Confusion about screen resolution

[Mojo67821]

I have a quick question about using an HDTV for a second monitor.

I've been ripping my movie collection to Divx using Handbrake. They look pretty good on my monitor (1440x900) when blown up to full screen, however there is some artifacting that bothers me.

It occurred to me that the resolution of my comp screen is much higher than a would be LCD (720x480 right?). So, I have 2 questions:

1: Does that mean that my Divx movie would look much better on an external LCD, because the resolution is closer to the file's?

2: If I temporarily lower the resolution on my MBP's screen, would I get the video to look better as a result?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Extra info:

Handbrake Settings: Xvid, Avi, 2-pass encoding, roughly 300 megabytes per half an hour.

Computer: 15 inch MBP with 1.8ghz processor and 1.5 gigs of ram.

 

[jeremy.king]

1. No, LCD televisions have resolutions similar to computer monitors, depending on the brand. The 720p is actually the vertical lines of resolutions not horizontal, so if your TV supports this and not 1080p and is widescreen, it will most likely have a resolution around 1366x768. Knowing the make and model is the easiest way to know the resolution.

2. No, LCDs look the best at native resolution.

I'd suggest you simply rip the movies as VIDEO_TS using MacTheRipper, but it could be just me. This will be your best looking picture and gives you more flexibility, such as converting to DivX or H.264 or even burning back to disc should the need arise.

 

[Mojo67821]

I'd suggest you simply rip the movies as VIDEO_TS using MacTheRipper, but it could be just me. This will be your best looking picture and gives you more flexibility, such as converting to DivX or H.264 or even burning back to disc should the need arise.

Interesting...the reason i like Divx is because I find it easier to manage the files, as opposed to separate folders for video/audio, ... that really bugs me for some reason. I assume that the Divx files are much smaller as well.

What program would I play back the video_ts files with? if I wanted to just keep them on my computer and not reburn?

 

[jeremy.king]

I assume that the Divx files are much smaller as well.

What program would I play back the video_ts files with? if I wanted to just keep them on my computer and not reburn?

Yes DivX files are smaller, but smaller files lose quality due to compression.

VLC and DVD Player should handle most (if not all) of your movies.

 

[Mojo67821]

Yes DivX files are smaller, but smaller files lose quality due to compression.

VLC and DVD Player should handle most (if not all) of your movies.

Thanks for the help. For what I'm doing, it's impractical to rip every movie to video_ts, if only because I can't afford to have that much storage. So I think I"m going to compromise... rip stuff in Divx that's less important, and only rip stuff fully that I really want to preserve.

In doing some research, I've found that you can also play video_ts in DVD player in OSX, just drag it to the app.

Thanks for the help!

 

[jeremy.king]

In doing some research, I've found that you can also play video_ts in DVD player in OSX, just drag it to the app.

Thanks for the help!

That's what I said VLC and DVD Player. DVD Player is known to not work with some movies.

You're welcome and Good Luck.

 

[Mojo67821]

That's what I said VLC and DVD Player. DVD Player is known to not work with some movies.

You're welcome and Good Luck.

you're right... my bad. Thanks!

I'm trying a MacRumors' member's ripping recommendations right now, and using the ffmpeg settings in Handbrake instead of Divx, to see if the quality is any better. I also had not been de-interlacing the picture, which could have caused some issues.

 

[Mojo67821]

I'm considering buying Divx pro for Divx conversion... does anyone know if the "pro" codec you get with it is any better than using Handbrake?