Best way (meaning quality and 700MB size) to convert a DVD to a Xvid?

riahc3 · Member Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Location: Spain

Hey

I was wondering how I can convert a DVD to a Xvid AVI? I used AutoGK in the past and the results were AMAZING (700MB and great quality) but now the results are bad, the video gets too scaled down, audio is OK but Id like it better (and 5.1 since the DVD has the audio track) and the thing is I havent touched or messed around with any settings. Id like a guide that gives me again that perfect great quality 700MB convertion or a alternative. Thank you very much

Oh BTW alternatives to Xvid are OK I guess.....99% of the movies I rip from my DVDs I keep them on my PC and just view them on PC thats why Id like a standard 700MB size that doesnt take too much space up and if I decide it to take it to a friends house, he can play it back on his standalone Divx player. BUt oh well if there is something better and easier than Xvid then ok

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T-Fish · Member Joined: 07 Apr 2009 Location: Switzerland

AGK is a great tool. maybe a simple re-install would solve your problem?
while you're at it, update to the latest version

though i have to tell you, a 700mb file for a movie thats longer than ~110 minutes
just wont get you great quality.
most of all, using AC3 audio track takes up almost half of that alone, so you
really dont have much left for the video. imho, if you want 700mb files, then
use 128-192 kbps mp3. if you want AC3, then go for a 1.4gb encode.
alternatively, you can use the quality percentage encoding, since you dont
burn your files to cds, it doesnt matter if they're exactly 700mb, right?

x264 in mkv container would yield better results using low bitrates, but
the encoding time is a lot longer, not to mention that playing these files
takes up more system resources. you could try out avidemux or handbrake
and just give it a whirl.

riahc3 · Member Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Location: Spain

T-Fish · Member Joined: 07 Apr 2009 Location: Switzerland

errm a PAL dvd is 720x576 (NTSC DVD is 720x480)

if by "video size" you mean the resolution, then id advise you to lower
it in favor of a higher bitrate to somewhere around 608 and the resulting height.
so if the movie is 2.35:1, you'd get around 608x256 (cropped).
simply choose a minimum width of 608 in AGKs advanced settings.

a 5.1 dolby digital track (AC3) for a 133 minute movie takes what 300+ mb?
400mb for the video just isnt going to look any good.
you cant have mp3 with 5.1 im afraid. you either need to up the file size or
live with the low video quality.

about AGK making lower quality encodes now, then it used to..
did you ever change anything in the hidden menu? (ctrl+F9)
did you re-encode a movie you previously encoded to see if it really is AGK
that performs not as good as it used to, or if the movies you encode now
simply arent as easy to compress?

riahc3 · Member Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Location: Spain

Midzuki · **Banned** Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Location: UNREACHABLE

XviD .AVIs do not have to occupy less than 700MB of disc space.
A single-layer DVD can store 3x1.4GB.

guns1inger · Member Joined: 01 Apr 2004 Location: Miskatonic U

DVDs are either 4:3 or 16:9. There is no such thing as a 2.35:1 DVD.

When you convert to Xvid/Divx encoded avi, you need to take into account what you will be playing the files back on. If it will only ever be your PC then go nuts. There are very few restrictions for PC playback if your machine is fast enough.

If, however, you intend to play the files back on a stand alone player, then there are several rules that need to be obeyed. These include restrictions on resolution (very few play anything wider than 720 pixels), bitrate (most prefer files with bitrates of 3k or less), encoding parameters (GMC/Qpel etc) and file size (smaller than 2 GB).

Personally, I believe that unless you are going to watch these files on a very small CRT TV, 700 MB is an unnecessarily low quality restriction to put on your encoding.
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T-Fish · Member Joined: 07 Apr 2009 Location: Switzerland

riahc3 · Member Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Location: Spain

guns1inger · Member Joined: 01 Apr 2004 Location: Miskatonic U

If you are only going to play these back on your PC and you are going to apply an arbitrary size limit of 700 - 900 MB per movie then you should seriously consider T_Fish's original suggestion of looking at H264 for encoding. Whether or not you use MKV or MP4 as the container, in most cases you will get noticeably better quality for the same file size.
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netmask56 · Member Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Location: Sydney, Australia

For movies around 90 minutes I use as a file size of 700MB and XVID codec with a fixed width of 720 in Advanced Settings and audio set to auto.

If the movie has a really good soundtrack or it's longer than 90 minutes I go to 1.4GB and select in Advanced Settings use original audio.

On 1 hour TV and documentaries I set the file size down to 350MB and sometimes use the sharp matrix option in the hidden menu.

I get consistent good results as viewed on my PAL Samsung full HDTV panel.

The reference to width in the Advanced Settings in AutoGK has no bearing on the "width" of the movie in terms of aspect ratio ie select a lower width in Advanced Settings won't result in the sides of the movie being cropped if that is what you were alluding to.

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DarrellS · Member Joined: 28 Nov 2002 Location: United States

Ruut · Member Joined: 02 Aug 2005 Location: Holland

riahc3 · Member Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Location: Spain

KBeee · Member Joined: 17 Jun 2003 Location: United Kingdom

Filesize = bitrate * time
A 10 minute 192kbps AC3 will be pretty much the same size as a 10 minute 192kbps MP3, all other things being equal.

The suggestion for an external USB2 HDD was to store your finished video on, and free up space on your RAID5, a perfectly sensible idea.

riahc3 · Member Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Location: Spain

riahc3 · Member Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Location: Spain

Well Id just like a straight forward best answer for my situation without taking up too much space from at least one of the at least 402 viewers from this thread.

Thank you

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ted demen · Member Joined: 11 May 2005 Location: canada

im sometimes surprised that the 700mb file size is still so popular, especially since the original reasoning was so that a movie can fit onto a cd.
but do people even use cdrs for backups anymore? dvdrs are same price for a spool as cdrs (although i guess i shouldnt assume that just cause this is the case in my country that it is everywhere else)

being able to back up 6 movies on a dvdr is nice, but for quality reasons, i think 1gig files might be a better option

T-Fish · Member Joined: 07 Apr 2009 Location: Switzerland

i still use cds..

i can get 100 cds for 25 usd here.
25 dvd5 cost 30 :/
(same brand)

we pay tax on the damn discs (like a copyright tax, since its legal to dl music/movies where i live)

the main reason why i use cds and not dvds though, is because they are
100 times more reliable.

to the OP.. i think i made it clear enough what your options are.

riahc3 · Member Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Location: Spain

Options that you have given me are

1: Make a 2CD 1.4GB file
2: Use H264

Which would you recommend? For 2, Im not sure how to do it as Ive only encoded in Xvid using AutoGK
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T-Fish · Member Joined: 07 Apr 2009 Location: Switzerland

you must have skipped some of my posts, but anyway. id recommend neither.

id try an encode with "target quality (in percentage)" (in AGK). it'll be faster since its only a 1-pass encode.
make a small sample of the movie you wanna encode.
encode it at 75% and see how the quality is.

DarrellS · Member Joined: 28 Nov 2002 Location: United States

If you want to keep making low quality crap then keep making it. You complained about hard drive space and said you wanted 5.1 audio and thought 5.1 MP3 couldn't be done. I gave you options, including using the original 5.1 AC3. If you're too cheap to buy bigger drives or external drives for storage then that's your problem (my 1TB WD My Book has eSata, Firewire and USB and I paid $149 for it, I assumed the drive I linked to was the same drive). That's what people do when they want to store their DVDs on the PC, buy more and bigger drives.

You've been given plenty of options from plenty of users including using DVDs instead of CDs. A DVD burner can be had for around $25. If you plan on using H264 then the only thing you'll be able to play it back on is your PC or on your TV by means of a media player like the WD or the Popcorn Hour and you need an external drive to store the files since you don't have the hard drive space to store them.

Getting cocky with everyone here and telling them that their answers aren't good enough for you isn't going to get you much help around here. Maybe you'll have better luck using Google to search for the answers you're looking for. There are plenty of guides on how to convert DVD to whatever using different tools but none of them will tell you how to make high quality files from two hour DVDs that are 700MB in size..

Supreme2k · Posted: May 27, 2009 01:38

riahc3 · Member Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Location: Spain

T-Fish · Member Joined: 07 Apr 2009 Location: Switzerland