Building a Batch Conversion Machine

[dj4monie]

I want to rip (re-rip in some cases) my massive CD and DVD collection (DVD's no so much). I have one drive, but I am considering adding two more CD/RW-DVD-Rom drives (SATA) and use Leadsoft for batch ripping, three disc at a time.

Is this possible?

Audio to MP3/WMA (192k), DJ as well and I want good sound quality. FLAC still takes up too much disk space IMHO.

DVD to H.264 or Divx/Xvid, a majority of my collection is animation, so its typical 640x480 and can be shrunk down pretty far as I understand it, but not too small as it makes PQ suffer.

[yoda313]

Audio to MP3/WMA (192k), DJ as well and I want good sound quality. FLAC still takes up too much disk space IMHO.

Then you are not serious about sound quality if you think flac takes up too much space. Hard drive space keeps getting so much cheaper now its not an issue anymore. If this is for a portable player you can find a good used model with lots of space at reasonable prices if you check out auction sites.

I personally have started ripping my cd collection to 320kpbs mp3 - for a few years now. That is adequate for my needs. I have a zune 30gb and it can't do flac as far as i know. So I use top quality mp3 or top quality wma whenever possible.

DVD to H.264 or Divx/Xvid, a majority of my collection is animation, so its typical 640x480 and can be shrunk down pretty far as I understand it, but not too small as it makes PQ suffer.

Again this is the eye of the beholder type stuff. What is good for one person is wholly inadequate for another. You should test encodes with your sources and decide on what trade offs you can live with. And also about your playback environment too. Portable video players would have different tolerances than a regular hdtv or even a crt would have. It's all about tweaking and living with compression - you can't get something for nothing - either picture quality or file size. Test and retest until you find the right spot.

-- also I'd go with h264 in a mp4 container for future compatibility and great compression at a smaller file size - relatively speaking. You can still do mammoth bitrate on h264 for a larger file size if your a stickler on extreme picture quality. Divx/xvid is fine but is getting older and not as efficient. Though if I remember right the newest version of divx actually uses its own h264 but that would limit its backward compatibility if this is for older devices - so would h264 in mp4 come to think of it. Use whichever your playback devices supports - use h264 if it can divx/xvid if you have to.

As far as simultaneous multiple rippings I don't know what the proper procedure is for that. I would assume they would need independent paths to ensure nothing is lost - independent sata connections and the like. But I wouldn't personally rip more than one at a time just to ensure a clean rip. But that is just me.

[dj4monie]

Why would you say that? Would you compare JBL EON speakers to their best home audio speakers? Likely not and turned up to 11 its just loud, as long as everything sounds like its suppose too, 192k is fine. I don't have a problem with FLAC but then why not leave it as a wave file its hardly any smaller? My software reads all anyway, problem is the I have the base version of the software and FLAC is not an option at present (1), two I have limited HD space and unemployed, no income and no I don't want to DJ for clubs and parties anymore, its just how it is. I am changing careers and DJ's is strictly hobby at this point, I may return to doing an online show, so again, FLAC offers no value just assume I don't know about it.

No squeezing down Centurions capture from Boomrang in SD@640x480 from its default 1.2GB to 70MB creates all kinds of stuff that's not in the original file. That was an issue I had with the old version of MCEBuddy, I hope the new version will work better. I got my HTPC back up by borrowing a old CRT from class and the server for MCEBuddy Reloaded was down.

If I built my current HTPC to rip, I would add two SATA Optical drives because I have no more IDE slots available. So I think I could do it, run iLead in batch mode for three different drives. This would make box sets go much fast than still changing one disc to another.

Thanks for the suggestions, I need more HD since I can't really afford to buy HD at the moment. The source of all my space woes is all the DVR-MS and WTV files...

[yoda313]

The source of all my space woes is all the DVR-MS and WTV files...

I've suggested this in another similar thread:

Burn them to dvdr and delete the originals.

As long as you have a stash of blank discs available burn the original files to dvdr and delete the files off the harddrive. That way you can still watch them as data on the dvdr without wasting time converting or compressing. And if you do go ahead and compress and convert you can still go back to the original file should the need arise (new codecs or new formats needed for new hardware devices).

squeezing down Centurions capture from Boomrang in SD@640x480 from its default 1.2GB to 70MB creates all kinds of stuff that's not in the original file.

1.2gb to 70mb? Wouldn't you expect irregularities on such an extreme compression? What format to what format? Is this divx to h264? What program did you use? Did you keep them at 640x480?

I'd try upping the destination file size first and see how that goes.

What program are you using to convert? Try format factory or xvid4psp or super if you haven't already.

----

Edit - I know money can be an issue this day and age - have you tried auction sites for harddrives? I guess I'd be wary of storing vital information on a used harddrive but if you are just using it for media that you already have the originals of what would you have to lose? Just more conversion time from the originals later should the drives fail.

[dj4monie]

Actually Yoda read: NO MONEY. The last of my meager tax return us being burned up by public transportation as they won't give me a discounted student bus pass until well tomorrow. So while there are great deals on 2TB drives now which would give me back all my space on the other 4 drive that total up about 1.3TB, I just can't afford it.

MCEBuddy made them that small (actually 59MB) and it created all kinds of artifacts. Uncompressed (Best Quality - 1.65GB per episode). That was the one thing about MCEBuddy because I had no control over file size/bit rate. But as I said the new version is out and I want to try it again. I had all sorts of time, but I had no screen and my HTPC crashed and without a screen I couldn't find out what's wrong. I borrowed a 17" CRT from A+ class and now I have it back up. I want to download Reloaded and see if that will save me some space. I have some dual layers but I don't want to use those up just saving files.

I have about 40GB left but as I said, the stuff I wanna save from my Recorded TV folders I want to compress down. All the downloaded stuff is already compressed.

All these CD's are building up my my 12" singles, I need to do something. If I can squeeze down my Recorded TV folders, I can likely come up with 40-50GB needed to rip the at least 1,000 disc here.

[yoda313]

Personally I'd branch out to other programs besides mcebuddy. It's probably ok but other programs have quality control in them already. Like I mentioned try format factory to start.

[dj4monie]

MCEBuddy Reloaded made a sample file from 1.65GB to 350MB in h.264. Which is fine, but two things; It put noise at the top of the screen that's not there in the original file. It changed the resolution a bit so maybe that's it. The GUI is limited. But the biggest issue is lost of Metadata and I would have to use Renamer to make these files talk to TVDB or IMDB and I don't know if I want to go through that additional step.

I may be able to sell my 250GB external and 500Gb external to a classmate and only come up with maybe $10-20 to get a internal 2TB drive. I would get rid of the power bricks and cut down on the wiring behind the PC.

Does Format Factory deal with DVR-MS and .WTV files???

[yoda313]

Format factory should easily handle dvr-ms - the older version of the mce files. I do not know if it has been updated to handle win7 mce files or not.

It is free to download and use so you have everything to gain by checking it out - it is very versatile.

I'm not sure if any other conversion programs handle metadata from mce. That would be a restricting factor in using other converters.

There may be a tool for extracting meta data from media center files and importing them into other files. I do not know off hand how to do that. I'm sure there is something that would simplify the process. I would do some more searching on that. But I can almost certainly ensure that other converter programs offer more customization on the outputs than this mcebuddy seems to offer.

[dj4monie]

I'm not locked in on MCEBuddy its just convenient because it will delete commercials and compress DVR-MS and WTV files. BTW TV Pack 2008 does WTV files as well for Vista Media Center, not just Windows 7.

VideoReDo think edits and compresses these files, its just not automatic and I don't think there's a batch feature.


DVRMSToolBox is also automated and I will try and newest version and see if that works. There's profile to convert to WMV and keep Metadata.

I will likely use DVR Shrink for single movie or show DVD's, unless you know something better.

[dj4monie]

Well batch ripping is on the back burner. First, its a 2TB drive but I've had set backs and price changes so I around Monday (Jun 6th) I'll finally be able to order one or pick up one locally. I have a bit of income now and almost finished with my A+ classes.

I'm not going to bother compressing my previously recorded tv shows. I will just run them through Show Analyzer and keep them as-is. I am going to build a small (mini-ITX) server first running on Ubuntu Server with some add-ons or Windows Home Server 2008 depending how much it ends up costing on TechNet which we now have access to it. I may pick up a used Sony 200 disc DVD/CD changer as I have found them on Ebay from time to time. That said, DVD-RW's are now about $15 each and I can add two more to my mid-tower. With the $36 version of DB Amp Power I can batch rip, so that's solved.

The server will cost me about $250 in hardware including by then the previously purchased 2TB internal drive. I will just pool my current externals and the 640GB drive which will give me 3.3TB total space on that server.

Still don't quite know what I'll do with the DVD's I currently have (about 20)

[Smells_Like_Feet]

dj4monie,

You mentioned Videoredo, but no batch feature. Well there is a secondary automation software that I think will do exactly what you are looking for. It monitors an input folder for newly created files then runs Videoredo via command line processes per your settings. The software is called VAP and I think there is a subforum devoted to it in the Videoredo Forums. It was created by a 3rd party developer but it is freeware and most people seem to like it's function. Give it a try.

I did a quick search and found the subforum: http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/forumdisplay.php?f=41

- Smells_Like_Feet

[dj4monie]

dj4monie,

You mentioned Videoredo, but no batch feature. Well there is a secondary automation software that I think will do exactly what you are looking for. It monitors an input folder for newly created files then runs Videoredo via command line processes per your settings. The software is called VAP and I think there is a subforum devoted to it in the Videoredo Forums. It was created by a 3rd party developer but it is freeware and most people seem to like it's function. Give it a try.

I did a quick search and found the subforum: http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/forumdisplay.php?f=41

- Smells_Like_Feet

Thanks SLF, I'll check into it.