DVD Encoding woes, have I tried everything?

[Zycon]

Hey,

I've spent about an entire day researching various dvd backup techniques and i'm at a loss.

The solution that i'd like the best would be a single file with
a)Subtitles
b)Mutliple Audio Streams
c)Chapters
d)Best video encoding

So i assume i'm down to the choice between two containers MP4 and matroska. I can't decide which one is better, and what the advantages of one over the other? my housemate is also complaining about standalone compatibility.... so that would have to be a factor in deciding(a minor one)

As for ripping dvd's i've been using DVD fabdecrypter, which seams to work fine, I'm now at the stage where i have 18 dvd's clogging up my hard drive.

I've tried MeGui... which has completly lost me... I can convert from an avi to an mp4.. but i have no idea how to get a dvd to input into this program.

I've tried avisynth(no dvd options there)

I've also tried SimpleDivX 1.40.23 with XVID 2 pass, but it doesn't seam to run the second pass(black box opens for second pass and then just closes). It creates the 1st pass file fine, but i can't find any error logs etc. I've tried replacing the copy of mencoder that it came with AND downgrading to xvid 1.1... but i still got the exact same result(and yes i tried with multiple files)

Next i tried gordian Knot but i couldn't even get past vstrip. I read the entire section on vstrip on doom9 include CLI but it just created a tiny 8mb file which appeared to contain no video or audio(when i ran it through videolan).

I then tried doing this manually with x264 and mencoder but then gave up.

so to sum all this up, can somebody please help me with my frustration with:

a)Backing up a dvd to hard drive, compressing with x264 or xvid, and keeping subtitles and chapters(nice but not essential).

Links to guides and tutorials etc very welcome!

Thanks guys

[guns1inger]

You could also consider MicroDVD - although this would be PC playback based.

You coud also look at Divx Ultra, which supports a lot of what you require, and is slowly being adopted by standalone manufacturers. DivxMediaBuilder can assemble these

[Zycon]

The only problem i have with encoding in Divx ultra is that the quality (according to the latest doom9 lineup) is not as good as xvid or x234. Since i'm doing a lot of encoding(mainly off of rage) i'd like to pick a codec that gives me the best quality for the bitrate. p.s. what state you from?

[guns1inger]

Victoria - you ? The advantage is that you are future proofing, as newer standalones are getting Divx Ultra certified. I guess to question you need to answer for yourself is just how great the quality difference is, and how important being able to play them outside a PC is.

[Zycon]

SA... I think i'm going to try and press ahead with the megui, mp4, x264 option if i can. Being able to play them outside a pc at the moment i don't think is that important at all... Especially when xbox media centre can decrypte both matroska and mp4.

[jimmalenko]

so to sum all this up, can somebody please help me with my frustration with:

a)Backing up a dvd to hard drive, compressing with x264 or xvid, and keeping subtitles and chapters(nice but not essential).

Links to guides and tutorials etc very welcome!

Sounds like a job for AutoGK !

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http://www.divx-digest.com/articles/xvid_s...H5X0wQLRyJC-AQ

https://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?guideid=738#738