Personal Choice of BEST Quality to convert

[GruntVidStar]

Hey All,

Just wondering what does everyone find the best quality to convert a DVD to?

I used to convert to AVI & making sure I kept the same frame rate as original source & then leaving width as it was produced(720) but making the height slightly smaller to make it exact 16:9.
But then I found that MKV H264 was producing better watchable quality & at a lesser overall file size!

I have since found that some DVD's such as Entourage converting to MKV screws with the frame rate & looks CRAP & very slow especially when they move a bit quicker(doesn't happen as much with turtle LOL).

So what does EVERYONE have as their preference to covert to & using what program?

Cheers Grant

[jagabo]

I encode with x264 at the original DVD frame size with aspect ratio flags. I use the MKV container.

1) Rip the DVD with DVD Fab.
2) Build an index file with DgIndex.
3) Make an AviSynth script with Mpeg2Source(), crop borders, IVTC if necessary.
4) Encode with x264, "very fast" preset, CRF=18, and a few customizations.
5) Mux original AC3 audio with h.264 video into MKV.

The MKV files usually turn out between 1 and 2 GB. It takes less than the run time of the movie on my dual core Celeron E3200, even faster on my quad Core E6600.

[GruntVidStar]

Sounds Pretty cool!

I use either DVD shrink or DVD fab(depending on arccos)
The I check the original file with gSpot
Then try & reproduce using AVS Video Convertor & have all the same settings except for making it exactly 16:9 so there's no black lines on side or top!
I've recently tried handbrake & it's quite a small & compact & simple encoder too!

But I want to do it as good as possible so I'm happy to try all opinions so keep em coming!