VS10 after export to DivX or XviD no picture on playback

[skajkingdom]

Hello,

I tried several times now to export some videos to DivX (Pro 6.2.2) and XviD but w/o success: When rendering finishes VS crashes, sort of, well it closes itself, and when I tried playing back the resulting divx or xvid video, with VLC Player I only get the sound, but no picture, while with other players, e.g. the original Divx Player from the DivX Create Package, WMP or Creative Media Source Player, the video won't play at all - divx player crashes as well as WMP, and CMS hangs.
I know, some will say "why would I insist on exporting as divx" - well I know I can export it as mpeg2 then use another program to convert it to divx, but that would take way too much time. The time is the key here - I am dealing with HOURS of video every day, so I can't afford to using 2-3 programs until I get some results. That is why I was so happy that VS10 supports divx export - I thought at last I could use only 1 step on creating my divx videos.

All my videos (import) are mpeg2, pal, 720x576, and I tried every possible setting on divx/xvid export, but the result is always the same.

Any help would be appreciated.

[skajkingdom]

OK, I think the problem was Multipass - when I chose single pass encoding i managed to get a working divx video (pic+sound).
But, the quality (singlepass!) is horrible! Mosaic, artefacts, etc. Hm ...
How come multipass won't work?
(I now noticed, when even trying to access the files in explorer which i rendered before, it would crash my Win Explorer completely - so the only way to delete the junk was thru cmd prompt ... strange).

[jchunter]

I have had lots of success creating Divx high definition files with VS 10+. I have not tried standard definition. The key to controlling compression artifacts is the video bitrate. I use 8Mbps for high def, so 3Mbps should give good picture quality for standard definition files. I see that selecting Home Theater Profile defaults to 780Kbps, which IMO is too low for good picture quality. BTW, I get great results with single pass, deinterlaced, Bicubic Normal. The Divx user forum has reported bugs in multi pass encoding.

You should be able to create a Divx video file directly from a project with DV as source video files in about the same time as transcoding from Mpeg2.

I have had problems with VLC and switched to Media Player Classic, which plays back high def Divx video files perfectly.

I just noticed your Windows explorer crashing problem. I had the same problem and so have others with a bug one of the Divx codec versions. This has been discussed in the Divx user forum. The problem disappeared when I installed v. 6.2.1. - but I see that you are using 6.2.2... Try reinstalling it.

[skajkingdom]

Thank you for your help. I will try to get the best possible results.

[Ken Berry]

FWIW, I have just run an experiment, as much for myself as anything else. I have never before used VS to produce a DivX file, but, intrigued by this thread, have now done so twice. It happens that I had readily to hand two files of exactly the same video: one in DV format/PCM audio and running for 5 minutes 21 seconds; the second, of the same length, in DVD-compatible mpeg-2, 6000 kbps, Dolby dual channel stereo. I bought the Pro version of the DivX Create bundle some time ago and recently upgraded the codec to 6.2.2.

I consecutively rendered each of these files to DivX Home Theatre Profile (i.e. single pass 780 kbps). The DV file converted in 5 minutes 32 seconds (i.e. near real time). The mpeg-2 file converted in 6 minutes 30 seconds. I would not say that either meet my perhaps exacting standards as far as video quality is concerned --noticeable blurring in parts, though no obvious pixelation in the DV version. However, there was near-pixelation observable in the mpeg-2 version. Also, in the latter, there were quite a few audio pops. So I would certainly agree with John on both fronts: use better than 780 kbps, and also use an original DV file for conversion in preference to an mpeg-2.

As a footnote, I have discovered a possible problem with my own version of DivX. As I say, I thought I had bought the pro-version of the Create bundle. However, the codec shown in VS makes no mention of 'Pro'. And I get a watermark 'DivX' which appears in the bottom right of screen but fades after 10 seconds. But that is something I will take up with DivX.

[THoff]

As a footnote, I have discovered a possible problem with my own version of DivX. As I say, I thought I had bought the pro-version of the Create bundle. However, the codec shown in VS makes no mention of 'Pro'. And I get a watermark 'DivX' which appears in the bottom right of screen but fades after 10 seconds. But that is something I will take up with DivX.

Every time you install or even upgrade DivX, they stoopidly insist on turning back on the DivX watermark, regardless of whether you are using the free version, a trial version of Pro, or a registered Pro version.

All you need to do is find the Decoder Configuration utility in the DivX submenu of the Start menu, and uncheck the Divx Logo checkbox.

[Ken Berry]

Thanks Torsten. I had perhaps been thinking too literally and had thought the codec would be shown as Pro 6.2.2 as skajkingdom had written it. But when I checked with both GSpot and Sherlock, found it only referred to as DivX 6.2.2.3. In looking at the codec registration itself, however -- thinking I would have to add my serial number once again -- it clearly was shown as both registered and as DivX Pro.

But I then searched their knowledge base just a short while ago preparatory to going to DivX support, and I found the reference to the setting in the Decoder Configuration Utility. As you say, stupid!

[Ken Berry]

As a further footnote, and with more time on my hands than I know what to do with , I just carried out some more experiments with the same DV/AVI original file mentioned above.

First, I used the Home Theatre default of 780 kbps but set the encoding quality at 'Insane' -- the highest available in the codec. This took 12 minutes 58 seconds to render and produced a file of 92 MB -- though this time without the DivX watermark! But I can't say I was any more thrilled by its quality than I was by my original experiment.

I then tried raising the bitrate to 3000 kbps. Rendered at 'balanced' (default) quality encoding setting, it took 5 minutes 10 seconds to process and produced a file of 171 MB. The quality was perceptibly better but still not good IMHO.

I then tried 3000 kbps at 'insane' quality: 14 minutes 45 seconds to render and a file the same size (171 MB) but again, perceptibly better in quality thought still not particularly good. My main complaint about this and the previous two files was noticeable blurring in parts (though improving through the sequence of 3 videos I produced) and very noticeable and to me unacceptable stippling (a haloed or rainbow effect) on plain single coloured walls or backgrounds.

I next tried using 'multipass 1st pass' in the configuration of the DivX codec (which I think is what skajkingdom originally chose), at Balanced decoding setting, but set at 3000 kbps bitrate as recommended by John. It seemed to process the file OK, and took 5 minutes 25 seconds to do so (just a little faster than the original single pass 780 kbps). But VS10+ crashed at the end of it -- though a file had been produced. The audio played (erratically) but the video would not -- either in VS preview, WMP or Cyberlink PowerDVD 7. In other words, I appear to have replicated skajkingdom's original problem, but have no idea what is causing it in this mode.

I then tried 'multipass Nth pass' at 3000 kbps bitrate and using the Balanced (default) encoding setting. This took 5 minutes 10 seconds to render (faster than real time) and produced an extremely good quality mpeg-4 file 178 MB in size. No blurring or stippling.

Just to say I tested them all, I also decided to use the final quality setting in Home Theatre mode -- '1 pass quality mode'. This took away the bitrate setting and substituted a 'Target Quantizer' set at 4. It was also set to use Balanced default encoding mode. Rendering took 5 minutes 50 seconds and produced a file of 184 MB -- the largest, but noticeably the best in quality (though not much more so than that produced with multipass Nth pass at 3000 kbps). I played this file on WMP and PowerDVD, as well as the original DVD-compatible mpeg-2 of the same video, and I had a hard time telling any significant differences in quality on my 19 inch CRT computer screen.

So skajkingdom, if you are reading this and can live with mpeg-4 file sizes this comparatively large (around 180 MB for 5 minutes 21 seconds of video), then I would go either for multipass Nth pass at 3000 kbps or 1 pass quality mode with quantizer target of 4 for the very best quality output in mpeg-4. The second method takes slightly longer (40 seconds for a video this size), but for me this is not significant.

I did not test either of these settings using higher quality (longer processing time) encoding settings such as the Insane one I used in the earlier tests -- but given the results in those earlier tests, I imagine if the higher settings were used with either Multipass Nth pass or 1 pass quality mode, there might be some improvements. However, as I say, I was hard pressed to see any difference as it was between these two at default encoding settings and the DVD-quality mpeg-2.

Hope this has been of some use!!!