Media Converter Part 2: VOB vs XVID

Is there a different in the video quality between a ripped DVD and xvid compressed one?

I was helping a friend with DVD, unfortunately he had a 2 layer DVD. My suggestion was to either used DVD shrink and choose a 75% or so quality or convert the movie from Mpeg2(DVD) to Mpeg4(Xvid).
Finally he chose DVD shrink to downsize casue that's straight forward.
I was wondering what's the quality difference between my DVD and the Xvid ones. Here I used Super to convert DVD(Mpeg2) to Xvid as outline earlier.
Definitely the size changed. From 1GB file to only 262MB. Here is a screen shot.See if u can tell the differences. To me they are pretty close. On screen the Xvid one is abit darker in contrast.

Ripped DVD using DVD shrink(100%) on my Harddisk.

Converted to Xvid@2Mbps mp3@192kbits, 48khz

Layman's Video Codec

In the begining I was quite puzzle with video formats, especially when I was playing with TVersity. After spending lots of time reading up, I have better understanding.
There are lots of variant and beside filename extensions (who knows why they are call MIME-type) doesn't help.

My basic understanding goes like this:

MPEG - Short form for Moving Picture something...
And in each Mpeg there are different layers, treat them like sub-version.eg 1.1, 1.2,1.3 etc.

Then there is another community, that does the H.26x standard.

Mpeg-1 = lousy picture as in asia's VCD still watchable if you don't care much on the details, normally this is layer 2.
Mp3 songs also = Mpeg-1 layer 3 Audio

Mpeg-2 = SVCD and DVD.
But then a broadcaster also uses Mpeg-2, difference is in the stream. In Media eg DVD, they are call MpegPS - Program Stream. Meaning at the begining of the file, it contain how long is the movie, etc.
In broadcasting, MpegTS - Transport Stream is used. There is no fix length to the movie. Generally your recorded TV is this format.

The difference in watching this 2 files over a device like slm5500, a PS file you can see in the information bar how long is the movie, while the other you cannot. Not all DMA handle this well enough though.

To make things more complicated, a recorded TV program from Microsoft Media Center is DVR-MS. Although this is also a Mpeg-2 file with data scrambled. ie they mess up the bits, so that normal Mpeg decoded cannot read it properly.

Mpeg-3 not used

Mpeg-4 this is the confusing one. There are lots of labeling and extension, beside every video player claim that they are mp4 player.

In layer 2, the older Mpeg-4, you have the popular DivX, Xvid even WMV.

In Layer 10, which is the getting popular Mpeg-4 AVC also known as H.264. The new Blu-ray is supposed to used AVC HD.

Then you have the ITU guys who did the Internet stuff decided they also need compressed video over the IP. Hence comes out with H.261, hardly used now and H.263 for video conferencing.

Video Containers

To confuse us more we put video and audio into a file call a container.

A common container is AVI.
Today only perhaps Mpeg1, Divx, Xvid uses avi.

VOB - The DVD format, Video in mpeg-2 audio in ac3.
3GP - for most mp4 player. Video either H.263 or raw mp4, Audio AMR-NB or AAC-LC
MKV - Matroska contains Mpeg-4 video.
MP4, M4V, MOV - base on quick time raw mpeg-4, very loosely used
FLV - Flash movie for most of todays internet video like YouTube. But they are likely to be embedded in a SWF file. A variant of H.263?
SWF - Not a video container, but if you look at the type is listed as application. So you actually need adobe player to run this file.
ASF - Streaming container for Windows Media.

Then there is also Playlist
You have m3u, pls, xspf, asx. - which is basically your collections like a favourite listing.

This article has proven to be a challenge to me. Took me quite a while to write and to make sure that I did not make serious mistake.

Enabling UPnP services in Windows

There are time which you are wondering which UPnP media server to use ? Beside Vista comes with Windows Media Connect 4.0 which is essentially a UPnP server.

With my SLM5500, I have tried PMM (Philips Media Manager that comes with the product), TVersity for online content, and Windows Media Player 11.

All had it advantages I believe,

• PMM is simple and it comes with the product naturally it's the first to use, lack of features especially online contents. Saying that "Juice" add more to it.
  


• TVersity gives you lots of online content plus it allows realtime transcoding, however it's quite difficult to get it right and it still in beta (crashes off and on)



• WMP11 - If you have portable device, then allowing the same content playlist on both this devices helps.

How to enable UPnP on Windows Media Player 11

Even if you are using XP, you can still get the Microsoft UPnP server (called Windows Media Connect which is part of Windows Media Player 11).

To get Windows Media Player 11, go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/AllDownloads.aspx

Well the thing I hate about the installation is that I need to restart my PC after the installation!

Start Window Media Player, Go to

Library -> More Option -> Library tab -> Configure Sharing -> Share my media

You have the option to click on allow for just one Device or you can choose to allow all devices. There is a good reference site : http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2086248,00.asp

Vista works the same way exept that you can also follow instruction from http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/32f3845b-eda0-4168-be8d-90f07250d8101033.mspx

Content, Content, IPTV, Web Camera, RSS feeds for SLM5500

What do you feed your Digital Media Adapter?

Well for me using TVersity opens up a new door for me, so here is the list from my TVersity database on all the feeds and Live URL I was using last year. Unfortunately some of them like Metacafe and most live TVs failed to work now. I have not got the time to update them. Any way here it is.

Audio feeds
RTHK Audio Podcast == http://podcast.rthk.org.hk/podcast/enca_hktoday.xml
MSNBC Business == http://podcast.msnbc.com/audio/podcast/MSNBC-Business-Headlines.xml
News on Cinema == http://podcast.funradio.fr/podcast_cine.xml
Audio URL
Audio CD direct from VLC == mms://192.168.1.6:1234
Your own XML feed
Cartoons Mania TV == c:/documents and settings/user/desktop/cartoonmania.xml
Video Feeds
ABC News - Money Minutes == http://abcnews.go.com/xmldata/xmlPodcast?id=1487662
Reuters Business(Flv) == http://today.reuters.com/tv/rss/default.aspx?channelId=6ffc0233e09c26943b265ef3abd575b2d872818b
Archive.org - Animation collection == http://www.archive.org/services/collection-rss.php?collection=animationandcartoons
Cartoons Channel Frederator == http://www.channelfrederator.com/rss
Crtl-Alt-Chicken == http://revision3.com/ctrlaltchicken/feed/xvid-large
Blib TV - Popular Today == http://blip.tv/?1=1&s=posts&skin=rss
Diggnation == http://revision3.com/diggnation/feed/xvid-large
Fox Reality Remix(mp4) == http://www.realityremix.tv/rss/realityremix.rss
Google Video - Funny == http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=search&q=genre%3Acomedy&num=99&output=rss
Google Video Featured == http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=search&q=is:forsale&so=1&num=100
Grouper Featured == http://grouper.com/rss/ipod.ashx?o=0&fx=&fp=1
Grouper Highest rated == http://grouper.com/rss/ipod.ashx?o=3&fx=
MetaCafe == http://www.metacafe.com/rss/cool_videos.rss
MTV1 (m4v -VC-1) == http://podcast13.streamakaci.com/xml/MTV1.xml
Posing Production == http://www.posingproductions.com/posingproductions_podcast.xml
Revver Latest == http://api.revver.com/rss/latest
VH1 Pop Culture show(mp4) == http://www.vh1.com/rss/podcast/bestweekever.jhtml
YouTube Most Viewed Today == http://youtube.com/rss/global/top_viewed_today.rss
YouTube Top Rated == http://youtube.com/rss/global/top_rated.rss
CNN Daily == http://rss.cnn.com/services/podcasting/cnnnewsroom/rss
Good Morning America == http://abcnews.go.com/xmldata/xmlPodcast?id=1474766
Reuters Top News == http://today.reuters.com/tv/rss/default.aspx?channelId=3fe70fe45a9e09f79818a5848a0a6039e8e2a37b
SkyNews 7 Days == http://skyscape.sky.com/skynewsradio/NEWS/sevendays1.xml
DailyMotion Search Sponge Bob == http://www.dailymotion.com/rss/relevance/search/spongebob%20squarepants
Google Video - Search Crazy frog == http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=search&q=crazyfrog&so=1&num=100&output=rss
Yahoo Video search - Digital Media Player == http://api.search.yahoo.com/VideoSearchService/rss/videoSearch.xml?appid=ysearchblog&adult_ok=0&results=50&query=Digital Media Player
DailyMotion Popular Film == http://www.dailymotion.com/rss/cluster/shortfilms/popular
France Sports == http://www.lequipe.fr/Podcast/flashETV_rss.xml
NBA Podcast == http://broadband.nba.com/cc/podcast.php?type=vodcast
Yoga Today == http://www.yogatoday.com/archive/index.xml
Cnet TV == http://reviews.cnet.com/html/xml/2001-12839_7-0.xml
GeekBrief == http://geekbrief.podshow.com/feed.xml
Reuters Technology News == http://today.reuters.com/tv/rss/default.aspx?channelId=d45538fb92ef02a065c15e16d3dd6a297c2ae7d7
Skynews Techno File == http://skyscape.sky.com/skynewsradio/NEWS/technofile.xml
Smart Phone Show == http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/sshow/sshow.rss
ABC World News == http://abcnews.go.com/xmldata/xmlPodcast?id=1478958
Inuyasha == http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=search&q=inuyasha&so=1&num=15&output=rss
Netscape Video == http://www.netscape.com/video/rss
Video URLs
CNN Live TV == mms://a352.l2168662744.c21686.n.lm.akamaistream.net/D/352/21686/v0001/reflector:62744?auth=cb.aoaFaXdzd0a9dldrbuaubCasb4badea9-bfsNrR-4q-eS-pwxyABs-m1l7lZrXkUk8sTsRqakT&aifp=abcd
Nasdaq Stock Market == mms://mktvideo.nasdaq.com/MarketSiteTowerVideo
NYSE - About Finance Live TV == http://media4.streamtoyou.com/cadavis/windows/itsaboutfinance/ASFT1CableDSLMarket.wmv
Cartoons from ManiaTV == http://www.maniatv.com/tv/kristina/CartoonMania.asx
TV cartoons == http://wwitv.com/tt/b2760.asx
Animal Planet == http://wwitv.com/tt/b2671.asx
Discovery == http://wwitv.com/tt/b1920.asx
National Geographic - wwitv == http://wwitv.com/tt/b2641.asx
AXN Movie == http://www.coolstreaming.us/webtv/tvf/hbb.asx
KRO Kids == http://cgi.omroep.nl/cgi-bin/wmlive?krokindertijd-sb.asx
BBC Live == rtsp://wmlive.bbc.co.uk/wms%5Cnews%5Cheads_bb_s1
WebamB == mms://192.168.1.11/img/video.asf
ESPN == mms://218.67.245.5/ESPN/
French Cartoon (TruemotionVP62) == mms://88.191.23.35:9700/
HDTV Channel(2MB/s) == http://server3.streaming.cesnet.cz/hdtv1?WMThinning=0
stage6 DIVX == http://video.stage6.com/396916/1093419.divx

Media Converter, From DVD to Xvid, Video for phones and MP4 players, Real Media for Streaming

How to compress your video on your harddisk;
How to get your video to fit into your PDA, iPod;
How to get Real Media to stream on TV


Now after your shrink all this DVDs to harddisk you will find that your harddisk is getting filled up rather fast. 10 DVDs of 4GB each = 40GB, a korea drama - 32 disks = 128GB. Unless you buy one of the terabytes one, you will soon be running out of space.



The best way is to compress this video from Mpeg-2 (DVD) to Mpeg-4 without too much video lost. Since my streamium can handle Xvid (a Mpeg-4 standard) natively, I manage to free up lots of space.



After some searching.. actually ffmeg/memcoder can do the trick but the user interface was not there, beside I got to type a long command each time.


So finally, I found a free GUI

Super http://www.erightsoft.net/SUPER.html



It's easy enough. The codec support is huge, it also allow you to select the DVD default sound track etc.

Video format: 3gp/3g2(Nokia,Siemens,Sony,Ericsson) asf, avi (DivX,H263,H263+,H264,XviD,MPEG4,MSmpeg4 etc..), dat, fli, flc, flv (used in Flash), mkv, mpg (Mpeg I,Mpeg II), mov(H263,H263+,H264,MPEG4 etc..), mp4(H263,H263+,H264,MPEG4), ogg, qt, rm, ram, rmvb, str (Play Station), swf (Flash), ts (HDTV), viv, vob, wmv

- Audio format: aac, ac3, amr, mmf, mp2, mp3, mp4, mpc, ogg, ra, wav, wma


Wow ! that almost all the stuff you can find today :)

Now choose
1.Output container - avi
2. Video codec - XviD ; Maintain input's scale & aspect
3. Audio codec - Mp3 ; Stereo, 128kbps, DVD language default

Add the file and start converting...


Well beside that I can also use it to convert some of the Video to be played on my PDA mobile phone - 3GPP. So I can use the same software to do 2 things....

Now wait... earlier on I had videos which unfortunately were in Real (.rmvb) before discovering TVersity, I got someone to write a software (GUI) base on Java for "mencoder"

All it does is this

C:\Program Files\mplayer\codecs\mencoder.exe" "file.rmvb" -o c:\file.avi -vf kerndeint,scale=640:352 -oac mp3lame -ovc xvid -xvid encopts pass=1:bitrate=4000:vhq=1:max_bframes=0

So I can replace this with Super!
VOLA !!

Watching Geekbrief podcast using PMM and Juice

HOW TO watch Geekbrief Podcast on your TV using SLM5500

I read from forum about a Podcat catcher, call Juice, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juice_%28podcasting%29

So I went out and test it, well at least it works with GeekBrief my favourite podcast channel.
So I decided to write a howto on it.

After downloaded from http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/index.php, run setup















Next go to your podcast site and copy the feed's address in this case
















In Juice, Tools-> Add a Feed - >










In this case
http://www.podshow.com/feeds/gbtvwindows.xml.
Now you can check the recent feed(s),
and expect the rest to download at a preset time under - > scheduler -> enable.


Now start Philips Media Manager, PMM and add the Juice download folder into the watch folder and




VOLA !!! ... you should be able to watch GeekBrief Podcast on your Streamium SLM5500 !!!

Video player and Tools

Video player and Tools

Woof... interesting enough I loaded a free anti-virus software (freeav) and anti-spyware (AVG) software and Vola!! I cannot log into my own blog :( Finally I have to use another PC. Dunno what's wrong.


Anyway put that aside.. I saw an interesting forum article saying that someone discover a useful software call VLC.

Well VLC by videolan.org has been around for long time... It's ported from Linux ..when I first use it.

To me this is a very very good player, any media that I cannot play with windows media player, I'll try playing with VLC.

However I discover another good tool last year - call GSpot. I was playing with TVersity at an early stage when I need to find out the actual codec in the .avi extension. Before that I was actually using AVICodec quite limited in it's way. Anyway the good thing is the codec pack "K_Lite_Codec_Pack" already contain this tool.

In the newer version Gspot even allow you to play your video file. A quick reference to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_codec shows some helpful information as well.

Lastly to see how your codec work graphically you can use GraphEdit.

Update: Another good tool is MediaInfo