Shrink DVDs without losing much quality

[ssusca]

I have a DVD library of around 420 movies(standard definition). I have ripped all of them to my hard drive(s) (main movie only) in .iso format. I am however trying to conserve some HD space so I would like to re-encode them to another format to hopefully shrink the file size down about 50% without losing much video quality. I usually watch these movies on my projector (~100 inch screen) so any serious quality loss would be undesirable.

Does anybody have any suggestions on which format I can convert to in order to do what I am trying to do? I haven't been on these forums in quite a while and am a little behind in some of the newer tools/formats and what they can do.

TIA

[jagabo]

h.264+AC3. I'd use x264 at CRF 18 or so. Try an easy front end like Xvid4PSP.

[lowellriggsiam]

Try using Handbreak. You can convert it to MKV and it does a good job. It would also convert it down by about 50% and you can even preserve the subtitles and audio tracks..or eliminate them if that is your wish.

[ssusca]

I was just reading the guide on handbreak and it says that you can only hard encode subtitles. Does this mean that the subtitles are always shown? I would like only the subtitles shown for parts of a movie that are not in english. I think they are called forced subtitles(?)

Can handbreak do this?

[lowellriggsiam]

It appears that forced subs are on option. This function would be helpful on movies like Star Wars.

[ssusca]

Exactly what I was thinking. Thanks a lot. I'll give it a try this weekend.