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  1. I tried using DVDFab 8.2.2.6 to rip a Blu-ray I bought to a MP4 file.

    Before starting the ripping process, I had 12.2 GB free on the hard-drive.

    The outputted MP4 was 4.5 GB. But the process ate up all of the space on the drive, not just 4.5 GB. I only have about 140 MB left now.
    I am convinced it's DVDFab's fault, because this is the main HDD of the computer, the C drive. It must have used it for temporary files, or something.
    And I haven't run any other programs since having 12.2 GB free, but DVDFab.

    Unfortunately, though, I can't find the files that ate almost 8 GB of hard-drive space.
    (I've looked in Documents - DVDFab, Program Files - DVDFab and in the output folder, but I can't see anything extra that I should be able to delete to get back my free space.)

    Does anyone know what this badly-coded program might have done to those free GB? And where I should look?

    Thanks very much.
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  2. By the way, this is a bad, shitty Blu-ray ripper, too!

    I wouldn't recommend it to anybody who wants to rip Blu-rays.

    First off, it told me it needed to connect to the Internet to open my Blu-ray! WTF?!!?!
    And the quality of the MP4s it creates, whether x360 or mp4.h264.aac profiles, is extremely bad. Every few seconds, the outputted video slows down when being played back, as if a slow-motion filter had been applied.
    I don't mind the large file size, but come on!... make it a good file!

    ...And then it also messes up more than half of the free space on my hard-drive, too!!!

    This is not professional-quality software at all!


    (If you ask me, they should just stick with the barebones decryption of DVDs and BD discs, and forget about making this damn software the king of all conversion programs.
    It did look too good to be true before I installed it, and that proved indeed to be the case.)
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  3. I'm a MEGA Super Moderator Baldrick's Avatar
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    Search for recently created files with windows explorer.

    But 12.2GB free isn't much. Many other free good converters requires more like ripbot264, handbrake. Mainly as they can't rip so you have to rip with something else like dvdfab decrypter.
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  4. Problem got solved.

    I didn't do anything else, except shut down the computer and then powered it back on a good while later.


    Still, I think it's bad programming when 8 GB just disappear and the program does not take good care of restoring them before/as it's closing.

    You're right, Baldrick. I should have more than 12.2 GB. I'll try to free more.
    (But I did run HandBrake with about 4 GB free, and it did its job just fine. Maybe it was 'cause I only did MP4->MP4 conversion, but I have zero complaints about HandBrake.)
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    Working with BR video with only 12.2 Gb free? I don't think dvdfab is the only program you could have problems with. I don't like their encoder (though the free decrypter is great) but I wouldn't single it out here.
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  6. Well, actually, I had 12.2 GB free on the C drive and about 20 GB free on another external drive.

    But, because DVDFab was saying that the output would be 4.5 GB, which it was, I wanted to create that file on the Desktop.
    And the file fit on the drive, so everything was cool as far as that's concerned.

    The quality of the output file was not satisfactory to me (- see above, when I said there was slowdown during playback -), though, which is why I want to try a new ripper, but I don't think that was caused by any kind of lack of space.
    (The problem I had with DVDFab and the space on my HDD(s) was that it ate about 8 GB after the ripping process and wouldn't free it right after the program was closed. You can read about that in the first post.)


    So, what Blu-ray ripper program would be best to create a good-quality, decent file size (- hopefully under 5 GB -) MP4 file from my BR disc? I think the actual size of the M2TS containing the movie is 18.4 GB, if that helps.
    And what quality setting should I use to make it the best size without losing much picture quality? (I know HandBrake, for example, says for BD we should use RF 22 +/- 1. But I can't use HandBrake to rip the Blu-ray properly either because their output MP4 generated from ripping this Blu-ray won't play in Windows Media Player for some reason. And it's 9 GB, also. But all of that HandBrake stuff is another story. I'm just trying to find out what Blu-ray ripper would be best, according to people on this forum, before trying anything else.)
    Thanks.
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  7. Most only use dvdfab to copy bd to hard drive, without converting or changing the blu-ray material.

    Download Potplayer or MPC-HC or VLC or perhaps Splash lite for playing mp4 or mkv files output by handbrake.
    WMP is known to be picky about what it plays.
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  8. Yeah, that's what I'm going to be using DVDFab for, too, from now on: only to decrypt.


    The thing is I actually don't really want only to play the MP4. But I'm interested in how WMP handles the material, because I figure if WMP plays it they'll all play it (and it's probably a properly-rendered file, too).

    What I actually want after ripping is to import the MP4 into a professional editing program (- Vegas -) and edit out the parts I don't like.

    I know, I know... Why don't I just import the M2TS? I don't know why, but whenever I try to click on the 18.4-GB M2TS, in Vegas, the program freezes and I can't do anything with it anymore.
    (It's not like importing a M2TS recorded by a video camera, which always works just fine. Maybe yet another defect of DVDFab processing functions, who knows?)


    I think I figured out why HandBrake did not output a usable MP4 file for me. I read this guide, at http://www.dvd-guides.com/guides/blu-ray-rip/259-rip-blu-ray-to-mp4-using-handbrake, and I saw that I was using the folder open command when I should have used the file open command. I just opened the M2TS as a file, and it's converting now. Seems like it's going to take about 3 hours, not 50 minutes like before, and that sounds like an accurate time length, as per the article. So, hopefully, the HandBrake output is going to work now.


    But whoever wants could still suggest other good rippers. (And yes, I do have the decrypted BDMV folder on the hard-drive now.)


    Thanks.
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  9. Originally Posted by newsgroup guy View Post
    The thing is I actually don't really want only to play the MP4. But I'm interested in how WMP handles the material, because I figure if WMP plays it they'll all play it (and it's probably a properly-rendered file, too).

    What I actually want after ripping is to import the MP4 into a professional editing program (- Vegas -) and edit out the parts I don't like.
    I've never used Vegas but if all you want to do is edit out sections of the video and it's something you're likely to want to do regularly, the easiest way might be to edit and re-encode at the same time.

    It has more of a learning curve than HandBrake, but MeGUI will do it. Once the video is ripped to your hard drive MeGUI will open and index it, then it's AVS Script creator lets you create an AVISynth Script for encoding. Once the script is saved you'd re-open it with MeGUI's AVS Cutter. It opens the script with a preview in order to specify start and end frames for encoding. You can add as many as you like. The AVS Cutter adds the "cuts" to the script and saves a file for use when re-encoding the audio so it's re-encoded the same way. With the cuts added to the script you're basically editing as you encode because you're only encoding the exact sections of the original video you wish to keep.
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  10. But I've never used AVISynth before.
    This sounds like I have to learn using both AVISynth and MeGUI. Right?

    Is there no program that can do the job on its own? You know, just take a BDMV structure, copied to the hard-drive with DVDFab, and output a MP4, hopefully, a MP4 of no more than 5 GB, like DVDFab claims to do?

    By the way, I finished the encoding with HandBrake, but it created a M4V file, which again is not read properly by Sony Vegas. (Only the audio plays in the Vegas preview window, so I can't edit because I can't see the video. Oddly, in WMP, the video plays great, but the audio is muted.)
    I need a MP4. Why does HandBrake automatically adds the extension .m4v when MP4 output is selected?
    I guess I'll try rendering a MKV first, and then passing it through HandBrake again. Maybe then the MP4 will be extension .mp4...
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  11. You don't really need to learn how to use AVISynth to use MeGUI as such, as MeGUI is like many other encoder GUI's in that it uses AVISynth for the work, but you'd basically set up an encode while applying copping and resizing etc as you normally would, and then MeGUI creates the script for you which it then uses to encode the video. There's a whole bunch of AVISynth based encoder GUIs out there, and many use other tools to index the video and extract the audio just as MeGUI does, but some do it all "behind the scenes", so to speak.
    MeGUI will do exactly what you're wanting to do..... take a BDMW structure and convert it to another format while editing.... no need to re-encode the video several times to get there, you'd just need to spend a little time getting to know it.

    Without having ever used DVDFab to rip a disc I don't know what it's output looks like, but at worst you'd open the ripped files with MeGUI's HD-DVD/Bluray Streams Extractor, extract the video to a single MKV while extracting /converting the audio to a separate file and then open the newly created MKV for encoding. My method is to run AnyDVD in the background to decrypt the disc and open it with the HD-DVD/Bluray Streams Extractor, so that way I'm ripping and creating the MKV for encoding in a single step.

    Does Vegas accept AVI as the input? If so, you'd probably be much better off trying a different method to get it to open the video. One which doesn't involve you having to re-encode it more than once to achieve the final output. This method once again enlists the help of AVISynth, but once you understand the process it's very easy to do. The upshot of it is you're creating a "dummy" AVI which contains no video itself, but which opens the original video instead. That way, you can open the dummy AVI using any program which can open them. You can edit it and re-encode as you normally would.... and the program in question remains blissfully unaware it's not working with the original video.

    There's a few different ways to go about it, but maybe to give you an idea of how it works, read the guide here. It explains how to create a "dummy" AVI to encode pretty much any file using AutoGK, which was only ever designed to re-encode mpeg video and AVIs. The process for creating the AVI to use for encoding with other programs would be similar, but as I said there's more than one way to do it. A full install of ffdshow also installs a little utility called MakeAVIS. It'll take a basic AVISynth script for opening video and wrap it into an AVI. At the same time it'll convert the audio to PCM and add it to the AVI too, so you can open the AVI it creates with the audio included, open that using another program and work with it as though you were working with the original video, no re-encoding to get there required. All you need to do is learn how to manually create a script to open the original video first, or get MeGUI to do it for you.

    It might sound hard but once you know how to do it, it's so much easier than having to re-encode the video multiple times, which is a bad idea anyway given each time you do it you'll loose quality. At best you'd want to take the original video and put it in a container Vegas can open without re-encoding it, but I've no idea which formats Vegas supports. There's several programs which will simply "remux" video and audio without converting anything.... it'll depend on the formats/containers Vegas will open and the type of video/audio you're working with, but you might be able to take the original video and put it in a container such as MP4 for Vegas without having to re-encode it.
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  12. Thanks for the comprehensive replies.

    First, let me say something about what Vegas accepts. It doesn't seem to accept AVIs. It should accept MP4s. And, most interesting for now, it should accept M2TS (because I edit M2TS files from video cameras all the time) but for some strange reason it totally freezes up when I try to open the M2TS decrypted by DVDFab (and coming from the original Blu-ray disc).
    Maybe you know what could be the problem (between a camera M2TS and a DVDFab-decrypted M2TS)?... and then I'll be able to work with a container Vegas accepts without re-encoding, if someone could just tell me what's up with that...

    The output of DVDFab contains an empty "CERTIFICATE" folder and a "BDMV" folder with many subfolders, like "BACK-UP" and "JAR", and of course a "STREAM" folder containing the 00053.m2ts file which I need to convert.

    Getting back to AVISynth and MeGUI, excuse me, please, but I was a little, you know, disoriented by finding out that I might have to create a script file, when I have no idea what that is, and there's also the problem with AVIs and "dummy" AVIs because I can't import AVIs in Vegas anyway. (And what if I will need Vegas to edit?)
    See, I'm also worried about another editing program - MeGUI, in this case - not being able to do all the importing, cuts and other transitions I might be doing with the file (and which I know Vegas will do, for sure).

    So, even though I would have to encode twice, I would be happy with a program which could just import the BDMV structure and output the proper MP4 (and hopefully also allow me to limit its filesize) which then I would edit with Vegas.

    As a matter of fact, I found such a program yesterday, VSO Blu-ray Converter Ultimate, which I'm trying out right now, but of course I'm not yet sure if the quality of the end product will be satisfactory.

    Oh, and I'd pay for a program; that's not an issue, so I'm not just looking for free software.

    Thank you very much.

    P.S. But, I'm telling you, if I can't get VSO's program to do the job, either, I might just give MeGUI+AVISynth a try, right after, and hope I'll get how to work it soon enough for me not to lose too many more days on this project. AVISynth does sound like a very powerful program, and a GUI should only make it better. Right? Thanks, Hello_Hello.
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  13. It's hard to know why Vegas isn't opening the Bluray m2ts files. At least for me because I know nothing about Vegas. Maybe it only handles a certain type of video inside m2ts. I've no idea.

    Maybe try Clown_BD to see if that'll create an m2ts file Vegas will play with. At least I think it'll demux the Bluray structure to a single m2ts file. If not, I'm pretty sure it'll extract the video stream and then you could probably use a program such as YAMB to remux that as an MP4 for Vegas. There may be easier ways to get there (assuming that works) but I hardly ever work with MP4 myself as it's such a PIA compared to MKV and I don't use any programs which require MP4 specifically.

    As an experiment I opened a m2ts file containing mpeg2 video with tsmuxer and extracted the video stream. As it turned out YAMB remuxed the m2ts as an MP4 directly. MeGUI also has a bunch of muxers under it's tools menu. The MP4 muxer won't open m2ts files but it opened the extracted video (m2v file) and remuxed that as an MP4. So that's two ways to do it for mpeg2 video. It should work just as well if the video is mpeg4. Both those programs will also let you add the audio but it's likely you'd need to extract it from the original file first, which Clown_BD should do. If for some reason it doesn't tsmuxer should.

    You'd really probably only want to do basic editing with MeGUI. The dummy AVI method was just a suggestion as a way to load the original video, but if Vegas won't open AVIs, then it doesn't matter. It's just a way of avoiding all that extracting and remuxing as well as the extra converting. The idea is the program opens the AVI but it's actually being fed uncompressed video by AVISynth..... but it doesn't mater now. The next best option would be to at least re-encoded it using a lossless compression method Vegas can handle so you're not losing quality through multiple encodes, but lossless means really, really large files.

    Anyway..... try Clown_BD or tsmuxer or YAMB to see if using some combination of those can extract or remux the existing video as MP4 without having to bother converting it.

    Another program which might be worth a look at is ffcoder. It has a copy function for both the audio and video so in theory you could open an m2ts file with it and output an MP4 without having to re-encode anything, but going from one container to another can sometimes be a bit hit and miss. It tends to be more likely to work if you don't include the audio at the same time and add it later instead, but it's another program to keep in mind.
    Last edited by hello_hello; 18th Feb 2013 at 21:17.
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  14. Not that I know about Vegas but it may be that it doesn't like the movie m2ts because it has hd audio tracks.
    And that it another thing, blu-rays can have multiple audio tracks...which Vegas may not like.
    Perhaps someone familiar with Vegas can reply.
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  15. Hmm, that's interesting, Steve...
    You know, one time I was able to import a MP4 with 5.1 sound into Vegas. (But, yeah, that wasn't a M2TS.)
    Or is HD 5.1 different than 5.1 in a 1080p MP4?

    Okay, Hello_Hello, now, the question is, if I want to give MeGUI a try, I should first install AVISynth, then install MeGUI, and then try to do the ripping, right?
    Thank you very much for all the explanations!


    P.S.
    Do NOT use VSO Blu-ray Converter Ultimate! It's crap. First time, it spit an error message. Then, it reached the end but when I tried to play the end file it was only 35-minutes long (instead of 85). I had plenty of space, according to its system requirements and previous converting experiences. Bad program! I hope everybody who wants to give it a try sees this.
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  16. I'm pretty sure MeGUI includes a portable AVISynth version which it uses if you haven't got the full version installed. Personally I'd install the full version though. Once you start messing around with scripts you'll appreciate being to open them with other programs too. MPC-HC can open and play AVISynth scripts as though it's the original file. Virtualdub(mod) can open and edit video using them. AnyVideoConverter is one of the "one click" type programs which can convert video via a script. StaxRip, Ripbot264.... there's lots of AVISynth based encoder GUIs. The "dummy AVI" method of opening AVISynth scripts is really just a way to get programs which are too stupid to open scripts directly to open them.
    I've got my PC connected to my TV so I often open a script using MPC-HC to run it fullscreen on the TV. That way I can also compare it to the original video to see exactly what the effect of any filtering or resizing etc will be before I start encoding.

    Anyway, for MeGUI, if you can't open the ripped Bluray structure directly, the HD-DVD/Bluray Streams Extractor from the tools menu should be able to extract the video to a single MKV and the audio to a separate file. Open the MKV using the File/Open menu. MeGUI will offer to index it. Add the indexing job to the queue and run it. It won't take long. When it's done, the script creator window will open with a preview. There's nothing too daunting there. You just use it to apply the basic stuff such as cropping and resizing as you normally would. When you're done, save the script and MeGUI will load it for encoding. A second preview window will open which you can just close. Run the AVS cutter from the Tools menu and open the saved script. Another preview window will open to help you add your cuts to the script. It's easy enough to use. When you're done, use the "close and do all" button. It'll save the cuts to the script along with a cuts file which you can load into the audio section and MeGUI will use it to re-encode the audio.

    From ther it's just a matter of configuring the video and audio encoders. You can add each to the job queue individually, or you can use the AutoEncode button to get MeGUI to mux them together as a single file when it's done encoding. I generally leave the x264 encoder in CRF mode. If you want to specify a file size, you can do it when using the AutoEncode button. MeGUI lets you specify a file size/bitrate there (including the audio) and it'll automatically switch to 2 pass encoding mode when you add the job to the queue if you do. Keep in mind whatever the encoder settings when you add a job to the queue, they're the settings which will be used for that job, so you can add a job to the queue, change the encoder settings or even choose a different encoder and that's what MeGUI will use when you add the next job to the queue.... and so on.
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  17. QUESTION ABOUT HDD SPACE AGAIN:

    Okay, that hard-drive-space-disappearing issue has happened to me again.

    This time, I used that useless program vso blu-ray converter ultimate, and no matter what I do I can't seem to recover my hard-drive space after it messed it up.
    What happened was the program crashed and rebooted my computer, for some reason. So, I guess the temporary files it was using got stuck somewhere. (But of course the stupid things are not in any of the VSO folders, or else I would have found them by now.)

    I'm thinking those 8 GB the converting process ate might maybe be in:
    - pagefile.sys (which is over 8 GB)
    or
    - hiberfil.sys (which is over 6 GB).
    Am I close, or am I way off on this???

    According to what I read on the Internet, if I have like 8 Gigs of RAM, I don't even need pagefile.sys. I could disable it, is what I read. But is that where my free space went?

    And what's up with these programs all messing up hard-drives, like this?
    Especially vso. Stupid vso said, in their stupid official system requirements (on their website) only 4.3 GB were needed to be free on the hard-drive. I had way more than 4.3 GB free, on top of the target size for the output file (which I set up at 6.5 GB)! Like almost 5 extra Gigs more...


    P.S. Oh, and thanks very much, Hello_Hello! I'll get to it as soon as I sort out this damn HDD problem.
    Last edited by newsgroup guy; 20th Feb 2013 at 04:41.
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  18. You really don't want to delete the pagefile.sys file unless you're really desperate for space, and even then...... It's the file Windows uses to swap stuff in RAM it's not using to the hard drive, but it also uses it to assign memory to programs which request it but aren't actually using it, so RAM isn't wasted. You can adjust the size of the paging file under System Properties. If you're using XP and you right click on My Computer, then select properties, it's under Virtual Memory somewhere in there. I have mine set to a minimum of 2GB and 4GB maximum. My logic there is if you have enough RAM (I've got 3.5GB which XP can use) the paging file generally shouldn't need to be any larger than 2GB (Windows never seems to use all of that on my PC). By setting a fairly large minimum, it stops the paging file from shrinking and growing all the time and contributing to hard drive fragmentation, but by setting a larger maximum, or no maximum size at all, Windows can increase it's size if need be. With the pagefile set that way I've never seen mine grow beyond 2GB. If Windows is set to manage the page file size it may get carried away if you have lots of RAM.... I'm not sure, it's been so long since I've done it that way myself.

    If you disable hibernation under Power management, Windows will delete the hiberfil.sys file itself. Maybe after a reboot.

    Once you have the ripping process down it's generally a somewhat repetitive PC task like any other.... you've just got to settle on a system which works for you. Once you find one. Ripping Bluray discs can require a lot of hard drive space and if it's something you do regurarly then it might be worth investing in a second hard drive. This PC's getting on a bit, but when I built it I installed four hard drives. One pair runs as a RAID-0 volume (2 drives sharing the work of one) and the other pair runs as a second RAID-0 volume. That way I can put source files on one RAID-0 volume and extract their contents to the other etc, or remux huge video file with one volume reading and the other writing.... effectively it'll be able to do that at about 4 times the speed of a single hard drive which is having to both read and write. Even with four 500GB dives making up two 1TB RAID volumes, I've still run out of hard drive space quite a few times, but at least running RAID volumes I'm not spending half my life sitting around waiting for the hard drives.

    Anyway..... the video and audio from a Bluray disc can be well over 20GB on it's own. If you rip and then need to extract the video to another file for converting, you'll need well over double that. Then room to convert and write the output files etc. The only way to avoid using so much hard drive space is to open and convert the disc directly, but it's not an ideal way to do it. Assuming it can be done when encoding Bluray discs. I don't think there's any free software which can. Plus what happens if the Bluray drive can't read part of the disc easily while you're in the middle of converting it?

    Anyway, probably the best you can do is to get Windows/Explorer to do a search for files according to their modified date. Make sure it's also searching in system and hidden folders etc. Lots of programs use the standard Windows temp folder. For XP it's located at "C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Local Settings\Temp" I've no idea where Windows 7 keeps the temp folder.
    I'd normally not recommend it as I don't think hard drives require a lot of maintenance these days, and what they do require in the way of cleaning you can easily do manually, but maybe try running a program sych as CCleaner to clean the hard drive of junk files. Or use the Windows cleanup wizard. For XP you get to it by right clicking on the root of a drive in Explorer and selecting properties. Once again, I have no idea where it is in Windows 7.
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  19. Originally Posted by hello_hello View Post
    You really don't want to delete the pagefile.sys file unless you're really desperate for space, and even then......
    Yes, Hello_Hello, I don't want to delete it either, because it's a system file, but isn't it excessive for it to be 8 GB? (Even in Windows 7?)
    But, if you know for sure that these ripping programs weren't the ones that made it that big, then I might just let it be.

    Also, I read that Windows regenerates that file. I don't want to disable it permanently. I'll re-enable it. After it's reset to zero. For programs that use it properly. If it contains that crap from those rippers, then it might as well be emptied, no?

    So, do you know? Would a Blu-ray ripper mess with pagefile.sys? Or should I keep looking for those missing Gigs?

    Really, though, what's a normal size for pagefile.sys in Windows 7?


    Regarding hiberfil.sys, I've been thinking about it, and, since I've never hibernated a computer -- is that the Stand-By? -- then I might as well free that space, too, no?


    Originally Posted by hello_hello View Post
    If Windows is set to manage the page file size it may get carried away if you have lots of RAM....
    I have 8 GB of RAM. I'm sorry, initially I had said "memory" in the post but I adjusted that just now, to be more accurate. And the paging file was set to allow for 8 GB, yes. (Also, I saw in its Advanced tab that it recommends 12 GB to be allowed. WTF?)

    Is it really necessary, to have 8 GB RAM plus 8 GB "virtual memory"? (Did I get it right? Is that what pagefile.sys is, virtual memory?)

    I guess I'm looking for someone to say "Yeah, that's where your free space you're missing went" or "No, it's not that". Do you know which one it is?


    Originally Posted by hello_hello View Post
    Anyway, probably the best you can do is to get Windows/Explorer to do a search for files according to their modified date. Make sure it's also searching in system and hidden folders etc. Lots of programs use the standard Windows temp folder. For XP it's located at "C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Local Settings\Temp" I've no idea where Windows 7 keeps the temp folder.
    I tried searching for files "modified - yesterday" when I had that DVDFab fiasco first. No files showed up that were so large.


    Originally Posted by hello_hello View Post
    maybe try running a program sych as CCleaner to clean the hard drive of junk files. Or use the Windows cleanup wizard. For XP you get to it by right clicking on the root of a drive in Explorer and selecting properties. Once again, I have no idea where it is in Windows 7.
    I do have CCleaner. And I'm also using Internet Eraser. But they don't free up the space that these rippers mess up. I also tried the cleanup wizard. It doesn't find anything that big.
    I know there are some temp folders in the Windows folder on the C drive. But I think CCleaner is already dealing with those, no?

    So, you see? I'm running out of options here.

    I just don't get how two programs can just make 8 GB disappear when the conversion is not done properly.



    And, finally, yes, from now on I'll try to have the size of the original Blu-ray title to be converted, on the C drive. Plus a little more than the size of the file to be outputted, on whichever drive that will be rendered.
    That should do it, right?



    To conclude, I have to tell you that I see you really know what you're doing. I, on the other hand, know a lot less and try to manage with the simplest tools that I can get to work nicely (so as not to confuse myself too much, you know). For example, I couldn't set up drives as RAID volumes, like you did. That's for sure.
    Thanks for explaining everything, but a lot of that I won't get.

    (I just wish I'd get where those GB go when a conversion goes awry, because I'll be doing a lot more of these Blu-ray conversions, I'm sure.)



    Thanks, again!
    Last edited by newsgroup guy; 20th Feb 2013 at 05:16.
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  20. It's been so long since I've let Windows manage the paging file I don't know what it does by default. If the converter program caused it to grow it's because it asked Windows for a hell of a lot of memory, or it used a hell of a lot. That's what the paging file is for, it's like an extension of your RAM.
    If you want to see how Windows sets the paging file, try disabling it completely and rebooting. Then enable it and reboot once more. Hopefully Windows won't get carried away with the size and you can keep your eye on it. Or set a minimum and maximum size if for some reason it keeps growing to a really large size.

    "Sleeping" is when a PC shuts a lot of stuff down, but it's not really "off". It keeps everything in RAM and when you start up again it just keeps going as it was. Hibernating shuts the PC down completely, but instead of having to reboot from scratch , it writes the contents of RAM to the hiberfil.sys file, which it then reloads when you restart, but once again you're effectively restarting to the state the PC was in when in hibernated.

    If there's an option in CCleaner or the Windows disc cleaner regarding the age of files, make sure it's set to look at all junk files, not just old ones. Some cleaning program (and probably windows) play it safe and only remove older temp/junk files. Run them again next week and you might get more space back. Or look for the location of the "user" temp folder (I don't know where it's located for Win7 but I'm sure Google does) to see if there's much in it. If there is, just empty the temp folder manually.

    System Restore, drive indexing... and Win7 has some new System Restore thingy I think..... I can't remember but there's a good chance it's Windows itself hogging your hard drive space. "Shadow Copy". That's the name. It does something "clever" like making backup copies of files you delete or backup copies of files you modify so you can roll back to a previous version, or something to that effect. I've got my own system for backing up/imaging my entire Windows/Programs setup na d backup up my files, so one of the first things I do after installing Windows is to turn all that crap off.

    This might help with managing System Restore, deleting restore points or checking up on Shadow Copy:
    http://lifehacker.com/5466794/the-complete-guide-to-windows-system-restore-its-better-...n-you-remember
    http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/how-do-i-configure-and-use-shadow-c...t-windows/3221
    http://www.trishtech.com/win7/turn_off_volume_shadow_copy_in_windows_7.php
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    One Windows expert has an incredibly complicated way to calculate pagefile size, but if you want a simple method, I'd say use half what your RAM is. Under Linux/Unix we use at least the same size as RAM if not double, but apparently Windows doesn't seem to need as much.

    I don't see any realistic way to deal with your free disk space constraints except to pony up the money to buy a larger disk drive or go through the current process of insanity where every rip you do is likely to fill up your hard drive.
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  22. I think I have things sorted out now.

    Thank you very much, Hello_Hello, and everybody else who helped!

    1)
    It wasn't pagefile.sys; that's for sure. I disabled it, then re-enabled, and it was still 8 GB.
    Jman98 suggested that I use 4 GB as set size for pagefile.sys. I'm going to do that, most likely.
    However, I did already disable Hibernation. Indeed, I've never used that. (And maybe what was in that 6.5-GB hiberfil.sys file was actually the remains that the system tried to save when it had to shut down, due to those programs forcing Windows to restart. I don't know for sure, but that might explain 6-7 GB just disappearing after an unsuccessful ripping.)

    2)
    Would you believe it, I ended up using VSO Blu-ray Converter Ultimate, in the end! It turns out that it can safely output a file of 5500 MB, with a very good picture quality, but it should have about 20 GB free in order to do that (not 4.3 GB as the official website advertises)!
    So, it's not that bad of a program, after all...

    3)
    I also looked in C:\users\username\AppData\Local\Temp, but there was not much there. Whatever was there only amounted to a few kB or MB; that's it.
    So, I still can't find any large temp files, undeleted, that might have been left behind to cause me lack of space.
    But if they do exist - meaning that it wasn't hiberfil.sys - and they get deleted after some time, and all of the sudden I notice way more free space, I'll probably post here to confirm.

    4)
    [This is probably only for Hello_Hello:]
    I downloaded MeGUI and gave it a try. I opened a short file and used the One Click Encoder.
    Does it only output MKV, though, or does it have more output options if I use the File Indexer? As "x264" encoding, it was supposed to also allow me to output MP4 or RAWAVC, right? But, when I wanted to render, it was only possible to render as MKV.
    The processing duration and end result seemed very good to me. (I used SD MP4 as input, by the way, on this first try.)
    Also, MeGUI edits, too, right? Video, too, or only audio? And is it possible to edit the imported file without creating any AVISynth script file? (I would really rather not try doing that.)
    Thanks again, very much.
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  23. Originally Posted by newsgroup guy View Post
    [This is probably only for Hello_Hello:]
    I downloaded MeGUI and gave it a try. I opened a short file and used the One Click Encoder.
    Does it only output MKV, though, or does it have more output options if I use the File Indexer? As "x264" encoding, it was supposed to also allow me to output MP4 or RAWAVC, right? But, when I wanted to render, it was only possible to render as MKV.
    The processing duration and end result seemed very good to me. (I used SD MP4 as input, by the way, on this first try.)
    Also, MeGUI edits, too, right? Video, too, or only audio? And is it possible to edit the imported file without creating any AVISynth script file? (I would really rather not try doing that.)
    Thanks again, very much.
    To be honest I've never used the OneClick encoder. It'll probably do everything that MeGUI can do using the "long" method for setting up an encode, only you'll need to tell it what you want it to do first. In fact it seems like it might include a few extra "tricks", but anyway, you just need to spend a little time setting up the OneClick encoder options so it'll give you the OneClick output you want. For instance after opening the OneClick encoder window, click on "config" under the Output tab. In there you can specify the types of file format the OneClick encoder will let you choose from, and it appears only MKV is selected by default.
    As I said I've never used it though, but it appears you can access all of MeGUI's normal settings (encoder configuration, AVISynth script templates etc), and I guess ultimately the "config" button under the output tab in the OneClick encoder window lets you set all of those things up to your liking and save the setup as a OneClick Profile. That way by switching between the profiles you've saved, the OneClick encoder might switch from outputting Xvid/AVI to x264/MP4 etc. All you need to do is load the input video and select the output profile, but of course you've got to set it up first. I guess that's why it's called OnceClick Encoding and not OneClick Configuration.

    MeGUI will effectively only edit the video while encoding, so yes you need to create a script and add the edits (cuts) to it, but try Video To Video Converter for editing without re-encoding. Someone linked to it in another thread recently and while I wouldn't use it for my regular encoding (no access to any encoder settings aside from bitrate) it'll let you edit video with a preview while also giving you an option not to re-encode it, so it'll split the video into sections and rejoin them for you. I haven't played with it a lot myself yet, but I'm pretty sure it's a program I'll be keeping just for the "unusual jobs" most other GUIs won't do.
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  24. Thank you very much, again.

    When I have more time, I'll play with MeGUI again. I've got to get it to output AVI, because I can't stand MKV. (Don't know why, I just don't like it.)

    All the best.
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  25. I'm fairly sure MeGUI won't let you use an AVI container of you're encoding with the x264 encoder as the AVI container isn't really designed for it. Other encoder GUIs might, but I suspect they'd be in the minority. I didn't think about that when I posted previously. Well MeGUI's main encoder window won't, but I'm not sure about the one click encoder. Plus you might find many players simply won't play h264 video inside an AVI. You'd need to use either MP4 or MKV.

    If you really can't stand MKV, maybe you should try to work out why, because it's way more versatile than AVI. If you said you weren't a fan of MP4 I could relate, but MKV..... you can put almost anything in it, and thanks to MKVMergeGUI it's way easier to work with MKVs than AVIs.
    I've kept all my standard definition Xvid encodes as AVI simply so they'll play using the old AVI capable DVD player if need be, but for everything else, I wouldn't even consider contemplating the idea of entertaining the possibility of using anything other than MKV.
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  26. I probably posted the wrong information. I'm sure you're right, and MeGUI wouldn't let me use files like you said. I think I must have posted in a hurry. My bad.

    In any case, MeGUI is proving a bit too user-unfriendly for me. I'm sure it's a great way for truly advanced users like you, though.

    About MKV, now, I'm not trying to bash that format. But, to me, its only merit is to make the size of the film inside smaller. (Smaller when compared to AVIs, but not that much smaller when compared to HD MP4s.) That's not a sufficient reason for switching to a new format.
    Also, my DVD player, which is from the mid-to-late-2000s can play AVIs. It can not play MKVs. So, when it comes to SD stuff, and I want a larger screen for viewing, MKV is useless.
    And, then, on top of that, my primary editor, Sony Vegas, handles MP4s beautifully. MKV does not beat MP4, when it comes to higher-quality clips/movies.
    So, due to all these reasons, I find it hard to believe that I will ever consider MKV a great, and maybe even useful, video format. (I did think it through. I didn't just say what I said about not standing MKV for nothing.)

    Thank you very much, again, Hello_hello! (And don't take offense to my opinions, please.)
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  27. I wasn't offended, but MKV, MP4 and AVI are nothing but containers, so they have no effect on the size of the video and audio within. Each container requires a different amount of "overhead" though, with MKV generally requiring the least, so for example if you open an AVI with MKVMergeGUI and resave it as an MKV, the over-all file size will probably be reduced by a small amount, but that's just the "overhead". MKV supports almost any type of audio and video whereas MP4.... not so much.

    I've still got a bunch of standard definition Xvid/AVIs myself and I'll probably leave them that way for the same compatibility reasons as yourself, but for h264 and HD video I always use MKV. If you're using a program which doesn't support MKV though, then of course you need to work according to it's limitations.
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  28. Thanks, Hello_hello. I probably have a better outlook on MKV now. But, still,...

    I suppose MKV works best for you because you use those advanced programs that work in such a user-unfriendly way that they need to have GUIs built for them. And then even the GUIs are hard to work with, too, by regular users like me. Maybe I would like MKV if I knew that kind of advanced editing, too.

    I thought MP4 was just as good, if not better, than MKV because any MP4 I open in Vegas gets read fine (no matter what type of video is inside). (And, as you said, there can be many types.)
    Oh, and also MKV does not always play fine, even in Media Player Classic, and many many times needs all codecs installed. (I guess that's because, as you said, it can enclose a wider variety of video and audio types. But is that really better, if you have to have every type of codec ever created, because you can't really know ahead of time what could be in that MKV, and what you might need to be able to play it for sure?) On top of that, when I see that even Windows Media Player reads MP4s out of the box, that's a plus in my book.
    But, anyway, to get back, why doesn't Vegas read MKV? Because of the many options of what could be inside?
    Do other renowned editors open MKVs out of the box, by the way? What about Final Cut Pro, or AVID MC? Do these open some MKVs? Just curious.

    See, I can't use scripts to edit, so I have to use these editing tools, like Vegas and Adobe Premiere (though I almost never use Premiere), in order to do some good cutting.
    I probably won't use any other editing tools, because they're either different and apparently command-based (like the ones you must be using), which is too hard for me and for the amount of editing I'm doing, or crappy (like TMPGEnc's newer editors - Xpress 4.0 was so-so good, with all those filters it had, but that's too old now - or the Nero editors).

    So, I pretty much can't use MKVs anywhere over here. I'm stuck with MP4 now. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
    But I'm not going to dispute if MKV is the most versatile format. It probably is, like you said. I wouldn't know enough about that.


    I could still use some help and advice, though, Hello_hello (and others).

    I'm all set up as far as editing goes, as I said.

    There's still a somewhat big issue when it comes to ripping, however, even though the problem for which I started this thread was mostly resolved.
    Yes, I can use VSO Blu-ray Converter Ultimate to extract HD movies to MP4, but I do feel a little ripped off after getting that software because the files it outputs almost always have some glitches when they play. Very small glitches, but a program that costs money should have smooth output, right? I believe that visible pixelation of the same colour as in the original frame is due to setting the output size a little small, but there's no excuse for a full line or two of all green pixels here and there. Those are bad glitches. And VSO's rips do have these. (I've done a few of these rips already, and they contain these image imperfections.)

    With this in mind, I would be very grateful if anybody could suggest a better MP4 BR disc ripper that's similarly easy to use.

    (
    I've seen and read the thread "How to backup and convert Blu-ray to MP4 HD or MKV", by Baldrick, and even though the guide is very good following it is very tedious because it relies on outside help (for example needing Avisynth installed - what if you don't use Avisynth?) Something simpler would be great. Like one program for ripping Blu-ray to hard-drive - e.g. DVDFab - and one program for ripping title from hard-drive to MP4 - ?
    Also, I've seen https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/blu-ray-to-avi-mkv-mp4, and I've had to eliminate some of those choices because of requiring other stuff to work, some other choices because they only output MKV, and I've tried a few of the remaining choices.
    I guess the only ones that would be left to try, from that list, are BD Rebuilder (but I don't want iDevice MP4, I want standard MP4, whatever the difference may be) and VidCoder (which I don't know how I overlooked).
    Finally, I also have to say that freeware programs are, most of the time, disappointing. I tried video.NET, for example, and it produced significantly more glitches in the output file than Blu-ray Converter Ultimate. It's hard, I think, to find a really good freeware program.
    )


    So, any other suggestions?

    Thank you again.
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  29. You shouldn't be getting all those "glitches"...at least with a good ripper or a good converter.
    And something seems amiss to me if you are having playback problems with mpc-hc.
    I don't think it needs codecs....that could be part of your problems if you have codec packs installed.
    Are you only using one hard drive to do all the ripping and converting?
    Most of us use at least 2 or more hard drives for working...especially high def.
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  30. The MPC (not HC, no,) problems are with OTHER MKV files, on ANOTHER computer, so we shouldn't mix all problems together. I was talking about all my experiences with MKVs in the past, recent and distant, which have led to my opinion on MKV files.

    I have many computers. I'm not even writing this message on the computer I use for editing or the computer on which I experienced MKV MPC playback problems.

    But let's forget about MKV, please, and focus on the ripping programs.


    I know I should not be getting glitches when ripping with VSO Blu-ray Converter Ultimate, but I do.
    And it must be one of two causes: Either VSO's program is ripping with some small errors here and there, or VSO's program is ripping from a folder - copied via DVDFab - which may have already contained those errors (which VSO might have, then, only replicated) from DVDFab's processing.
    (However, if everybody is using DVDFab to copy Blu-ray to HDD, and generally there aren't such glitches, then of course I am leaning towards seeing VSO Blu-ray Converter Ultimate as the most likely weak link.)


    Please don't try to blame it on me. People have done that before. I like to think I've fixed any such problems I may have had. Read above.

    Yes, I do use two hard-drives. Yes, I have enough space now. Over 30 GB, now, always, on each HDD.

    So, please, no more questions like "Is your computer plugged in?"


    Can you suggest a(nother) simple-to-use BDMV folder to MP4 ripper, instead of trying to troubleshoot? That would be the best help.
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