How to create or edit DivX video file

**TechyGuy** · 19-08-2009

Whether watching a movie downloaded from the Net or to compress a video with your PC, the DivX format is inevitable. In this case, you will find all the information you need.

The DivX is the video and MP3 is the audio, a universal standard, that any amateur film encounters a day. Why such popularity? Because the standard DivX allows you to store an entire movie in a file of only 700 MB, the size of a CD with a picture quality acceptable. As for MP3, everything is a matter of "compression". Thus, the image is processed by an encoder-decoder (codec) to occupy less space on the hard disk. The technology used is the MPEG-4, while DVD-video uses the MPEG-2 and Video CD uses MPEG-1.

A case of codecs

As for sound, it is simply the MP3 format that is used in most cases (some DivX incorporate sound in Dolby AC3). To play the videos with Windows Media Player on your PC, you must have the same codec as the one used to compress the video. The most popular codecs are DivX (commercial) and Xvid (free). Fortunately, the installation of these codecs is very simple, thanks to "pack" free and ready for use. Some vendors even offer media players which can read DivX files directly on your computer without installing the codec. Likewise, most DVD players today read DivX smoothly.

If you have a video player, things get a little complicated. Indeed, your device can not directly read DivX. You must then convert it to a compatible format. There is free software that carry out this work.

Once you know how to play DivX, you may want to create one by yourself. So if you have home movies on DVD or recorded broadcasts on television, you will gain some disk space by converting to DivX, and you can even burn them on CD for your family or friends. Again, free software is available. Some can even guide you step by step procedure through the various stages. For short sequences, you do not even need to install software: Internet Web site Media Convert perform the operation in three clicks of a mouse!

Attention to protection

For the more demanding, there is the solution to create a DivX "manually" to get a better quality picture and sound, or even modify an existing video, for example to cut it into several parts. But beware: the manipulation, which we describe in detail here, are aimed at experienced users. Can we convert to DivX? Technically yes, but not legally! No problem for your holiday videos or recorded programs on television. In contrast, most DVD-video are protected against copying process with the CSS (Content Scramble System), which encrypts the data. In this case, you can not convert to DivX as you should "break" the protection, which is considered counterfeiting and punished by law.

How do I know if a DVD Video is protected? Simply place it in the drive or the DVD of the computer, then try to copy the files from the DVD to the hard disk. If you get an error message "Error file system", that means the DVD-video is beautiful and well protected against copying!

**TechyGuy** · 19-08-2009

How to play DivX file on a computer

Add the right codecs for Windows Media Player or use a media player software compatible with DivX.

Install the right codecs

First try watching a movie by double-clicking it. In most cases, Windows Media Player can play the sound of a movie, because it is in MP3 format. However, the picture is not displayed. To install the missing codecs, download K-Lite Codec Pack and run the setup program. Click several times on the Next button to the Select Additional Tasks window. Check the boxes Speaker Setup (select the speaker configuration that corresponds to your equipment) and Volume Normalization. Click the Next button and then click the Install button. Click Finish button to complete the installation. You can now play with Windows Media Player movies encoded in DivX or Xvid for the image, which contains sound in MP3 format or Dolby AC3. If your file has a DivX subtitles in SRT format and this file has the same name as DivX, subtitles will be automatically displayed in Windows Media Player.

Go to Media Player Classic

If you are not satisfied with the Windows Media Player and you are looking for a lighter version of the player, we recommend Media Player Classic. This software is included in the Standard version of the K-Lite pack. Download the installation file and run it. Click several times on the Next button until the Select Components window. If some codecs do not interest you, uncheck the boxes, otherwise click the Next button. In the Select Additional Tasks window, check the Volume Normalization and uncheck the Check box for news and updates codec if you do not want the software connects to the Internet. In its default configuration, Media Player Classic reads a multitude of different file formats (Avi, Mpeg-1, MPEG-2, MP4, MKV, 3GP, FLV, WMV, QuickTime, etc.). Check the box Audio formats for reading Ogg files and AAC audio. Click the Next button, then Install, then Finish.

Use advanced features

Media Player Classic is launched either by double-clicking the file, either via the program group K-Lite Codec Pack. Media Player Classic is also a function of image capture. To activate, pull down the View menu, click Options, and Output in the tree. In section DirectShowVideo, click System Default and then click OK. We advise you to get the original setting (Overlay Mixer) after capture. Play the video and click the Pause button to freeze the image you want (you can also use the cursor to scroll). Pull down the File menu, Save Image, choose a name and a format (BMP or JPEG) and click the Save button.

Change player

To empower the Windows Media Player and Windows codecs, choose the VLC media player which has proved its worth. During installation, choose from the list Recommended Installation Type drop-down. To play DivX, double-click it in Explorer. If your video contains several audio tracks, pull down the Audio menu, audio track to change. If you notice a gap between image and sound, you can fix it. Pull down the Tools menu, click Settings and extended on the Synchronization tab. Change the value in the Audio/Video. For DivX file with external subtitle, VLC also offers a correction of a possible time lag subtitle or a problem with speed.

**TechyGuy** · 19-08-2009

How to convert any Video to DivX

Convert short sequences

Converting to DivX video from a few minutes can be done without installing any software. The Web site Media Convert offers this for free! Go to the Media-convert. Click Choose, select the video and then convert to the Open button. If the extension of your file matches multiple formats, you will get a warning message. Pull down the Format list to choose from that of your video, then the Output Format list and choose WINDOWS DivX. In the Options section, you can change your DivX. For example, type 999 in the Video Quality to reduce the compression of the image and increase its quality. Click OK to start conversion (this may take a few minutes) and then in the end on Download to transfer the video to DivX format on your hard drive.

Retrieve sequences from a DVD

To easily convert sequences from a DVD-video (not protected against copying) we recommend the software with FairUse Wizard Light Edition is free. Go to Fairusewizard. Click on the English button and then click Download FREE! Save the program on your hard drive and then run it. Warning: remember to uncheck the box Crawler Toolbar Add to my Internet Explorer & Firefox during the installation.

FairUse Wizard Run and type the name of DivX that you want to create in the Name box. Click the Browse button to specify the destination folder, check the Automatic Mode and click Next. Insert your DVD-video player / DVD and click on OK to select the DVD player to start the conversion. In automatic mode, FairUse Wizard automatically selects the movie longer. On a DVD, it is usually the film itself.

Select a precise sequence

Start FairUse Wizard and uncheck the box in the automatic mode design window for the project. Click Next, insert your DVD-video into the DVD drive and click OK. You can choose the video if your DVD has several. To do this, you find the length of the sequence. Then click Next. To remove the unnecessary black bars in the image, click the Auto button or change the values of the cutting area. The result is displayed with dotted lines. Click the Next button and then click the Auto Detect button to determine if the video contains images. Click the Next button when the detection phase is complete.

Go to advanced settings

Enter first settings for audio in the Audio section 1. The usual flow for MP3 is 128 kbit/s. If your video contains a lot of music to improve the quality of its move to 192 kbit/s. In the Size box, specify the desired size (usually 700 MB). The resulting flow, as indicated below, must be greater than 700 kbit/s or 1000 kbit/s for a very good image quality. For a rapid encoding, uncheck the 2 passes (one treatment in two passes is slower but offers better quality). Uncheck Show only preferred resolutions to see all the available resolutions. Choose one to get a compression ratio of about 150:1 (120:1 if the video has many movements). Start encoding by clicking Next.

**TechyGuy** · 19-08-2009

How to convert a DivX Video into compatible format

Your media player can not play DivX as you created or downloaded? Convert them into a compatible format.

Quick Media Converter Install

Quick Media Converter is a conversion software and very simple to use. Unzip the contents of the zip file to a folder and run the Setup.exe program. Start Quick Media Converter. Click in the bar format, the button on the video format you want (QuickTime, iPod, Flash, DivX, WMV, DVD/Mpeg-2, VCD/Mpeg-1, audio, mobile phone, iPhone, XviD, Dreambox/Freebox, Xbox, PSP, PS3 or Wii). In the context menu, select a sub-format (wmv extension for Windows Media format, for example). Click the "+" button on the left and select the files to convert. Validate by Open. The "i" button gives you information about files (resolution, codecs used) while the button with a triangle below the image reads QMC videos. Right click on a video can also access these functions.

Resize videos

Possibly change the destination folder in the Destination folder. In addition to the conversion, Quick Media Converter captures a video frame and saves it to a JPEG file. It will if you want to create a folder icon. To specify the time in the video where the image is taken, change the value of the area to capture an image. In the Resize, enter the chosen resolution (by default, it is 320 x 240 dots). Click the Start button after the conversion to start the operation. The resulting files have the file names of origin, followed by the words _converted. To access more settings during the conversion (choice of audio and video codecs, speed, resolution), click the Expert Mode button near the top of the window.

Choose more formats with Super

If you want to choose precisely the parameters of the conversion of your movies, download Super software. Run the software and pull down the Select the Output Container to choose the format conversion. Profiles ready for use are available for phones, Pocket PCs, iPod/iPhone, Zune, PS3 and PSP. Pull down the list of areas Select the Output Video Codec and Select the Output Video Codec possibly to change the video and audio codecs. If the video is to convert readable with Windows Media Player, click on the DirectShow Decode. In the File Browser, choose the videos and make a drag in the files of Super. Double-click a file to verify its characteristics (speed, resolution, ratio, frequency of sound, etc.)..

Access to all parameters

Go to the video section, then in Video Scale Size, select the resolution (check the box More twice to enter the values manually). Check the manual that came with your portable video to the screen resolution (320 x 240 dots on many models). Select speed (Frame/sec) and speed (bitrate). If the flow is high, the quality is better, but the "weigh" more cumbersome. Check the box Stretch It if you want the image is stretched to fill the screen (with a risk of distortion). Change the parameters of the Audio section if you are not satisfied with the defaults (e.g. speed). Right-click anywhere in the window to display the menu of the program. This allows you to change, among other things, dressing Software (Skin) and the destination folder files (Output File Saving Management). To view the clips before converting, click Play. Press Encode to start the conversion.

**TechyGuy** · 19-08-2009

How to create a quality DivX from a DVD using VirtualDubMod

Software for creating DivX from DVD does not always offer the best quality image or sound. Here's how to do better.

Install VirtualDubMod

Go to http://virtualdubmod.sourceforge.net. Click the Downloads link and download VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.2 and its updated 1.5.10.2 build 2542. Unzip the contents of the first in a Zip file folder, then the second in the same folder. The software requires codecs available in the Full Pack K-Lite Codec Pack. Run the installer package and if you do not want to clutter your disk, choose the Xvid VFW codecs (video encoding) and ACM AC3ACM (AC3 decoding) and the Bitrate Calculator tool in Tools section. This utility is used to calculate the compression ratio to be applied to the video function of its duration and the file size you want.

Separate sound image

To convert a sequence of a DVD-video (not protected against copying), it must first separate the sound from the image. Download PGCDemux and unpack it in a folder. Run it after inserting a DVD-video. Click the Browse button in the Input IFO section and browse the DVD to select the VTS_01_0.IFO file in the VIDEO_TS folder. Click the Browse button of the Output Folder section and select the destination folder files (some can reach 4 GB).

Check the box Demux video stream in the Options section and click on the drop-down list to choose your PGC sequence. If you can not find it, change the file section Input IFO (VTS_02_0.IFO, VTS_03_0.IFO, etc.). And browse to the list. Click Process!, and at the end of the operation, click Check A/V delay and note the value of a possible time lag between sound and image. Close the program.

Encode audio

In your working folder, you get files to AC3 Dolby (AC3 extension) and the MPEG-2 image (M2V extension). Run VirtualDubMod, pull down the File menu, Open video file and select the file that has the extension M2V. Pull down the Streams menu then Stream list and click the Add button and choose, always in your working folder, the file with extension AC3. You can keep the original sound in Dolby AC3. This is consistent with the players but may require a specific codec to be played on the computer.

To convert an AC3 file into MP3 audio format DivX traditional, right-click the gray area and select in the menu, the Full processing mode. Click the Save button to save the WAV audio file in your Working at Wave. Click the Delete button to delete the AC3 track if you do not use it.

With a sound editor (eg Audacity or Nero Wave Editor), convert the Wave file to MP3 format. The parameters used are a frequency of 48 kHz and a constant bitrate encoding (CBR) for better compatibility. Choose a rate of 128 kbit / s for a film or a documentary. For music, choose a speed to 192 kbit / s to obtain a better quality. If you want to increase the volume, use the Normalize your sound editor. If the sound is in PCM (uncompressed digital audio), simply save directly to a Wave file (use the Demux), to convert it to MP3.

Return to VirtualDubMod and click the Add button to load the MP3 file that you created. If you have noticed a time lag between sound and image different from zero, we must pass on the audio track. Right-click the shaded area Interleaving and click on the shortcut menu. Indicate the timeout value (positive or negative) in the Audio skew correction section and click OK to confirm. Click OK again to exit the list of audio tracks.

Treat the image

In VirtualDubMod, pull down the Video menu and select Full processing mode if not activated. Browse through the video with the cursor scroll and see if the image includes the effects of horizontal stripes, visible especially on the edges of objects or persons in motion. This so-called comb effect occurs if the video is interlaced (displayed successive pairs of lines and odd lines). To deinterlace, pull down the Video menu, Filters and click Add.

In the list of filters, select Deinterlace and press OK. Click OK to confirm the mode deinterlacing by default (Blend fields together). The choice of resolution depends not only on the ratio but the image quality desired. In general, 640 x 480 pixels (4 / 3) or 624 x 352 points (16 / 9) should. Pull down the Video menu, Filters and click Add.

In the filter list, choose Resize and press OK. Specify the resolution in New Sections New height and width, and then select the algorithm Precise bilinear in the Filter mode drop-down list and press OK. If your video has black horizontal bands (eg, a film in a 2.35 ratio image 16 / 9 or 1.77 ratio video images in 4 / 3), click the Cropping button and change the values of four areas to offset the black bands are replaced by gray stripes on the display. They will then be eliminated during encoding. Click OK to confirm and then OK to exit the filter list but does not close VirtualDubMod.

Choose the compression ratio

You will now save your video to Xvid format (the free version of DivX equally powerful) and thus compress. You can choose to give priority to the size of the file (eg to burn onto a CD or stored on a USB key) or the quality of the video. In the first case, open Bitrate Calculator (it is available in the Tools submenu of the K-Lite Codec Pack) and enter different information about your video: its duration (eg 1.35 for 1 hour 35 min) speed (pull down the Video menu, Frame Rate VirtualDubMod for this information), the speed of sound (think of the words in Section CBR Overhead for a constant flow) and the file size you want. You have predefined sizes (eg 700 MB for a CD), but you can very well understand that your choice MB. Note the value in the Avg Bitrate and exit the program.

In VirtualDubMod, pull down the File menu, Save As and type in the file name box, your video. Then click the Change button, select from the list the XviD codec and click the Configure button. Click the Target quantizer: it turns into Target bitrate. You can then choose the speed that determines the compression of the image. The default is 700 kbit / s, which allows you to take a film of 1 hr 57 min on a 700 MB CD.

If you are looking for the best quality without worrying about file size, type a value of 1500 kbit/s. Otherwise, subtract 3 kbit/s number you obtained in the bitrate calculator and enter the result in the Target bitrate. Click OK to exit the configuration Xvid, and then click OK to exit the selection of video codec. Finally, click the Save button to start encoding.

**TechyGuy** · 19-08-2009

How to edit existing DivX video

Your DivX is too big to fit on a USB key? The sound you do not like? You want to combine multiple videos? Use VirtualDubMod to suit your tastes.

Cut a video in two

If one of your DivX is too long, VirtualDubMod has an editing function that can remove some or cut in half. For these operations, you must follow the following rule: an AVI file can end with any image, but must begin with an image "key" (key frame). To access them in VirtualDubMod, use the two buttons with the shift pattern of a yellow key. Or scroll the cursor by holding down the Shift key. So if you want to delete the beginning of a sequence, or if you want to divide it into several parts that follow, it will choose an image "key" as the location of the cut.

Run VirtualDubMod and pull down the File menu, Open video file to load the video. If you get a window VBR audio stream detected, answer No to the question Do you still want to rewrite the header? Pull down the Video menu and select Direct stream copy for the image is not re-encoded. You will first select the area to remove the last two buttons on the toolbar (mention Mark in and Mark out if you want to leave the mouse cursor above). Move to the back with the slider at the bottom of the window, then with the arrow keys on keyframes. Mark the beginning of the selection by clicking on Mark in, then scroll and mark the end of the selection with Mark out.

Pull down the Edit menu, Delete to delete the selection, then the File menu, Save As to save the sequence and shortened. To cut a movie into two, one must proceed in two phases: first delete the first half of the sequence, save the result as a new name, then upload the video again and repeat the initial operation, this time by removing the second half.

During the first phase, be sure to note the location of your point of separation (Frame number shown at the bottom of the window): it must correspond to an image "key" for the two sequences follow. Then use this point of separation in the second phase.

Juxtapose two DivX

You want to paste more videos? VirtualDubMod is easy to use. Warning: the videos must have the same characteristics for the image (codecs, encoding settings, resolution and number of frames per second) and sound (codec, sample rate, bit rate). Run GSpot, pull down the File menu, Open to load the different files and write the information on the codec, speed (Pics/s), the image resolution and the codec and the information in the Audio section.
If the information is identical, the videos are compatible and you can paste without problem. Otherwise, you must encode the image or sound, or both. Run VirtualDubMod and pull down the File menu, Open video file to load the first video. If you get a window VBR audio stream detected, answer No to the question Do you still want to rewrite the header?

Pull down the Video menu and select Direct stream copy. Then go to the File menu, choose Append segment for the second video to be added to the first.

If the video is not compatible, you will get an error message explaining the nature of the problem.

To juxtapose several videos automatically, simply use the same file name followed by numbers (eg video1.avi, video2.avi, video3.avi, etc.). Load video1.avi then pull down the menu and select Append segment Video2.avi, which will automatically add other videos. Pull down the File menu, Save As to save final assembly.

Replace or add an audio track

Maybe you do not hear sound from your video. With VirtualDubMod, you can substitute another, or even add a second track with comments, dialogue in English or music. Use a sound editor (eg Audacity) to create the new audio track and save it to an MP3 file, preferably with a constant bitrate (CBR encoding).

Run VirtualDubMod and pull down the File menu, Open video file to load the video. If you get a window VBR audio stream detected, answer No to the question Do you still want to rewrite the header? Pull down the Video menu and select Direct stream copy, then the menu Streams Stream list to access the tracklist audio.

To save an existing track, then click on the button Demux. You usually get an MP3 file. To replace the track, click the Disable button to disable and then click the Add button to choose a new audio file. If the duration thereof is too large, it will be cut off automatically. If it is too short, there will be silence at the end of the sequence.

Warning: if you do not click the Disable button, the new audio track will be added to the first. According to the media player you use, both audio tracks will be played at the same time (eg with Windows Media Player) or you can choose one or the other (eg with VLC or Media Player Classic). Click OK to close the window of the audio tracks and pull down the File menu, Save As to save the resulting video sequence.

Add subtitles

Why not design, for example, a small generator that is integrated in the video? To do this, you must install the software VobSub 2.23. Create the subtitles in a text file with Windows Notepad and save it with the SRT. Run VirtualDubMod, load your video and select Full processing mode in the Video menu.

Pull down the Video menu, Filters and click the Add button. Choose from the list the TextSub 2.23 filter and click OK. Then click the Open button to load your subtitle file and then click OK. Press again OK to leave the selection of filters and save the resulting video.

Encode video

Some DivX are not readable by players or hard drives multimedia. For example, the case of video encoded with the options Qpel (Quartel Pixel) and GMC (Global Motion Compensation). To make them compatible, run VirtualDubMod, pull down the Video menu and select Fast recompress. Unroll then File menu, Open video file, select the video to load and click Open.
If you get a window VBR audio stream detected, click No to the question Do you still want to rewrite the header? Pull down the File menu, Save As and type in the name of the file from your video. Then click the Change button, select from the list the Xvid codec. Tap OK to exit the video codec selection, then click the Save button to start encoding.

Get an image

You have a movie and you want to retrieve one or more images. Run VirtualDubMod and pull down the File menu, Open video file to load the video. Browse the film with the cursor, or with the arrow keys left and right of the keyboard to access the image. Pull down the Video menu, Snapshot source frame and select the file name and format in the Type drop-down list (BMP, PNG etc). Click the Save button. You can also copy the image to the Windows Clipboard to paste them into another software. To do this, pull down the Video menu, Copy source frame to clipboard.