DVD to MPEG-2/AVI

[Nitro89]

I love music videos, so I ripped the songs of my DVD's individually. I then used AutoGK to convert them to XviD, but sometimes the quality ain't so good (I use a 'bitrate calculator' to make sure the quality exceeds over 0.25bpp), I need to watch out for my hard drive space as I only have 80GB. Is there any other way of getting high quality rips or should I just invest in a 500GB hard drive?

I later did rename the extension to my .VOB file as mpeg (for mpeg2, is that right), but only problem is that when the file is highlighted, its length/fps/video bitrate etc does not appear, is there a way of making this so?

[guns1inger]

The VOB container is not the same as the mpg container, and may contain more data than an mpeg programme stream. Simply renaming it may force some programs to open it that otherwise would not, but that doesn't make it an mpg file any more than putting wings on a dog makes it a bird.

Invest some money. Add another 256MB of RAM to your system (256 MB is killing your CPU once windows loads) and an external HDD. Or start encoding using H264. It will take longer, require more ram to get speed it up a little, but you will get better quality in the same file size as Xvid/Divx encoded files. Personally, I think most Xvid/Divx encoded files are far too compressed, and still hold to the archaic CD sizes of old. I encode TV episodes of around 50 minutes in length at 640 pixels wide to a size of 550 MB and get great quality. These 350/700 MB encodes are way too squeezed.

[Nitro89]

what is an excellent H264 compressor? Is there anyway of converting a .VOB file to MPEG-2 without compressing it at all (the .VOB file did work once I renamed it to .MPEG)?

[manono]

I then used AutoGK to convert them to XviD, but sometimes the quality ain't so good (I use a 'bitrate calculator' to make sure the quality exceeds over 0.25bpp)

That 0.25bpp figure means next to nothing. Music videos are notoriously hard to compress. In addition, if you're setting a width (640 or whatever), then you're crippling AutoGKs ability to give you a decent AVI for the filesize you set. If you can post the log for a video that didn't turn out so well, you might get some more informed advice.

Or, you might try doing a 1-pass Target Quality encode at the default 75%. It should turn out well although you might be dismayed at the filesize.

Is there anyway of converting a .VOB file to MPEG-2 without compressing it at all

DVD video already is MPEG-2. If you want to make an MPG out of it, demux, and then remux using something like ImagoMPEG-Muxer. The video won't be reencoded and will have the same quality as the original VOB.

[Nitro89]

thank you, but is there also a h.264 coverter?

what is the best video converter codec, I wan't high quality videos, XviD was good until I couldn't help but notice the quality on some videos but sometimes looks excellent

[Nitro89]

'ImagoMPEG-Muxer' wont let me select a .VOB file for some reason

[cd090580]

vob2mpg

[Nitro89]

I tried that too, but nothing happens, no video comes out.

[manono]

I don't know why VOB2MPEG isn't working for you, and it's actually a better suggestion than mine was. But to use ImagoMPEG-Muxer, as I clearly stated, you have to demux (separate the video and audio) first. One way to do that is to open the VOB(s) in DGIndex and File->Save Project and Demux Video. That will give you the M2V and AC3 (if that's what it is) files ready to mux with ImagoMPEG-Muxer.

[Nitro89]

are you sure that doesn't re-compress my .VOB file?

[manono]

DGIndex? Yes, I'm sure. It just splits off the audio and video.

ImagoMPEG-Muxer? All it does is as the name states; it muxes.

[Nitro89]

I tried that, doesn't really make much of a difference from renaming the file extension from .VOB to MPEG. No thumbnail or video information appears as it would do with my other mpeg files

[louv68]

I tried that too, but nothing happens, no video comes out.

In VOB2MPG => Folder containing VOB sets: choose the VIDEO_TS source folder, otherwise it will not work.

[Nitro89]

oh it works now, thank you, also, I want to crop my video, its a full 4.3GB VOB file, I just want to crop it and not compress it, is there a program, I've looked for some but none work properly.

[louv68]

You can try DVDShrink in Reauthor mode, but it isn't frame precise. Save all your "edits" into their own easily-labeled folders so later you can demux the streams for when you re-author your disc. You will also lose any menu's you currently have, but can always make your own later. Another program you may be able to use to crop videos is Cuttermaran, but I haven't used it. People here seem to like it, and it's freeware.

[Nitro89]

does VOB2MPG fix the audio stream?

[louv68]

I do not believe VOB2MPG fixes audio streams. Please explain what's wrong with the audio. Have you kept the video as an mpeg or created it to DVD or converted to another format?

[Nitro89]

I tried converting it to MPEG2 but the audio is way out of sync

[louv68]

I ripped the songs of my DVD's individually. I then used AutoGK to convert them to XviD

Use the original ripped files on your HDD if you still have them. What did you use to convert the XviD's back to .mpeg? Do realize that every time you convert files to another format, you will lose some quality, which is why it's best to use the original ripped files on your HDD.

[Nitro89]

that was an earlier method of converting that I had, I wanted the best quality from the DVD at a reasonable file size, I have found some tutorial, quite useful but slightly outdated

[louv68]

Let us know how it turns out.

[Nitro89]

I have ripped another one of my DVD's, this time its Michael Jackson's Dangerous Short Films, I ripped Black or White using DVDFab HD Decrypter, I then demuxed it with DGIndex only to find that the audio output is .WAV (its the audio stream I need) which doesn't give me the delay, I tried the method of using MPC to find the sync but its way to big of a sync, can anyone help me please?