been using dvd2svcd but...

[rumplestiltskin]

I'm not sure if this will be of any help to you but this is what is working well for me. I've been using TinySoft's Super DVD Ripper to rip directly from DVD to mpeg2. There is nothing else I've had to install. While the program will split the mpeg2 (on the fly) to specific CD sizes (74min/80min), I prefer to let it rip as one mpeg2 and then split it using AVI/MPEG Splitter from boilsoft. I can then split the movie between scenes instead of letting it happen in the middle of a car chase or, ahem, a love scene.

The only downside to SuperDVD Ripper is that there is no facility for changing the bitrate (beyond ripping to VCD or Divx). In other words, the mpeg2 file generated by the software results in SVCDs that are a maximum of about 39-40 minutes long. It takes an extra CD or two for the whole movie but the quality is absolutely first rate.

Hope this helps.

Barry

[vamp1re]

thanx mate will give that a go

[sk]

Hey, Rumple...thanks. That truly sounds like the best/easiest program yet. And it looks like it'll give 10 SVCD's in its trial. Thanks a lot.

http://www.dvdtodivx.net/index.htm

Aside from the bit rate issue and the "where to cut" issue, have you been satiafied with the audio and video quality? (I assume there's no audio configuration either, right? It must use some routine to down sample from 48Khz to 44.1.) Also, have you ever tried shrinking it after running the program, before cutting it?

sk

[Adder_78]

Hey, Rumple...thanks. That truly sounds like the best/easiest program yet. And it looks like it'll give 10 SVCD's in its trial. Thanks a lot.

http://www.dvdtodivx.net/index.htm

That is ripoff... (AFAIK)

[sk]

Hey, Rumple...thanks. That truly sounds like the best/easiest program yet. And it looks like it'll give 10 SVCD's in its trial. Thanks a lot.

http://www.dvdtodivx.net/index.htm

That is ripoff... (AFAIK)

How so? I've spent the better part of two weeks, with ONE ... count it ... ONE viable SVCD...sort of viable...I can only fast forward at 8x...can't fast forward backward at ANY speed...to show for my efforts. And I have already spent $50 for NTiCD/DVD Maker because EZCD Creator 5.1, which I've been using for 2 years for CD burning - not a single coaster during that time - really couldn't handle SVCD. And have considered the $50 CCE Basic, which is limited, to say the least. So how exactly is a shareware program that gives you the opportunity to try it out on 10 SVCD's a rip off at $40?

sk

[Adder_78]

Hey, Rumple...thanks. That truly sounds like the best/easiest program yet. And it looks like it'll give 10 SVCD's in its trial. Thanks a lot.

http://www.dvdtodivx.net/index.htm

That is ripoff... (AFAIK)

How so? I've spent the better part of two weeks, with ONE ... count it ... ONE viable SVCD...sort of viable...I can only fast forward at 8x...can't fast forward backward at ANY speed...to show for my efforts. And I have already spent $50 for NTiCD/DVD Maker because EZCD Creator 5.1, which I've been using for 2 years for CD burning - not a single coaster during that time - really couldn't handle SVCD. And have considered the $50 CCE Basic, which is limited, to say the least. So how exactly is a shareware program that gives you the opportunity to try it out on 10 SVCD's a rip off at $40?

sk

Because it's using freeware software (AFAIK) and you will pay for that? that is rip off...

[rumplestiltskin]

You are correct about the re-sampling (48>44.1). I've not tried shrinking the mpeg2 files for two reasons: 1) I haven't clue which program would do the job without ending up with "vcd-like" quality (and I'll gladly use more CDs to get better quality), and 2) The quality of the end product is exceptional - virtually indistinguishable from the original DVD.

Specific to the audio issue: My Apex AD-660 (about 3 yrs old) plays these SVCDs I create but the A/V sync is off by about four seconds. At first I thought there was something wrong with the program but I then played the same SVCDs in an Apex AD-1110W (selling at Walmart for $47) and they play perfectly; so I guess it's time to upgrade my player, eh?

Funny thing (and this is part of another thread I started) is that I also have an ADS Instant DVD (v1, not v2) that has an mpeg encoder chip. I can import - and encode as mpeg1/2 - in real time. The quality does suffer a bit (in comparison to the excellence of the Super DVD Ripper) but there's no real savings in size (minutes per CD). SVCDs I make from those mpeg2 files -will- play properly on the Apex AD-660 (and AD-1110W). I'll have to examine the files much more closely to see what, if anything, if different between the two encoding methods.

I do know that the ADS box only brings in stereo whereas the DVD Ripper software uses the 6-channel sound track. However, I've tried using the 2-channel track on the DVD (where present), and the resulting SVCD still has the sync problem on the AD-660.

I should note that virtually all of my friends who have SVCDs (that give my AD-660 problems) report no problems with their DVD players so it may simply be "my player" that has the problem. At $47 to rectify this, I'm not going to complain.

BTW - I think I saw another poster claim something about the Super DVD Ripper software being a "ripoff". If I did not simply misunderstand the post (and, if I did, never mind), I do want to point out that this software (Super DVD Ripper) does, indeed, work quite well. I have a fairly new PC (Shuttle SV41G2, Athlon2500+ w/Barton core, 512MB RAM, and DVD reader I scrounged out of an old Mac and tossed into a spare FireWire case) and the software achieves about 14fps. It takes about 4.5 hours to rip a 2.5 hour movie and end up with the mpeg2 file.

Also BTW - The files can be authored and burned on both my PC and my Mac with the appropriate software. However, Super DVD Ripper will also do burning if you wish.

Ciao!

http://www.dvdtodivx.net/index.htm

Aside from the bit rate issue and the "where to cut" issue, have you been satiafied with the audio and video quality? (I assume there's no audio configuration either, right? It must use some routine to down sample from 48Khz to 44.1.) Also, have you ever tried shrinking it after running the program, before cutting it?

sk

[sk]

Can't beat it with a stick, rumple!
And thanks again. I think there's a lot to be said for putting together a program that does what it says without having to either go to engineering school to figure out, or else spend one's life in help forums tyring to get to work. Is that worth $35? Yes, IMHO. And please let's not forget that the $35 gives anyone purchasing it a legal copy, and maybe a clearer conscience. I mean...how many folks do you think actually pay $2,000 for CCE-SP? Huh? And of those who don't, I'm SURE they're all running around with logo-enhanced SVCD's, right? Yeah, right. So there are a lot of considerations. I for one am going to give SuperDVDRipper a spin. Thanks again, Rumple.

sk

[Adder_78]

Can't beat it with a stick, rumple!
And thanks again. I think there's a lot to be said for putting together a program that does what it says without having to either go to engineering school to figure out, or else spend one's life in help forums tyring to get to work. Is that worth $35? Yes, IMHO. And please let's not forget that the $35 gives anyone purchasing it a legal copy, and maybe a clearer conscience. I mean...how many folks do you think actually pay $2,000 for CCE-SP? Huh? And of those who don't, I'm SURE they're all running around with logo-enhanced SVCD's, right? Yeah, right. So there are a lot of considerations. I for one am going to give SuperDVDRipper a spin. Thanks again, Rumple.

sk

Yes but you didnt get the point... That software is just made by somebody else. It is just repack freeware utilities without permission! And you will pay for that... Would you like if you made a software and publish the source code under GPL and some idiots try to make money without your permission???

[rumplestiltskin]

Respectfully, you are missing -our- point. I (we) are willing to pay someone to bundle it all together so that it works -properly- "right out of the box", so to speak. While sourceforge has tremendous resources, what is available there is, frankly, from geeks for geeks. Now don't get me wrong; I am a programmer, as well, so I can call someone a geek because I am, too! However, my expertise is not in wiring together a complex tool on the order of a DVD Ripper (and debugging its operation on my PC) when I can pay someone else to do it and have it ready for my immediate use.

In other words: Why build a hammer when you can buy it?

Of course, you may disagree and that's fine; it's why we have these choices.

You did make a point about GPL and that is not completely valid. If you look at much of what's available on OSX (which runs my Macs), you will see UNIX code underlying the GUI. I'm paying for the GUI. I can download Darwin (the underlying OS) for free from Apple. Would I want to run it on my Macs? Not on your life! I've paid Apple for the GUI.

Now, if you are saying that Super DVD Ripper is available in its GUI incarnation from someone else (and was ripped off to be sold as I purchased it), who is this person? I'd like to contact that individual to tell him and pay him. I can dispute the Visa charge to tinysoft if it can be shown that they're doing something illegal.

I hope the tone of this reply is clear; I am not being confrontational and have no wish to start a flame. We're okay, right? *grin*

Regards,
Barry

>Yes but you didnt get the point... That software is just made by >somebody else. It is just repack freeware utilities without permission! >And you will pay for that... Would you like if you made a software and >publish the source code under GPL and some idiots try to make money >without your permission???[/quote]

[Adder_78]

Respectfully, you are missing -our- point. I (we) are willing to pay someone to bundle it all together so that it works

Yes but that's like stealing from someone... If I could hack for example DVD Decrypter and change only the skin of the software and named it something like Super DVD Decrypter. Would you buy that one? For example if you are newbie who dosent know that you could get the same program free...

Everybody should respect the hard work that open source / freeware programmers do! Or else there wouldnt be great ripping programs that we all use! It's not ethically right to support ripoff-software developers!

[sk]

Well, I might as well toss in my two cents again. To begin with I downloaded the trial program of Super DVD Ripper and fired it up. It offered the 10 free full function rips as stated. I popped a new DVD into my computer's DVD ROM, clicked the wizard, and within 5 minutes the program was well on its way towards its eventual 4 hour +/- DVD to SVCD routine. Then I went to sleep.

When I woke up this morning, there were no error messsages; no lockups; no hangs; just one 1.6 GB MPEG-2 file. That's the good news. The not so good news is that it ended up with a distorted aspect ratio view - and I'm not exactly sure why. In fairness, I might not have configured something properly, although there really isn't very much to configure.

Before I left for work, I loaded up the same DVD into DVD2SVCD, using the same configuration settings I'd used for my (to date) one and only successful DVD to SVCD project. I am curious to see the difference between the results of the two programs, although it may be a bit of an unfair comparison. It seems to me - comparing my previous success to this morning's Super DVD Ripper result - that DVD2SVCD is capable of producing a much better product, both with regard to the audio and video. And if you have the patience to follow through the entire configuration guide (actually a couple of configuration guides for DVD2SVCD, but reasonable, and well done guides), then get everything set and saved, you can pretty much just pop in successive DVD's, and as long as they're the same aspect ratio (16:9), everything should pretty much come out the same.

My point here, however, is that while I am more satisfied with the results from DVD2SVCD, Super Ripper DVD clearly has merit in terms of what it says it will do and how it delivers on that promise. And it remains to be seen why my first endeavor resulted in a disfavorable aspect view.

And it's not that I don't understand the whole resentment about taking a freeware product, tweaking it, and then turning around and selling it. I honestly just don't want to debate that very hotly debated subject. I'm not even necessarily saying that I dispute what you're saying. If you read my prior post you can see that it's more like: "Oh, isn't that a little like the pot calling the kettle black" argument.

But after having struggled until my head hurt to try and make heads or tails out of the VCDEasy program, I would have gladly paid MORE than $35 to have something I could actually just load, run, and get even a halfway decent result. And it would be unfair to say that Super DVD Ripper didn't not produce a decent result; it's just not as sharp and polished as DVD2SVCD.

So I guess the bottom line is that everyone has to come to his/her own conclusions on the merits of charging for such a program. I, for one, do not begrudge the folks at Tiny Soft, although I realize that a lot of others do.

sk

[rumplestiltskin]

If your movie aspect ratio is 16:9 (letterbox when played on your TV), then you need to check the "16:9 to 4:3" checkbox which is located somewhere in the wizard's sequential screens. I think it's in the lower left corner of one of the screens. (Sorry, I'm on my Mac as I write this.)

One of the things that you can always do is start up the rippin process, let it go for a few minutes, and then stop it. The program will confirm the "stop" and then do whatever housecleaning it needs to do in order to make what -was- ripped a valid mpeg2 file. This permits you to play with the settings, run a short test, and view the result.

Barry

When I woke up this morning, there were no error messsages; no lockups; no hangs; just one 1.6 GB MPEG-2 file. That's the good news. The not so good news is that it ended up with a distorted aspect ratio view - and I'm not exactly sure why. In fairness, I might not have configured something properly, although there really isn't very much to configure.

sk

[rumplestiltskin]

I'll ask again: Point me to the individual from whom Tinysoft has ripped off the software. The underlying command-line code is well-documented and, be it freeware, I still wouldn't use it unless it's wrapped in a usable GUI -and- does the job without cryptic error messages telling me why it didn't work. Virtually none of the "open-source" programs do this. So, where is the "re-packaging" taking place? Who is the author of the GUI from whom Tinysoft has stolen the software?

As for paying you for your own version of "Super DVD Decrypter"; well, if the open-source program was poorly documented and implemented from a GUI standpoint, and you managed to make it all work in an understandable and consistent manner,...yes, I'd pay you for it (if I needed it). Why? Because you added value to it; value I can easily grasp.

That's how software developer's make money, my friend. Everything is built on the shoulders of those who came before. When an idea is original enough, it can be patented or copyrighted. If the author decides to give it away as "GPL", that's all well and good...but what if the implementation sucks? Does that mean that an author who finds such a work lying moribund and provides the necessary features and options to make it a usable product can't charge for the added value?

Nature provide apple trees; should I not pay the supermarket for apples because they're open-source? Of course not; there is value added (I didn't have to pick them off the tree in Washington) and I, for one, have no problem paying for that service.

Regards,
Barry

Respectfully, you are missing -our- point. I (we) are willing to pay someone to bundle it all together so that it works

Yes but that's like stealing from someone... If I could hack for example DVD Decrypter and change only the skin of the software and named it something like Super DVD Decrypter. Would you buy that one? For example if you are newbie who dosent know that you could get the same program free...

Everybody should respect the hard work that open source / freeware programmers do! Or else there wouldnt be great ripping programs that we all use! It's not ethically right to support ripoff-software developers!

[vamp1re]

seemed to work for me ok..will update again when i actually burn it to svcd

[sk]

If your movie aspect ratio is 16:9 (letterbox when played on your TV), then you need to check the "16:9 to 4:3" checkbox which is located somewhere in the wizard's sequential screens.

I'm pretty sure that's what I selected. The back of the DVD case says: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1. I don't know if that makes any difference. The first DVD had Widescreen Version enhanced for 16:9.

[vamp1re]

mmm nero doesnt seem to like that type of mpg file..

[sk]

mmm nero doesnt seem to like that type of mpg file..

Which type?

[vamp1re]

whatever superdvdripper uses as default.

mpg

[sk]

whatever superdvdripper uses as default.

mpg

What kind of error message(s) did Nero show?

[vamp1re]

says its not supported by svcd format

[sk]

says its not supported by svcd format

that sux

[Adder_78]

I'll ask again: Point me to the individual from whom Tinysoft has ripped off the software. The underlying command-line code is well-documented and, be it freeware, I still wouldn't use it unless it's wrapped in a usable GUI -and- does the job without cryptic error messages telling me why it didn't work. Virtually none of the "open-source" programs do this. So, where is the "re-packaging" taking place? Who is the author of the GUI from whom Tinysoft has stolen the software?

As for paying you for your own version of "Super DVD Decrypter"; well, if the open-source program was poorly documented and implemented from a GUI standpoint, and you managed to make it all work in an understandable and consistent manner,...yes, I'd pay you for it (if I needed it). Why? Because you added value to it; value I can easily grasp.

That's how software developer's make money, my friend. Everything is built on the shoulders of those who came before. When an idea is original enough, it can be patented or copyrighted. If the author decides to give it away as "GPL", that's all well and good...but what if the implementation sucks? Does that mean that an author who finds such a work lying moribund and provides the necessary features and options to make it a usable product can't charge for the added value?

Nature provide apple trees; should I not pay the supermarket for apples because they're open-source? Of course not; there is value added (I didn't have to pick them off the tree in Washington) and I, for one, have no problem paying for that service.

Regards,
Barry

Respectfully, you are missing -our- point. I (we) are willing to pay someone to bundle it all together so that it works

Yes but that's like stealing from someone... If I could hack for example DVD Decrypter and change only the skin of the software and named it something like Super DVD Decrypter. Would you buy that one? For example if you are newbie who dosent know that you could get the same program free...

Everybody should respect the hard work that open source / freeware programmers do! Or else there wouldnt be great ripping programs that we all use! It's not ethically right to support ripoff-software developers!

Like I said before... "as far as I know" it's a ripoff... I don't remember which forum was that topic, but if I remember right one of the software was DVDx (it could be in Doom9's forum but can't say sure)

I understand your point, but dont like it... that apple story could be more like this: your son has stolen those apples and you will pay him because you think that apples should be free for all and you just save time when he steals them and you dont have to... 8)

[sk]

Hey, Adder. Let me just toss this curve ball out there f.w.i.w. Since all of this video editing is relatively new to me, I'm still at that stage where I am enjoying (sometimes) experimenting and trying as many programs as my frazzled mind can handle. (My main "forte" prior to ever even hearing about dvd/svcd/xcvcd, etc. was audio editing of .wav files. This is a whole new ballgame for me.) As such, I was really interested in trying out EazyVCD, especially after I experienced some bumps in the road with Super DVD Ripper. EazyDVD is running now, so I will have to wait until I get home for the final results, but it would be fair to say the least that EazyVCD was every bit as easy to get up and running as Super DVD Ripper. Not only that, but in a lot of ways it was even more straight forward and helpful with its FAQ and GUI.

Now, to the topic of selling "repackaged" freeware programs for a fee. EazyVCD is clearly freeware, unlike Super DVD Ripper, and not to be confused with VCDEasy, which is now shareware. They have similar version numbering: EazyVCD is now at version 1.15a; VCDEasy is at 1.16, and it was at the transition from 1.15 to 1.16 that VCDEasy became shareware.) But even though a program may be freeware, I have, as I'm sure a lot of other people have as well, sent money to freeware authors when I feel that they have created something exceptional, since just because a program is "freeware", it does NOT necessarily mean that it's "free".

To my way of thinking freeware is software that is truly free to use; free of any crippled features; free of any time constraint on its use. And, in fact, free to keep for whomever so chooses. But it certainly wasn't free for the individual or individuals who wrote it and who support it. So my personal feeling is that anyone who can come up with a freeware product, in this day and age, AND have a product on top of that that really fires up my jets, deserves monetary compensation for his/her efforts. I take that step voluntarily; and I'm sure there are plenty of others who as well. But there are other folks who don't. And that's their choice and I don't have a problem with that. But by the same token, when I see someone who has come up with a special product who then chooses to charge a reasonable price, I tend to not get all bent out of shape over it. That's just the way it strikes me. I do, however, recognize that reasonable minds can most definitely reasonably differ on this most knotty subject. Have a great day.

sk

[sk]

BOTTOM LINE: Okee Dokee. I reserve the right to change my mind as I gain more experience with SVCD's, etc., but for now, the best product for me is, without question, EazyVCD! I mean...man. It has not missed a beat from the first time I fired it up. It has made perfect mpg mpeg-2 files; perfect cue/bin files; and last, but not least, perfect xsvcd files, that put a 102 minute movie onto 2 CD's in xsvcd format that ran on my finicky Samsung C691P player, with forward/backward search functioning, excellent sound, and crisp, hi res appearance video quality. No freakin audio/video sync problems; no "10 seconds of silence" at the end of sectioned cuts; no obtuse error messages; no James-Joyce-free-association labyrinth help guides; etc. I honestly just cannot see any reason to need more tweaking or anything else. As a matter of fact, the results are so good, I think I've shelved the notion of getting a DVD burner. Why bother? lol.

Finally, not only would I encourage ANYBODY having problems with their current software to try it, I would encourage anyone currently using EazyVCD who hasn't donated to the author to do so. It's just that good, IMHO.

sk

[rumplestiltskin]

"EazyVCD". I'll give it a try. Thanks very much for your input and recommendations.

I'm not sure who was having trouble with Nero and the mpeg2 files from Super DVD Ripper but I have also seen an occasional glitch after I split the (2 hour) file (with one or two of the segments). I think it's a Nero issue because I copy the files over to my Mac and use vcdBuilder to do the imaging (for the two tracks required by SVCD) and burn the result in Toast. No problems.

You might also try a little trick I've discovered (here at dvdrhelp.com of course). Many DVD players support mpeg1/2 ISO discs. You burn the mpeg2 file as simply a data file on an ISO CD (data only, in other words). The player will see the disc as an mp3 CD and show the on-screen menu. You select your video file and it will play. The downsides are: No fancy menus (BFD, right?), and the file size must be what would normally fit on a data CD (<700MB). Check the player listing at this site for that feature and whether your DVD player will support it. I've used it when other means of imaging the mpeg2 files have failed.

Barry

[rumplestiltskin]

Tried EazyVCD. The "XVCD" and "XSVCD" settings are very nice as they permit me to alter the bitrate to fit the entire DVD into "x" number of CDs. I successfully completed an XVCD project but I think the XSCVD is what I need simply due to the artifacts that appear in the mpeg1 movie. This is not the fault of EazyVCD, of course; that's mpeg1 at the 320x240 size.

I also tried an XSCVD project but, when TMPGenc came up (after EazyVCD pulled the vob's to hard disk), it reported that my 30 day trial of mpeg2 encoding had expired. As it had only been on my PC for 3 hours, I am mystified. Perhaps when the EazyVCD developer bundled everything (as TMPGenc is in a folder inside of the EazyVCD folder), he used a copy that had already been given a "date-stamp", so to speak.

I checked through my drive for any other TMPGenc installation but couldn't find any.

*sigh*