Probs encoding using RipBot

[jamesj84]

I havent used Ripbot or Handbrake in a very long time and updated both rcently. I also updated my copy of ANYDVD.

My current problem is with DVDs. I have started where i left off backing up my dvds.
I have a problem with ripbot where i encode the dvd to MKV, roughly CQ17. I also copy the audio stream. And use 4.1 AVC and slow settings Just so you know m settings etc.

The MKV encode had a sound delay and also the film is displayed differently to the original DVD even tho i choose original aspext ratio. The DVD gives a wide view where as my MKV gives like a 720 x 560 which fills the whole TV.

If i use handbrake i cant configure the 4.1 and slow settings yet but the sound has no delay issue and the display is like 720x420 which I get a wide aspect view.

IS this soemthing i have done.

I am trying to copy the original DVD as much as I can for viewing.
I used to be fine but not sure hwy its changed recently.

Thanks for your help

James

[Baldrick]

I like vidcoder. It uses the handbrake engine but you can adjust more settings like h264 profile(under the video tab). Easy batch convert your dvds.

[jamesj84]

WHat i am confuses about is My DVD aspect ratio is 720 x 576 (This is played on my TV in widescreen and looks good)
WHen i get my ripbot version in MKV if i click keep aspect ratio it does and i get the film as 720 x 576 (But this isnt wide screen. It fills my tv screen and looks slightly squashed)
WHen i use handbrake if i click keep aspect ratio is becomes 720 x 428 or soemthng, but this stays like the DVD. But i dont understand the aspect side.

And why cant i get ripbot to look like the same aspect as the original source even if i ask it too. Grrrrrr

[Baldrick]

No, dvd display aspect ratio is 4:3 or 16:9 in a 720x576 pixels. If you make a mkv with 720x576 it must also be 4:3 or 16:9 then. I guess ripbot264 should do that. But the player maybe ignore the aspect ratio in the mkv...

[hello_hello]

I don't use Ripbot, but including the aspect ratio when encoding usually involves enabling some sort of anamorphic encoding option. Handbrake definitely has one.

I'm not sure I really understand the dimensions you've quoted, but here's a brief explanation of DVD encoding. It doesn't take cropping into account, so resizing/aspect ratios would need to be adjusted when cropping. There's two ways to go about it. The first is to encode the DVD "as-is" (720x576) and set the correct aspect ratio (16:9) when encoding. This relies on the player recognising aspect ratios in MKV/MP4 files. Not all do. If not, the encode will display as though it uses square pixels (the picture will be stretched/squashed).
The second method involves resizing the DVD to square pixel dimensions when encoding. It doesn't rely on the player recognising aspect ratios so the encode will always display correctly.

If RipBot/Handbrake is setting the correct aspect ratio but the player is ignoring it (do the encodes display correctly using the PC?) then you really don't have any choice but to resize to square pixels. You can resize "down" which means reducing the height, so a 16:9 PAL DVD will be resized to roughly 720x404. The other way to do it is by resizing "up" which means increasing the width rather than reducing the height, so you'd encode the same DVD at 1024x576. Both methods will give you a 16:9 aspect ratio but the latter will retain more detail, however the file sizes will also be a fair bit larger. As they both encode using square pixels though, they'll always display with the correct aspect ratio.

The same principle applies to NTSC, but (cropping aside) you'd resize to either 720x404 or 854x480.

In the case of PAL DVDs when you resize "up", because the resolution is 1024x576 the encodes can end up close to 720p file sizes. After a bit of experimenting I've settled on resizing PAL 16:9 DVDs to 960x540. It's still 16:9 but the file sizes don't end up too over the top. Compared with resizing to 1024x576 I can't see any real loss of fine detail, but it's definitely better than resizing all the way down to 720x404.

If you're using anamorphic encoding (setting a display aspect ratio) then the first thing to do would be to confirm the encode displays correctly played on the PC. I'm pretty sure all software players obey aspect ratios. If it does, but it doesn't display correctly using your hardware player, then it doesn't support MKV/MP4 aspect ratios and you'll need to resize to square pixels.

[jamesj84]

OK, I havent explained myself clearly above.

I have a film i am struggling to encode with ripbot and/or handbrake successfully.

Problem 1 - The Audio in my DVD Rip has a delay of -49s
RIPBOT264 - I have gone to the audio setting and Ripbot has identified this and chosen -49s. But In the Encode I still have a audio delay.
HANDBRAKE - Handbrake encoded the rip successfully with no audio issues.

Problem 2 - Screen size & cropping
The DVD in question has an aspect ratio of 720 x 576. I like to keep my encodes to the same aspect ratio.
RIPBOT264 -With Ripbot i click on settings to auto crop & also keep same aspect ratio. My final encode is good and Mediainfo gives me 720x576
Handbrake - My Encode when read with media info is 720x424 - How come Its 424 & not 576. Is one of these programs getting the aspect right or wrong or are they both right. Have i selected soemthing not right in either of the programs.

Handbrakes settings - I have ticked keep aspect ratio and selected anamorphic strict. Selected framerate same as source.

So I have two different problemes with the same film with these two programs

I do really like handbrake but Handbrake does not give me AVC settings, profile and X264 preset that i get with Ripbot.


Anyone able to help a hand.
Both films view ok on VLC player apart from the audio issue with the ripbot version. I dont understand why.

Hope i have made sense this time.

Thanks

[hello_hello]

If the DVD is 16:9 but the actual video has a wider aspect ratio (which forces the use of black bars top and bottom), then after you've cropped the black bars what's left should be the correct picture aspect ratio (1.35 or 1.4 etc). If all works correctly the player will add the black bars back on playback.

Handbrake appears to be doing the right thing. It's cropping the black bars which leaves 424 pixels of height and that's what it's encoding.

It seems you've not quite got your head around the distinction between resolution and aspect ratio (which is fairly normal as I think most people struggle with it initially). 720x576 is the resolution before cropping. 720x424 is the resolution after cropping.
If the video uses square pixels then the resolution and picture aspect ratio will be the same thing. As DVDs don't use square pixels the aspect ratio is different to the resolution.

The formula is:
Storage Aspect Ratio (resolution) x pixel aspect ratio = display aspect ratio.

It's a bit hard to explain briefly, but if you alter one of the above then you must also alter another in order not to distort the picture. In HandBrake's case it's changing the storage aspect ratio (resolution) by removing the black bars, the pixel aspect ratio remains the same so the display aspect ratio must also be altered accordingly. I'd assume it's setting the display aspect ratio to around 2.4:1 which would leave the picture displaying correctly. That's the "normal" way to do it. After cropping you're encoding the remaining pixels "as-is". If your player doesn't support aspect ratios in MKV/MP4 files it won't display properly. The picture will probably look squashed, but that's not Handbrake's fault.

RipBot appears to be removing the black bars (I assume) and then resizing the remaining picture to 720x576. I don't use it but maybe that's what "keep aspect ratio" means to RipBot. If it's resizing to 720x576 after cropping and keeping the original 16:9 aspect ratio, then that's not what you want to do. It won't display correctly.

The whole idea of anamorphic encoding is to negate any quality loss which might incur due to resizing the DVD. It's normal for each DVD to require slightly different cropping to remove the black bars which means it might pay to try to forget your "same resolution each time" preference. Likewise even though the DVD is 16:9 that includes the black bars, so after cropping, DVD encodes will have different aspect ratios too.

RipBot uses DGIndex to extract the original audio. It should save the extracted audio to your hard drive. The file name given to the extracted audio should also include the audio delay, if any. When the output file is created the delay should be automatically applied. The process generally works flawlessly so I've no idea what's going wrong. An audio delay of -49ms would be in the "normal" range. An audio delay of -49s would be very unusual.