AVI or MPG

[sabercats]

If I have a DVD movie, if I rip it to mpg or AVI, which one have better quality ? now I have AVI or MPG files, and use Ulead MovieFatory to make a author DVD with multi AVI or MPG , which onehave a better quality ?

Thanks for your explaination.

[redwudz]

If you 'rip' the DVD, you are just making a 1:1 copy of it on your hard drive, minus whatever encryption there is. DVDs are already in the MPEG format, just in a VOB wrapper.

If you encode it then to a AVI type format, you will likely have some quality loss. If you 'transcode' it to a smaller size as a MPEG-2 type DVD file with a program like DVD Shrink, you will have some quality loss. Or if you re-encode it to a smaller MPEG-2 file, still a loss.

How much loss in any case depends on how much you compress it when you encode it.

AVI type files are not valid for a DVD. But they can be used with a DVD player that can accept AVI files, such as Divx, Xvid or similar when burned as a data disc.

You can probably create either a AVI and a MPEG with exactly the same quality. But they won't be the same size.

That's a simple version of the answer. There are quite a few more factors to consider.

[sabercats]

If I use winAVI or Imtoo DVD Ripper to rip a DVD to mpg or AVI , which one have better quality ? I know AVI will have smaller MB than MPEG file . I know both of them dont have a quality like VOB files.

[mats.hogberg]

A DVD video IS mpg, so that'd be the best quality. But if you're concerned with quality, I'd start by uninstalling both WinAVI and ImTOO...

/Mats

[jman98]

sabercats - Your question, while valid, is impossible to answer definitively. Too many variables.

My suggestions - DVD Shrink offers an easy way to convert dual layer DVDs to single layer size with quality that most people find acceptible. This would be an MPG solution. Converting to Divx or Xvid can offer very good quality and when correctly done with the right bit rate can often be indistinguishable from the original by most people. Try both and see what you like.