I want to convert 1.1GB & 4.4GB 720p x264 AC3 5.1 MKV movies to 1.1GB & 4.4GB 720p AC3 5.1 XviD movies. I wish to keep them the same size as they’re multiples of a blank DVD, ie 4.4GB. My reasoning for this is as most people would have noticed, x264 movies require quite a bit of processing power to decode smoothly. I have an xbox(1) that outputs to a projector natively at 720p. I have found, despite what most forums say, that the xbox(1) can play native 720p AC3 5.1 movies if they have been encoded as an Xvid, not DivX. My kids also have older PC’s that struggle with x264 movies, so the XviD format is perfect for them.
Overview:
I am of the view that we have moved on from bitrate calculators quite sometime ago. Most programs now have inbuilt bitrate calculators, whereby you stipulate the desired output size and the rest is taken care of by the program. I did some investigation on the forums and stumbled across the almost undocumented feature, ‘Files – Settings – Overall – Video Options – Target File Size (KB)’. This feature yielded good results except some minor calculations are needed. When setting this parameter for 1.1GB outputs, I found that I needed to minus 75MB off the value before I applied the setting. So 1.1GB = 1126MB = 1153433KB, now minus 75MB = 76800KB off of 1153433KB = 1076634KB. This now produces the output file size of 1.1GB every time. With 4.4GB outputs, I had to minus 301MB off the value. So 4.38GB = 4485MB = 4592762KB, minus 301MB = 308164KB off of 4592762KB = 4284598KB.
Method and Settings:
Fig 1. Source file info
Fig 2. Audio settings
- Auto Select = ticked
- Enable Audio = ticked
- Copy Audio = ticked
Fig 3. Video Settings
- Mode = Two-Pass
- Enable Video = ticked
- Slider = 9000 Kbps (Playing it safe)
- Format = XviD
- Copy Video = clear
- Container = AVI
Fig 4. Picture Settings
- Resize = clear
- Crop = Disabled
- Frame Rate = clear
- Aspect Ratio = clear
Fig 5. 'File - Settings - Overall - Video Options - Target File Size' for 1.1GB output
Fig 6. 'File - Settings - Overall - Video Options - Target File Size' for 4.4GB output
Using the above settings with result in the following outputs:
1.1GB settings will output a 1.06GB 720p XviD AC3 5.1 movie.
4.4GB settings will output a 4.36GB 720p XviD AC3 5.1 movie.
Both outputs result, in my honest opinion, in the same quality video as the original, but can be viewed on much lower spec’ed systems, including the xBox mentioned above.
Happy converting and let me know of any corrections, suggestions, additions etc, that you would like added.