Hi, I use a Matrox Marvel G400 and Caputre into AVI(MJPEG) and convert into MPEG1 using Ligos LSX. This usually is a procedure which takes a long time. (Conversion). I've tried using HW codecs (Snazzi) but the quality is not good. I was wondering what happens if we use a MPEG 4 Codec (or do you call it DivX ?) provided I have a P4, and then re-encode it to MPEG2. Ive used the huffycodec, but encoding time was not very good.

I've also noticed when I capture avi in full frames (PAL : 704x568) and encode to VCD(MPEG1) using Ligos, the quality is far better than capturing at 352x288 and then converting to MPEG1. (ie resolution of source is higher) Has anyone tried this and found similar results ?

Thanks in advance, ElGee

-- El Gee (lasithg@yahoo.com), January 18, 2003

Answers

The eternal debate - do you want quick encodes or good quality video? You can't have both. I doubt that using the DivX codec will save you much time if you convert that to MPEG-1, plus DivX is a lossy codec. "Lossy" means that it throws away part of the video information to save space. Huffy is lossless, which makes it a superior codec to use. Your experience in capturing 704x568 and encoding down to 352x288 is normal. Yes, that will result in better video. If you really want to save time, you can record directly to MPEG-1 at VCD resolutions, but if you continue to do what you are doing now, you'll get the best results. Sorry, but encoding video is time consuming and the only way to speed it up is to sacrifice quality.

-- Root (root@yahoo.moc), January 20, 2003.

So I guess Huffy@704x568 ->AVI is the best solution (of course I'm never going to Compensate on Quality!) Thanks for pointing out the Lossy nature of DivX. What's the best to convert AVI(Huffy) to MPEG1 Ive used the freeware TMPEG.

Thanks in advance EL GEE

-- El Gee (lasithg@yahoo.com), January 20, 2003.