How to convert SageTV recordings to Dvix?

[firehawk12]

Hi, I'm sorta new at this, so I have no idea what to do.

I made some recordings with SageTV, and wanted to convert the mpgs to divx. I've tried dumping the mpgs to virtualdub, but it doesn't work.

I tried that ffmpeg program, but it seems to make the video skip...

Any help would be appreciated.

(I hope this is the right forum for this question. )

[justme]

For a super quick/dirty job...I personally like to use DR Divx. It's nothing special, but it is fast and easy. Of course it's not free or as versatile as VirtualDub. As for VirtualDub's issues, are you using the Mpg2 compatible version or at least frame serving the mpg as an AVI?

I'm about to log off but this info should get you started. And of cousre some one else should come along and give even more/better info.

PS:I first edit my recording first with Wombles MPEG2VCR. Currently, it seems like VideoRedo is the populiar Mpeg2 editor with PVR250 users. VideoRedo's author seems to be very responsive to user issues and request. He has many SageTV users as customers. You can't really go wrong with either and both have a trial. So there's no excuse to not try them both out first. Both are fast nondestuctive(means they don't use needless re-encoding) Mpeg2 editors.

[firehawk12]

Hrm, I might try getting one of those mpeg editors. I've heard it's easier to edit avis, but I'm not sure.


I just downloaded the virtualdub from the website.... I'm not sure if it's mpeg2 compatible or not...

[paulr]

Auto Gordian Knot will convert your mpegs to divx or xvid. You need to select file input. It's been a while since I used it, but it worked well, albeit a little slow.

If you try it, make sure you get one of the more recent betas. The older versions only do DVD input mode.

[justme]

I can't remember exactly where I got my VDubMod version from but... Here's the link to the VirtualDubMod sourcforge page. This version of Vdub is Mpg2 capable. I'm pretty sure I got my build off of a different site/developer but this should at least get you started.

I don't use Gknot so I'll leave that up to the experts. There's tons of detailed info on Mpeg2 to Divx/Xvid encoding out there. I like the afterdawn and Doom9 forums myself.

PS:If you plan to edit a PVR recorde mpg2 and compress it... It's usually better to edit it first using a nondestuctive Mpeg2 editor, IMHO. After you've editted the Mpg2 then you can then compress it. Some of the packages out there do dumb things like compress the whole file to AVI and then edit out the unwanted sections. This wastes encoding time on video that is going to be discarded.

[nielm]

The basic Virtual dub does not read mpegs... There are modified versions: virtualdubmod and virtualdubmpeg2 which can read mpeg2 video... They cannot however decode the mpa mpeg1 audio stream, so they cannot recompress the audio...

Your best bet is either DrDIVx, or the GordianKnot suite of programs... GKnot comes with enough programs to decode mpeg2, recompress audio and video and generate an AVI, or MKV file at the end... DrDIVx costs but is easy to use. The GKnot suite is free and is has a big learnign curve, but can also recompress to XVID (which I find is faster than DivX), and can 'backup' DVD's (don't tell the MPAA)

www.doom9.org has lots of help for MPEG2/DVD -> divX/Xvid video recompression.

(I can also recommend VideoRedo for Mpeg2 editing -- it is superb!)

[firehawk12]

^^
Thanks.

What about Auto Gordian Knot? I'm assuming that does the compression easily (for the user anyway) and can handle the audio properly?

[nielm]

AutoGK, Never used it myself... but paulr's post above indicates that it works fine... a quick search for AutoGK may show more information...

[firehawk12]

Just a quick question, I've gotten VirtualDubMod, but it seems to only have video compression.

Is this right, or am I missing something?

[nielm]

I mentioned this in my previous post:

They cannot however decode the mpa mpeg1 audio stream, so they cannot recompress the audio...

. GKnot uses the BeSweet program to transcode mpa to MP3 which Vdub and friends can read and multiplex with the video

[firehawk12]

Haha, oh, whoops...

So, put it through Gknot then through VirtualDub?

[nielm]

Gknot can put it through Vdub itself, performing the full sequence of actions required (encode MP3, encode video in 2 passes, mux video and audio).
Your best bet is to look at the guides/forums at www.doom9.org... Or use AutoGK (which I have never used!)

[insomniac]

This fixed all skipping for me:

http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...&postcount=252

I.

Originally Posted by firehawk12

Hi, I'm sorta new at this, so I have no idea what to do.

I made some recordings with SageTV, and wanted to convert the mpgs to divx. I've tried dumping the mpgs to virtualdub, but it doesn't work.

I tried that ffmpeg program, but it seems to make the video skip...

Any help would be appreciated.

(I hope this is the right forum for this question. )

[weyker]

Actaully, my recent copy of vdubmpeg2 opend my sage DVD-SP quality mpeg2 just fine and created an xvid with working sound (I had xvid codec). Audio was set to full processing and video to fast recompress.

I still have problems with how my Xvid video looks though.

I've been saving episodes of The Venture Brothers (a great animated show).
I plan to make a data DVD with a bunch of the episodes converted to XviD so I can get them all on one DVD+R for playback on a computer monitor.

Using the mpeg to avi guide over at videohelp.com I tried opining the files with VdubMpeg2 and saving them as AVI using the Xvid codec with the "cartoon" box checked and lame mp3 audio.

While the output had sound it looks (when played back in Windows Media Player) like it has bad interlacing artifacts anywhere there's motion. Selecting FILM and then later NTSC output in the Xvid encoder controls each seemed to make no difference. Same artifacts.

I knew from reading other guides that AVS was the more appropriate first step if I wanted progressive video. But I wanted something less complicated and wasn't sure how to use AVS on animated sources that were originally captured from cable not DVD. That and I've had no luck trying to get AVS and framserving going with vdub in the past so I was reluctant.

So the question again is: What is the simplest way I can get nice looking deinterlaced Xvids starting from a NTSC bcroadcast animated source capped as DVD complaint Mpeg 2? It'd be great if it was just a matter of clicking the right things in the xvid encoder.

[Jere_Jones]

Check out AutoGK

[CarlG]

IMHO of course, DrDivx is fine-it does a nice job and super easy to use. If you want to do it any other way (except maybe this auto GK?? Been too long, I've never heard of it but i think im going to check it out) you got quite alot you should know, or else you're playing with settings blind. The divx codec has come a long way, and unless you have a very specific goal (like fitting a certain amount of time with quality that lives up to your standards on a cd) Dr.Divx will do just fine, and you wouldn't have near the grief Lol. It all comes down to what you're happy with. Once again, that's just my opinion.

[weyker]

I tried Auto Gordian Knot and the results look great.

I only see artifacts on the moving mouths occasionally and lost some detail on some very intricate areas with lots of black lines. (A character tied up with rope head to foot.)

The processing time is about 2x to 3x times as long as the program being encoded and ties up the computer since it uses 100% of CPU while running.

But it's free (unlike Dr. Divx) and uses a better codec.

AGK was defnitely the right call.

I did a maximum quality encode on a non-cartoon show and on a big computer monitor I almost couldn't tell the difference between the xvid file and the dvd-sp quality mpeg-2 it was made from.

[CarlG]

Originally Posted by weyker

I tried Auto Gordian Knot and the results look great.


But it's free (unlike Dr. Divx) and uses a better codec.

Xvid? I haven't played with that for awhile, but that sucker used to be a real pain to deinterlace. The new divx codec IMO is superb, which is what makes Dr.Divx useable-the original Dr.Divx sucked, and I figgure its all because of the codec. What was your time & filesize?

I don't mind paying to support this kind of software, I love this hobby and i like to see the products get better and better. I can do manual encodes, but drdivx is Soooooo simple and I can manipulate it enough for what I want

-CG