DVD Encoding for WD TV

[kwanbis]

Hello Everybody.

I just bought a WD TV, and i'm pretty happy with it.

I want to start encoding my DVDs collection, so i no longer need to shuffle DVDs.

This is the list of Containers/Codecs it supports:

MKV:
+ video:
-- MPEG 1 / 2
-- MPEG 4 (e.g. xvid, divx)
-- H.264 (MPEG4 AVC)
+ audio:
-- mp3,
-- pcm (Microsoft),
-- Dolby Digital (DTS, AC3),
-- AAC

AVI:
+ video:
-- MPEG 1 / 2
-- MPEG 4 (e.g. xvid, divx)
-- H.264 (MPEG4 AVC)
+ audio:
-- mp3,
-- pcm (Microsoft),
-- Dolby Digital (DTS, AC3)

WMV:
+ video
-- VC-1 Advanced Profile (WVC1)
-- VC-1 Main Profile (WMV3)
-- VC-1 Simple Profile (WMV3)
+ audio
-- WMA9 2ch (not Pro or Lossless)

MP4
+ video:
-- MPEG 4
-- H.264 (MPEG4 AVC)
+ audio
-- AAC

I think MKV is the best of the all.

Anyway, considering that I would play the encodings on a 720p LCD, i was wondering, what combination of audio and video codec would give me the best possible video quality for at least 1/2 the original size?

I assume h264 would, but just checking.

Thanks.

[Supreme2k]

I use AutoGK for most of my DVDs on the WD TV. Good compression, great quality.

I've noticed that on many of my DVDs, the quality isn't that great from the start, so the extra time for h264 isn't worth it.

[kwanbis]

But shouldnt h264 be better at any given size than xvid?

[Supreme2k]

Not necessarily, given the source.

If you have a lot to do, then xvid severely beats out h264 for time.

I usually reserve h264 for HD content.

[jagabo]

Generally, h.264 can get better quality at a given file size, a smaller file at a given quality, or some combination of the two.

On my Intel quad core Q6600 x264 only takes about 25 percent longer to encode because x264 is better multithreaded.

[kwanbis]

Encoding is not much of a problem, unless somebody tells me it is going to take a day for each DVD.

[jagabo]

Encoding is not much of a problem, unless somebody tells me it is going to take a day for each DVD.

1.8 GHz -- single core CPU? One day may be about right...

[kwanbis]

I have dual core 2.2 Ghz cpu.

[jagabo]

With single pass x264 encoding you're probably looking at roughly an hour or two of encoding time for every hour of full D1 video.

[mpalm887]

I'm a little late to the party here, but if space is not an issue then just rip your DVD's to ISO using DVD Decrypter and store em.

If you've got the most recent firmware on your WD TV then it can read the ISO's directly and automatically launches the main movie. It's brilliant.

[DeA7hWiSh]

Encoding is not much of a problem, unless somebody tells me it is going to take a day for each DVD.

1.8 GHz -- single core CPU? One day may be about right...

are you serious?!?! damn, this whole time i thought there was bad communication between my hard drive and the CPU.

i have a Intel Celeron 2.40Ghz 512RAM SATA 1TB WD hard drive and Handbrake is telling me its going to take "28+ hours" to convert DVD ---> MKV (constant quality - at 100%)

Does the above sound right?! In my opinion thats a little too fuggin long?!?!!??

Has anyone actually calculated the difference in SIZE from DVD mpeg quality ---> H.264 compression?

I have been wanting to run a test to see difference in size, but i dont want to wait 28+ HOURS...

[jagabo]

i have a Intel Celeron 2.40Ghz 512RAM SATA 1TB WD hard drive and Handbrake is telling me its going to take "28+ hours" to convert DVD ---> MKV (constant quality - at 100%)

Does the above sound right?! In my opinion thats a little too fuggin long?!?!!??

P4 based Celeron? That does sound excessive but I've only done h.264 encoding on much faster machines. How long is the movie you're encoding? A 3 hour movie will typically take twice as long as a 90 minute movie.

Has anyone actually calculated the difference in SIZE from DVD mpeg quality ---> H.264 compression?

I have been wanting to run a test to see difference in size, but i dont want to wait 28+ HOURS...

For testing use a 90 second preview clip instead of a full movie. This isn't a perfect comparison because preview clips tend to have quick cuts and a higher percentage of action than a full movie. And they're often encoded at a lower bitrate (on the DVD) than the main movie. But it should give you an idea.

[festmaster]

I played around with many of the possible formats for DVD backups on my WDTV, when I realized that none of them, including iso rips, where going to show equal quality on my 50" screen as that of my upscaling DVD player. Therefore, I have settled on DIVX for standard definition movies in my WDTV library. It is quick to process and has a very reasonable file size. I reserve H.264 backups for high def stuff.

[jagabo]

I played around with many of the possible formats for DVD backups on my WDTV, when I realized that none of them, including iso rips, where going to show equal quality on my 50" screen as that of my upscaling DVD player.

Are you saying the upscaler in the WDTV isn't as good as the one in your DVD player? Was there some other problem? What DVD player do you have?

[festmaster]

Are you saying the upscaler in the WDTV isn't as good as the one in your DVD player? Was there some other problem? What DVD player do you have?

Yes, that is my opinion. I think DVD players with dedicated upscaling technology give the best possible picture from a DVD. I had a Samsung upscaler that gave astonishing quality and I am currently using the final Toshiba HD-DVD player released, which in its final days was advertised as an upscaling DVD player that happened to play HD-DVD. If you check other threads in this forum regarding upscaling DVD players, people will point out that the big screen TV's themselves have very capable upscaling technology, but in the end there are some chipsets on the players that produce better images.

[dpoliteski]

I have been trying without success to rip my HD-DVD titles so that they can be played by the WD TV. I have tried several apps. Can get the files to the hard disk, but not in a format that WD TV can use. Does anyone have experience in getting HD-DVD to play on WD TV? I am using an XBox 260 HD-DVD player attached to XP based windows machine.

Thanks

[Scarpad]

I have been trying without success to rip my HD-DVD titles so that they can be played by the WD TV. I have tried several apps. Can get the files to the hard disk, but not in a format that WD TV can use. Does anyone have experience in getting HD-DVD to play on WD TV? I am using an XBox 260 HD-DVD player attached to XP based windows machine.

Thanks

You should be able to use MakeMKV on the HD-DVD and then play the resultant file straight on the device, if you want it smaller you'd have to compress the file with something like Handbrake.

[dpoliteski]

You should be able to use MakeMKV on the HD-DVD and then play the resultant file straight on the device, if you want it smaller you'd have to compress the file with something like Handbrake.[/quote]

I tried MakeMKV and it doesn't seem to work well on HD-DVD as the developer seems to have given up supporting it as it didn't win the format war. Lots of errors reported by people who tried to use it with HD-DVD and the developer isn't working on HD-DVD support anymore... Sucks, thats why I was hoping there was something other than MakeMKV.

Thanks.