day (Tue, 19 Jul 2005 17:01:53 +0200) it happened Henk van Loon
<henkvanloon@mail.com> wrote in <475qd1l8p3nn6dapus0rkpke9riqeqi4ne@4ax.com>:
| Quote: | On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 05:29:32 +0000 (UTC), Alan Pollock
nex@nopanix.com> wrote:
Henk van Loon <henkvanloon@mail.com> wrote:
On Mon, 18 Jul 2005 15:59:59 GMT, S Akky <nospamforme@themoment.com
wrote:
Henk van Loon put fingers to keyboard and typed...
I am encoding DV material into DivX movies for website publishing, now
using ffmpegx for Apple. But I think this software encoding is not
optimal so I'm considering getting a hardware encoder for Apple or PC.
What's the best one, and do these hardware encoders the same options
as the software codecs, like for example the possibility to crop the
movie to get rid of the dirty edges on top and bottom?
Thanks,
Henk
The only two I found doing a quick google were
Miglia EvolutionTV
http://www.miglia.com/products/video/evolutiontv/index.html
and Plextor ConvertX PX-M402U
http://www.plextor.com/english/products/ConvertX2.htm
I'm sure you could find the information you want by searching a bit more,
posting to other forums etc.
Thanks. Both look interesting. But none has DV (firewire) input
connector.
Do you think that with these external boxes I will be able to convert
a DV file on my harddrive to an avi file? The page about the plextor
says it comes with possibilty to edit DV material?
Henk
Moreover, affordable one-pass hardware encoders - if the other ones are
anything like the 402U that I've got - don't give you the same space-savings
that two-pass software encoders do for the same quality. More efficient than
mpeg2, but that's not saying much, is it? The 402U is useful, it does save you
some space and of course it does mpeg2 well so you won't throw it in a closet,
but after being bedazzled with its divx product those first few days I rapidly
reverted to two-pass software encoding for quality (mostly xvid btw, and now
with the disgusting divx 6 software I got conned into buying, well, that's
another story).
I guess it's unfair to expect a one-pass encoder - hardware or software - to
be terribly impressive in the quality/space department. I'm guessing that the
more (much more) expensive one-pass hardware encoders do a good job though.
Nex
Hi Nex,
I was considering getting a hardware encoder because I thought that
would provide me with better quality at same compression ratio. But
you're saying that a software codec in two-pass mode can achieve
better results, right?
I am new to DivX and video-compression in general and am now using
ffmpegx on the mac and it has a lot of options but no guidelines, no
help files. But there is a 2-pass option. I will give that a try!
And if i would encode something with xvid, in what player will my
clients be able to view that material? Do xvid files play in WMP,
quicktime and DivX player?
Thanks,
Henk
xvid is not guaranteed to play on ANY standalone player. |
That is what it says in their site.
> |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Larc
Guest
|
| Posted:
Wed Jul 20, 2005 1:05 am Post subject:
Re: What's the best HARDWARE DivX encoder? |
|
|
On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 18:03:42 GMT, Jan Panteltje
<pNaonStpealmtje@yahoo.com> wrote:
| xvid is not guaranteed to play on ANY standalone player.
| That is what it says in their site.
That's probably because XviD is open source and, as such, is not
confined to any specific set of etiquettes. Anybody is free to alter
XviD as he sees fit. As a result, there may be several active XviD
versions floating around at the same time.
While XviD may have slight benefits over DivX, the latter is at least
constant within each generation.
Larc
§§§ - Change planet to earth to reply by email - §§§ |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Alan Pollock
Guest
|
| Posted:
Wed Jul 20, 2005 4:39 am Post subject:
Re: What's the best HARDWARE DivX encoder? |
|
|
Larc <larc-news@jupiterlink.net> wrote:
| Quote: | | xvid is not guaranteed to play on ANY standalone player.
| That is what it says in their site.
That's probably because XviD is open source and, as such, is not
confined to any specific set of etiquettes. Anybody is free to alter
XviD as he sees fit. As a result, there may be several active XviD
versions floating around at the same time.
While XviD may have slight benefits over DivX, the latter is at least
constant within each generation.
Larc
|
Yup. My DVP642 standalone has played nearly every downloaded xvid I've thrown
at it (something like 98/100), and it's played every xvid I've encoded. It's
played every single downloaded divx and every divx I've encoded. Nex
PS: anybody have news about the divx 6 team's plans? Are they going to offer
those they conned into buying it a useable interface/gui for 6? You know, with
actual options and stuff? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Billy Joe
Guest
|
| Posted:
Wed Jul 20, 2005 4:41 am Post subject:
Re: What's the best HARDWARE DivX encoder? |
|
|
| Quote: | Henk van Loon <henkvanloon@mail.com> wrote:
On Mon, 18 Jul 2005 15:59:59 GMT, S Akky
nospamforme@themoment.com> wrote:
Henk van Loon put fingers to keyboard and typed...
I am encoding DV material into DivX movies for website
publishing, now using ffmpegx for Apple. But I think this
software encoding is not optimal so I'm considering
getting a hardware encoder for Apple or PC. What's the
best one, and do these hardware encoders the same options
as the software codecs, like for example the possibility
to crop the movie to get rid of the dirty edges on top and
bottom?
Thanks,
Henk
The only two I found doing a quick google were
Miglia EvolutionTV
http://www.miglia.com/products/video/evolutiontv/index.html
and Plextor ConvertX PX-M402U
http://www.plextor.com/english/products/ConvertX2.htm
I'm sure you could find the information you want by
searching a bit more, posting to other forums etc.
Thanks. Both look interesting. But none has DV (firewire)
input connector.
Do you think that with these external boxes I will be able
to convert a DV file on my harddrive to an avi file? The
page about the plextor says it comes with possibilty to edit
DV material?
Henk
Moreover, affordable one-pass hardware encoders - if the
other ones are anything like the 402U that I've got - don't
give you the same space-savings that two-pass software
encoders do for the same quality. More efficient than mpeg2,
but that's not saying much, is it?
|
Is there something else to say?
| Quote: | The 402U is useful, it
does save you some space and of course it does mpeg2 well so
you won't throw it in a closet, but after being bedazzled
with its divx product those first few days I rapidly reverted
to two-pass software encoding for quality (mostly xvid btw,
and now with the disgusting divx 6 software I got conned into
buying, well, that's another story).
|
Amen! A long time Divx customer, I too was disappointed (make that IRATE)
over 6. Not noticeably faster, maybe even slower. Caused several players
to belly up or mal-perform on encodings played perfectly only the day before
installation of 6. And yes, xvid remains my codec of choice - though I paid
now two or three times for Divx.
However, Divx has made things happen in the playback arena. For this
they've earned my continued - however paltry - support.
| Quote: | I guess it's unfair to expect a one-pass encoder - hardware
or software - to be terribly impressive in the quality/space
department.
|
Well, it goes without saying that one pass has a buffer-sized limitation on
interpreting the video frames. So, sure - one pass needs to produce LARGER
files to compensate for the lack of what's coming info. If the choice is 3
mbps encoding in one pass, vs. 1.5 mbps encoding in two pass BUT one pass
happens on-the-fly and two pass happens TWICE after the fact, I gotta
measure the value of time, the only thing in this life that comes out the
same for everyone ;-0) Given that the results are similar visually, I'll
buy the extra storage for the savings in time. If, on another hand, the
quality varies significantly, I'll stick with 2 pass after-the-fact
encodings.
I mention this only because I just ordered a Plextor divx capture device for
a friend and am eager to see its results. Until now, I've only used 2 pass
after-the-fact encoding. If this "thing" produces quality equal to my 1.5
encodings, I'm all for switching my strategy ;-0)
| Quote: | I'm guessing that the more (much more) expensive
one-pass hardware encoders do a good job though. Nex
|
I drool over the multi-K$ devices too. But frankly wonder to what degree
better they are? And, if they aren't nth degrees better, what might I have
bought?
BJ |
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D.E.
Guest
|
| Posted:
Wed Jul 20, 2005 3:57 pm Post subject:
Re: What's the best HARDWARE DivX encoder? |
|
|
"Alan Pollock" <nex@nopanix.com> schreef in bericht
news:dbkkha$6i7$1@reader2.panix.com...
| Quote: | Larc <larc-news@jupiterlink.net> wrote:
On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 18:03:42 GMT, Jan Panteltje
pNaonStpealmtje@yahoo.com> wrote:
| xvid is not guaranteed to play on ANY standalone player.
| That is what it says in their site.
That's probably because XviD is open source and, as such, is not
confined to any specific set of etiquettes. Anybody is free to alter
XviD as he sees fit. As a result, there may be several active XviD
versions floating around at the same time.
While XviD may have slight benefits over DivX, the latter is at least
constant within each generation.
Larc
Yup. My DVP642 standalone has played nearly every downloaded xvid I've
thrown
at it (something like 98/100), and it's played every xvid I've encoded.
It's
played every single downloaded divx and every divx I've encoded. Nex
PS: anybody have news about the divx 6 team's plans? Are they going to
offer
those they conned into buying it a useable interface/gui for 6? You know,
with
actual options and stuff?
|
Well you could read the forums in www.divx.com ?
And there you see how many were disgusted by the move towards
the totally useless divx converter (well totally useless for anyone who can
count to three
and above ;o) ). The divx team are inventarising what people exactly want
(like they wouldn`t know ;o) )
So it probably take some time before they come out with a useable tool.
(If they are going to do that, I am not really sure yet if they are. They
better
otherwise it is bye bye for divx for me) |
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Henk van Loon
Guest
|
| Posted:
Thu Jul 21, 2005 1:07 am Post subject:
Re: What's the best HARDWARE DivX encoder? |
|
|
On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 17:31:51 +0000 (UTC), Alan Pollock
<nex@nopanix.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Henk van Loon <henkvanloon@mail.com> wrote:
Hi Nex,
I was considering getting a hardware encoder because I thought that
would provide me with better quality at same compression ratio. But
you're saying that a software codec in two-pass mode can achieve
better results, right?
I am new to DivX and video-compression in general and am now using
ffmpegx on the mac and it has a lot of options but no guidelines, no
help files. But there is a 2-pass option. I will give that a try!
And if i would encode something with xvid, in what player will my
clients be able to view that material? Do xvid files play in WMP,
quicktime and DivX player?
Thanks,
Henk
xvid seems to play in anything that plays divx as far as I can see, and xvid
plays just fine on my Philips dvp642 standalone divx-capable player as well.
In answer to your first question yes, two-pass encoding gives you a much
better picture at smaller file sizes, period. There's really no comparison.
I'd hazard to say the sizes for comparable quality would be less than half the
size after a two-pass. But more than that, two-pass in my experience gives you
a much higher quality-ceiling; places a one-pass encode simply can't go.
Again, I'm basing all this not on one-pass vs two-pass software encoding, but
on one-pass hardware (~$100 units) vs two-pass software encodes. It's possible
that the more expensive one-pass hardware encoders do a better job. Nex
|
I've re-encoded some clips using 2-pass and de-interlace, and they
look better than with one-pass coding. ffmpegx has a 3-pass option as
well, would that be better than 2 pass?
Coding time is not a problem for me, I sleep while ffmpegx is encoding
my video-clips. But I need to have my files as small as possible,
since they are going to be downloaded from my websites by my
customers.
For now I'll stick with the 2-pass encoding and de-interlace option.
You saved me about $100 Alan!
Henk |
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|
|
Alan Pollock
Guest
|
| Posted:
Thu Jul 21, 2005 4:37 am Post subject:
Re: What's the best HARDWARE DivX encoder? |
|
|
Henk van Loon <henkvanloon@mail.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Coding time is not a problem for me, I sleep while ffmpegx is encoding
my video-clips. But I need to have my files as small as possible,
since they are going to be downloaded from my websites by my
customers.
|
That's when I usually encode, overnight or during the day when I'm out.
| Quote: | For now I'll stick with the 2-pass encoding and de-interlace option.
You saved me about $100 Alan!
|
Good for you Henk, glad to have helped. Nex |
|
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