How to convert a multi-feature DVD to DivX/XviD with ease using freeware

[manono]

No, AutoGK just converts to AVI. You'll need a different program (or programs) to create a DVD from AVIs. Maybe try DVD Flick or AVI2DVD.

[Cheekie_Moonkie]

sorry i not must of reader but can u explain if this method also works backwards.
convert tv series multipes avi files into one single dvd for playin on dvd player

No, AutoGK just converts to AVI. You'll need a different program (or programs) to create a DVD from AVIs. Maybe try DVD Flick or AVI2DVD.

vampelle,

AVI > DVD is usually fairly straight forward. This guide does not cover that, but there are many guides and tools on this site that do. See these tools and these guides.

[jeflaw]

i think my problem is the same as redkev & nxcmp from above - and it seems theirs never got resolved.

it occurs when a virtualdub window is open on the 2nd pass.

i think i disabled symantic, but i still get the message...

any further thoughts?

[jeflaw]

okay - i solved the problem. it was due to auto gk using an old version of virtualdubmod, which is incompatible with the anti-virus.

so i dnloaded the newest version of vdubmod, and replaced the old one with it.

perhaps someone should re-do auto gk with the newest version of the software?

[Cheekie_Moonkie]

perhaps someone should re-do auto gk with the newest version of the software?

...or you could stop using Symantic.

[matrixpreloaded]

This guide covers the decryption and ripping of TV episodes directly from a DVD. Is any way of doing the same thing, after a DVD has been decrypted and saved to hard drive?

[manono]

If the episodes all have their own VTS, then open the IFO for that particular VTS in AutoGK and follow the guide from there. However, if the episodes are all contained within the same VTS, then AutoGK is going to mess up. If that's the case, use PGCDemux to break them up into their own episodes by opening the IFO, choosing the episode you want, setting up a folder for it, making sure to have "Create a PGC VOB" checked, and processing. Then open the resulting VOB in AutoGK. You'll lose any subs doing it that way, though.

[matrixpreloaded]

Thank you for responding manono. I searched thoroughly in DVDDecrypter, but couldn't find a way of reading a DVD ripped to hard drive. Yes, all the episodes are in the same VTS, so I'll give PGCDemux a try.

[manono]

I searched thoroughly in DVDDecrypter, but couldn't find a way of reading a DVD ripped to hard drive.

Because there is none. Which is why I suggested the use of PGCDemux, if the episodes are all contained within the same VTS.

You could go back and decrypt all over again, this time doing it right. Set up DVD Decrypter in IFO Mode (up at the top, Mode->IFO) rather than the default File Mode, and then you should see all the episodes in that VTS. Decrypt them one at a time, each to its own folder.

[MaxBlack]

I'm ripping a TV season for playback on my media players, and love the Multi-Feature Ripper batchfile, thanks CM!

A word of caution however regarding your AGK tutorial: I have found that media players using the Sigma Designs chipset don't like VBR audio (which is AGK's default IIRC). If I ever accidentally use VBR I have to change it to CBR (using VDubMod). You may want to change the guide or at least add this caution...

Thanks for the .bat!!!!! Very nice!!!

[Cheekie_Moonkie]

I'm ripping a TV season for playback on my media players, and love the Multi-Feature Ripper batchfile, thanks CM!

A word of caution however regarding your AGK tutorial: I have found that media players using the Sigma Designs chipset don't like VBR audio (which is AGK's default IIRC). If I ever accidentally use VBR I have to change it to CBR (using VDubMod). You may want to change the guide or at least add this caution...

Thanks for the .bat!!!!! Very nice!!!

Thanks Max. I've put your suggestion in the "Notes" section with the other issues.

[MaxBlack]

Wow, you're on top of things here CM! Just to clarify my comment after reading your note, VBR audio can cause odd, unexpected playback issues on Sigma players, ie. jerkiness or stuttering in the video. But the audio does play...

[manono]

I have found that media players using the Sigma Designs chipset don't like VBR audio (which is AGK's default IIRC).

Must be peculiar to your player, as it's not specific to all Sigma Designs chipset players. I had one (a Bravo player) and it had no problem at all with VBR MP3. It didn't like packed bitstream, though, and made AVIs play stuttery/jerky.

[Cheekie_Moonkie]

Wow, you're on top of things here CM! Just to clarify my comment after reading your note, VBR audio can cause odd, unexpected playback issues on Sigma players, ie. jerkiness or stuttering in the video. But the audio does play...

No worries. I've made a small tweak to the wording.

[haridsv]

Am I glad I found this guide, I have about 32 disks with about 8 episodes each that I want to convert so the guide is incredibly useful.

I am trying a trial conversion on a single episode and I am currently stuck. The problem I see is that VirtualDub is kind of hanging and the job is not going forward. In the log window, it says "Running compressibility test." for the last 1hr and from procexp I can see that VirtualDub was started. From the arguments, I figured there is a log file option, but I don't even see the file created. Here is the complete log in the AutoGK window

[7/25/2007 11:51:41 AM] AutoGK 2.40
[7/25/2007 11:51:41 AM] OS: WinXP (5.1.2600).2
[7/25/2007 11:51:41 AM] Job started.
[7/25/2007 11:51:41 AM] Input file: xxxxxx\VTS_01_0.IFO
[7/25/2007 11:51:41 AM] Output file: xxxxxx.avi
[7/25/2007 11:51:41 AM] Output codec: XviD
[7/25/2007 11:51:41 AM] Audio 1: English AC3 2ch
[7/25/2007 11:51:41 AM] Subtitles: none
[7/25/2007 11:51:41 AM] Format: AVI
[7/25/2007 11:51:41 AM] Target size: 175Mb
[7/25/2007 11:51:41 AM] Audio 1 settings: CBR MP3 with bitrate: 96Kbps
[7/25/2007 11:51:41 AM] Standalone support enabled: ESS
[7/25/2007 11:51:41 AM] Started encoding.
[7/25/2007 11:51:41 AM] Demuxing and indexing.
[7/25/2007 11:52:36 AM] Processing file: xxxxxx\VTS_01_PGC_01_1.VOB
[7/25/2007 11:52:36 AM] Source resolution: 720x480
[7/25/2007 11:52:36 AM] Found NTSC source.
[7/25/2007 11:52:36 AM] Source aspect ratio: 4:3
[7/25/2007 11:52:36 AM] Source seems to be pure FILM.
[7/25/2007 11:52:36 AM] Color correction enabled.
[7/25/2007 11:52:36 AM] Output will contain 37219 frames
[7/25/2007 11:52:36 AM] Decoding audio.
[7/25/2007 11:53:04 AM] Normalizing audio.
[7/25/2007 11:53:19 AM] Encoding audio.
[7/25/2007 11:55:49 AM] Audio1 size: 18,628,272 bytes (17.77 Mb)
[7/25/2007 11:55:49 AM] Overhead: 441,984 bytes (0.42 Mb)
[7/25/2007 11:55:49 AM] Video size: 164,430,544 bytes (156.81 Mb)
[7/25/2007 11:55:49 AM] Running compressibility test.

I have several versions of standalone VirtualDub and they all run fine. Any help is appreciated.

[haridsv]

I am trying a trial conversion on a single episode and I am currently stuck. The problem I see is that VirtualDub is kind of hanging and the job is not going forward. In the log window, it says "Running compressibility test." for the last 1hr and from procexp I can see that VirtualDub was started. From the arguments, I figured there is a log file option, but I don't even see the file created. Here is the complete log in the AutoGK window

nm. I didn't realize that there is a VirtualDubMod prompt for license agreement that was waiting for my input as the window got hidden or something. Once I closed the dialog, it went through the first pass and now going through the second pass as well.

[Cheekie_Moonkie]

I am trying a trial conversion on a single episode and I am currently stuck. The problem I see is that VirtualDub is kind of hanging and the job is not going forward. In the log window, it says "Running compressibility test." for the last 1hr and from procexp I can see that VirtualDub was started. From the arguments, I figured there is a log file option, but I don't even see the file created. Here is the complete log in the AutoGK window

nm. I didn't realize that there is a VirtualDubMod prompt for license agreement that was waiting for my input as the window got hidden or something. Once I closed the dialog, it went through the first pass and now going through the second pass as well.

IIRC the very very first time VirtualDub runs there is a nag screen. After you've accepted it, it shouldn't appear again. If you press Alt+Tab you should be able to flick between all programs listed in the task bar. Alternatively, you can sometimes just click it and it will maximise, but sometimes you need to right-click and choose maximise or restore. Glad you got it sorted anyway!

[haridsv]

IIRC the very very first time VirtualDub runs there is a nag screen. After you've accepted it, it shouldn't appear again. If you press Alt+Tab you should be able to flick between all programs listed in the task bar. Alternatively, you can sometimes just click it and it will maximise, but sometimes you need to right-click and choose maximise or restore. Glad you got it sorted anyway!

Thanks a lot for creating this guide. I am now able to encode the episodes with so much ease following your steps. Before I read your guide, I had no idea about the AutoGK tool and the settings that I can use in the DVDDecryptor to get the episodes ripped as separate files. Your command line options to automate the ripping is also incredibly useful. I am using the sequence of ^O, ^S and ^A along with other keys to navigate the file dialog to quickly add jobs in AutoGK but I will probably create/find a script for that as well.

[happypyro]

I also want to thank you for this guide! I have had nothing but success so far ripping my tv dvd's. I do have one question though as I search around these forums - I see alot of people who say h.246 is superior to xvid/divx for quality/size and "future proofing" these backups. That said I am now wondering if I should be converting to h.246 instead? Any guides on the horizon for ripping DVD TV to it?

Thanks again, I really do appreciate all the time everyone puts into these guides for us.

[dunncha]

Hey I hope somebody is still checking out this guide. This is a new thing for me so I have only just caught on. I have followed the guide and it has worked perfectly for all but a few episodes.

Lets start at the start. I have been trying to Rip FireFly Series 1. (These are original disc's) Most of the ripping and the conversation goes fine, except for 3 specific episodes: Shindig, Safe and Ariel. Shindig and Safe are on the same disc, Ariel is on a different disc.

Everything appears to go fine on the rip. (DVD Decryptor). All the .Vob files are more or less the same size. (Give or take 200mb) I would put that down to differing lengths and compression (vob files are about 1.800.660kb) All the Vob files play fine in PowerDVD.

Then I rip with AutoGK using your specified settings and the avi files always cuts off early. I have tried checked the settings and retried again always the same result but not always at the same place.

Correct avi's are around 1.433.00kb (1.5gb) the other avi's vary in size between 100mb and 800mb. Here is the AutoGK record for one of the faulty avi's


01\firefly S01e04\VTS_01_PGC_01_1.VOB
[06/09/2007 20:25:51] Source resolution: 720x576
[06/09/2007 20:25:51] Found PAL source.
[06/09/2007 20:25:51] Source aspect ratio: 16:9
[06/09/2007 20:25:51] Color correction enabled.
[06/09/2007 20:25:51] Analyzing source.
[06/09/2007 20:27:04] Source is considered to be progressive.
[06/09/2007 20:27:04] Output will contain 12003 frames
[06/09/2007 20:27:04] Running single pass encoding.
[06/09/2007 20:41:56] Duration was: 14 minutes 51 seconds
[06/09/2007 20:41:56] Speed was: 13.46 fps.
[06/09/2007 20:41:56] Job finished. Total time: 16 minutes 31 seconds
================================================== ==

Hope somebody can help.

[Cheekie_Moonkie]

I also want to thank you for this guide! I have had nothing but success so far ripping my tv dvd's. I do have one question though as I search around these forums - I see alot of people who say h.246 is superior to xvid/divx for quality/size and "future proofing" these backups. That said I am now wondering if I should be converting to h.246 instead? Any guides on the horizon for ripping DVD TV to it?

Thanks again, I really do appreciate all the time everyone puts into these guides for us.

Hi happypyro,

Unfortunately it's hard to define the best codec, as each one will have its own strengths and weaknesses. I've not really used H.264, but from what I can gather it is pretty good at giving good quality at lower bitrates, so in that sense it probably is better (especially if you are using a really high quality source file). If you are after good quality, but small, video files then you should probably check out H.264. If filesize doesn't matter to you though and/or you have a DivX/XviD compatible player then you may want to stick with DivX/XviD, becuase DivX/XviD do still give good result (although filesize may be slightly larger).

Maybe you could try converting the same (good quality) source into both DivX/XviD and H.264 and compare the results using a selection of bitrate settings (probably a good idea to go with a short section of video, but possibly some with some fast action in it).

To convert a .VOB to H.264, you'll need to use something like AutoMKV (instead of AutoGK). I've never tried AutoMKV, but it appears to do what you'd need it to. So, you can follow the guide up to the AutoGK bit then use AutoMKV.

Baldrick's AutoMKV guide should help you to get started, but remember to use the H.264 codec.

In the longer term I may do a H.264 guide, so I'd be interested to know how you get on.

[obsidianjaguar]

Hey My freind .. this is the BEST guide I have come across and been searching for about 6 months .. even my lowly skills are enough to back up my smallville DVDS and even a full length movie and got it encoded to div x without too much trouble .. now the only small issue I have is .. I seem to end up with 3 .avis .. one is only slightly smaller than the VOB and is the full episode ( or movie) and the other two are called xxx disc 1 and xxx disc 2 ... now these are like about half the movie each and play fine , but my question .. it must tkae longer to process three avis , and there must be some option I have accidfently turned on that produces both the whole moive in one file as well as slicing it up looks like for 700mb size? whats going on and how do I fix it , and thanks for being kind to the poor newbies

[manono]

Evidently you specified a 1400MB file size. Those are automatically split into 2x700MB files for burning to 2 CDs. If you don't want it split, specify a slightly different size, such as either 1399 or 1401MB.

The only extra time taken is in the splitting, a couple of extra minutes.

[papa47]

This is absolutely an amazing guide! I can't thank you enough for taking all the time and effort to make it. Eighteen months later and this is pretty much the go-to guide for ripping tv seasons! I googled the topic and the first five or six entries led to this page! I've been using CloneDVDMobile to rip tv episodes and the quality is never that good and you have little control over the size of the file. With this method, I rip the file with DVD Decrypter and save the files on the hard drive, then when I go to bed I load up 4 episodes in the queue and when I wake up the job is done. Won't be long and my DVD collection will be digital! Thanks again!!!!

[ruud_vx]

Hello everyone,

I'm using this guide and I have some questions.

I recently bought the dvd-boxes of Lost season 1 and 2.
Now I want to convert them to 350mb avi's like the ones that you can download.

I used clonedvd2 to copy the largest files on my pc (dvddecrypter wouldn't work for some strange reason; maybe because I also use Anydvd?). I selected the largest files since I think these are the ones that contain the episodes?

I then got a few files on my pc.

• VIDEO_TS.BUP
  VIDEO_TS.IFO

and then for every episode separately:

• VTS_01_0.BUP
  VTS_01_0.IFO
  VTS_01_1.VOB
  VTS_01_2.VOB

Only difference is a 2, 3 or 4 instead of 1. But I think you'll know what i mean.

I copied the files for every episode in a separate folder and put in every folder also the VIDEO_TS.BUP and VIDEO_TS.IFO.
I'm not sure if I should have copied the 2 VIDEO_TS in every folder but I did in anyway.

Now when I open the ifo in AutoGK it tells me that the ifo contains 2 pgc's(??)
How can I know which one to choose if they only differ a few seconds in length (they're both around 40 minutes)

EDIT: I tried both and it seems to me that I get the same file as endresult?? Is this possible?

One more question: You guys use a fixed with of 640 in autoGK (640x368 is the result that I get) but when I look at an episode of Heroes for example it Gspot show an aspect ratio of 624x352?
Can someone explain me the difference and what the best aspect is that I should use?

I hope someone will be so kind to answer my post.
Thank you!!

Ruud

[acid_burn]

Which version of AutoGK should I use? The homepage is up to version 2.48 beta, while the guide uses 2.40.

Thanks for the guide - very informative.

[manono]

Hi-

Use either one. Just don't use 2.45. 2.48 pretty much goes back to 2.40, but with some additions. It uses the same XviD version as does 2.40. If you're using XviD with the ESS chipset option enabled (for best playback on DVD/MPEG-4 players), then 2.45 was broken because of a funky XviD it was using.

If I had to pick one, I think I'd go with 2.48. The guide will still apply.

Also, if planning to use XviD, then before installing AutoGK and the XviD codec, make sure you've uninstalled any XviDs you might already have on your computer (Add/Remove Programs).

[Cheekie_Moonkie]

New Version of DDMFRip.bat (1.04)

DDMFRip.bat is exactly 1 year old today. Therefore, a new version (version 1.04) has been released, which contains updates that have been developed over the course of a few weeks. v1.04 is a fairly major update, introduding several new features and improvements. The old help (.txt) file has also been replaced by a proper help file.

See the original post in this thread for more information.

[Cheekie_Moonkie]

New Version of DDMFRip.bat (1.05)

v1.05 is not a very big update, just some minor new features.

See the original post in this thread for more information.

[Ghost_rider]

Great guide Cheekie_Monkie, very very useful. Thanks for taking the time to explain the process in such detail.

I've used it to rip a few series on DVD for a while now following the method you describe and have had no probs whatsoever. However, I do have a slight niggle with the file size. Even though I specify 349MB as the output size (Custom Size option), the avi files produced are far from that.....usually around 280-290MB. It's not a major issue as the quality of the files is fine, but I'd like to keep them the same/similar size.

Do you or anyone else out there have any idea why my output files aren't what they should be??
I use the Xvid codec, 640 fixed width, and the original audio.

Thanks in advance
Ghost_rider