Divx 6: HD Resolution And Fast Encoding, Continued

For DVD movies, the optimal solution is full PAL resolution (720x576 pixels) with a data rate of 1500 kbit/s. This achieves almost identical picture quality to the original. But there are practical limits on the data rate as well: when you go in excess of 2000 kBit/s there is no additional improvement in quality with Divx 6. If you are looking to save a whole lot of space, you can still convert DVD movies at 1000 kBit/s. The reduction in bit rate means that the end result doesn't look very good on a PC monitor any more, but it is quite acceptable for TV display. One hour of film takes up 450 MB, which is the minimum without reducing resolution to ¾ PAL or less.

New: selection of bitrate or quality level settings

In analyzing the speed of the new codec, we determined that little had changed compared to its predecessor (5.2.1) in the standard settings. With an Intel P4 3.2 GHz and 1 GB memory, it is possible to transcode PAL video in real time, though without an audio track. Optimizing encoding settings makes conversion take longer by a factor of several times - even 10 times longer in the case of HD resolution in 720p. Most users though will go with the simple "1-pass quality based" setting, since it offers perfectly acceptable video quality.

Encoding in a series of passes to improve picture quality and optimize the data rate. The amount of computing required increases disproportionately however.