[FredD]

Hi everyone, I'm hoping someone can help me with a puzzling problem. I'm trying to create a DivX disc from an .avi file created from a PAL source. According to the Quicktime movie inspector the .avi file format is "Generic MPEG-4, 768x576, Unknown MPEG Layer 3, Stereo, 48.000 kHz, 25 FPS. The inspector also indicates that the file was either created with, or is compatible with DivX.

The .avi file is on my PowerBook G4 laptop and plays fine with Quicktime, VLC, MPlayer and DivX Player. So far so good.

The problem comes when I create a DivX disc from the .avi file using Toast 7.1.2. When I create the disc, selecting the NTSC TV standard in preferences, and try to play it through a new OPPO DVD player (DV-970HD), I get the audio, but not the video. My TV is a brand new 32" Sharp LCD (NTSC). The interesting thing is that when I put the disc into my laptop, it shows the file having a .dvix extension and it plays fine with Divx Player.

Over the last few weeks I've created dozens of DivX discs using Toast and they play fine through the OPPO unit, which has a built-in DivX decoder.

So far I've wasted 5 discs trying various settings, so any suggestions would be very welcome.

[tsantee]

I believe you're still ending up with a PAL Divx disc. You need to have it re-encoded to NTSC. I'm uncertain if Toast can do this conversion without our first exporting it to a different format such as DV. I presume you've gone into the DivX custom settings and tried to force the 29.97 fps 640x480 NTSC format.

[FredD]

I believe you're still ending up with a PAL Divx disc. You need to have it re-encoded to NTSC. I'm uncertain if Toast can do this conversion without our first exporting it to a different format such as DV. I presume you've gone into the DivX custom settings and tried to force the 29.97 fps 640x480 NTSC format.

Thanks tsantee - I did try forcing 29.97 through the DivX advanced settings, but left the resolution at the native 768x576. I don't know if changing to 640x480 would make a difference, but I could try. I also tried creating both PAL and NTSC discs using the TV Standard preference, because the OPPO player boasts the ability to do on-the-fly conversions. Again, no success. I've also tried deinterlacing - didn't work. I was resisting reencoding because it just takes so #$^@ long, but if that's the only thing that works, well I guess I'll have to deal with it.

[tsantee]

Thanks tsantee - I did try forcing 29.97 through the DivX advanced settings, but left the resolution at the native 768x576. I don't know if changing to 640x480 would make a difference, but I could try. I also tried creating both PAL and NTSC discs using the TV Standard preference, because the OPPO player boasts the ability to do on-the-fly conversions. Again, no success. I've also tried deinterlacing - didn't work. I was resisting reencoding because it just takes so #$^@ long, but if that's the only thing that works, well I guess I'll have to deal with it.

It has to be reencoded in order to become NTSC. The Oppo players are awesome, but I don't have one. Where it claims to do PAL-NTSC conversion on the fly do you think it matters whether the source is a video DVD or a DivX video. Maybe it only does this with DVDs?

I've thought about this a bit and suggest using the DivX export button at the bottom to convert the video to NTSC specs (and yes, 640x480 is necessary). Then make the Divx disc from that exported file.

Or you could connect your Mac to the TV using an S-video adapter and watch it that way.

[FredD]

It has to be reencoded in order to become NTSC. The Oppo players are awesome, but I don't have one. Where it claims to do PAL-NTSC conversion on the fly do you think it matters whether the source is a video DVD or a DivX video. Maybe it only does this with DVDs?

I've thought about this a bit and suggest using the DivX export button at the bottom to convert the video to NTSC specs (and yes, 640x480 is necessary). Then make the Divx disc from that exported file.

Or you could connect your Mac to the TV using an S-video adapter and watch it that way.

Hmm, you may be right about on-the-fly applying to PAL DVDs only. Sigh, I guess exporting (i.e., reencoding) is the way to go. Thanks for your advice tsantee!

[FredD]

It has to be reencoded in order to become NTSC. The Oppo players are awesome, but I don't have one. Where it claims to do PAL-NTSC conversion on the fly do you think it matters whether the source is a video DVD or a DivX video. Maybe it only does this with DVDs?

I've thought about this a bit and suggest using the DivX export button at the bottom to convert the video to NTSC specs (and yes, 640x480 is necessary). Then make the Divx disc from that exported file.

Or you could connect your Mac to the TV using an S-video adapter and watch it that way.

Hey tsantee - you got me thinking about the capabilities of the OPPO unit, so just for kicks I created a PAL DVD from my reencoded source (took all $%^& night), and voila, it worked as promised: PAL to NTSC conversion on-the-fly. Looks great too!