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Part 2.
Step 3): Create a pseudo AVI (Converts the Project file into a Fake AVI Movie)
Now start the VFAPI Reader Codec (VFAPIConv-EN.exe) and press Add Job, then select the source d2v/tpr/aup file.
Actually this application supports audio.. but the input project must contain an audio track and the audio will be completely written to the pseudo AVI. Choose your output filename, then press OK and after that press Convert. You'll now have a very small AVI file that you can load in any encoding program.
Before we go on you should check if the file is valid. Load the AVI file into Windows Media Player. If you can see the video (it will be slow, there's nothing to worry about if it's a slideshow rather than a movie) everything is okay and you can go on. If not, verify again that you've run proxyoff.reg. If it still doesn't help get avifile.reg from the software page and double click on it as well (again you'll be prompted if you want to add the info to your registry, answer yes to this).
NB: Your fake AVI file will be roughly 10 Mb in size. DO NOT Delete your .Vob files became the video information is still needed from these file.
Step 4): Setting up Nandub & Encoding (Encodes the Dvd to DivX Video format)
Now we're ready to start with the hard part. First of all you have to start up Nandub, then apply the resize filter, then you can add subtitles if you need them, and last but not least you encode the movie.
Note that in Nandub the things written in the bitrate and resolution guide do not apply since Nandub is so different from regular DivX encoding tools. However, if you use bad settings you can still get larger or smaller files than projected so it's important that you follow my suggestions for the various settings very carefully.
Cropping & Resizing Your Movie
At first you'll have to extract vobsub.dll to your VirtualDub/Plugins directory and rename it to vobsub.vdf.
Start up Virtualdub/Nandub if it's not already running and load your AVI (Control - o, only if you haven't done that before either). Press Control-F to bring up the filters screen.
Set the desired resolution and select Precise Bilinear filtering. Why not bicubic? When going for a real high-quality format like Huffyuv you definitely should use Precise Bicubic but in case of DivX Precise Bilinear will do just fine and even give you a slightly smaller filesize (and faster processing). Don't activate interlaced unless you have an interlaced source (PAL only, NTSC should be IVTC'd instead) and plan to use a deinterlacing filter after resizing.
Then press OK and press the Cropping button at the bottom left of the window you'll now see a window similar to the next screenshot: Then simply modify the Y1 and Y2 offsets until there's no black bars left anymore.
Once you're done press OK and close the Filter window by pressing OK again. Do NOT close VirtualDub/Nandub.
Subtitles (Optional)
At first you'll have to extract vobsub.dll to your VirtualDub/Plugins directory and rename it to vobsub.vdf.
Start up Virtualdub/Nandub if it's not already running and load your AVI (Control - o, only if you haven't done that before either). Press Control-F to bring up the filters screen.
If VobSub is not listed press Load and select vobsub.vdf in the appropriate directory.
Press OK, select the filter in the list and press configure.
Press open and specify the IFO from your movie. Then you'll be asked for a directory where it can save the index file. Don't worry, that file is less than 1MB. Then you'll be presented this screen:
Select ALL --> and pray it works. If it doesn't you have to find out which VOB IDs you still have. In order to do that you have to resort to the command line again: Get vstrip and type "vstrip stream.lst" where stream.lst is the streamlist your ripper (or you) have generated.
After indexing you'll the the following screen. Select the right subtitle track in the marked dropdown list. You can also define the colors for your subtitles and the transparency and move the subs if you don't like them at their current place.
Then press OK. After a while when it's done indexing press OK to get back to the filter selection. VobSub will have created 3 new files in the directory you indicated before (to save the index file). These files are named like your ifo file, for instance in our case vts_01_0.ifo, vts_01_0.idx and vts_01_0.sub. Keep these files for the moment. These files can be used in DirectVobSub for later playback in Windows Media Player. If you want these kind of subs (you can turn them on and off in WMP) then you can remove the VobSub filter from the filter list now. Otherwise leave the filter there and you have the subtitles directly in the video. Leave VirtualDub/Nandub open.
Encoding Your Moive!
Encoding in Nandub
SBC is a two pass process, the first pass encodes your movie at the maximum bitrate DivX allows (6000kbit/s) and analyzes the output for several parameters. Amongst these is the "quality" which is stored in bits 1-5 in each frame. This makes values between 0 and 32 possible. This value is the compression level the codec uses to compress a frame, like 2x or 3x, and it's directly related to the size of the frame (the higher the number the smaller the frame). Generally values between 2x and 32x are being used, as the decoder is unable to decode frames encoded at 1x. Fast Motion uses only values 5x and higher therefore limiting the quality you can have when using purely high motion whereas low motion goes up to 2x. But clearly, it won't use this compression settings for all the frames since this would lead to an excessive bitrate use. Other values which are being stored are size of frames and the weight of the chroma/luma components.
First Pass
You have to have Nandub properly set up before you go on, which means that you must have performed steps 5a and 5b of the guide. It's of course possible to perform the first and the second pass at different times. The only thing required for this is that you do not touch neither VOB files, nor the project files (DVD2AVI, TMPG) and AVI files (from VFAPI) that you've created. You should also write down the resizing values from step 5a to be on the safe side. The easiest way to do the 2nd pass at a later time is to save the current profile after having performed the first pass. You can save a profile by pressing Control-S on your keyboard.
During the first step it's useless to process audio so simply select Audio - No audio. Then press F8. You'll be prompted for a filename for the statistics file. Remember that name for the 2nd pass. Alternatively you can press Shift-F8 and after being prompted for a filename for the statistics file you can give the final AVI a name. Pressing Shift-F8 will do the 2 passes after each other so it's imperative that you have already configured the program properly as being shown below.
As said the first pass will encode in DivX low-motion at the maximum bitrate of 6000kbit/s. However, that file won't be saved so you don't have to worry about space just yet.
Second Pass
As it's possible that you will do the 2nd pass not right after the first pass it's imperative that you do not forget to perform steps 6a and 6b before you start the 2nd pass. And of course the 2nd pass will require the exact same filter settings as the first pass or you won't get optimal quality. If you have used additional filters for the first pass you must add them again before performing the second pass. If you've already saved a profile simply load this again (File - Load Processing Settings).
I've found that many people use some pre-made profiles without really understanding and then complaining out loud when the results do not correspond to their expectations. SBC is no "Flask-it" method so you should take your time to thoroughly read the guide and learn to understand what the various settings do. Also resort to the forum for more detailed discussions of these features. Below I'll describe the important SBC features and I give some suggestions about what values might be used. Please note that these values may not be optimal.
Another hint: There's only very few parameters which really have a big influence on the output quality: Bitrate (obviously), BR modulation (should always be on for 1 CD rips), curve compression, gauge min and max and DRFs (don't dare to touch them unless you're aiming for at least 2 CDs and you know exactly what you're doing). I've given suggested values for these parameters in conjunction with the desired output size. These values should give you a pretty good starting point for all kinds of movies. Clearly, every movie requires some optimization for optimal results but simply using these values shouldn't give totally screwed up results. All the other parameters are not really decisive for the end quality.
Press Video to bring up the video submenu.
This little submenu allows you access to all the important settings for SBC ;)
Do NEVER check Generate stats or No AVI output. Always use just F8 to make the first pass. Checking one or both of these items has lead to a whole bunch of problems for many people.
The first step is to calculate the bitrate so select BitRate Calculator.
First enter the CD size and the number of CDs. When you create a CBR audio file you can now enter the bitrate you're planning to use. If you want to create VBR audio you must create the mp3 file first, then load it into Nandub (Audio - (VBR) MP3 Audio), then check Get data from audio source. Finally press the calculate button and write down the value it gives you.
The next step is setting up all the special SBC settings so select SBC Setting. Then start setting up the DivX codec (DivX tab):
First of all you can select the codec to use. But as stated in the readme, the only advantage of MPEG4v2 is that it's legal, so I wouldn't bother with it.
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