Blu-Ray to DVD, what do I need ?

[Kweldood]

Will be needing to convert a blu-ray movie to DVD.

I don't deal with blu-ray itself and have 0 experience with it (contrary to DVD), and I don't even know its file structure yet.

If there is a tutorial please give me a link, if not, please just tell me what programs I need and what steps are involved, in basic terms.

I assume that one-click solutions won't provide optimum quality, so that's not what I'm after - I'd rather have a little more trouble with a proper re-encoding method for the best possible final results.

Thanks!


P.S. - Not sure if this is the best forum section for what I need, please move if deemed appropriate. Thank you.

[DB83]

Is there any blu-ray movie that is not also on dvd ?

I think there are some guides here on ripping blu-ray and converting but why go to all that trouble when you can just get the dvd.

[mrswla]

use bdrb. Select movie-only backup then alternate movie-only output. Select either dvd-5 (single layer) or dvd-9 (dual layer). Then click backup. Resulting folder will be dvd format.

[ricoman]

Thanks mrswla, I've used BDRB for backing up bluray and it's great, but didn't realize you can convert to SD to with it. I've been using MultiAVCHD for BD to SD conversion, and just tried BDRB with True Grit. BDRB is a lot easier and comes out fine but I think the MultiAVCHD comes out with better PQ, probably because it use HCEnc 2-pass mode. Excellent PQ. But there is a bigger learning curve and it might take a couple of tries before you get it right. So, if I'm in a hurry, I'll use BDRB, but if PQ means a lot, then MultiAVCHD.

[jman98]

I haven't tried the DVD-5 or DVD-9 options in BDRebuilder but I thought that all they did was just more compression, not conversion to DVD format. I'd suggest testing that to be sure it works as mrswla says.

[DB83]

I haven't tried the DVD-5 or DVD-9 options in BDRebuilder but I thought that all they did was just more compression, not conversion to DVD format. I'd suggest testing that to be sure it works as mrswla says.

Well Baldrick's guide at

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/335372-How-to-convert-Blu-ray-to-standard-DVD-Video...ing-free-tools

suggests that you will get a dvd5 or dvd9 from this.

But, again, I fail to see the point.

Blu-ray has its own compression. Dvd has its own compression. Inter-convert and you will lose quality. There seems IMHO no logic in archiving blu-ray to dvd5 or dvd9 when you can simply get the dvd5/dvd9 commercial version which should be optimally encoded for that media.

If you must archive blu-ray then you rip and archive in the same format or, atleast, a higher compression of the same format. Anything else, IMHO, defies logic.

[ricoman]

It's not always a matter of archiving, many people own the bluray version of a movie but want a copy for the kids portable players or the players in the minivans etc. What may look soft due to compression on a big screen, still looks awesome on a small screen or laptop. So the option to not only backup to BD but then make an SD copy is very good for some.

[mrswla]

It's not always a matter of archiving, many people own the bluray version of a movie but want a copy for the kids portable players or the players in the minivans etc. What may look soft due to compression on a big screen, still looks awesome on a small screen or laptop. So the option to not only backup to BD but then make an SD copy is very good for some.

That is exactly what I use it for. If a blu-ray comes with a dvd for no extra money, that's great. But if there is a single blu-ray and a more expensive blu-ray with dvd version, I'll opt for the less expensive single blu-ray and will use bdrb or cx2d to convert to dvd!

[Kweldood]

But, again, I fail to see the point.

I have good news for you - YOU DON'T NEED TO!


Thank you very much mrswla, I hadn't been so optimistic as to presume we were already there. And once again jdobbs makes my life easier, bless that guy!

ricoman - I haven't seen BD-RB yet (downloading as I type this!), but wouldn't the quality depend on what encoder you use with it, as with DVD-RB ? I might check MultiAVCHD all the same, thanks for the tip.

[mrswla]

Thank you very much mrswla, I hadn't been so optimistic as to presume we were already there. And once again jdobbs makes my life easier, bless that guy!

I suggest donating so $$. I do at the end of each year. $50 is what I do. I believe this is a fair amount for such a great program.

ricoman - I haven't seen BD-RB yet (downloading as I type this!), but wouldn't the quality depend on what encoder you use with it, as with DVD-RB ? I might check MultiAVCHD all the same, thanks for the tip.

I believe it uses x264 encoder, but not sure. I just know it works, and the results are acceptable for me. I still have yet to use MultiAVCHD, I've heard good things about it but haven't had the time to check it out yet.

[ricoman]

ricoman - I haven't seen BD-RB yet (downloading as I type this!), but wouldn't the quality depend on what encoder you use with it, as with DVD-RB ? I might check MultiAVCHD all the same, thanks for the tip.

BDRB doesn't really give you a choice of encoder except for X264 Encoder & FFmpeg Encoder (as far as I can tell anyway). I would love for HCencoder to be a choice, IMHO it's the best free encoder out there. I use it in DVDRB & MultiAVCHD.

[mrswla]

I would love for HCencoder to be a choice, IMHO it's the best free encoder out there.

It is in the tools directory of bdrb, but don't know when it's used or if it's used at all. Maybe that's a good question to ask over at doom9.

[fritzi93]

Well, HCencoder is an MPEG2 encoder. I always assumed BDRB used it for DVD-Video output.

X264 encoder is of course used for encoding AVC (H264), as to using ffmpeg, that option has been grayed out since, well the first release of BDRB, unless I missed something.

[Kerry56]

BD Rebuilder does use HCenc for mpeg2 conversion and uses a two pass encode the times I have used it.

The last time I tried it, BD Rebuilder failed in the remux process. I believe the subtitles were giving it fits. I had to take the m2v and ac3 files from the working files folder and author to dvd using a different program. Didn't really need the subtitles on that one, so I left them out when I authored in DVD Lab Pro. Results were fine, but blu ray to dvd isn't always dirt simple.

[ricoman]

BD Rebuilder does use HCenc for mpeg2 conversion and uses a two pass encode the times I have used it.

The last time I tried it, BD Rebuilder failed in the remux process. I believe the subtitles were giving it fits. I had to take the m2v and ac3 files from the working files folder and author to dvd using a different program. Didn't really need the subtitles on that one, so I left them out when I authored in DVD Lab Pro. Results were fine, but blu ray to dvd isn't always dirt simple.

I stand corrected, I opened up the Tools folder in BDRB & there it was HCenc. I had no problems converting True Grit from BD to SD.