Which software to use and best settings.

[simoupnorth]

I am sure this has been posted before but from searching Im getting more ad more confused. I have had limited experience with dvd ripping and video converting so please be gentle.

I have recently got a ps3 so am now backing up my home dvd's and the kids disney dvd's to my pc so I can stream them using tversity. I would like good quality video and retain the 5.1 audio if possible.

From what I have read the best format would be xvid or x.264

What I want to know is what software would be best for this and what settings could you recommend for bitrate etc.

The only ones I have done so far are my home dvd's but up to now I have just extracted them to VOB files using dvd decrypter and they have only 2 channel audio so they should have no loss at all should they?

I might convert them or I might leave them as they are as they don't take up that much space but when I backup up my dvd collection they will need some compression. I have used super for converting video before. would this be ok for converting these if needed?

To summarise, I want good quality and a fairly simple process. As it takes hours to convert/encode I didnt want to spend days trying software and settings out so thought I would ask for peoples opinions here.

Which software?
What settings?

[grossjamesh]

Your right its been asked before.
Best thing to do is experiment. Find what works best for you.

[redwudz]

Try AutoGK. I believe it can use AC3. Super is OK for odd conversions, but there are a lot better programs out there. With AGK, try a filesize of about 1GB with a Xvid codec.

[simoupnorth]

Will AutoGK remove the copy protection if applicable, I would imagine my disney dvd's will have some sort of protection.

Any other options/opinions?

[poisondeathray]

AutoGK will not remove copy protection, it just simplifies the process of encoding your VOB's

DVD decrypter will work with older movies featuring simple protection schemes. Anydvd works with newer movies and is updated almost weekly

I'm not familiar with tversity, but why not keep the movies as is? You sacrifice zero quality and have a perfect backup with 5.1 audio. Hard drives are dirt cheap now: 500GB for <$100 could store more than 100 DVD. You also save the time encoding VOB's into something else... that alone should pay for the hard drive.

[simoupnorth]

If I get anydvd do i need any additional software to rip it to my hard drive or does it do it all for me?

Once its on the hard drive, my options are leave it as a VOB and this will keep all 5.1 audio and all visual quality?

Or re encode as xvid/divx to save space but sacrifice a bit of quality, can i kep the 5.1 audio in xvid/divx?

Also if I encode what settings do people have good results with and with what software? Anyone use anything other than autogk or is that as good as i will get?

[poisondeathray]

anydvd works in the background to bypass copy protection, you use it in conjunction with a ripper, like dvd decrypter

If you want the best quality, you should leave it as a VOB

You can keep 5.1 audio like it comes on the DVD with xvid or divx (these are video codecs); you can even compress the audio with different audio codecs like AAC and still keep 5.1

You have to ask youself what is most important because there are tradeoff between quality and file size. (also time tinkering and encoding)

If you want the best quality, and least amount of time, it would be to leave it as is. A perfect copy. Encoding will decrease the quality, and the more compressed, the worse the quality.

H.264 video codec gives the best quality at the same bitrate compared to xvid or divx. But it also takes more CPU power and longer to encode. Most people use megui to encode (x.264, the open source variant of H.264) but it is fairly difficult to use.

autogk, like redwudz suggested, would be the easiest "almost-1-click" conversion tool for xvid or divx, and you can keep 5.1 AC3 audio

[simoupnorth]

Thanks I will have a look at these programs mentioned and give them a whirl, If i did compress what bitrates do people here tend to use for xvid or x.264/h.264?

[poisondeathray]

You're not going to like this answer, but you have to tinker to figure out what bitrate is acceptable to you

Some people go as low as 800kb/s some as high as 2500kb/s. It's all a matter of what you feel is "acceptable." Assuming you keep AC3 for the audio, that will stay at 384kb/s

I suggest encoding some small clips first to determine if quality at that bitrate is acceptable, to save time having to encode a whole movie 3 or 4 times.

I think autogk even has some presets, like 1CD (700MB) or 2CD (1400MB) profiles. The 1400MB profile is commonly used, which would cut your DVD size to about 1/3 size. There are many, many guides on all these tools.

Good luck!

[jagabo]

I suggest you forget about bitrates and use constant quality encoding. Both Xvid and x264 support this. Run a few short experiments at different quality levels, decide what's acceptable to you. Then do your encoding. It's faster (single pass vs 2 or more passes) and you are sure to get the quality you want on every single video.

[alwayssummer]

I suggest you forget about bitrates and use constant quality encoding. Both Xvid and x264 support this.

Can you explain how to do constant quality in x264 or point me to a thread? I've been wondering about that one myself. I'm still new to MeGUI. (As I've posted elsewhere I used to Shrink to DVD4 and burn everything.)

[jagabo]

I don't use MeGUI but this might help:

http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/MeGUI:Video_configuration_dialog

http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/MeGUI_FAQ#What.27s_the_difference_between_Constant_Q...ant_Quality.3F

http://forum.doom9.org/archive/index.php/t-116553.html

Basically you pick single pass constant quantizer or constant quality encoding, select the quantizer or quality you want, and encode. Try a short segment at different quantizer/quality levels and decide what is acceptable to you.

[alwayssummer]

@jagabo - thanks! great info. lots of new stuff in the wiki since i last looked there.