Encoding from dvd

#1

I know you and Dragon talk about this a lot nip, but I think it’s mainly been in the chatbox, and thus now lost to the sands of the internet.

Basically do you have a preferred encoding method to rip dvd’s to your pc? My dad’s got a school netbook he wants to use in class, but doesn’t have a dvd drive. I grabbed a random prog off the net but the end result was horrible. I’m sure more than 5 mins searching would find what i need, but if you know off the top of your head, that’s 5 mins saved :laugh:

#2

i use dvdfab6 or 7, 7 is beta.

And i just rip it as an ISO and use VLC player to watch simple. Easy program to use.

Theres also keys available so you dont have to pay for dvdfab (30 day trial usually)

#3

You can use what buz uses if you just want an image, but if you are wanting to encode to MKV, MeGUI is the way to go. You’ll turn 8-9GB into less than a GB whilst retaining most of the quality.

I can only provide basic instruction though, Dragon is the real wiz when it comes to that sort of thing.

I’m happy to talk you through as much as I know though.

#4

my mkv files are still huge?

Encoding takes aloooong time, now that i can just watch an ISO image im not even gonna bother with encoding, only benefit is file size imo.

#5

It depends on a few factors on how large it will be, bitrate being the main factor I think. I can encode a movie with a 1000 KBit bitrate and it will usually come around at under 1GB. Dragon will be able to give a much better explanation though.

But yes buz, you are right in saying that encoding takes a long time, for that there is no getting around.

#6

File size when doing bitrate is just a simple calc:

bitrate (usually in kb/s) x length of video in seconds = filesize. Usually around 8-900kb/s for the video will do well (on x264, then 192kbit (for AAC at least) for audio.

As for programs and stuff. As nipper said MeGUI has it all (bar the DVD rip part, DVD decrypter works nicely there, set to stream processing and demux).

Depending on how nice you want to go you can run your m2v file from the dvd through avisynth filters to remove noise and smooth it a little, which looses very little detail, but increases quality heaps since the encoder doesnt have to worry about trying to encode the noise as well. Also keep in mind each filter you add will increase encode time as they can be quite CPU intensive.

With all this I can get a 1.5 hour movie from 8gig on the dvd down to 700mb with very little quality loss.

#7

You’re a gun…

Whilst we’re on the topic, I’ve been meaning to ask you a bit more about sound.

I could google this but I think your explanations usually highlight the important parts without having to filter through the crap.

Is AAC better than MP3? What about AC3, is that basically just taking the audio stream from the source and simply whacking it in the container without it being converted at all?

#8

AC3 is native Dolby Digital, which is what most DVDs have. dts is the other main format. They arnt technically uncompressed, but they are the closest you can get without the original DVD masters.

AAC Vs MP3: AAC is better at lower bitrates then MP3, similar to h264 vs Xvid. A 192kbit AAC will sound better then a 192kbit MP3, and a 92kbit AAC will shit all over a 92kbit MP3. However once you start getting to the higher (320kb/s+) the differences between the 2 becomes unnoticeable. Also like h264 vs Xvid, AAC is slightly more CPU intensive then MP3, but pretty much anything that can play MP3’s will have no problems.

AAC can also do 5.1 natively, whereas mp3 is not suppose to. LC and HE AAC you dont have to worry about, the encoder chooses that automatically based on bitrate and channels.

#9

Right so for my needs, it sounds like AAC 192kbit is the way to go.

Haha, learning anything John?

#10

lol yeh, i’ll be going through this more carefully when I finally get around to doing this. Cheers for the info tho, awesome stuff!

#11

finally got aroudn to it today. DVD’s stuffed so i’ll come abck to it tonight. Might get one of you to run me through it tho once i’ve got the image sorted.

#12

No probs.