How to convert burned DVD back to digital file

[LaHellya]

A few years ago, I ripped a large number of DVD's and copied to disc. I used DVD decrypter, and then shrank the file with DVD shrink.

Now I want to get rid of all my burned DVD's and convert back to a digital file. What's the best way to get the highest quality? I copied the entire DVD, with menus, extras, etc. I only care about the movie now.

I plan on streaming through XBMC/Apple TV or Playstation 3.

If the answer is Handbrake, what settings would give me the best quality?

Thanks a lot!

[smrpix]

I copied the entire DVD

That's the best quality you're going to get. You can run it through DVD Decrypter again to get rid of the parts you don't want if it's worth your time to do so. But no point in further conversion. Many players will handle iso's of DVDs just fine. (Can't speak to yours specifically.)

[redwudz]

I use VidCoder, a GUI for Handbrake for DVD conversions. I use quality based encoding to MKV. Setting of 19.3, but you could use higher as your original quality is lower, start with 20. AC3 audio set to passthrough. Video settings, Detelecine and Decomb at default. All other settings I leave alone. This gives me an output file of ~2 GB and decent quality.

[Ai Haibara]

If you're concerned with quality, why not return to the original DVDs, and re-rip them, then use either VOB2MPEG on them, or MakeMKV (which has its own ripper, as I recall)? Both of those should give you a video file that's unchanged from the original DVD (after which, you can always convert from that if you want a smaller video). Or, just use the ripped VIDEO_TS folders/ISOs, if you can stream those. It's hard to tell what kind of quality hits the DVDs might have taken by being run through DVD Shrink, at least without looking at the results.

[theewizard]

you can do a format change of the main movie into mp4 ? your choice and use H264 encoding and get a smaller file

BUT YOU WILL NEVER ..be able to get better quality

the best quality was the OEM mfg DVD, you lost some quality when you shrank the movies, you can never get that back

if you still have all DVD's you could start over, copying and then converting to another format, and arrive at 'near' original quality in a smaller size using h264 encoding

[LaHellya]

Thanks a lot for all the replies. I probably should have been more specific. I no longer have the original DVD's, so I'm just trying to get the best quality from the burned DVD that I can.

[filmboss80]

I no longer have the original DVD's, so I'm just trying to get the best quality from the burned DVD that I can.

So, your burned DVDs are no longer fair-use backup copies of DVDs you actually own?

[theewizard]

best you can Do is vobtompg on the main movie
or
dvdshrink the main movie at 100%, meaning No shrinking just removing menus etc..
but the file size change will not be worth it
menus and extras don't take up that much space
unless the oem was dual layer 3hrs with lots of cut scences
and you will nver get back the quality lost

just copy the DVDs to a large hard drive
the best quality you will ever have is the 'current' vobs
converting to a compressed format avi mkv mp4 means qualify loss