DVD to PC Best Quality Possible

[bnwbass]

Hello,

What format should be used to backup DVD movies to PC and maintain the highest quality for play back other than the native VOB? My goal is to reduce the file size from ~4GB down to ~1-2GB and get the best quality possible.

Thx
Bnw

[redwudz]

MKV/H.264 would be two good choices if you want good quality and small file sizes, but they take a lot of computer power and time to encode. Quicker would be Xvid/Divx, but not as compact at the same quality. You can try autoGK for Xvid/Divx or XviD4PSP for MKV/H.264. Or FairUse Wizard is easy to use. There is a freeware version. A commercial DVD will also need to be decrypted first. DVDFab HD Decrypter is a good freeware solution.

[yoda313]

fyi mkv/h.264 might be better quality and more geared for future applications but for right now divx/xvid is probably a better choice. Should you wish to play them on a device other than your computer the transfer should be easier.

Though h264 should start getting much more compatibility in the near future. Just be on the notice that divx/xvid is already pretty universally accepted for portable player applications/dvd players. (though like everything one size does not fit all and there are exceptions to every rule - plus some reencoding may be necessary but you'd be better off reencoding from the original dvd for that).

[bnwbass]

Thanks for the responses, I plan to play back with HTPC on a 720p HD display with full 5.1 home theater sound components and will most likely move the files into Microsoft media center library. I don't want to much file compression as to degrade the video quality.

thx
bnw

[greymalkin]

if you're using a pc you could also try ffdshow to upconvert the video for watching on hd panels.

[yoda313]

move the files into Microsoft media center library

You should look into converting them to WMV video files for Media Center. You can do things like divx in Media Center but you would have to install registry hacks in order to do so. If you're not comfortable doing that direct conversion from dvd to wmv would be a better solution.

I use the pay program corel dvd copy 6 for conversion to wmv. I rip the dvd first then use the program to copy to wmv for my ZUNE and it works very well.

SUPER is one of many programs that can convert VOB files to WMV.

Just be warned that Media Center typically only likes WMV video files natively. Other formats require some manipulation.