AUTO GORDIAN KNOT ILLUSTRATED GUIDE 4 dummies v.2
MPEG2 to AVI
by dap & js

If you are looking for our AutoGK guide on DVD to AVI, get it from www.rita.LT 

Introduction:  This guide is very basic, we wrote it so that beginners could follow the steps easily (even though the program itself is very easy, we still get questions) - we do not go into any of the advanced or hidden options.  If you would like to know more about how to “tweak” AutoGK or use advanced options, you should read the information in the Tutorial included with full versions of AutoGK, or visit the FAQ on Auto GK at the home site:  http://autogk.net .  If you find AutoGK limiting and would like a more advanced app, we recommend using Gordian Knot.  You can get Gordian Knot and our guide on it at www.rita.LT

     We would, however, like to congratulate the developer of Gordian Knot, Lenox, on releasing AutoGK, which still encodes to great quality and, in the words of Lenox:  “is designed mainly for people who know very little (or nothing) about video conversion and want to create videos for their standalones or PC in a few clicks of a mouse.”

WARNING:  The recent versions of AutoGK contain adware/spyware, and below we will show you how to remove it easily.  We believe that adding this to AutoGK will decrease the number of its users, however, we do understand that the developer spends much time updating and editing the program and he feels it is the only way to continue to make it free.  We still believe that AutoGK is the best app out there for users who want an easy solution with quality, so while we regret the developer's decision, we will show you how to remove it easily and continue to recommend it to users.

To remove adware:

1. Go to Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel and remove DAE

2. Open Windows Explorer (My Computer), go to C:\WINDOWS\system32 and delete dae.dll if you find this file (may disappear if you reboot after doing step 1)

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
1)  Auto Gordian Knot v. 1.95
2)  Auto Gordian Knot latest beta update (optional)
(since updates are released regularly it is difficut to post a version number here, you can always find the latest updates at www.rita.LT or www.sourceforge.net )
3)  XviD 1.0.1 – 1.0.3 (included with AutoGK depending on the version of AutoGK you're using)
4)  DivX 5.2.x Pro (recommended) or the standard DivX 5.2.x ( www.divx.com or www.rita.LT )
5) A computer with at least an 800 MHz processor (but the faster the better) and 6-10 gigabytes of free space on your hard drive for one movie.

Before installing AutoGK…

More and more people have been complaining that some avi's, usually those encoded with XviD, do not play on their standalone MPEG4 players.  This problem usually occurs for three reasons, only one of which is pertinent to AutoGK if you leave the default settings.  The first two problems stem from those who encode video using Qpel (Quarterpel) or GMC (Global Motion Compensation) when encoding, options often used in XviD settings.  AutoGK does not use these by default.  What is important when installing AutoGK if you have an avi-compatible stand-alone dvd player (commonly known as a divx player), however, is knowing whether your player has an ESS chipset or not.  If it does, it will not work with the matrices that AutoGK uses with the XviD Codec by default.  During installation of AutoGK there is an option to turn on support for ESS chipsets,  So if you have a stand-alone avi-compatible (mpeg4) dvd player and are planning to use the XviD codec to encode your video, please look up whether your player has an ESS chipset or not.

INSTALLATION

--- FIRST - install the latest full RipPack, leave the installation settings as they are by default.

--- NEXT - install the latest update, but you might need to change some installation settings so follow the steps below.  (Since AutoGK updates regularly be sure to look for the latest update version on the sites listed above)

--- When you get to “Choose components”…
If you have an avi-compatible (mpeg4) stand-alone dvd player that has an ESS chipset and you plan to use XviD, check the box marked “Support for ESS-based standalone”, or your XviD encoded avis will not play on your player.  If your player does not have an ESS chipset, do not check this option.
--- Newer versions of AutoGK give you a Bitrate spikes control option.   This is what the developers' guide says about this option, read it

and decide for yourself whether to checkmark it or not: 
Bitrate spikes control. Most standalones have issues with high bitrate spikes that cause internal memory of the player to be full and do not accept more data for a short period of time. This causes pauses, skips and and shuttering. Both DivX 5.x (in the form of Home Theatre Profile) and XviD 1.1+ (in the form of VBV buffer control/profiles) support intelligent control of output buffer overflows so that this problem can be eliminated. Make sure to turn this option on if you experiencing such symptoms during playback on your standalone. Note that its not the only possible reason for having pauses and skips - users reported that by burning movies onto DVDRs instead of CDRs playback can be dramatically improved. Also quality of DVD reader in standalone players varies a lot and cheap reader can be a reason behind your problems as well (check out Doom9's hardware forum for related discussions)

--- Continue with the installation, after the AutoGK components are installed you are given the option to install the XviD codec.  It is highly recommended to install the XviD codec that is included with AutoGK.  The automated functions of a particular version of AutoGK are designed to work with specific versions of codecs and apps.  (You should have Divx 5.1.1 or DivX 5.2.x installed already, if you don't, get it from www.divx.com )

--- When you get to the part about additional tasks, we recommend that you
DO NOT check the “Decode All Supported 4CCs…” box, as it is better to have DivX decode DivX, Xvid to decode XviD, etc.

--- Complete the installation of AutoGK

 

--- Install DivX (we recommend the Pro version) if you have not already done so, unless you never plan on encoding with the DivX codec

AutoGK

--- Open AutoGK

--- Select File input at the left

---  Select the Input File (which of course is the MPEG you wish to convert to AVI )

---  Select the Output File (AutoGK assumes that the output File will be named the same as your input, only as an AVI, so it will name it for you and also choose by default the same directory as your input.  You can, however, click on the folder to the right of the Output File option and choose a different directory, as well as a different filename.  Don't use any non-standard symbols or foreign letters in the filename, you can always rename it later)

---  Audio track  
 
Since we are covering mpeg2 files in this guide you will probably only have one choice for an audio track, and that will be the mpeg itself,   AutoGK should automatically select it.

---  Select your output size

The default is set to make an avi for 2 CDs and AC3 audio (DD 5.1, or 2.0 if no 5.1 is available). If you want to put the movie onto 1 CD (somewhat lower quality, of course), then choose 1 CD, and AutoGK will make the audio as MP3 instead by default.  If you want to change these audio defaults you will need to do so in the Advanced Settings tab.   You can make a 2 CD encode for better quality or a 1 CD encode to save space, it's your choice.  But this is our

recommendation as a guide: any video that is longer than about 1 hour 50 minutes to two hours should be 2 CD.  Never choose AC3 audio in the Advanced settings for a 1 CD standard-length movie, as it simply takes up too much space and will result in high video quality loss.  Some movies are long and/or difficult to compress, 3 CD encodes are rarely necessary
.
   You can also select Target quality if size is not an issue, we recommend leaving it at the default 75%, however we prefer to choose by target size and make our files convenient for burning to cd.

NOTE: "Target Quality" mode does 1-pass encoding, "Target Size" does 2-passes (another reason we prefer Target Size). 1 pass saves encoding time, of course.

---  Click on Advanced Settings to select codec and audio options

---  If you prefer DivX then select DivX under “Codec”
(The default is set on XviD)

The choice of whether to use DivX or XviD is yours and yours alone, AutoGK will do great with both.  We use both but tend to lean toward DivX, as we backup many old movies where the source is noisy, as well and black and whites, and DivX seems to do better on those kinds of sources, XviD can be a bit strong for them and look grainy.  On the other hand XviD is known for

its crisp clear images, so if the source is nice and clear, XviD can give a sharper picture than DivX, which has a softening tendency.  We have found DivX is has fewer compatibility issues with standalone MPEG4 dvd players.  As mentioned in the note at the start of this guide, if we choose not to install the ESS support patch that comes with AutoGK because our player does not have an ESS chipset, our avis encoded with XviD will play fine on our standalone avi-player.  But when we bring them over to a friend's house they won't play, because his player has an ESS chipset.  But again, it's simply a matter of personal preference.

(We recommend that beginners leave the rest of the  settings in the Advanced Options tab alone.)

If you leave the Audio on Auto, the app will choose the bitrate for you (the following is a quote from the developer's tutorial):  If you go for more than 1 CD encode it will be included unchanged (not converted to MP3) with the video. However, if you are doing 1CD or less encode then it will be automatically converted to ABR MP3 (which is a form of VBR MP3) at 128 kbps.

---  Click OK

 ---  Click Add Job
(you should then see the title of your future avi(s) below)

---  Click the Start button

---  Now wait

---  And wait

---  And wait… 

(because that's it, you're encoding!)

How long are you going to have to wait?  Well it depends very much on the speed of your computer processor and whether you are doing anything else while encoding.  We have several computers and the 2.8 GHz cpu usually does a two-pass encode of a standard-length one-cd movie in 2-3 hours, whereas our 1 Ghz can take 6-8 hours.  We don't recommend doing anything else on your computer while encoding, best is to set it up before going to sleep and just let it run.

Note:  AutoGK also has hidden options which you can get to by using the Ctrl-F9 shortcut on your keyboard, but this guide was meant for new users so we won't cover them.  If you would like to learn more about the hidden options go to the AutoGK site http://autogk.net/ or to really get involved, take the plunge and use Gordian Knot J