So I've ripped my DVD collection, now what?

[Neo911]

So I've backed up my DVD collection (to several HD's), and need some advice on what to do with all those VOB files. Currently running winXp system but will be adding a Mac in November.

Having settled on the Netgear EVA8000 over appleTV due to my lack of a widescreen tv (my old box doesn't have component inputs either), to stream all those movies (about 300), what I need to know is the best file format to use. Am interested more in quality than size although I'm not leaving them in the current VOB state as that just takes up silly amounts of space (aprox 4.35GB/movie). I also want to be able to play them on my pc or Mac easily. MPEG-4, WMV, MOV, H.264, DivX??? My head is spinning from all the reading I've been doing.

I guess I want the highest quality video in the smallest size possible, emphesis on quality! Right now I'm kinda leaning towards H.264 in case I change my mind about the appleTV thing later on, but that just takes a crazy long time to convert a movie (about 7-10 hrs on my current 1.8ghz Athlon). appleTV only accepts H.264 while the Netgear eva8000 will take just about any format out there.

My system is currently working 24/7 using Handbreak to encode into H.264 with appleTv settings (I figure this should be playable on appleTv and the Netgear EVA8000) and ipod low rez setting for my Nano. They both look great but like I said, very time consuming. Whats Divx like for quality? Will it look good on a 42" widescreen? Any faster encoding times? How would it compare to what I'm doing currently?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Mark

[guns1inger]

Divx is OK, but will require around half the bitrate of the originals to maintain the same quality, whereas AVC/H264 will do it in a third or less.

Bottom line - with an Athlon 1800 it's going to be a hard slog no matter what path you choose. There is no way to seriously reduce encoding time other than to throw shed loads of power at it.

[jman98]

H.264/X.264 will take FOREVER to encode on your PC. Be warned too that I believe your Netgear device has serious bit rate limits on what it will display, but on conversions from DVD you shouldn't have a problem. You might run into this problem if you were encoding HD sources (either TV broadcasts or HD-DVD/BluRay rips). If I remember correctly, I think I read that the Netgear device has problems streaming bit rates above 6000 Kbps, so you might test that and see if that's correct.

You can get excellent results from Divx for sure, but H.264/X.264 have some options that Divx doesn't support that should give you better quality with lower bit rates. It just takes a lot longer to encode them. If encoding time is important to you, then you must use either Divx or WMV until you are able to see if your Mac can give you encoding times to H.264 that you can live with.

[Neo911]

I'm waiting until Leopard comes out before I pick up an iMac 2.4 or 2.8ghz, that should help out with some of those times. I guess I'm still kind of torn between appletv and the Netgear, all the movies will be on a couple of usb hd's so I can plug them in directly to the usb on the Netgear if I go that way. Only streaming issues will be if I want to watch a movie on the iMac or my lappy. If I go with appletv, then I will switch to wireless N plus Atv has a built in hard drive, and of course I have to splurge on a new tv (which is an eventuallity)

I was hoping there was a significantly better format for quality with decent size that is ahead of the pack. Sounds like I will probably stay with what I'm currently doing.

Thanks for the reply

[guns1inger]

I was hoping there was a significantly better format for quality with decent size that is ahead of the pack. Sounds like I will probably stay with what I'm currently doing

There is - it's H264 - and it's slow. There is a hardware based H264 encoder that plugs into your USB port, currently available only for Macs. It is the only sensible way to encode to this format.

[Neo911]

Yes, I was looking at that too; Elgato turbo264.

I appreciate the advice,

Cheers