Divx movies on TV

Standalone DVD Players compatible DIVX

2005-11-12T03:25:00.000-08:00

DivX - DVD stand-alone players are on their way !

30 August 2002 8:49 by cd-rw.org

If I remember correctly, KiSS was one of these 1st generation MP3/DVD hybrid players to hit the european market. Now they have annouced that an MPEG-4/DivX supporting players are coming up. The MPEG-4 codec is provided by Sigma Designs, that was recently accused of open source GPL license abuse.

MILPITAS, Calif.—August 28, 2002—Sigma Designs (Nasdaq: SIGM), a leader in IP video streaming solutions, and KiSS Technology, a leading European vendor of DVD and DVB products, jointly announced an agreement to use Sigma’s EM8500 progressive DVD decoder chip in a new line of advanced DVD players. This new generation of DVD player goes beyond the bounds of a simple plug-and-play appliance, enabling consumers to play downloaded content, in several formats including MPEG-4, and view them on their television in superior quality.

About MPEG-4 in DVD Players

MPEG-4 is the latest digital video compression standard, enabling content developers to create sophisticated programs containing audio, video, text, graphics and interactivity. The object-oriented environment of MPEG-4
provides for complex scene compression at low bit rates with correspondingly small file sizes, making it ideal for either lower cost or higher capacity storage. Moving forward, MPEG-4 will make its way into all forms of set-top appliances, including digital cable systems, media gateways, video endpoints and now consumer DVD players.

Price-driven consumers are poised to embrace this advantage and record up to two-hour, full-length movies on low cost CDs. This segment may include downloaded content available through DivXNetworks (tm) or user-created content, such as the output from Panasonic’s new MPEG-4 Digital Palmcorder® MultiCam™ Camcorders. The premium user, seeking the benefits of high resolution viewing, is set to embrace the upcoming adoption by the DVD Forum of an MPEG-4 based standard for high definition DVD. Both segments will also benefit from future content that employs rich, object-based interactive capabilities.

Some current DVD players compatible DivX
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KISS Technology DP-1000

109 €

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LG DV8931H

79 €

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Samsung DVD-HD950

89 €

DivX => MPEG and MPEG => VCD

2005-11-12T02:50:00.000-08:00

VCD Guide

Some time ago I started playing with video conversion, DivX coding and VCD authoring. I found all of the information and software in just a couple of sites in the internet, but sometimes it was hard to keep track of where the instructions for different problems were. I decided to compile all the information in a file that I could use, and eventually I thought it would be cool to have that information in my website. This guide was primarily written for my own reference, so it might be difficult for others to follow at times. In the spirit of sharing, I will do my best to keep this guide accessible to all who bother to read it.

This guide was created mostly with content taken from www.vcdhelp.com.

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For those of us who cannot afford a DVD burner but still want to play our home videos on DVD, there is an easy and cheap solution: Video CD's (or just VCD's). VCD's are just plain CD's, like the ones you use for music and computer games, that contain videos (in MPEG format) instead of songs or data. This guide can help you create your own VCD's, and it also provides information on how to convert video files to different formats.

Eventually this guide will contain information on how to convert video files from and to popular video formats, such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, DivX, XviD, ASF, RM, ... However, I will build this guide slowly, and I am starting only with the most important conversions: DivX => MPEG and MPEG => VCD, so that you can make VCD's with movies you download from the web. If you would like to know how get movies, go the Resources & Links page. If you don't understand what all these words mean, check the Glossary.

Note that that if the video source quality is bad it will not get any better if you convert it to something else.

The central tool for this guide is TMPGEnc the best MPEG encode available - Be sure to install it!

Software
List of necessary software, with links for download. All essential software listed here is freeware or shareware. You can also download them from the APPS section in my FTP site.
Video File Comparasion
Quick Overview of Features and Specifications for different video file formats.
Compatibility List
VCDHelp.com's Compatibility list - find out which DVD Players can play your VCD, SVCD, CD-R/W, DVD±R/W...
How to Watch the Movies
How to play VCD's, SVCD's and DVD's in a computer or DVD player. Also explains what you need to play files encoded in several formats: AVI, DivX, XviD, RM,...
Glossary

And here are the conversion guides:

DivX => MPEG
DivX files can actually be converted to MPEG files without much loss of quality. Once you have the MPEG, you can burn the video into a VCD and watch it on a standalone DVD Player. For this guide I use as an example a copy of Charlie's Angels.
MPEG => VCD (VCD and SVCD Authoring)
Say you have a Digital Camcorder that records movies in MPEG format, and he downloaded the files into you computer. Now you can take that file, make a VCD and watch your home videos on TV! This guide uses as an example a video a friend shot at our Halloween party this year.

Software

Players
BSPlayer	One of the best DivX, AVI Player. Supports everything and some more. It will not play VCD's, though.
WinDVD	The best software DVD/SVCD/VCD Player. Demo available
Codecs
DV Codec	Play and import DV video with any tool.
DivX 5	The new DivX Codec so you can play the new AVI DivXs movies. By installing the Pro version you have access to more features than you get from the Nimo Codec Pack. However, beginners should use only the Nimo Codec Pack since I will not use nor explain the advanced features of DivX 5 Pro in this guide.
Nimo Codec Pack	This Pack includes, Divx 3,4 and 5, XVID, MP3 Audio Codec, Vob Playback, AC3 Dolby Digital audio decoder, MPEG2 Codec, DivX AntiFreeze Filter, OGG Audio Codec and much more. Highly recommended - It has almost everything you need! Click here to see which options you should choose.
tooLame	tooLAME is an optimized MPEG-1/2 Layer II audio encoder and You can easily use it with TMPGEnc just goto Options => Environmental Settings => External tool and change Layer2 to tooLame.
Encoders
DVD2AVI	A very good MPEG2 decoder tool for converting mpg/mpg2/dvd to avi/vcd/svcd. Download from here if the DVD2AVI official site doesn't work.
TMPGEnc	One of the best encoders, encodes to MPEG2 (SVCD,DVD) and MPEG1 (VCD) and supports also multiplexing, demultiplexing, joining and splittting. Limited MPEG2 Encoding.
VirtualDub	You will need this to create the sound files you use when encoding with TMPGEnc.
VCD Authoring Software
Nero	A easy and very good VCD and SVCD Author/Burner application, support also Menus and photo album. Guide here. Demo available here.
VCDEasy	VCDEasy allows you to author/build easily VideoCDs (VCD/SVCD) playable on most of the home DVD Players . Guide here. You can also download it here.
Video Editing
TMPGEnc	A very useful tool, can cut and join MPEG2 / MPEG1(SVCD,DVD,VCD) and also multiplex, demultiplex and encode.
VirtualDub	A superb freeware video editor with also AVI/DivX cutting and joining capabilites. (to open ASF,SMR you need Virtualdub 1.3c and the SMR Codec).
Others
ASPI Drivers	Adaptec ASPI Drivers for most Operating systems, read more here about ASPI.
VCDGear	The best VCD=>MPEG converter available. Converts dat to mpg, cue/bin to mpg, raw to mpg... and fixes bad mpegs block.

Note: You can also find all this software inside the APPS section in my FTP site. Just hit the button on the menu to the left to access it.

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How to Watch the Movies

VCD, MPEG-1
You can play VCDs with Windows Media Player, insert the VCD in your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM and browse to the MPEGAV folder and double click on the .dat file and associate it with Media Player and open them with that.
To play a VCD with menus and still pictures use WinDVD or PowerDVD, insert the VCD and just hit Play.
Use a low resolution, like 640x480, on the monitor when watching a VCD to get best quality.
You can also play the VCD in your standalone DVD Player - just hit Play!
SVCD, MPEG-2
To play a SVCD you need a software DVD Player, insert the SVCD in your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM and open the .mpg file in the MPEG2 or MPEGAV folder with any player like PowerDVD or WinDVD. Or if you wanna access SVCD menus and still pictures use WinDVD and insert the SVCD in your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM and hit Play.
You can also play the SVCD in most standalone DVD Player - just hit play! Check here for a compatibility list.
AVI, DivX, MPEG-4
To play DivX or AVI you first need to install the DivX codecs. Then you should be able to play the video with Windows Media Player. It's also possible that you need to install the Nimo Codec Pack - AVI's come in many diferent formats and you just might need a different codec for your paricular needs. If you still have problem try then to "fix" the DivX, beceause the DivX can have been broken while you downloaded it, read here how to fix a DivX/AVI. DivX/AVI files cannot be played in DVD players.

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Glossary

AC3 - Initially known as Audio Coding 3, AC3 is a synonym for Dolby Digital these days. Dolby Digital is an advanced audio compression technology allowing to encode up to 6 separate channels at bitrates up to 448kbit/s. For more information please check out the Dolby website.

ASF - An AVI-Codec, great quality for the size. More "blocky"\"blotchy" then MPG, but can shrink down a full length movie to about 300-500mb.

AVI stands for Audio Video Interleave. AVI is a file format, like MP3 or JPG. But unlike these formats, AVI is a container format, meaning it can contain video/audio compressed using many different combinations of codecs. So while MP3 and JPG can only contain a certain kind of compression (MPEG Audio Layer 3 and JPEG), AVI can contain many different kinds of compression (eg. DivX video + WMA audio or Indeo video + PCM audio), as long as a codec is available for encoding/decoding. AVI all look the same on the "outside", but on the "inside", they may be completely different. Almost all tools on this site are not just DivX tools, but also AVI tools, so will probably work with other codecs.
There is no such thing as a "normal" AVI file, but the closest you can get is probably an AVI file that contains no compression. AVI files has been around since the time of Windows 3.1, so by no means is it a new thing, and is probably the most common video format around (although its popularity wavered a few years ago, but has since come back with a vengeance due to the emergence of DivX).

BIN - A BIN is a image from a CD. It's great if you want to distribute a VCD on the web and the other one don't have any VCD-burn programs. Just burn the BIN with Nero and you have a true VCD.

Codec - Codec stands for COder/DECoder. It is a small piece of software that allows you to make/play movie/audio compressed in a certain format. MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX ... are all codecs. AVI, ASF, WMV are not codecs, but file formats. AVI is also a container format (see above for more information), meaning it can be made using many different codecs.

DAT - DAT is the file that you see on the VCD. The DAT doesn't differs much from a MPG but you should always convert the DAT to MPG if you want to edit it or use it outside the VCD.

Demultiplex - Demultiplex is when you split the video and audio to separate files.

DivX - A type of AVI Codec. MPEG-4. Awesome sound, awesome quality. They are used to make DVD Rips from movies. File sizes vary on the encoders choice. Not to be confused with the now - thank God - obsolete DIVX (DIgital Video eXpress) system introduced by Circuit City '98. There are 2 flavors of DivX today: DivX ;) is the name of the hacked Microsoft Mpeg4 codecs (Windows Media Video V3). Those codecs were developed by Microsoft for use in its proprietary Windows Media architecture and initially supported encoding AVIs and ASFs but all non-beta versions included an AVI lock, making it impossible to use them to encode to the AVI format - and only a few tools support ASF today. What the makers of DivX did is remove that AVI lock, making it possible to encode to AVI again, and changed the name to DivX video in order to prevent confusion of codecs, since it's possible to have both the unhacked and hacked codecs on the same computer if you use the Windows Media Encoder. The latest releases of DivX also include a hacked Windows Media Audio Codec called DivX audio - the hack of that codec is not perfect yet and its use is limited for higher bitrates. This codec is also known as DivX3 or DivX ;). The other DivX is a brand-new MPEG-4 video codec developed by DivXNetworks. It offers much advanced encoding controls and 2 pass encoding. Furthermore the codec can play the old DivX ;) (DivX3) movies. The codec is commonly called DivX5.

DV - DV is a standard for compressed digital video that are used in miniDV camcorders.

DVD stands for Digital Versatile or Video Disc, DVD±R stands for DVD Recordable and DVD±RW for DVD ReWriteable. A single layer (DVD-5) DVDr/w stores up to 2 hours of very good quality DVD-Video, including several audio tracks in formats like stereo, Dolby Digital or DTS and also advanced menu systems, subtitles and still pictures that can be played by standalone DVD Players. If you choose to lower the video quality it is possible to store several hours video on a DVDr/w using low bitrates and low resolution with quality more like SVCD or VCD. It is also possible to have up to 4.37 GB ordinary data or mix DVD-Video and data on a DVDr/w that can be played by computer DVD-ROMs. There are currently three competing standards:

DVD-R and DVD-RW
DVD-R/W was the first DVD recording format released that was compatible with standalone DVD Players. DVD-R is a none rewriteable format and it is compatible with about 85% of all DVD Players and DVD-ROMs. DVD-RW is a rewriteable format and it is compatible with about 65% of all DVD Players and DVD-ROMs. DVD-R/W supports single side 4.7 GB DVDs (called DVD-5) and double side 9.4 GB DVDs (called DVD-10). These formats are supported by DVDForum.

DVD+R and DVD+RW
DVD+R/W has some better features than DVD-R/W such as lossless linking and both CAV and CLV writing. DVD+R is a none rewritable format and it is compatible with about 85% of all DVD Players and DVD-ROMs. DVD+RW is a rewritable format and is compatible with about 70% of all DVD Players and DVD-ROMs. DVD+R/W supports single side 4.7 GB DVDs (called DVD-5) and double side 9.4 GB DVDs(called DVD-10). These formats are supported by the DVD+RW Alliance.

DVD-RAM
DVD-RAM has the best recording features but it is not compatible with most DVD-ROM drives and DVD-Video players. Think more of it as a removable hard disk. This format is supported by DVDForum.

For a compatibility list, click here. For more technical details, click here.

Firewire - FireWire is a very fast serial data transfer protocol used to transmit video from digital camcorders to computers.

Frame - The basic source of a movie; one frame represents one image. A movie usually runs at 24 frames per second, equaling 24 different images per second. Imagine 24 images with a bird on it. In the first image, the bird is on the left, gradually moving to the right. On the 24th frame the bird is on the right end of the image. When these 24 images are played in sequence fast enough, the human eye sees a bird flying from left to right.

Frameserve - Frameserving is using one utility to decode or read a video file and after it has been decoded, sending it straight to any other video editing or encoding application.

Interleaving - Describes the process of gluing together the audio and the video track at defined points. The player will recognize the interleave points and make sure that both audio and video are played in a manner that the "glued" points match throughout the movie.

I and P Frame - Frame describing only the differences to the frame before (this is less than accurate but I think you'll get the picture that way). Say we have a keyframe with a bird before a cloudy sky. Then we can use I frames which say something like this : move the bird an inch to the left and one inch to the bottom.

Keyframe - A complete frame but heavily compressed.

MPEG - MPG/MPEG is a standard for compressed digital video that are used in VCDs. MPEG means Motion Picture Expert Group and it's THE resource for video formats in general. This group defines standards in digital video, among them the MPEG1 standard (used in VCD's), the MPEG2 standard (used on DVDs and SVCDs), the MPEG4 standard and several audio standards - among them MP3 and AAC.

MPEG2 - MPEG2 is a standard for compressed digital video that are used in SVCDs and DVDs.

MPEG-4 is a standard defined by the Working Group 11 (Moving Picture Expert Group) of ISO (International Standard Organization) in October 1998 (date of the first draft of the standard). It is the standard for the mature digital era. With its added features, MPEG-4 offers better compression, interactivity, and universal Internet/wireless access to the medium.

Multiplex - Multiplex is when you join the video and audio to one single file

NTSC, PAL - NTSC is a Video/TV standard mostly common in USA and PAL is a Video/TV standard in the rest of the world, the main differences are that NTSC has more frames/sec, 29,97 fps than PAL 25 fps but then NTSC has some less horizontal lines than PAL.

Ripping - Lots of confusion about that one. Basically ripping means copying a DVD movie to your hard disk. This includes the authentication process for the DVD Drive (try to copy a file off a DVD and you'll get a message that this operation is not supported if your drive hasn't been authenticated) and the actual CSS Descrambling. CSS (Content Scrambling System) is a copy protection scheme designed to prevent unauthorized copying of DVD movies, although many argue that it was also designed to control where DVD movies can be played since without a CSS license you essentially have to crack the encryption to play a DVD movie - and I quite agree with that. The term "ripping" is also often used (even on this site) to describe the whole process of descrambling a DVD, then convert the audio and video into another format, usually DivX or MPEG.

RM - Real Media, uses Real Player, the worst video quality, but very small files.

Screener - Different types of bootlegged video that can be in VCD,SVCD,DVD or DivX format. There are many types of video associated with this name:

CAM - This type of VCD was recorded by someone in a cinema with a camcorder and the audience can be heard! The picture quality is usually OK but the sound is mostly very bad and hard to make out speech.

Telesync - These are also recorded in a cinema but usually on an expensive camera and they should have a seperate audio source (so the audience cannot be heard), these are generally very good quality and highly watchable.

Telecine - Done a number of ways, all from taking directly from the reel. Ripped in either widescreen (letterbox) or in full-screen (pan and scan) with excellent audio and video. The most common way is to get a device that you attach to the reel that generates a VHS tape of the reel. (called a telecine machine, but there are other machines that generate a digital output of both audio and video that are then put into a laptop or VCR and made into a VCD).

Screener - A Screener is usually recorded form a promotional video tape which is sent to censors and film critics etc.. The quality is usually as good as a commercial VCD, some times a copyright message appears on the screen.

Work-Print - Each fram of the film is copied from celluloid (or another source), these are sometimes incomplete movies. The sound is usually perfect and the visual quality can vary.

DVDRip - VCDs with this on the cover are ripped from DVD or Laserdisc versions of the film and the quality is as good as genuine VCDs.

SMR - It is a hack of the MPEG4 codec and the only difference between the original encoder and SMR is that the FOURCC (four bytes in the header, which identify the video stream) has been changed to MP43.

SVCD stands for "Super VideoCD". A SVCD is very similiar to a VCD, it has the capacity to hold about 35-60 minutes on 74/80 min CDs of very good quality full-motion video along with up to 2 stereo audio tracks and also 4 selectable subtitles. A SVCD can be played on many standalone DVD Players and of course on all computers with a DVD-ROM or CD-ROM drive with the help of a software based decoder / player. It is also possible to use menus and chapters, similiar to DVDs, on a SVCD and also simple photo album/slide shows with background audio. The quality of a SVCD is much better than a VCD, especially much more sharpen picture than a VCD because of the higher resolution. But the quality depends how many minutes you choose to store on a CD, less minutes/CD generally means higher quality. SVCD's can be played on many standalone DVD Players - check here for a compatibility list. For more technical details, click here.

VCD stands for 'Video Compact Disc' and basically it is a CD that contains moving pictures and sound. If you're familiar with regular audio/music CDs, then you will know what a VCD looks like. A VCD has the capacity to hold up to 74/80 minutes on 650MB/700MB CDs respectively of full-motion video along with quality stereo sound. VCDs use a compression standard called MPEG to store the video and audio. A VCD can be played on almost all standalone DVD Players and of course on all computers with a DVD-ROM or CD-ROM drive with the help of a software based decoder / player. It is also possible to use menus and chapters, similiar to DVDs, on a VCD and also simple photo album/slide shows with background audio. The quality of a very good VCD is about the same as a VHS tape based movie but VCD is usually a bit more blurry. If you want better quality checkout SVCD or DVD. VCD's can be played on almost all standalone DVD Players - check here for a compatibility list. For more technical details, click here.

VOB - All DVD movies are stored in so-called vob files. Vob files usually contain multiplexed Dolby Digital Audio and Mpeg2 video. Vob Files are called as follows: vts_XX_y.vob where XX represents the title and Y the part of the title. There can be 99 titles and 10 parts, although vts_XX_0.vob does never contain any video, usually just menu or navigational information.

XVCD stands for eXtendedVCD. XVCD has same features as VCD but it is possible to use higher bitrates and higher resolution to get higher video quality. XVCD is basicly everything that uses MPEG1 video, is not within the VCD standard and burnt in "VCD"-Mode. XVCD's can be played on some standalone DVD Players - check here for a compatibility list.

XSVCD stands for eXtendedSVCD. XSVCD has same features as SVCD but it is possible to use higher bitrates and higher resolution to get higher video quality. XSVCD is basicly everything that uses MPEG2 video, is not within the SVCD standard and burnt in "SVCD"-Mode. XSVCD's can be played on some standalone DVD Players - check here for a compatibility list.

XviD is a high quality open-source MPEG-4 codec. As you may already know, XviD comes from the same open-source project that was the basis for DivX 4.x/5.x, but instead of going all commercial, XviD remains open-source. The quality of the codec is extremely good, and encoding speed is very fast as well, so it is at least worth a try.

How to Watch DivX Movies on Your TV

2005-11-12T02:35:00.000-08:00

Started by: Betaboy, Finished by: TheKid
Last updated on: 2002-03-21
Copyright © 2002 DivX, Inc.

With all the ways for you to watch and store DivX videos on your PC via Video-on-Demand, DVD, Personal-Video-Recorder, videos you created. You ever wonder how it was possible to take that investment you have made in your PC and be able to view the videos not just on your computer monitor...but on your TV set as well?

With this guide we will try and show you the basics in which it may be possible to watch DivX videos from your PC on you home TV. Be fore warned that there are several hardware requirements that you will have to invest in to be able to properly configure DivX playback on your TV. Also, there are several different approaches to watch videos from you PC to your TV. But we are going to take the very simple approach to make it easier for the masses to understand.

What you will need:

PC Hardware
- A PC, of course, that means the DivX minimum requirements
- A video card with a TV out jack
Other Hardware
- X10 Broadcaster
Software
- A DivX video player application (e.g., DivX Player 2.0 Alpha, Windows Media Player 6.4)

Hardware and Software Requirements

Note: Many video cards today have TV Out but the quality is not as good as it could be. The quality of today's MPEG based cards for video playback is comparable with standalone DVD Players. But remember that until the Sigma Designs X-Card MPEG-4/DivX support is released that all current MPEG cards only play MPEG1/MPEG2/VCD/DVD.

To properly play a DivX video you must meet the below software and hardware requirements. Remember more is always better.

Hardware

600 MHz CPU
128 MB Ram
PCI Soundcard
Video card with the proper TV output

Software

Windows 98, ME, 2000, or XP

Choosing the proper Video Card

Remember since there are several dozen PC cards with TV outs that each card may have its own issues for playback. That's why it is recommended that you check your cards manufactures site and its support section to see if there are any issues that you may run into. Also look for the manufactures FAQ if they have one as it will usually tell you the meat to any problems that exist. Also ask your friends in the forums, see what they have and what they like and don't like.

Understanding Resolutions

You must understand that a computer monitor is capable of displaying a higher resolution than your standard TV. The NTSC standard calls for 525 scan lines which only 483 are active. The PAL standard has a slightly higher resolution at a lower refresh rate. Whether it is a NTSC or PAL they can barely display the lowest resolution your PC supports which is 640 x 480.

There are substantial limitations that are on TV output modes of your video card. It used to be that enabling TV output forced your desktop into a 640 x 480 at a fixed refresh rate. This is the first tradeoff you must make with your TV output, desktop resolution and refresh rate degradation. Most card manufacturers have made the tradeoffs less noticeable the methods that they use vary, so this is one of the first things you'll want to consider.

Unlike your desktop, higher resolution (800 x 600 vs. 640 x 480) displayed on your TV won't necessarily yield a more detailed picture. This is due entirely to the scan line or resolution limitations of both the NTSC/PAL standards. Going for a TV output feature on a video card simply because it supports a higher resolution won't produce a better picture. So 640 x 480 is fine for your desktop and even games but playing back DivX or DVD movies using software decoding may hurt the 640 x 480 limitation.

The manner in which a TV puts a picture on the screen is not all that dissimilar from how a monitor does the same, unfortunately there is a dividing line that provides manufacturers with another gap to bridge, flicker. In the earlier days of TV output, obtaining a flicker free picture was not the easiest thing to accomplish, since then manufacturers have included workarounds for maintaining a fairly flicker free image on your TV, however the quality of these methods varies as well, this is the second factor you'll want to consider when exploring TV output solutions on various graphics cards.

The clarity of text on your TV screen from a TV output on a video card is generally far from legible relative to what you see on your monitor. There are some manufacturers that have attempted to rectify this situation by offering software tweaks that supposedly increase the "sharpness" of displayed text, however the final decision is for your eyes only, making this the third factor to consider.

Getting the video from your PC to your TV

There are two ways to go here. Wired, and Wireless. If you have your TV near your computer you may be able to use a couple wires and set it up pretty easily. If your computer is in another room or part of the house, the wireless option may be your best bet.

To Wire your computer to your TV you will need two sets of cables, one for video one for audio. For your video you will either need an S-Video cable or an RCA composite cable, depending on what your TV out card and TV supports. If you can use S-Video rather than RCA composite you will get better quality from the TV out card. For the audio you will need a cable that has a 1/4" stereo mini jack on one end and two RCA connections on the other. This will go from your sound card to your Television. (note some televisions only have one audio input for mono)

S-Video cable

Composite RCA cable

S-Video to RCA converter

For the audio you will need a cable that has a 1/4" stereo mini jack on one end and two RCA connections on the other. This will go from your sound card to your Television. (note some televisions only have one audio input, use the white rca connector for mono)

1/4" Stereo Mini Jack to RCA cable

Wireless Method

Now if your TV isn't right next to your computer, there are other options available to you. Although we are demonstrating with a X10 product below but there are several companies that offer identical products at ranging prices so shop around. We have chosen the X10's Entertainment Anywhere 2000 because of the other features it offers like CD, DVD and MP3 playback.

X10's Entertainment Anywhere 2000 allows you to play DVDs, MP3s and CDs from your PC through on your home theater. The Boom 2000 software puts the control of up to three different multimedia functions together in one place - the UR51A MP3/DVD/CD remote. Boom 2000 lets you control playback on your TV up to 50 feet away from your PC.

Setting Up the X10 transmitter and receiver

Using the same cables we discussed above, minus the S-Video, the X10 only supports composite, we will set this up in a very similar way. Instead of connecting the pc to the TV, connect the pc to the sending unit of the X10 device and connect the receiving unit to the TV.

Note: If your TV or VCR doesn't have RCA video and audio inputs, you can connect the output of the receiver to the TV using the provided coaxial cable. This will supply both sound and picture to the TV.

Connect the power supply to the DC 12V plug on the video transmitter and receiver.

Make sure the Channel switch on the underside of the VR30A is set to the same letter as that on the VT30A video transmitter and turn the video sender and receiver On. Now simply select the correct input setting on your TV or VCR to watch your DivX movie.

Connecting the Remote Receiver

Find a free serial port on your computer and plug the remote receiver (model MR26A) into it.

Install the X10 Boom 2000 Software

Download the Boom 2000 software from http://www.x10.com/software.

Next, run the downloaded file, x10boom2.exe. This installs the Boom 2000 software.

Use the Boom 2000 Software

First, press the PC button on the remote. Then press the DVD, MP3 or CD button on the remote which opens the X10 player. You can now press PLAY, STOP, PAUSE, FF, and REW on the remote to select and play DVDs. MP3s and CDs that you normally access on screen. Use VOL +, VOL -, and MUTE to control the sound level.

Adjusting your Video Card Settings

Each video card with TV out has its own settings that can be adjusted for an optimal TV out experience. The first thing you will need to do is to turn on the TV out feature if it does not do this automatically. Some cards will allow you do to push a movie out to the pc while still showing the full desktop on the monitor. Others show the same on both the monitor and PC. If for some reason the picture on the TV is too far to the left, right, top or bottom you can adjust that through your video cards properties. You can also adjust brightness and color contrasts there as well. Make sure to read the manuals that come with your video card to learn how to properly adjust your card for the best possible picture.

Alternative TV Out Method

Although we will not be using this method, there is another way to get the video out of your PC and view it on your TV. This method uses a VGA to PAL/NTSC Scan converter. These converters have a VGA pass through so the signal can be watched both on a PC monitor and on the TV set at the same time. There are some advantages to this method. That being quality, which appears to be better than most TV outs on any of the video cards available today. Again we are not using this method but wanted to just let you be aware of it as an alternative to using a PC video card with a TV out to your TV. The disadvantage is usually price, they can be expensive.

New Method with Nero Burning ROM 5.5

2005-11-12T01:59:00.000-08:00

Nero Burning ROM 5.5 now includes a built in AVI to MPEG-1/VCD converter. All you need to do is :

Download Nero Burning ROM 5.5 from the official site

You'll have to first find out whether your AVI/DivX file is PAL or NTSC. Right click on your AVI/DivX file, select "properties" and go to the "detailed" section. In the "Video Format" section, it should say something like

576 x 304, 24 Bits, 3460 Frames, 23.976 Frames/Sec, 127 KB/Sec, DIVXMPG4 V3

the "23.976 Frames/Sec" is the frames per second property of your AVI/DivX file. 23.976 == NTSC Film ; 25 == PAL ; 29.97 == NTSC.

Put a new blank CD-R in your CD-writer drive

Start Nero Burning ROM 5.5 and start a new "VideoCD" compilation. Now you'll need to choose PAL or NTSC mode, depending on your existing AVI/DivX file. Press the "New" button to start the new compilation.

A new window should open, and you should drag in your AVI/DivX file into the following window :

Once you have finished dragging in your videos (you can drag in about 70 minutes of video per 650 MB CD), from the "File" menu, select "Write CD". Feel free to change some of the CD writing options (such as Lable, writing speed ...), and click on the "Write" button when you are finished.

AVI to VCD with TMPGEnc

2005-11-12T01:58:00.000-08:00

No doubt about it! If you want the best quality SVCD or VCD then TMPGEnc is the way to go and what's more, its free baby! The bad news is only the older versions gave us full support of SVCD and VCD. This is a very important point, only use TMPGEnc upto version 12a don't download version 12b or any later versions unless you want to buy the product of course! And you will need the English patched version too or it will be unreadable.

If you intend on converting a DVD into a VCD with TMPGEnc then you probably should frameserve it with Flask Mpeg. If you intend on just using the Ligos and WinDVD filters as explained breifly in my DVD to VCD guide, then you may need to extract the audio first with Graphedit and add it to the movie seperately or audio may not appear.

This guide basically assumes that you are converting an AVI file but all the same settings will apply to any file you can open in TMPGEnc or frameserve to it.

Before I start you will need:

TMPGEnc 12a

Load TMPGEnc. As usual any new utility looks hard to use at first but is actually not too bad. Take a look at the picture below.

First we will choose the AVI file we wish to make into a VCD. Do this by hitting the 'video source' Browse button (A); (If you are frameserving you will choose the *.avs file instead of the *.avi). The audio source (B) is not needed unless you have a seperate audio track that needs multiplexing to the video file. This is sometimes the case if you needed to normalize or edit the audio for any reason but keep in mind that TMPGEnc can also normalise audio for us. Finally we can choose where we wish to save our final VCD Mpeg file (C).

TMPGEnc is great because it can do everything we need. You can use it to convert just audio alone to Mp2 by not selecting any video. You can use it to convert just video to Mpg by saying 'Video only'. You can even use it to cut and join Mpeg files in any way you like. The selection boxes (E) allow us to choose what TMPGEnc will give us. Always choose: System (Video+Audio) if you want an Mpg with video and audio.

The Load and Save buttons of the 'output sytream type' just let you save all the settings you used to create your movies. This can be very useful if you need to set custom settings for your movies, but we will not need any in this guide. If you download anyone elses settings you can load them using these buttons too. Anyway, lets configure TMPGEnc to make our VCD. Press the configure button (D), and this box appears:

The Video tab are the most important ones, so here is what the options are all about.

(A) Obviously since we are making a VCD we must select Mpeg-1.

(B) Then we must choose a Video CD standard size. No other sizes will work except: 352 x 240 for NTSC movies and 352 x 288 for PAL movies. Even if you are not making a perfect whitebook standard VCD then its a good idea to choose one of these settings anyway because its a nice standardized format :).

(D) The framreate must be set to 25fps for PAL VCDs or 29.97fps for NTSC VCDs.

(E) You must use Constant bitrate (CBR) for VCDs able to play on standalones.

(F) You must always use a bitrate of 1150 kbit/sec.

The rest of the options are greyed out because they do not apply.

(G) For motion search accuracy I suggest you either use Normal or High Quality. It doesn't matter which one you choose apart from one obviously looking slightly better. If you are a quality freak you can set the thing on highest quality instead. Obviously the higher the quality the longer it will take to compress. There is not a huge difference between the normal and higher quality modes so experiment to see what you think is best before you do a full movie.

That should be all you need to set! Press OK to get out of the Configire section and press the large Encode button - Bingo!

ADDITIONAL SETTINGS

For a VCD you can usually keep all other setting default and everything should be fine. But these extra filters are absolutely wonderful and no other mpeg encoder I've seen has come close to the options offered with TMPGEnc! This includes the big names such as the Panasonic Mpeg Encoder, Xing and Ligos - they are total rubbish by comparison! Unfortunately to explain how to use everything would take many articles and a lot of time. So instead I will give a breif overview and let you play about with them yourselves.

Lets go back to Configuration and click on the next tab, the 'Advnced' settings:

(A) Non-interlaced or interlaced, this option is only used to make the resolution larger or smaller. Just use non-interlaced.

(B) Field order. With an interlaced video the picture is made up in two parts one of all odd lines and the other of all even lines, see my interlace article Here for more details on this subject. Basically it shouldn't make any difference to your video, it will either do it in A field order starting with the top field first (i.e. AB AB AB), or B order first starting with the bottom field (i.e. BABA).

(C) This lets you change the Aspect ratio of the video to make it either widescreen or normal screen. You will always use 4:3 for VCD's. An aspect ratio of 1:1 means no change at all and 16:9 is usual for widescreen.

(D) The center option helps to centralize your video if it is has been resized or cropped previously.

(E) Here is where things get really interesting. There are a whole bunch of filter that can be applied to the video before the encoder transforms it into Mpeg. Many of these can be done to the AVI in VirtualDub, but isn't it nice of the programmer of TMPGEnc to include so many options :). To select them just tick beside the boxes, but to configure them you must double-click on the selection you picked or the options box wont appear. Again there are too many settings to explain in detail so I will just highlight a few of the most useful ones:

Crop Video: This is the one you will probably use most of all. It crops the sides of your AVI to the size you want it, its very easy to use. Double-click on it and up will pop a preview of your video. Then increase the numbers in the Top, Bottom, Left and Right boxes to cut the video to the sizes you need. It also gives you the option of keeping the size but just blacking out the edges like a letterboxed video.

Audio Effects: The main point of this is to make video that has low sound volume louder. It does this by normalizing the wave file before it converts it to MP2. Normalizing, as I'm sure you've read in my guides before, is a way of amplifying audio to go as loud as possible without 'clipping' off the scale and causing corrupted parts. I'd say always use a normalization of 90-100%; I always use 100. They've also thrown in the option to fade in and out at the start and end of the movie which is more useful for small video clips that tend to end suddenly.

Edge Enhancement: Another beautiful feature that allows you to control the general sharpness of the picture without significantly effecting the soft tones. If used correctly this can be set to produce some very nice mpeg videos that are both sharp and clear.

Basic Color Correction: This is useful if the original AVI has a green or reddish tinge to it. You can change the brightness and contrast too. The option to adjust the Gamma is usually for better PC viewing and may make the picture look too light on a Normal TV; you must try and play a clip on TV or whatever you intend to view it with before you decide on the best colour corrections to do. The gamma is different from the brightness and contrast in that it changes the midtones rather than how bright the colours start and stop. I will write more about colour correction in other guides and you can learn a bit about colour in my 'More Filter Tricks' section Here if you want.

Custom color correction: This is harder to use but gives better control over image colour values. To start you have to press the 'Add' button to add an adjustment layer over the image or you cannot mess about with the settings.

Ghost reduction: This helps to prevent flicker and ghosting effects. You can either set it yourself or let it automatically guess the best one for your video clip.

Noise Reduction: Another excelent filter although hard to get good settings with so if unsure try the default settings. It has the option for temporal filtering or spatial filtering (if I'm using the term correctly). Just mess with the settings for a good result. Be very careful with this because it can actually cause ghosting effects. For details on how noise reduction works it may be useful to check out my guides on the VirtualDub filters Here.

Deinterlace: If you find that your video file looks like this picture below, especially in scenes with lots of action then you will probably need to use the deinterlace option. Usually Blend (adaptive) is the way to go. The theory is that you shouldn't get this problem with PAL video but you almost always do with video capture cards. With DVD's you will only sometimes get this problem with the extras and not the main movie.

Inverse Telecine: Inverse Telecine is a method that changes an interlaced 29.97 frames per second movie back into its original framerate of 23.976 frames per second. This is no use for VCDs or even SVCD's because the framerate must be either 29.97fps or 25fps. If you have problems with interlace artifacts you will be better off using the deinterlace filter. Its also the hardest possible thing to get right and a simple solution is beyond me!

GOP Structure

GOP is short for 'Group Of Pictures'. It sounds realy complicated but the idea is simple enough: I-frames are whole 'keyframes' in other words whole picture is like a photo. B-Frames represent just bits of the picture that are different from the previous frames (i.e. when there is a motion change). For an explanation of Keyframes and Delta check out my appendix on it Here. The I, P and B frames are arranged into GOPs that produce a good balance between good compression highest quality motion reproduction.

In short I think these settings should be left default for VCD's to avoid any problems. A lot of research has gone into the best settings by the Mpeg orgainazation and the default settings are great for just about anything.

I frames only: Using this option turns the MPEG into a sort of MJPEG movie without any half frames, only full frames. This eliminates motion macroblocks almost completely but will either increase the filesize or, in the case of VCDs because its a constant bitrate, may actually make much worse quality! The main reason people use I-Frame only is because they can cut and edit the video in VirtualDub or another video editing application frame by frame like they can with MJPEG.

I and P frames only: This is only really useful for custom very low birate movies. By skipping B frames you are able to produce video that is much smaller than normal MPEG files. The bad news is this will result in slighly jerky video that is not well suited for any kind of quality VCD and probably wouldn't be playable on a standalone VCD player.

Quantizer Matrixes

I'm not sure exactly what settings are best for Quantizer Matrices. They are designed as filters to prepare certain types of video for compressing. Generally I'd say stay with the defaults because they are tried and tested settings. Apart from being able to change the patten of each mpeg macroblock by setting different numbers in the table, there are a bunch of pre-defined settings that you can choose from the drop-down menu. You may, for example, find that the CG gives better results on animated images and MPEG on real life movies or vice versa.

Looking a little lower we have the 'Special settings' section. These again are for either special video types or for just increased or just different 'looks' for the final movie by encoding in a certain way.

Use Floating Point DCT: This option will spend more time making sure that the mpeg video remains true to the original image. You must remember that these settings will servely slow down encoding and you may not notice much difference in quality - if you are a quality freak just use it.

Soften Block Noise: Since the Mpeg format compresses blurry images better than it does sharp images, it has a prefilter designed to soften the image without loosing too much sharpness. Again this is a matter of taste; take a look and see the results. If you think the bluriness is not too much you will get less noticable macroblocks. If sharpness is more important then keep it as normal. To increase the blur just increase the block noise numbers, 35 is a good setting anyway though. Intra blocks and non-intra blocks are basically the same as saying 'keyframes' (i.e. intra) or 'non-keyframes'. You may find that more softening on non-intra blocks produces better results in action scenes or vice-versa - experiment!

Do not perform half-pel motion in still scenes: This option helps to get rid of slight macrolock-noise in non-action scenes where there is very little movement. This works quite well but can give the apperance of slightly unnaturel motion at certain points. Again I suggest you do some tests and see what you prefer, some notice it while others do not.

Convert DIVX to VCD for standalone dvdplayer PAL or NTSC

2005-11-12T01:54:00.000-08:00

DIVX TO VCD GUIDE.

THIS GUIDE IS FOR USE WITH PAL REGION VCDS BUT CAN BE CHANGED FOR USE WITH NTSC.

I decided to write this guide because as a newbie I found it extremely hard to convert my movies to vcd and with crappy results. I have found a way to make my vcds now with great results every time, so I though I would share my experience with those who are or have been in the same bloody situation as I have. I hope this comes in handy for anyone who wants to make their own video cds.

Big greetz go out to everyone in Australia reading this coz I’m an Aussie so I haven’t stuffed any translation into English (well unless u count spelling mistakes!)

Here are 3 simple steps for turning your divx movies into vcds that will play on your dvd player. The method is quite simple and it took me about 4 hours to figure it out, but once I had it down I was turning out 3 vcds a day.

For this to work at its best I recommend having some heavy duty hardware to make the process bareable. I use an AMD DURON 1300 processor with 512 meg of pc 133 ram with about 3.5 gig of hdd space available for encoding and writing the vcd files.

The applications used can be found by using kazza lite or going to http://www.digital-digest.com .

Applications used are VirtualDub, Xing MPEG Encoder, and VCD Cutter. As mentioned before you can find all of these on kazza lite.

ENCODING YOUR DIVX MOVIE TO MPEG FOR VCD.

1. first step in converting your divx movies is to have the space required, about 2.5 gig should be enough but I have gotten away with using barely over 1 gig of hdd space.

To save on space I recommend having your divx movies on cdrom to start with as these files will get very large.

Download and open VirtualDub first. Chose FILE/OPEN VIDEO FILE or CTRL + O.

Chose your divx movie and then go to AUDIO in the toolbar.

Select FULL PROCESSING MODE/FULL PROCESSING MODE/ this will then let you set the audio stream to extract at 44100 kHz wav format.

Go to FILE/SAVE WAV, and then name your wav file filename_audio.wav,example: UNDERSIEGE_AUDIO.wav.

2. Converting your newly created wav file into the right format for MPEG is quite simple, just like encoding an mp3 really. Download and install Xing MPEG Encoder.

Open Xing MPEG Encoder, Click on NEW.

You will see a list of profiles for use chose the following: STREAM PROFILES/VIDEO CD/PAL, click NEXT.

Chose the checkbox labeled AUDIO ONLY. Chosing this option will then grey out the video box.

Chose the BROWSE button under AUDIO FILENAME and locate your AUDIO wav file, then click BROWSE again under TARGET FILENAME to chose where you wish to save your encoded audio file. Then click FINISH

Press the ENCODE BUTTON to start encoding your wav file.

3. Now we have an AVI file which is your divx movie and a .wav file and an .MPA audio file. You may wish to test your MPA file to see if the sound came out correctly.

After you are happy with the new audio source you can now delete the huge wav file that is taking up valuable room on your hard drive J.

Again open Xing MPEG Encoder and click NEW.

Once again click on VIDEO CD/PAL, click next.

Chose the checkbox labeled SYSTEM this time because we are going to glue the audio with the video for the final conversion to MPEG.

Chose the BROWSE button under VIDEO FILENAME you will have to copy your divx movie to your hard drive if you haven’t already done so, locate your divx movie on your hard drive.

Chose the BROWSE button under AUDIO FILENAME and locate your AUDIO MPA file, then click BROWSE again under TARGET FILENAME to chose where you wish to save your encoded MPEG file. Then click FINISH

Press the ENCODE BUTTON to start encoding your MPEG file.

SPLITTING YOUR MPEG READY FOR VCD.

4. Download and install VCDCutter.

Open VCDCutter and click on FILE/OPEN MOVIES or CTRL + O, chose your newly created MPEG.

Move the slider bar to the start of the movie, go to the top tool bar and chose EDIT/CLIP MARK IN or F5.

Now move the slider bar to roughly the center of the movie and chose a good spot to mark the out section example a fade to black transition or cut scene.

Once this is done go once again to the top tool bar and chose EDIT/CLIP MARK OUT or F6. once this is done press F7 to add the first selection to your CLIP LIST.

Now where you have just chosen your mark out position this becomes your MARK IN position so again press F5.

Once you have done this move the slider bar to the end of the movie and press F6 again for the MARK OUT position of clip two, now press F7 to add this selection to your CLIP LIST.

Now you should be looking at your CLIP LIST tab and see the two selections that you have made. Right click on the first clip and chose SAVE THIS CLIP to save it to your chosen location. (NOTE: the clips will save to the default save location unless you manually change the location by pressing F3, once you have pressed F3 go to the SETTINGS tab then BROWSE for the WORKING DIRECTORY of your choice, it’s a good idea to have a folder on a secondary partition on your hard drive for doing this, for example mine is G:\divx|mpeg1). You should now have two MPEG files that can now be transferred directly into NERO Burning Rom. Download the latest from http://www.nero.com .

WRITING YOUR MPEG FILES TO VCD.

5. This step is perhaps the easiest step of the VCD creation.

Open up Nero Burning Rom and go to FILE/NEW or CTRL + N.

Select VIDEO CD, check the the boxes CREATE STANDARD COMPLIANT CD and USE CD-I APPLICATION.

Next we go to the LABEL tab and name the fist disc under VOLUME LABEL. Now click the NEW button.

In the FILE BROWSER, locate your two MPEG files. Drag and drop the first part of the movie to the VIDEO Window. The file you have just put in this window will then be analyzed for compatibility with VIDEO CD, once this part is complete (it doesn’t take too long) simply open the WRITE DIALOG box. Make sure that the two boxes WRITE and FINALISE CD are checked and then continue on to press the WRITE button. Repeat all of these steps for the second part of the movie.

You now have yourself a PAL encoded VIDEO CD that you can play on your home dvd player.

Hope you found this guide helpful, I tried to make it as easy to follow as possible as this is the first guide I have ever written.

How to watch VCD,SVCD or DVD±R/W on your TV with a standalone DVD Player
Insert the VCD,SVCD or DVD in your DVD Player and hit Play if the movie doesn't start automatically.

If you want menus and still images in VCDs or SVCDs you should turn on PBC, refer your DVD Players manual for more information how to do that(usually enabled by start the VCD,SVCD by pressing the Play-button on your remote).

If you want the "display time" on your DVD Player turn off PBC (usually by start the VCD, SVCD by pressing the 1-button on your remote).

Whether a VCD/SVCD will autorun/auto play or not on a standalone player is hardware dependent. It depends completely on the player. There is nothing that you can do to the VCD/SVCD itself to make it autorun or not. Some players will autorun all VCDs/SVCDs and some not.

New! If you don't get any audio when you play your homemade DVD be sure to test to set the audio output to PCM in your DVD Player settings.

Remember also to check what formats your DVD Players supports in our DVD Players compabilitiy list. If your video source is DivX you must convert it to VCD,SVCD or DVD first, read more here or have a DVD Player with MPEG4 support.

DivX to VCD Conversion Guide

2005-11-12T01:50:00.000-08:00

I have been working on a good way (with tCi) to convert DivX movies to VCD format (to play on a dvd/vcd player) for a while. We've come up with a pretty good way that has excellent results.

Note: Using bigger DVD rips is always the best choice. The bigger (and better) the original rip is, the better quality your final vcd will be. I have found that [smr] rips are not the best to use during conversion.

Step 1: Splitting the movie
First of all, you must know that when burning the CD, you will not be able to fit more than 70 minutes of the movie (just like when burning music). However, the difference here is that the higher the quality, the less you are able to fit. If you convert at 100% quality, you will not be able to fit more than 60minutes of the movie on a single CD (I do not know the exact time restraints, however this is fairly close).

When splitting the movie, DO NOT use Avi Chopper. This can create corrupted split files (you will not be able to join them back again). So, you use VirtualDub. This is done by selecting the first half of the movie, and deleting it. You save that half. Then select the second half of the movie, and save that remaining half. It's fairly simple and gives the best results (also allows you to cut at the beginning of a scene instead of in the middle of the scene).

Step 2: Uncompressing the audio
You must uncompress the audio of a DivX in order for the mpeg-1 to be burnable as a VCD.

To do this, use VirtualDub. Put the Video on "Direct Streaming" and the audio on "Full processing mode." In the audio section, go to "compression" and select the empty space " ".

Then save the Avi as is. This should not take very long, however will produce a much larger file (normally around 75% to 100% larger).

Step 3: Converting Avi to Mpeg-1
This is usually a very long process (depending on your cpu, RAM and the amount of changes you make, it can take anywhere between 6 and 40 hours). It also create a fairly large file (100-500mb larger than the uncompressed avi). The program to use in this is called "TMPGEnc." (The Mpg Encoder) FYI, this program is supposedly optimized for AMD processors.

The first step is to select the audio and video sources (both the same file) and then to select the output file (the file which will be created after conversion). Select the "configure" button to set up the aspects and quality.

Video tab:
Stream type: Mpeg-1
Size: 352x240 (must be this size!!)
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 525line (this can vary depending on the rip and the dvd player- but 4:3 usually works best)
Frame Rate: 29.97fps
Rate Control Mode: Constant Image Quality. Then go to the settings and change the quality to 100 and the maximum bitrate to 100 000.
Motion Search Accuracy: Highest Quality (very slow)

Advanced tab:
Source aspect ratio: This can be changed depending on the rip that you have. Try to find out the aspect of your rip. Otherwise pick one at random as this does not seem to make THAT much of a difference usually.
Image Positioning Method: Fit to Frame (preserve aspect ratio)
In the area below, select the following boxes- Ghost Reduction, Noise Reduction, Edge Enhancement, Basic Colour Correction, Crop Video, Audio Effects

Audio tab:
Stream type: Mpeg-1 Audio Layer II
Sampling Frequency: 44100 (must be this!!!)
Channel mode: Stereo

System tab:
Stream type: Mpeg-1 Video CD

Anything I did not mention should be left at it's default setting.

Then you just Click ENCODE!!! That should be it. My advice is to cancel the conversion after a small portion is completed and check the mpeg file to make sure the size and aspect is ok and that nothing is cut out from the movie. If something is wrong, selecting a different aspect ratio (both source and final) will usually work.

This is the best method I have seen for the amount of time it takes. Very good quality depending on the original DivX rip.

How to watch divx movies on your TV with the computer

2005-11-12T01:44:00.000-08:00

Videocard with TV-Out/Video-Out
To watch VCDs,SVCDs and DVDs it is best to use a standalone DVD Player but you can also watch them with your computer connected to the TV with a TV-Out device. Many video cards today have TV-Out or some times called Video-Out but the quality is not that good compared to DVD Players yet. One of the best TV-Outs have the Matrox G400 card and the latest ATI Videocards. The advantage of TV-Out is that you can play all video formats that you are able to play on your computer(DivX, ASF, MOV...) because the TV-Out is showing what is on your monitor but you don't get the best quality and you probably have to have your noisy computer kinda near your TV if you do not have very long video cables.

Most newer videocards have tv-out so check your manual and when buying a new card check for video-out/tv-out.

MPEG Decoder Card
Or you can get a MPEG Decoder Card, it is a hardware PCI Card that you put in your computer and then connect it to your tv. The quality of MPEG-Cards video playback is superb, it is compared with the quality of standalone DVD Players. But remember that MPEG-cards only defaults play MPEG/MPEG2/VCD/DVD, to play DivXs and MOV you must have a very fast computer and special player, read more here. With the latest MPEG-Cards such as the Hollywood Xcard you can now play DivX but only from DivX version 4 and up. The advantage of MPEG Decoder Card is that you get superb quality but you can only play MPEG/MPEG2/VCD/DVD, DivX 4+(XCard only) and you probably have to have your noisy computer kinda near your TV if you do not have very long video cables.

VGA to PAL/NTSC Scan converter
Another method to watch movies from your computer is to use a VGA to PAL/NTSC Scan converter. These converters have a VGA pass through so the signal can be watched both on a PC monitor and on a TV. There are many such products available (in the US. I am not sure about other countries) Below is a list of scan converters for your information. The advantage of Scan converters is that you can play all video formats that you are able to play on your computer(DivX, ASF, MOV...) because the Scan converter is showing what is on your monitor but you don't get the best quality and you probably have to have your noisy computer kinda near your TV if you do not have very long video cables.

Common TV-Out Problems
Jerky AVI or MPG playback
Get ReClock, it helps you to get rid of jerky playback of AVI and MPEG material on a PC connected to a TV. Be sure to read the included readme for a description of jerky playback.

Black and White picture
If you have connected with a SVHS-cable be sure that your TV support SVHS, if not then get a composite-cable. And be sure that you have selected correct system, like PAL or NTSC on the Videocard/MPEG-Card.

Small picture on the TV with big black borders
If you have TNT/TNT2/GEFORCE/GEFORCE2/GEFORCE3/GEFORCE4 then get TVTool to fix that problem.

I receive strange white lines when recording with my VCR/DVDR
Turn of macrovision using TVTool to fix that problem(works only if you have TNT/TNT2/GEFORCE/GEFORCE2-/GEFORCE3/GEFORCE4). Read more here about macrovision.

How do I turn of Macrovision
Turn of macrovision using TVTool to fix that problem(works only if you have TNT/TNT2/GEFORCE/GEFORCE2-/GEFORCE3/GEFORCE4). Read more here about macrovision.

Can I play DivX/nAVI/ASF/SMR on my Hollywood + / DXR3 ?
Yes with DivXPlus but you need a very fast computer though.

Can I play DivX on my Hollywood Xcard ?
Yes but only DivX version 4 and up.

How do I make my Hollywood Plus region free?
You can use DVD43 or Zone Selector to make the Hollywood + DVD station region free.

How to connect from the computer to the TV
Connect the cables as the picture shows(the picture show a Hollywood + card but you could connect almost the same with all tvout-cards). The only cable that follows with this card is the short S-vhs to RCA-cable.

If you have a TV with SVHS/SVIDEO you can use a SVHS/SVIDEO cable directly from the TV-Out without using any converters.

How to watch VCD,SVCD or DVD±R/W on your TV with a standalone DVD Player
Insert the VCD,SVCD or DVD in your DVD Player and hit Play if the movie doesn't start automatically.

If you want menus and still images in VCDs or SVCDs you should turn on PBC, refer your DVD Players manual for more information how to do that(usually enabled by start the VCD,SVCD by pressing the Play-button on your remote).

If you want the "display time" on your DVD Player turn off PBC (usually by start the VCD, SVCD by pressing the 1-button on your remote).

Whether a VCD/SVCD will autorun/auto play or not on a standalone player is hardware dependent. It depends completely on the player. There is nothing that you can do to the VCD/SVCD itself to make it autorun or not. Some players will autorun all VCDs/SVCDs and some not.

New! If you don't get any audio when you play your homemade DVD be sure to test to set the audio output to PCM in your DVD Player settings.

Remember also to check what formats your DVD Players supports in our DVD Players compabilitiy list. If your video source is DivX you must convert it to VCD,SVCD or DVD first, read more here or have a DVD Player with MPEG4 support.