Will CUDA help conversion to Apple Touch from DVD?

[Raycaster]

Since my Apple Touch arrived I've been transferring my dvd's over so I can watch on the Touch.

I've been using the usual DVDtoIPOD converters which work fine. I mainly convert TV series DVDs to the touch so I like the seperate episodes saved of course instead of 1 big file.

Anyways, now with a NVidia 8800 with CUDA I was wondering if there was a better solution.

I see 2 apps so far with CUDA support (Tmpgenc & Badaboom)

I gave Badaboom a try but couldn't find away to select separate chapters etc.
I think it was ripping at 150 fps which is only marginally faster the DVDtoIPOD apps...

I'm giving Tmpgenc a shot which let me select seperate chapters but it now wants to pre-copy files all to the Hard drive.
By the time thats done I think any speed increase in encoding may be lost and no faster than simply using a DVDtoIPOD app.
It's rendering now but doesn't seem too fast to make a difference...

Am I looking at this wrong? Should I rip the episodes and then re-encode?

Any help is much appreciated, I'll be searching the forums and trying my own tests fow awhile...

[Raycaster]

A quick update:

I have tried several apps converting DVD to Apple Touch Format.

After reading the forums supporting BadaBoom I was able to rip separate episodes FAST!
Not all is perfect as it doesn't support batch encoding which renders its speed advantage mute.
I was up in the 170 fps ripping from DVD to .mp4, must other apps run around 50 fps.
I am in no way a video expert but found the conversion quality fine for 480 X 320 MP4.

Tmpenc 4.0 with CUDA support at this time appears to only use CUDA for filtering not encoding.
An upcoming version of Nero was announced to support CUDA...

Once BadaBoom matures I can see a HUGE benefit to be had for sure.
For now it's back to using ImToo DVD Ripper for ease of use...

Please understand this is coming from a "non" video guy with little experience. I'm sure others here are a lot better understanding the video qualitys of each app.

[guns1inger]

I don't know if Badaboom's support for decent profiles has improved, but if not, it is pretty much worthless to anyone with higher quality devices. Apple's profile limitations for iPods and Apple TV means lower quality video than can be obtained and played back by better featured players. badaboom was, initially at least, limited to basic profiles only (i.e. suitable for Apple products).

Personally I would rather have slower encodes with higher quality.

[Raycaster]

I have heard complaints that BadaBoom's quality above PSP requirements are poor still.

Watching ImToo DVD ripper really boggles me, (easily done).

On one side CUDA appears to be coaxing over 170fps out of BadaBoom with the help of the 8800 GPU.

On the other side ImToo is getting around 50fps without GPU help but it visually reports on to be taxing the dual core cpus 58%.
ImToo appears to be using both cpu's.

I'm ripping from 2 totally different machines:

1) Dual Core 1.86 OC'd to 3.1Ghz & Nvidia 8800 GT (Badaboom) 170 fps
2) T3200 2.0Ghz laptop running ImToo DvdRipper 50fps

I 100% realize this is a apple to orange comparision with different cpu's, different speeds and probably totally different encoding quality settings between programs.

Just wondering why ImToo wouldn't run the cpu's higher to achieve a higher rip rate.

Maybe the encoding is topped out already and even without a power GPU BadaBoom is encoding alot simplier for faster speed. I assume that's not the case but I have to try ImToo on the Nvidia machine to see what happens...

[guns1inger]

Ripping isn't a CPU intensive task, encoding is. Ripping is bound by drive speed. if you can't rip the data fast enough to tax the CPU, then CPU usage won't top out.

Never been a fan of Imtoo products, and also generally not a fan of encoding directly from the DVD. Where ever possible, I rip the HDD, then encode.

[Raycaster]

Ok, DVD drive speed also gets thrown in to the equation.

ImToo Ripper is working at approx 85 fps on the faster 3.1Ghz machine...

My next step is to try to even the quality settings up with both applications. I realize some favor other apps for quality but for simple 480 X 320 viewing on 3" screen it real isn't a deal breaker for me. Now playing back mkv files on my 42 LCD, thats another story.

I may take the advice of the gunslinger and save all the dvds to iso first. This will allow me to remote access my fast machine and mount/unmount the iso for ripping/encoding.