want to improve tools and workflow for dvd to h264

[codemaster]

I know I want to use a recent version of x264 encoder and the neroAacEnc encoder, because now these are some of the most advanced at compression, but I'm not sure about the other tools that are needed.

For example, I don't know what is best: to learn avisynth scripting and other necesarry information and command-line tools, or just use a GUI like MeGUI ?

I tend to believe that it would be a better idea to directly use the encoding tools, the avisynth frameserver and it's filters (this wouldn't be a problem, since I have some basic programming knowledge), avoiding any GUIs that may limit my options, but where should I even start? What is the best documentation that I should read?

[aedipuss]

why is it you think you need to re-invent the wheel? it's been round and working very well for years. there isn't any big mystery left to be solved.

grab vidcoder or any one of the other gui frontends that are updated every couple months and use that excess energy of yours for a real problem or vacuum the house. or my house, with 2 dogs here it should be done daily if anyone had the time.

[Hoser Rob]

Seems to me there's a limit to how much you can optimize or automate dvd ripping flow. You still have to decrypt each dvd individually.

For the ripping part I use dvdfab hd decrypter. It works well and is the most regularly updated free decrypter I know of. The other stuff (the trial part of dvdfab) I don't find works well. Just set the o/p to dvd-9 so there's no compression. I don't see how much you can speed this part up without buying more computers.

Then handbrake or, as mentioned, vidcoder. The latter is actually handbrake with a streamlined interface. There's a new version of handbrake with updated libraries, so it may give better .264 encoding now than vidcoder, which uses the older engine. That's just a guess though.

Either supports queue/batch. Handbrake may be more flexible with that but I don't use batch mode. Again, a guess.

A big plus is that these programs don't need 3rd party codecs/filters/splitters. I yanked avstodvd, which is largely an avisynth front end, because it does. VLC or Smplayer (which I prefer) don't render video nearly as well with that crud.

I'm seriously thinking of installing Linux. Trying to keep your Windows registry free of crap pointing to non standard filters et al is a vigil. If the hardware support for Linux was better I'd have done it already. The way it is I'm balancing annoyances.

Anyway, handbrake doesn't need that stuff.

I prefer 2 pass bit rate mode ... the new handbrake doesn't support file size mode so you may prefer vidcoder.

1 pass constant quality mode definitely doesn't give you as good output as 2 pass. But it ain't bad. If you hadn't seen the same dvd converted to a file of similar size in 2 pass you wouldn't complain too much. And it does take half the time.

With an output of about 1 Gb per hour (or a CQ of 20) you'll get a .264 that's not indistinguishable from the dvd, but it's damn good.

Like aedipuss said, this approach certainly seems a lot more practical to me than learning avisynth. How many dvds could I rip this way in the time it would take me to learn how to write avisynth scripts? A few.