Getting DVDs to MPEG4-SP or MPEG4-AVC

[WoWchamp]

I want to get DVDs into the MPEG4-SP or MPEG4-AVC format so that I can use them on my Playstation 3.

A program called PS3 Video 9 will convert most video files into the above mentioned but It wont rip a DVD movie to these formats. Ripping the DVD to VOB/IFO files doesn't help. It did it but made a real mess. Audio and video were out of sync and the video was pixelated.

I know that if I ripped the dvd to xvid and then ran it through said program that it would work fine however I don't wan to do both steps. If its possible I'd like to just go off the VOB files or my un encrypted dvd backups.

Any FREE way to do this?

[WoWchamp]

So nothing on this?

[redwudz]

If you have a decrypted DVD, such as output from DVDFab Decrypter or similar on your hard drive, you should be able to convert the DVD movie to one large MPEG with VOB2MPEG. From there, you should be able to convert it to the format you want. I'm not familiar with that format, but SUPER can convert to many formats. That might be one program to look at.

From there, look in: https://www.videohelp.com/tools?s=36#36 for various other programs that might do the job.

Unfortunately for what you want, it may take more than one step.

And welcome to our forums.

[WoWchamp]

Looks like this may work, the VOB2MPG program put out an MPEG thats exactly the same quality as DVD and did it in about 6 min.

Seems its faster to put the Video TS folder on the hard drive then it is to rip it from the DVD. I did Without a Paddle first, but then again I'll do another test to see wether or not it takes as long or less time to do it strait from the disk without getting DVD files from shrink if you consider the time it takes to get the DVD files onto the computer vs the time it takes converting from VOB files on the HDD already.

[WoWchamp]

SUCCESS!

It does work, however I'd like to know how I can get this MPEG thats the same size as the dvd (3.57 GB I think) and take it to about half. I wouldn't really lose THAT much quailty would I?

[redwudz]

If you wanted to reduce the size by half, then you could re-encode it and set the bitrate to about half. How good this would look and how much quality loss you would have depends on the bitrate you select and the quality of the original video.

For example, I used the VideoHelp Bitrate calculator and input a 2 hour video, then set the output size to about half that of a DVD. I got back a bitrate of about 2300kbps. That's generally too low for Full D1 quality, (720 x 576 ) but with 1/2 D1( 352 x 576) framesize, it should look a little better than a VCD. For information on 1/2 D1 and other DVD specifications, see 'WHAT IS' DVD to the upper left on this page. If your video is shorter, then the bitrate may end up a little higher, but for me, anything below about 4000kbps with full D1 doesn't look that good.

You can take about a 5-10 minute representative clip from your video and try that with different bitrate settings. That may give you an idea how it will look before committing yourself to a long encode.

Another alternative is ReJig, which does the same for a MPEG as DVD Shrink does for a DVD in reducing the size.

Of course I should add that I am only referring to MPEG bitrates and compression. If you use a MPEG-4 codec, you can get down to half the size easily and still retain a fair amount of quality.

[a1677c]

Wowchamp I am using http://www.mp4converter.net/mp4-converter-win.html however it will set you back $30 you can trial it with 5 min clips. The quality is pretty good and you can batch up your dvd's whether you want to queue up 1 or 100 & then walk away and go about your business. The quality isn't as good as Nero recode but the mp4's that recode makes evidently aren't compliant mp4's. I have been doing some testing using a memory stick to ps3 of test mp4's. Unfortunately for whatever reason the program cuts off the sides of the video in 720 x 480-480p & I haven't figured out why. I had given some thought to making my ripped dvd's into mpg's then using ps3 video 9 however it seemed far too time consuming when one is doing 20 or so dvd's. A question I have for you is have you been succesfull putting your mpeg4's on a external HDD formatting it to FAT32 using windows os? I know that Windows will make a 32 gb size without some sort of program to work around this. what I would like to do is format a external HDD to FAT 32 & play back my mp4's via my ps3. Any help with your experience with this thus far would greatly be appreciated. I am surprised no one has made a guide on this process yet.

Thanks,
WF

[evol4pm]

I have been using Nero recode to convert my mpeg2 movies into Nero Digital (mpeg4 ASP) and Nero Digital AVC (H.264), and have never had any problems playing back on PS3.

but unfortunately, Recode it's not free..