Hello friends..
i am a relatively new mod of this forum.. but have some experience with Xvid encoding... MAny people want to know how to compress their videos into smaller files that can be shared with xbus users... well here i wud try to explain exactly that only... keeping things simple..

A FEW GROUND RULES
a) Disable all screensavers before u start encoding
b) Disable Power namagement before you start encoding . We dont want the computer to shut down in middle of encoding
c) If You are using a Laptop - Set the Power Management settings to Minimum Power Managemnt or Always ON
d) Don't use win98.. use win 2000/ Win XP(Home or Pro)



First of all, the tools that u need to compress the video---
1. Codecs - Xvid codec - http://www.xvidmovies.com/codec/
Radium MP3 Codec - http://www.free-codecs.com/download/...Radium_MP3.htm

2. Encoder - Virtual Dub - http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/v...0.zip?download

3. Desirable software - VCD Gear - http://www.vcdgear.com/files/vcdgear355.zip


a note here -- all the software are free except maybe the MP3 codec.. but this version hasd been out so long that yeah.. i consider it more or less free only ....

Once u have downloaded all the stuff... install Xvid and Radium MP3 codec

Virtual dub is a zip file that simply needs to be extracted to a New folder u can name as Virtual Dub

Now the steps of actual encoding

Preparation -
1. if you are new.. i suggest you make a backup of your original movie file if it is tored on your Hard-disk. If the movie file is on a VCD.. well u better copy it onto the Hard-disk

2. while copying files from a vcd, SOMETIMES YOU CAN ENCOUNTER ERRORS.. FILE WUD COPY TILL 99% AND THEN STOP....Use VCDgear... to copy such files to HDD... basically you select the "dat. to .mpg Conversion" option ... load thr dat file in it and give it a path to save the mpg file to.. then hit the start button. it will conver the dat file to mpg file and save it onto the HDD
One thing though...... If the VCD is too scratched... then the Virtual dub might return an error while trying to convert the file to a compressed (read divx/xvid) AVI

Actual Conversion/Encoding
1. Start Virtualdub by clicking on "VirtualDub.exe"
2. Goto "File" > OPEN VIDEO FILE >
3. browse to and selct the .mpg/.dat/.avi file that you wish to encode. and click OPEN
4. Now ......... Goto Video > make sure "Full Processing Mode" is selected
5. Goto AUDIO > again make sure "Full Processing Mode " is selected... Most of the time you will find that it is not the case.. you will have to manually select [b]"full processing mode" every time you start Virtual Dub afresh


Now that the Ground wirk is done.. we will put in the various encoding options that are necessary to have a good quality output

6. goto VIDEO > COMPRESSION or you can use the "Ctrl+C" shortcut in Virtualdub
7. A "SELECT VIDEO COMPRESSION" Window opens up ....... Scroll down the list oc the installed codecs... and select " Xvid MPEG-4 Codec"
8. Click the "Configure" button
9. the "Xvid Configuration" window opens up

10. Profile @ level should be set to " AS @ L5"
11. Encoding type - "Two pass - First pass"
12. Click the " MORE" Button opposite the "Profile @ Level" choice

13. A new "Xvid Configuration" Window opens up . Set the Quantization type as "H.263"
14. make sure that "ADAPTIVE QUANTIZATON", "QUARTER PIXEL" "GLOBAL MOTION COMPENSATION" and "CLOSED GOV" are selected (ie. a tick mark in the boxes alongside them..)
15. "PACKED BITSTREAM" option should not be selected. (ie. No tickmark.... if there is a tickmark there.. remove it)
16. "B-VOP" should be selected and leave the other settings to defaults in this window
17. Click "OK" to close this window

18. Now Click the "ADVANCED OPTIONS" Button

19. the recommended settings for options in th heading - "MOTION" here are
Motion Search Precision - 6. Ultra High
VHQ Mode - 1. Mode Decision
Use Chroma Motion - Selected (ticked)
Turbo - Selected (ticked)
Frame Drop Ratio - 0
Maximum I-Frame Interval - 300
Cartoon Mode - NOT Selected
20. Now click on the "Quantization" tab at the top to see the quantization parameters.
21. Leave all values as they are... Select the " TRELLIS Quantization" Option

Click OK to return to main "X-Vid Configuration" Window
Click OK to return to "Select Video Compression" Window
Click OK to return to main Virtual Dub Window

22. Go to AUDIO and select the "No Audio" option. This is to make the first pass encoding faster. dont worry we will select the audio in second pass


23. File > Save As AVI
24. Browse and select where and by what name would you like to select the AVI file. But DON'T CLICK ON THE SAVE BUTTON AS YET... FIRST MAKE SURE THAT THE "Don't Run this Job Now; add this job to job control...." OPTION IS SELECTED.... then hit the save button. NOTHING WILL HAPPEN RIGHT NOW.

25. goto VIDEO > COMPRESSION or you can use the "Ctrl+C" shortcut in Virtualdub
26 A "SELECT VIDEO COMPRESSION" Window opens up ....... Scroll down the list oc the installed codecs... and select " Xvid MPEG-4 Codec"
27. Click the "Configure" button
28. the "Xvid Configuration" window opens up

29. Profile @ level should be set to " AS @ L5"
30. Encoding type - "Two pass - Second pass"

31. The "Target Filesize" Option will now be available...... the file size has to be entered in Kilobytes.... THIS IS A TRICKY STEP.... Xvid codec will try to make the final video the size as u specify over here... but the audio data will be extra in the final avi file..... a safe bet is to allow for 230000 for a 60 minute video file (inb normal VCD rewsolution). For smaller duration files, you can reduce the "Target Filesize" proportionately
...... if you see a "Target Bitrate" option instead of "Target FileSize".. the u simply click on the "Target Bitrate" button... it will change over to ""Target Filesize"

32. CLICK - OK and OK again to return to main Virtual Dub Window

33. Goto - "Audio" and select the "Source Audio" Option
34. Goto -"Audio" and select "Compression"
35. Select "MPEG Layer-3" in the left hand column.... then on Right habd size you hav to select an appropriate Bitrate... Suggest "32 kBps, 11,025 Hz Stereo" as the audio quality in Home videos is usually not too great. In case of VCDs.. you can select "64 kBps 22,050 Hz Stereo"

36. Click OK

At this point of time you are back to the Virtual Dub Main window.

37. File > Save as AVI > Browse and set the name for the final AVI file.. again making sure that the ADD TO JOB CONTROL option is selected

38. File > Job Control ( OR Alternately - F4 key on keyboard)
39. Both Jobs we have added recently will be there.
40. Selct the first job and click start.. Sit BAck. Have a Cup of coFfee....

ENCODING wil take a lot of time.. it takes some 2 hours on my Athlon based sysytem. SO Sit Back..
Donot try to do any thing on computer while encoding is going on.. Your Comnputer wil be too slow in responding as Video Encoding is a very very CPU Intensive Operation

For CC-Net Videos , i believe you have to insert their logo in the Video File.. well for that purpose, you will have top use one of the filters in Virtual Dub.. that allows you to insert a Logo/Watermark. But that shud be a separate tutorial..


And Guys Trust me it is not that difficult. I have been doing it for last 3-4 years now i started off with using DivX 3... DivX 4... and now i'm there with XVid. Do it Once and it will come to you automatically the next time.. Plus it is great to have two or three Movies in the same amount of Hard Disk Space that One uncompressed movie would have required



For a betyter understandin... try giving a visit to www.doom9.org and check out the Guides > DivX/Xvid > XVid > Gordian Knot / Virtualdub > Step 3: Video encoding....... there's a guide for XviD 1.0. This Webpage has a lot of screenshots too to help you see what you are doing is correct or not.



Hope you have a good time encoding and THEN Sharing
i personally am goin to open a Pandora's Box Myself soon