Anyone using DVDx?

[Will Hay Old]

I've been using a three stage process for some time now (CladDVD, DVD2Avi and TMPGEnc) and am delighted with the results. This process takes a while to do and wondered how tDVDx compares for quality, file size etc. DVDx seems to do my three stage process all in one go, even stopping the output file at a certain size (695mb say) and starting the next one, thus therefore not needing to set the frame rate *twice* using TMPGEnc.
DVDx seems to be too good to be true but having tried a 30 second clip seems to do everything I want.
Does anyone know how it compares to my currnt conversion process and (one specific query I have) is it possible to clip the black bars (top and bottom) using DVDx in much the same way TMPGenc does?
Many thanks,
Will

[bilbogod]

I use TMPGenc because I could never ger dvdx to work properly. It used to always miss the first couple of minutes or so of my recording.Does anyone know how to disable the (Jump function) so it doesn't miss the first few minutes?

[Will Hay Old]

Hi.
If you don't use DVDx anymore do you use CLADdvd, dvd2Avi *and* TMPGEnc?
TMPGEnc doesn't do everything, does it?
Thanks,
Will

[bilbogod]

I don't use Clad, Smartripper is supposed to be more succesful and the current popular option. Basically the method in Sefys' newbie ripping guide seems to work best, with the least probs..

[wshumardjr]

I use DVDx for the whole process, except for the ripping in which I use smartripper. I make SVCDs. I like the letterbox versions so I dont crop anything. The finished product is great. Never tried TMPGEnc so cant speak for the differences. But with DVDx I dont get many if any scenes with blocks or other problems people speak of. Plus DVDx seems to be always on the upgrade cycle, it improves with every new versian. Hope that helps some.

[Will Hay Old]

Yes it helps, thanks.
Can I not use CladDVD rather than smartripper?
I think I can't because I only have VOB files on my hdd, no IFO files.
I'm only ripping the movie, does smartripper extarct *all* files?
Thanks,
Will

[xzarkad]

You can select in Smartripper what you want to rip. Open smartripper, go to "files" and smartripper has already pre-selected al VOB files from the movie part.

[gastric]

I just got my Pioneer DVD-116 IDE DVD drive today and am happily creating SVCD files using DVDx. It did take a few tries (read, many hours) before I found settings that appeared to work with my initial test movie "wildthings".

The default settings worked well with the exception of some interlacing on the edges of objects which was quickly fixed by setting "deinterlacing" to "interpolate". The other problem I had was I was encoding the full-screen (non-widescreen) version of the movie and had to set "Zoom" to "Full" to keep DVDx from cropping the movie down to a letterbox format.

I also tried Smart Ripper to copy the DVD to my hard drive so DVDx wouldn't need to keep queueing the DVD all the time. It only took about 6 minutes to copy the entire 108 minute DVD to my hard drive... at least I think it copied the entire movie. I've only been testing with 5 minute encodes of the beginning of the movie for testing. That little 5 minute segment eats up 113MB and takes just under 30 minutes to encode... OUCH!