Converting DV Files into DivX

[chibihoshi]

I just created my first AMV with iMovie and am in the process of converting it now. I'm following this guide (http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/ ... orial.html) and downloaded iMovie '06 so I could follow the guide (that and iMovie '08 is just not that great... -____-). The guide is a little outdated so some of the links have changed...

I'm now up to the part where I'm exporting and converting the DV file into DivX. I also downloaded D-Volution 2 (I guess it's the most recent version of D-Volution). I followed it exactly but during the converting process, it stops and I get this message:



This always appears toward the end of the conversion... and I have no idea how to fix it. When that message appeared, I thought it meant the ffmpegX program, which is weird since it wasn't even open during the conversion. So instead I converted the movie into a QuickTime file but I still want to try to convert it into a DivX file.

Any help at all or suggestions on other video conversion apps (that can work on a Mac) with be greatly appreciated... =D

[Kionon]

Woah, woah.

That guide is WAY out of date, as is D-Volution. It hasn't been updated in a few years now. If you want to get into XviD you have much better choices. Assuming you have an intel machine, you can even use VDubMod itself. No reason at all to be using DiVX.

Since Shazzy has gone AWOL, I have become the resident Mac Guru. If you will talk to me about the format you are dealing with coming out of iMovie, I will offer you a step by step process on how to create a file worthy of distribution.

[chibihoshi]

Actually, I was chatting with my friend (someone who knows a lot more on AMVs than I do and also a Mac user) helped me out last night and everything is good to go. I'll be posting the final version of my AMV sometime soon.

Still, that guide really needs to be updated, especially the exporting section. It was only helpful in directing me to iMovie HD since I was having a hard time working with iMovie '08...

[Kionon]

I don't use iMovie at all, so I am likely not going to touch it. I use the same programs on mac I used on windows- which is what allowed me to switchover so completely to mac in the first place.

I am still curious how you decided on a distribution method, especially as I don't use DV at all. I'd like to know if your method is better or worse than my own suggested method, or whether it is just an acceptable alternative, but no better or worse.

And I am still curious as to why you say you need DiVX as opposed to XviD, or better yet, h264.

[chibihoshi]

To be honest, I was just following the guide. It gave me the impression that most video editors were using DivX or XviD formats when exporting videos which was probably true around the time the guide was written.

For my video, I just went through iMovie to export and save as a QuickTime file. I had first exported it as a full quality DV file, but it came out to be around 870 MB (as opposed to the final 50 MB file that I got after changing a few settings and exporting it for the fourth time). My friend told me about using ffmpegX for converting into DivX/XviD but I have play around with it some more because when I did it, the video came out stretched. I was pretty much going back and forth between iMovie and ffmpegX and testing out exporting.

I still have much more experimenting with making videos especially for exporting videos (the one thing that took me a long time to figure out). I forgot how old the guide was... I was more interested in finding a guide for Mac ucers..

[Kionon]

I haven't figured out how to tether my MacBook to my iPhone yet, so I can't copy any links, but if you go to general amv my sticky covers pre-processing and distribution on both mac and pc. I had been working on a mac guide, but most of that ground work ended up being incorporated into the second version of that sticky.

XviD and h264 are now the most common distribution formats. A lot has changed since that guide was written, especially as I only recently was the one to discover how to run Avisynth on OSX.

[Tab.]

FFMPEGX is shit, use Handbrake. Or at least convert to Apple H.264 using QuickTime.

[Kionon]

FFMPEGX is shit, use Handbrake. Or at least convert to Apple H.264 using QuickTime.

Handbrake is only useful for progressive sources- and I wasn't aware it would convert from anything but vobs.

[Tab.]

wasn't aware it would convert from anything but vobs.

The latest version uses lavc for input.