Does ripping method affects end quality?

[twen]

I've been reading the method to rip DVD to VCD using SmartRipper, DVD2AVI and TMPGEnc, it seems so complicated and too many steps. I'm sort of an in between newbie and advanced user, so bare with me.

My first question to you guys out there is: If I use DVDx 1.8 to rip a DVD, which allows me to select chapters thus I can precut to fit on 2 CD-R (VCD) later and after it's done they are already in MPG-1 format. This way I skip two steps (DVD2AVI & TMPGEnc). Will the quality of the MPG-1 be different from the one using all three programs? If so, why? Which step(s) made them different and what affected the quality?

My second question is: I'm using NTI CD-Maker 2000 Plus, which has VCD & SVCD burning function. Does burning software affect quality? If I use VCDEasy to burn will the quality be better?

Last question: Does burning speed affect quality? My burner is at 24x, if I lowered the burning speed will it make the quality better? I'd appreciate any help to clarify my doubts.

[twen]

Too bad nobody has responded to my questions. I read in the FAQ that burning speed not really affect the quality. I know that unless I know how the settings are set in my NTI-CD Maker 2000 while burning VCD/SVCD there is no definite answer to my question about quality comparison.

But, somebody got to be able to answer my first question: Is using DVDx as good as using Smart Ripper, DVD2AVI & TMPPGEnc? Any DVDx users out there whom are completely satisfied with the quality produced by DVDx?

[theDruid]

First off - I'm certainly no expert! but here's my opinion:

I have used DVDx and not been particularly happy with the quality. However, I think a lot depends on what plug-ins (if any) you use.

I personally prefer the Panasonic Encoder (which I believe you can use with DVDx), but many others do not (see other forum threads eg. http://forum.vcdhelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=70980&highlight=panasonic+tmpgenc) I have tried DVDx with other plug-ins, (eg. BBEnc) but still not been that impressed.

I use SmartRipper, then FlaskMPEG (with the Panasonic Encoder), and then TMPGenc if I need to do one last run through to ensure compliance to VCD standards. I then burn with Nero, using the VCD template / wizard.

There seem to be hundreds of different combinations of how you can use all the tools available, and I suppose the trick is to be patient, experiment lots, and see what method produces the results you're most happy with. It seems to be quite a subjective thing - as there are tradeoffs between speed, quality, smoothness, sharpness / accuracy etc..

One last thing is that it is implied in your post that you use DVDx to actually read straight from the DVD, and produce a .mpg file. Have you seen all the warnings about the possibility of wrecking your CD drive if you do this? I think the problem is that the access time might be very long (maybe 8 hours+ depending on various things), and most DVD drives are not designed to be active for this long. Something like SmartRipper avoids this (depending on the speed of your DVD drive it can sometimes only take 15 mins or less). It's not much hassle to use & then DVDx (or FlaskMPEG etc..) can read from the IFO files SmartRipper puts on your hard drive.

Hope this is of some help... and anyone else reading this who thinks I'm talking rubbish - feel free to say so... I'm here to learn, like so many others.

cheers,

theDruid

[Shuggie]

Too bad nobody has responded to my questions. I read in the FAQ that burning speed not really affect the quality.

Depends what you mean by quality. I find too high a burning speed can introduce errors. Errors can cause the disc to not play at all or play with 'glitches'. However there's no general reduction in quality - the quality in that sense depends on the encode process.

I find I can get away with higher burn speeds with better quality CD-Rs.

HTH

[NewToDvd]

Well, i'm really new to this but after experimenting with a few different progs/bitrate's/settings here's what work's for me :

I rip the full DVD to harddisk with "CladDvd XP 1.3" and then use "DVDx" to encode the movie (no plugin selected).

Instead of encoding it to Mpeg-2 i encode it to Mpeg-1 but with a higher bitrate (1830) then "DVDx" it's default for Mpeg-1, in that way you get a very nice quality on tv (outstanding actually) and it always fit's on two 74 minute's CD-R's (sound kept dolby surround with a bitrate of 160)

Last week i experimented a lot with this and while Mpeg-2 give's a slightly higher quality it take's more time to encode (8 hours longer or more then with Mpeg-1-high bitrate) and one or two more CD-R('s) to store the movie.

Now while Mpeg-2 give's a higher quality, it's only visible on my pc-monitor, there's no noticable difference between the two format's on my television (might be more of an issue if you use a very big tv, don't know really).

Just my two cent's.

edit :

Sorry, forgot to mention :

I use VCDeasy to create the image's (bin/cue file's) and then use blindwrite to burn them to cd-r at full speed (12x), no loss of quality occurs, the VCD's have the same quality as the Mpeg file's and are without glitche's or error's.

[davemcg37]

after a lot of experimenting and teacoasters i found that if i burn faster than 8x speed then i get a lot of glitches on my finished vcd. 4x speed i get no probs at all. it may take longer but the trade off is well worth it. i use dvdecrypter to rip the vobs,dvd2avi to make the d2v & ac3 files,tmpgenc to make the vcd(s) and nero to burn. im certainly no expert at this but i find these progs VERY easy to use and the whole process from start to finish takes on ave 6hours to do a 2vcd copy. i used to make a divx copy b4 i tmpgenc but that takes 4-5 hours longer and you lose quality. i tried dvd2avi instead - its great....hope this helps

[Akai Rounin]

BURNING Questions...?

My first question to you guys out there is: If I use DVDx 1.8 to rip a DVD, which allows me to select chapters thus I can precut to fit on 2 CD-R (VCD) later and after it's done they are already in MPG-1 format. This way I skip two steps (DVD2AVI & TMPGEnc). Will the quality of the MPG-1 be different from the one using all three programs? If so, why? Which step(s) made them different and what affected the quality?

I haven't used DVDx so I have no direct experience with it. As I understand the process, the reason for using DVD2AVI and then TMPGEnc is that you have better control on the output. You can fine tune the video to: a) fit your needs; and b) fit your taste for quality. Again, I don't know for sure, but I suspect one-click solution programs like DVDx and DVD2SVCD don't allow as complete a level of control for such things. Even if they do, the setup required to make them work as efficiently certainly removes the one-click concept, right?

My second question is: I'm using NTI CD-Maker 2000 Plus, which has VCD & SVCD burning function. Does burning software affect quality? If I use VCDEasy to burn will the quality be better?

I have had the misfortune of being saddled with NTI CD-Maker 2000 Plus as well... I think it rather sucks. Using NTI my VCDs were limited to a maximum total capacity of 700 MB on an 80 min CD-R. However, I could increase both the bandwidth and play length using VCDEasy because I could burn as much as 805 MB to the exact same brand of CD-R! This is due to the included CDR-DAO functionality of VCDEasy. Some of the stuff you are putting on two discs could still fit on one with VCDEasy. Or, if you just want to maximize quality you could get two higher quality discs using VCDEasy. I found that VCDs burned with NTI were more likely to draw a NO DISC error in standalone players.

Last question: Does burning speed affect quality? My burner is at 24x, if I lowered the burning speed will it make the quality better? I'd appreciate any help to clarify my doubts.

The discs I've burned at 32x on a new LiteON burner look just as good as those previously burned at 8x on an older BTC burner. So I think that whatever burn rate your system can handle without churning out pure coasters would be just fine.

Unta Glebin Gloutin Globin,

Akai Rounin, The Cyber Sage

[Executioner]

I'll have to second that. Burning anything over 8x increases errors in the quality of the movie. I burn all mine at 4x to avoid any problems. For example, my Sony DvD player will not play sound on VCD's burned at anything over 8x.

On Divx 1.8, I've used this program just this week to try out. I made a VCD of Caddy Shack. The quality was not as good as my 5 step process:
1. Smart Ripper
2. DvD2AVI
3. TMPGEnc
4. 4. Chapter X Tractor
5. VCD Easy

When I make a VCD, I always select the higest quality setting: "motion search precision" at "highest quality very slow". This can add hours to the encoding, but the difference is night and day.

I'm going to try Divx 1.8 again, but select higher quality settings.