We can read on some forums : "Which is the fastest software to encode to DivX?", "Gordian Knot is the best software", "Why don't you use XMPEG?",... For this test, I've selected 4 famous free softwares and made a comparative test using 3 Vobs files of 15 mn but with a different frame rate.

- Lord Of The Ring Extended Edition - NTSC 23,976 fps
- ONG-BAK - Pal 25 fps
- WASABI - NTSC 29.97 fps

The videos has been compressed with DivX 5.0.5 codec using the dual pass with a bitrate of 927 kbps to get the size of 100Mo (102'450kb). I choosed this bitrate because it's the one we can often use when we encode a movie for 1 CD of 700Mb with the soud encoded with the OGG code.
Each video will contain a comparative benchmark about the total time to encode the file, the size of the file and the speed of the encoding in fps.
Each will contain comparatives screenshots to compare the picture quality of each software. We will compare motions scenes and statics scenes.

Before to read the test, here's our test configuration.

Intel Pentium 4 - 2.53GHz@2.85GHz - FSB 600 MHz
DDR SDRAM 512 Mo APACER/SAMSUNG
CPUID here
Windows XP PRO SP1
Display resolution 1280x1024

First Test