New to ffmpegX A few questions about settings ect!!

[HELLZWINDSTAFF]

Hi All!
I've read quite a few threads but I'll ask a few questions anyway

My main goal was just to find a program that I can work with Video_ts Folders by adding custom subs ect..

I found Jubler and have made a few scripts, timings ect..

I went ahead and loaded ffmpegX into my Mac as it's about the only program (low cost) that will let me drop my .srt's onto my video's without working with .avi ect. My main question is: What would be the best setting to convert my .ts to that will not downgrade the quality?

This is what I have so far.

I loaded my Vid_ts in, Then used the window and picked DVD-mpeg2enc mpeg-2 720x576 7500 kbps
25fps no crop ac3 48000 384kbs

Now what should I use under the options? There's 12 different boxes and I have no clue what each does to affect my video?

Are my settings so far about the best quality I can keep by using ffmpegX?

Thanks in advance.

[Case]

Try if this works for your situation:

Step 1/ Put the content of the DVD in an .mpg file. This is fast and preserves the video quality, as it is only a format change without re-encoding.
I like to use MPEG Streamclip for this. Open the VTS_01_1.VOB in MPEG Streamclip. It will ask: Do you want to open this stream as DVD? If you choose 'Yes' then pick the DVD Title (VTS) number (probably "1"). If you choose 'No', then VTS 01 is assumed. Would you like to open all the files of the stream together? 'Open all files' will treat the whole VTS as one. (If you do not have the Apple QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component, MPEG STreamclip will notice that and warn you about it. However, for this operation it is not strictly needed. 'Continue'.) Warning the stream may have timecode breaks. 'Fix now'. File>Convert to MPEG. Manually rename .mpeg to .mpg.
This gives output with just one video angle and one audio stream, as Convert to MPEG is limited to that.

Step 2/ Add you .srt file to the .mpg file in ffmpegX, Tools tab, Author sub-tab.
ffmpegX will convert the .srt subtitle to DVD style subtitle and mux it with the .mpg into a newly authored VIDEO_TS folder.
This works for a DVD with just one title, as ffmpegX doesn't provide options for multiple titles when authoring.

[HELLZWINDSTAFF]

Try if this works for your situation:

Step 1/ Put the content of the DVD in an .mpg file. This is fast and preserves the video quality, as it is only a format change without re-encoding.
I like to use MPEG Streamclip for this. Open the VTS_01_1.VOB in MPEG Streamclip. It will ask: Do you want to open this stream as DVD? If you choose 'Yes' then pick the DVD Title (VTS) number (probably "1"). If you choose 'No', then VTS 01 is assumed. Would you like to open all the files of the stream together? 'Open all files' will treat the whole VTS as one. (If you do not have the Apple QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component, MPEG STreamclip will notice that and warn you about it. However, for this operation it is not strictly needed. 'Continue'.) Warning the stream may have timecode breaks. 'Fix now'. File>Convert to MPEG. Manually rename .mpeg to .mpg.
This gives output with just one video angle and one audio stream, as Convert to MPEG is limited to that.

Step 2/ Add you .srt file to the .mpg file in ffmpegX, Tools tab, Author sub-tab.
ffmpegX will convert the .srt subtitle to DVD style subtitle and mux it with the .mpg into a newly authored VIDEO_TS folder.
This works for a DVD with just one title, as ffmpegX doesn't provide options for multiple titles when authoring.

Thanks for the great tip. The streamclip works nice. Way faster then the ffmpegX at encoding, at least for me.
BUT!!! I ran into a weird problem.

I followed all your steps to synch my subs in the Tools>Author. It didn't create a video_ts folder but it wrote over my original .mpg instead? It made the folders for the .Vobs. But when it got to that part in just said WARN skipping vob. So I closed it down. That's when I tossed the original .Mpg back into FFmpegx DROP FILE here and gave it a preview. Bam it was overwritten with the subs burnt in. Ok that's fine.. That part worked, but now I have no audio? If I dump it into Toast 9, audio is fine?
It says it's there in FFmpegX... But thats not a problem...
The problem is I want to toss a re-ripped .mpg (same title) back into FFmpegX so I can lower the subs down to 95 or so.
I do all my settings and go to Encode and it gives me an error.

ERROR: Could not open movie: /Users/Mark/Desktop/VTS_01_1.mpg
**ERROR: [yuvscaler] Could'nt read YUV4MPEG header!
**ERROR: [mpeg2enc] Could not read YUV4MPEG2 header: system error (failed read/write)!


I'm at a loss??? I'd really like to lower these subs

Thanks in advance!!

[Case]

The DVD mpeg2enc preset defaults to decoding with QuickTime. This will only work if QuickTime can read your source MPEG-2 video, i.e. if you have the MPEG-2 Playback Component installed.

Without that component, you shouldn't decode DVD/MPEG-2 with QuickTime, and use an alternative decoder: mplayer (Decode with mplayer selected) or ffmpeg (both QuickTime and mplayer de-selected).
However, I prefer decoding with QuickTime, as it prevents some other possible issues.

[HELLZWINDSTAFF]

The DVD mpeg2enc preset defaults to decoding with QuickTime. This will only work if QuickTime can read your source MPEG-2 video, i.e. if you have the MPEG-2 Playback Component installed.

Without that component, you shouldn't decode DVD/MPEG-2 with QuickTime, and use an alternative decoder: mplayer (Decode with mplayer selected) or ffmpeg (both QuickTime and mplayer de-selected).
However, I prefer decoding with QuickTime, as it prevents some other possible issues.

Thanks for all the tips but after doing a few dvds with ffmpegx my opinion is it's junk.
No hard feelings to the makers of course. It's has to many options which sounds good on paper but not in reality.
There is no way to stop re-encoding and compression. The sub-title funtion is crap, which is why I mainly needed it.

I've tried all different ways of decoding, Streamclip is AWESOME but it uses Quicktime, so there goes the ac3 out the window.
Even with several (ac3 decoders)

A program I found thats works AMAZING is MovieGate.
It still uses the ffmpeg and mencoder engines, but has the funtion to not re-encode and handles ac3 6.1 perfectly. And the sub funtion works flawless.

Very simple program that won't break the bank... Yeah ffmpegx is free-but I guess that's why? I'd want a refund

[Case]

If MovieGate works for you, that's great. You have to stick to the tools that help you get the job done.

Neither soft is free. ffmpegX: shareware ($15). MovieGate: trialware ($15).