ripping a dvd to mkv h264 filesize question

[stackner]

most of the videos ive seen are round 350mb for 45 minutes or 700mb for a full movie (divx/xvid) what im wanting to know is if i rip a dvd to an mkv (h264) file aiming for the same quality for a tv episode as the commong 350mb divx/xvid files would i end up with a smaller file size by using the h264 codec?

[guns1inger]

Given the low quality of these Xvid/Divx files, why not go for the same file size, but better quality. Honestly, even using H264 you need between 800 MB and 1GB to get near DVD quality, and that is with 2 channel audio. The 350/700MB file sizes you speak of are not enough to produce anything other than mediocre results - and every 700 MB movie or 350 MB TV show have downloaded is mediocre in quality. I know not everyone likes to accept that, but it is a fact.

If you are happy with mediocre, or you are going to be playing the files back on an iPod or similar screen size, then yes, you can get the same quality for a smaller filesize, although the difference won't be huge as you don't have anywhere near as much data to play with at those sizes. I would recommend going for the same filesizes and getting better quality for it.

[stackner]

cheers. i do admit that downloaded files (the 350/700mb ones) are not the best quality but i live with that for the sake of small downloads. however i do like quality enough that when i rip a dvd to dvd if its a tv series disc i split it across 2 dvds keeping the menus but also keeping the exact same video quality not shrinking it at all (love dvdremake pro) so im thinking now maybe like 1gb or so per tv ep? i would love to get a bluray drive and start some hd ripping though lol.


h264 is a better choice for compression than divx/xvid though right? as long as you have something that will/can play it.

[guns1inger]

Try doing quality based encodes instead of bitrate based encodes. Yes, you get better bang for your buck out of H264 than Xvid

[stackner]

thanks for all the help mate appreciate it! what program(s) would you recoment for dvd - h264 (mkv or mp4)

[guns1inger]

Try FairUseWizard or Ripbot264