Frameserving - pulling my hair out!

[rkelley]

OK - been working on this for about 1 week now and still no luck. Here is what I want to do:

* Use XMpeg (or Flask) - open VOB files I ripped using DVD Decrypter
* Frame serve the output to Main Concept MPeg v1.4.2 encoder

I have been reading tons of how-to guides (videohelp.com, doom9) and still no luck Most of the guides are outdated and don't have links to freea visynth plug-ins. I installed the latest version of Avisynth and had lots of problems (version problems, need to install avisynthEx.dll, etc). I even installed the VFAPI tool but don't see a pug-in for XMPeg or Flash. I managed to find a "Premiere" avisynth plug-in but it was trialware - not freeware.

Can someone please tell me exactly which pieces of software I need to install to make this happen? All I want to do is make *very* good backups of my DVDs (into MPEG2 format) so I can play them on a new Hauppage MediaMVP player. I have tried aboutevery commercial DVD backup solution - but the quality was very disappointing.

Sorry to sound like a new person - but this is extremely frustrated.

BTW: if someone knows of a better way of converting my DVDs to MPEG2 with very good quality, please let me know.

-Ron

[mats.hogberg]

Well, wouldn't you know - DVD is mostly mpeg2 video! No conversion needed at all - just demux the video out of the VOB(s) and voila! The best quality copy (=identical to the original) you can get.

/Mats

[rkelley]

Well, wouldn't you know - DVD is mostly mpeg2 video! No conversion needed at all - just demux the video out of the VOB(s) and voila! The best quality copy (=identical to the original) you can get.

Yes - I know. But the problem remains - how to compress the DVD VOB files (with audio) down to around 2GB? Again, my goal is to take the DVD VOB files and put them on my server (synch'ed with the audio).

I have tried tons of commercial and free tools - all of which leave a very poor copy. I am trying DVD-shrink right now to see if that works (and rename the resulting VOB file to mpg so my MediaMVP player can pick it up).

Any more ideas?

[TPFKAS]

I had a lot of trouble with Avisynth and the Premiere plugin too.
I switched to the DebugMode Frameserver DebugMode Frameserver
Open the DVD with FlaskMPEG, select the streams you want, output to the DebugMode Fameserver and framserve to any encoder of your choice.
Works without any problems.

[mats.hogberg]

the problem remains - how to compress the DVD VOB files (with audio) down to around 2GB?

Well, how would anyone here know that this was what you wanted?
First, renaming VOBs to mpg isn't a good practice - they are not the same. No matter what, you ought to demux audio and video from the VOB(s) and remux them as mpeg2 system stream.
You will (probably after a # of recompressions) achieve your goal (a DVD worth of a/v @ 2GB) with DVDShrink, but you'll get better results (qualitywise) if you reencode the video at a lower bitrate, and probably reducing resolution down to 1/2 D1 (352*480/576 NTSC/PAL), then remultiplex with original (or reencoded at a lower bitrate) audio.

/Mats

[rkelley]

Well, how would anyone here know that this was what you wanted?

Sorry - guess in my frustration I was not clear in what I was trying to do. As usual, I was trying the hard way to get the job done - not necessarily the smartest way. After some more investigation and reading, I think I found the solution on a MediaMVP forum: http://www.shspvr.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6784. Here is what someone had to say:

The best method I have used to rip DVD's to their MPEG2 file. Without any recompression. Is to use smartripper to rip the video and audio streams to separate files.

This will give you a .m2v (video MPEG2) and a .ac3 (AC3 audio) files. Now use headac3 to convert the AC3 audio into a MPEG2 audio file (.mpa). Then I use the ]I[ muxer to mux them back together into a MPEG2 file. This works great for me and the resulting MPEG2 is the same quality as the DVD and it plays back thru your MVP. Though I found that having a 100mb ethernet link was required to keep up with the bitstream rate of the MPEG2 file.

So, finally, here are the steps/tools I can use to get this done:

• Use DVD Shrink to make the DVD smaller (Optional):
  http://www.dvdshrink.org/
  
  Rip DVD (Smart Ripper or DVD Decrypter) into separate audio and video files: http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/smartripper.cfm
  http://www.dvddecrypter.com/
  
  Convert audio into Type 2 format (for use with the MediMVP):
  HeadAc3e: http://darkav.de.vu/
  
  Remux the vide and audio:
  X-Muxer: http://www.elecard.com/download/#Xmuxer

I am sure some free utilities are around that can do the same time (BeSweet for example), but at least I have a list of tools that can get the job done.

Thanks to all who replied for having patience with me.

-Ron

[mats.hogberg]

Alternatives:
ReJig to demux (instead of SmartRipper or DVDDecrypter)
TMPGEnc or mplex to multiplex back as mpg system stream.
And again, if you're not satisfied with the results from DVDShrink, try reencoding the demuxed mpeg video at a lower bitrate. Reencoding produces better results than transcoding.

/Mats