DVD to H.264 in Avidemux - Larger output than input

[nharikrishna]

I am trying to convert my DVD movies to H.264 using Avidemux (x264).

However, after the conversion, the output file (MP4) size turned out to be around 7 GB, which is larger than the input DVD size (4.2 GB). What am I doing wrong?

I selected CRF=16, AAC audio (Variable bitrate with maximum 384 kbps), Interlaced output, CABAC. The output MP4 is having an average video bitrate of 6421 kbps (variable). The original DVD bitrate was around 3400 kbps.

Should I be selecting CRF around 20? My intention is to reduce the file size of the DVD movie to around 2 GB without loss of visible quality.

Regards

[Baldrick]

Yes. Increase the CRF. Or use 2-pass encoding and set the bitrate manually. Use a bitrate calculator to calculate the average bitrate to get around 2GB.

[nharikrishna]

Thanks Baldrick.

One more question: Is it a good practice to set INTERLACED as ON and TFF (because I assume the original DVD will be TFF)? or should I de-interlace? I am not going to use the MP4 for web streaming, it is just for playing through a hardware media player on a HDTV or normal TV.

Regards

[manono]

Is it a good practice to set INTERLACED as ON and TFF (because I assume the original DVD will be TFF)? or should I de-interlace?

Movies aren't interlaced. If it is interlaced that can be for a variety of reasons, none of them good. If it's from India the chances are good it's field-blended. Anyway, deinterlacing it is almost always the wrong thing to do. It would be best if you made available a short sample - 10 seconds of something with steady movement would be good.

[nharikrishna]

manono, these are not commercial DVDs. They are captured by me from satellite box using Canopus ADVC 110 in DV-AVI and then encoded to DVDs.

[manono]

Okay, but the statement still stands. Movies aren't interlaced. If yours is it should be made progressive again, and most likely not by deinterlacing. Sample?

[nharikrishna]

Thanks. I will post sample tonight when I get home. Sample of DVD (encoded by me) or the original DV-AVI?

[manono]

The source capture.