Set up

In order to set up Xvid we must go to Start -> Programs -> Xvid -> Set up Encoder.

Before beginning the set up, it is recommended to erase any previous modification that the codec could have. You can do it by clicking on Load Defaults. 1- Main Settings: in this section there are several options:

a - Level Profile here it is recommended to choose (unrestricted) in order to erase any restriction that the codec set up could have. If we click on More, we will have a window with the following options:

Inside the Quantization type option, it is normally used H.263 since it allows to have a smaller detail image, for films in a single CD. It is recommended to maintain the Adaptative Quantization option activated since it eliminates features that are not visible in the video. Quarter Pixel is the option that improves the object quality and it is recommended not to activate it. It is recommended to activate the B-VOPs option since it allows or not the use of bidirectional frames (type B) along with the predictive frames (type P) and keyframes. Quantizer offset it is recommended to use it in values between 0.80 and 1.00.

b - Encodig Type First passed set up: we must select the Twopass - 1st pass option. When choosing this Twopass - 1st pass option, Target Quantizer will be deactivated. If we click on more of the Encoding Type a new screen will be opened with the following options:

Stats filename: it is the place where the first .pass file will be created. Full quality first pass: it is an option that is recommended to deactivate. Discard first pass: it establishes if the discard file must or must not that is from the first last one. By defect she appears like activated. Second passed set up: we must select the option Twopass-2nd pass. Target Quantizer will be activated and we will place the bitrateque that would have been already calculated. If it is not calculated, we go to the directory where the Codec is saved, by defect: C:\Program files \XviD and we executed the MiniCalc.exe file.

In this screen we have several options:

Film Length: indicates the duration of the film according to what the program shows to us.
Audio Bitrate: we establish 128Kbps.
Audio Filesize: if we have the audio compress and separated, we can select it from this option.
Final Desired Size: here we will put the CD size and the CDs amount that we are going to use. If we click on more of the Encoding Type will open a new screen:

Here we must select the first .pass file with the same route of the last one. 2- Zones:this is the Xvid second section set up that allows using different setups compression to different parts of the video. When making click on Zone Options, we will see the following window:

Start frame # is the frame number where the selected zone begins. It is put on 0 since most of the times there will be only one zone. In Rate Control we have the Weight option that is the bitrates percentage that will be used in the selected zone. Inside Static we have: Begin with keyframe that makes the first frame of the zone a keyframe, Cartoon Mode only activated itself when we want to compress cartoons, Chroma optimizer enabled is recommended to activate it since it improves the contrast between two colors. 3- More: inside this option we are going to select the User defined value in Quality preset. Now we click on More to be able to see the following options:

We have 2 tabs: Motion y Quantization .
Inside the Motion tab we find the Motion Search precision option that is recommended to use in level 5 or 6 and determines the movement search precision. The Uses chroma motion option is useful to make a precise movement search. Finally to avoid the frames lost we use the value 0 in the option Frame drop ratio .
Inside the Quantization tab we see the minimum and maximum quantification for I, P and B frames. The quantification values to choose are variable, for example, for AVI or MPG to AVI conversions, the levels that are recommended are: 1-6-1-12-1-12. However for DVD to AVI compressions we chose the: 2-6-2-12-2-12 values. The Trellis quantization option is recommended to have it activated since it improves the quality.