This is free software. Use it at your own risk. Distribute it freely as long as you don't earn money with it. Always include the help file.
New features in V2.0: works with any AVI file (including DivX 3/4/5 and XviD AVIs) and additionaly supports DivX5.0.3+ log files, thread and progress bar for loading the file, WinXP style, context menu integration, dropping file on program window possible
You can use DivXCAT without paying a license fee, use it on as many computers as you want. However, DivXCAT contains a nag screen which appears before exiting it. If you like DivXCAT, you can donate a minimum amount of 5 EUR with PayPal to get a code to disable it. Your donation will help me to find the time to further improve DivXCAT with new functions and bugfixes.
Donate to DivXCAT and Get the Code!
DivXCAT helps you split large DivX/XviD files to fit them onto multiple CDs. If you don't need to cut your video files, you don't need DivXCAT.
Problem: You've just created a large DivX/XviD file that will fit on a certain number of CDs. However, when you try to split it into parts with equal playing time, you get files of different sizes. That's because DivX changes the bitrates from scene to scene (especially with two-pass encoding) - so your splits contain the same number of frames, but different amount of data.
Problem: You use another program to split your movie every 700 MB, which is the size of one CD. However, the program cuts somewhere in the middle of a scene and you cannot tell the program to cut on a scene change you would prefer.
Solution: DivXCAT analyzes your AVI file or (to save time) the log file (divx.log) created by your DivX V5.0.3+ encoder and tells you where to split to get files of equal size. It considers both the video and audio bitrates. You search a preferred position to cut near the proposed position and cut the movie with your favourite video editor.
DivXCAT does NOT split the AVI files itself - it shows you WHERE to split it. Use your favourite video editor to do this.
DivXCAT shows you where you can split a movie for two to four CDs. If you want to split a movie onto more than four CDs, contact me and I may be able to add that feature.
Tip: You can click a cutting position in DivXCAT to copy it to the clipboard, then press Ctrl+V to paste it into your video editor's jump to frame dialog.
(1) The idx1 index contains the position of every frame in the avi. When your avi contains this index, loading an avi is quicker.
DivXCAT tries to divide the movie into parts so that each part will have the same size after cutting.
After calculating the overall size (with audio streams included) and the number of CDs the movie will take, it can calculate the size every part should have. Then DivXCAT tries to find a position where the amount of data for the video and audio (depending on the running time) is nearly this big.
When opening an avi file, the idx1 index list is read if it was found. If not, the avi file itself is scanned for video frames. The text next to the filename shows you if a log was loaded, an avi with idx1 usage (both with a small loading time) or the complete avi file was scanned. In both cases, the framerate of the video is read from the avi and set in the combobox.
If you encounter a strange behaviour of DivXCAT with AVI file usage such as obviously wrong proposed cutting positions drop me a mail! (Slightly different cutting positions after loading an avi file compared to using the log file are normal.)
Accumulated Bitrate of all Audio Streams: Sum the bitrates of your audio streams together and insert the value in this text field. If you have two 128kbps MP3 streams, for example, insert "256".
Framerate: Number of frames per second of your movie.
CD size: This is the size of the CD-R/RWs you want to burn the avi files onto.
half-filled CDs: Sometimes, you may want a movie to fill 1.5, 2.5 or 3.5 CDs. This option does not mean to fill all the CDs only to a half, but it allows to have a half CD at the beginning or the end of the CD set. An example is that you have a TV-movie that was produced in two parts and want to burn them onto three CDs: The first movie onto CD 1 and 2, the second onto CD 2 and 3.
Force first CD filled half: In the example above, you need to cut the second movie so that the half CD-part is at the beginning. Selecting this option also forces e.g. a movie that exactly fits on 2 CDs to be partitioned into three parts of size 1/2 CD + 1 CD + 1/2 CD.
1st Value to Clipboard: If this option is checked, the first cutting position is copied to the clipboard after calculating the cutting positions. You can easily insert that number in a jump to frame dialog of your video editor then.
DivXCAT writes the settings of the dialog and the window position into the DivXCAT.ini if you press the "Save Settings" button. The values are loaded every time you start DivXCAT.
The best place to split a movie is at a scene-change or other dramatic transition. If you use bitrates that fill your CDs 100%, you may have trouble finding one, because you are not allowed to deviate from the position DivXCAT suggests. If you do, one or more parts of the video may be too large and don't fit on a CD. Therefore, I recommend that you use bitrates that fill your CDs a maximum of 95%. (To calculate an appropriate bitrate, use one of the DivX bitrate calculators available on the Net.)
If you pass the path of your avi/log file as first parameter, DivXCAT will automatically open it. The optional second parameter sets the desired bitrate in the audio bitrate combobox. Command line support makes also context menu and drag & drop possible as described.
V1.0 (05/2002)
V1.1 (06/2002)
V1.2 (01/2004)
V2.0 (03/2004)
EMail: mail@uwe-freese.de
WWW: http://www.divxcat.com, http://www.uwe-freese.de
Thanks to Sönke Lütjohann for testing & reading the doc and Andy Fielding for additional documentation suggestions.
VirtualDub is (c) by Avery Lee and can be found at the VirtualDub homepage.
DivX is (c) by DivX Networks and can be found at the DivX homepage.
XviD can be found at the XviD homepage.