XMS - XVID Playback

[maxxed]

Has anyone had any problems with playback of files encoded with the new xvid format? Seems that the ESS chipset has a problem with it.

Pls do let me know.

[pepito]

Originally Posted by maxxed

Has anyone had any problems with playback of files encoded with the new xvid format? Seems that the ESS chipset has a problem with it.

Pls do let me know.

No problems with them at all here.

In fact, it may be my imagination, but I'd say XVID movies look slightly better than DIVX.

note: XMS-888 player with firmware version 1.1 here.

[LastActionZero]

What problems are you experiencing?

There is some problem with screeching when they contain ac3 audio.
Not sure if that has been verified as an ESS / XMS and/or XVID problem.

Cheers,

Laz.

[maxxed]

I have two xvid files, one working, one not (blank screen on the player). Gspot reports as follows:

Non Working File
Type: OpenDML AVI
IMRR: 1.00
I/L: 1 vid frame (33 ms), p=496 Split: No
Runtime: 00:38:09 (68,595 fr)
x:y: 512x384 (1.33:1) [=4:3]
Bitrate: 1136 kb/s
Fps: 29.971
qf: 0.193 bits/pixel
Audio:
Name: 0x0055(MP3) ID'd as MPEG-1 Layer 3
Bitrate: 135 kb/s (67/ch, stereo) VBR
Fs: 44100 Hz

Working File
Type: OpenDML AVI
IMRR: 1.00
I/L: 1 vid frame (33 ms), p=480 Split: No
Runtime: 00:41:19 (74,298 fr)
x:y: 512x384 (1.33:1) [=4:3]
Bitrate: 1050 kb/s
Fps: 29.969
qf: 0.178 bits/pixel
Audio:
Name: 0x0055(MP3) ID'd as MPEG-1 Layer 3
Bitrate: 120 kb/s (60/ch, stereo) VBR
Fs: 48000 Hz

Any thoughts on this?

[andw]

I use XVID mainly as well, and have no problems.
I use XVID, as it encodes faster on my PC than DivX, and I can't tell any difference in the output quality.
Do both files play ok on your PC?

[maxxed]

Yep. Both files play perfectly on the pc with the RC1 and RC2 xvid codecs. Im quite stumped about this one...

[andw]

No Qpel, no GMC on the non-working one?

[maxxed]

Originally Posted by andw

No Qpel, no GMC on the non-working one?

How can I check that? Im fairly green on the software/codec side of things?

[andw]

AVIcodec http://avicodec.duby.info/ might tell you.
But if you encoded them yourself, and you used the same settings on each...
you would have had to go into the advanced settings to turn those on.
Perhaps you should use nic's xvid codec http://nic.dnsalias.com/xvid.html it is stable, and works.
Stay clear of release candidates (RC1,2 etc) - I do, better to use the stable releases, they are known to work.

[maxxed]

Originally Posted by andw

AVIcodec http://avicodec.duby.info/ might tell you.
But if you encoded them yourself, and you used the same settings on each...
you would have had to go into the advanced settings to turn those on.
Perhaps you should use nic's xvid codec http://nic.dnsalias.com/xvid.html it is stable, and works.
Stay clear of release candidates (RC1,2 etc) - I do, better to use the stable releases, they are known to work.

I didnt encode them myself. These are <cough> downloaded files </cough>

I was using another xvid release on my pc, and playback of the non-working file was choppy. Upgrading to the xvid RC1 worked. Thus Im assuming its a problem with the ESS chip and files encoded with the RC1 or later codec.

The question really is, how can I be sure?

[lat3ralis]

I have used the *very* latest developmental versions of XviD (cvs checkouts) and have had no problems whatsoever. As mentioned before, ensure you have qpel and gmc turned off when you encode (these features are unsupported by the player, regardless of codec (ie XviD or DivX)). The use of GMC/Qpel in your encode is most likely the reason why its not playing on the xms-888. You can check what settings have been used by installing ffdshow and turning on the OSD (search the firmware thread for more info, as I have posted about using the OSD before).

Originally Posted by andw

Stay clear of release candidates (RC1,2 etc) - I do, better to use the stable releases, they are known to work.

We shouldn't have to wait too much longer for XviD 1.0 to arrive

Hope that helps
lat3ralis

[andw]

Thanks for that lat3ralis, and also, lets hope 1.0 works fine on the XMS-888!!

[davidf]

Originally Posted by maxxed

Has anyone had any problems with playback of files encoded with the new xvid format? Seems that the ESS chipset has a problem with it.

Pls do let me know.

I have noticed that with the latest RC2 XVid codec that chroma motion needs to be on when encoding or you get what seems to be dropped frames in the encoded file and no player can fix that problem. As far as XVid files that are fine on the PC but cuase grief with the XMS look at the Muxing, The more I read in AVI muxing the more concerned I get about the best way to mux AVI files. From what I understand when you mux an AVI the method for how you mux in the audio is highly dependant on how the Video itself was encoded.

I have started experimenting with this and am finding that A/V muxing is more critical than the quality of the video and audio, if the mux isn't 'sweet' the end resulting file is crappy.

[lat3ralis]

Originally Posted by davidf

I have started experimenting with this and am finding that A/V muxing is more critical than the quality of the video and audio, if the mux isn't 'sweet' the end resulting file is crappy.

Good point. Interleaving is particular one area that is critical. Poor muxing causes a lot of audio sync problems.

lat3ralis

[Jack Tan]

Originally Posted by pepito

No problems with them at all here.

In fact, it may be my imagination, but I'd say XVID movies look slightly better than DIVX.

note: XMS-888 player with firmware version 1.1 here.

I gotta agree with you mate. Ive slowly mvoed over to Xvid as a form of encoding as for the file size, it does indeed look a little bit better. It seems more reliable too! Maybe it is better! Or amybe its our imagination!

[lat3ralis]

Originally Posted by Jack Tan

I gotta agree with you mate. Ive slowly mvoed over to Xvid as a form of encoding as for the file size, it does indeed look a little bit better. It seems more reliable too! Maybe it is better! Or amybe its our imagination!

XviD has always been better than DivX

lat3ralis