Need advice for encoding Video-TS to Divx format with DVD quality

Hi, this is my first thread started here at mac forums and haven't had a whole lot of experience with this site, I must say though that most everybody is friendly and helpful and that's something that I appreciate in a forum. I'm new to video encoding and need some advice. I have a couple of movies that I would like to encode to Divx format to keep on my Mac's HD for a trip that I am taking so that I don't have to carry the movies with me. I use MTR to rip the Video-TS files and am using D-Vision 3.2 to encode the files. D-Vision gives me a few options when it comes to the bitrate, I can choose a file size limit and D-vision will adjust the bitrate to keep the movie under that specific size or I have the option to choose the maximum bitrate and D-vision will encode up to but not exceed the bitrate that was specified. Size isn't really an issue since i just upgraded to a 640 GB HD, what I'm looking to do is to encode these movies in Divx format (or any other format compatible with my mac) to create the nearest to DVD quality that I can. Here are a couple of pics of some of the options for video and audio encoding. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

anybody?

Personally I would keep the frame rate high, as it makes for smoother viewing, and as for quality, if size isn't an issue, select max quality.
Most HQ Divx files will run out at around 1.37 GB in my experience.
Audio is fine at 128 unless you are listening with really good headphones/speakers.

Kevriano said:

Personally I would keep the frame rate high, as it makes for smoother viewing, and as for quality, if size isn't an issue, select max quality.
Most HQ Divx files will run out at around 1.37 GB in my experience.
Audio is fine at 128 unless you are listening with really good headphones/speakers.

Click to expand...

The Divx files usually end up around that size. Now what do you mean by framerate? I usually just leave the framerate alone as D-vision will automatically set the framerate to equal that of the VOB. Also what's the difference in video quality between framerate and bitrate when encoding to divx?

Well the framerate should be constant in most programs, and the higher the better, leaving it is fine.
If you lower it pictures run less smoothly, so you can get jerky motion for example. Anything above 25fps is fine generally though.
Bit rate is just like bit rate selection when ripping mp3 for example, so 128 MP3 is generally poor, where as 320 is high and virtually indistinguishable form the original CD, therefore, apply that principle to bit rate encoding in Divx and you can't go wrong. The higher the bitrate, the sharper the picture.
That said, the encoder itself can vary. I have some amazing quality avi, that are only 700 mb, and are the equal of DVD's, and some Divx that are bigger files but worse quality, so it's often a case of playing around a little.
Just curious, if size isn't an issue, why convert?

Well there's a few reasons behind converting, one being that I'm leaving on a trip in the middle of January and would like to have a digital copy to view on my mac. Another being the simple joy of understanding my mac and it's potential. I love to fiddle with programs, ones involving video especially, and learning these skills are important to me (at least it gives me satisfaction knowing that I have learned something new). If you don't mind me asking, what programs do you use to convert and how do you go about it?

Ok that's cool. Personally I would just use VLC player to view the Video_TS folder though, then no conversion is needed.
Anyway, when I do wish to convert I will either use Handbrake:

HandBrake

Or ffmpegx:

ffmpegX a DVD, SVCD, VCD, CVD, VOB, DivX, XviD, H.264, PSP, iPod, MP4, MOV, FLV encoder for Mac OSX

Both are very good, and have many functions to fiddle with. I tend to use ffmpegx for joining Avi's more than anything else, and Handbrake for other things. That said ffmegx is a very good and quick converter.

Kevriano said:

Ok that's cool. Personally I would just use VLC player to view the Video_TS folder though, then no conversion is needed.
Anyway, when I do wish to convert I will either use Handbrake:

HandBrake

Or ffmpegx:

ffmpegX a DVD, SVCD, VCD, CVD, VOB, DivX, XviD, H.264, PSP, iPod, MP4, MOV, FLV encoder for Mac OSX

Both are very good, and have many functions to fiddle with. I tend to use ffmpegx for joining Avi's more than anything else, and Handbrake for other things. That said ffmegx is a very good and quick converter.

Click to expand...

i'll try ffmpegx, I have it but have never used it lol. Ty for the tips btw. if anybody else has any other input that would be appreciated as well.

I'd go with MPEGStreamClip, it gives you more options.