Encoding Help/Advice Needed

[tonyclem]

I have more than 4TB of VOB's that I have ripped from DVD's I have purchased over the last 20 years, most are TV series, many are classics. I ran into a problem today and now I am doubting how I need to do things.

It is my desire to encode everything I have and once I have a good clean, stable copy of each show . . . I want to delete the VOB's.

I have every imaginable software to accomplish this task, but these encoded files have to be near perfect for me to feel ok with deleting the master copies, the VOB's

So my question is:

where is the best place for the best tutorial for encoding clear files that are smaller in size?

or what does everyone here use as software and for settings?

My DVD's are getting unplayable and pitted and I need to convert them to digital before it's too late.

The one thing I need is a good GUI as I am not good with command line unless it is simple.

Today I was encoding my Golden Girls series and I ran into an interlace problem, basically, very visible lines through the playback of the finished product. I did a simple deinterlace and that was pretty horrible too.

So I have been reading all day and I am over saturated and over it at the moment.

I have always liked mp4 container w/ x264, with AAC 128 sound, basically really simple file, but I am open for MKV also. My goal is no larger than 325mb for a 24 minute 720x480 show . . . seems like that would be simple to achieve a quality file,

I see files half that size that look amazing, I just don't know what program works best and what settings to use.

I have a huge archive, I don't mind sharing, but I must first quality encode them for archiving.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Mod: I had no idea where to post this, if this is wrong place, please accept my apology.

NOTE: I watch my programs on either a portable HDD or flash drive plugged into the USB port on my Samsung Blu ray/media player into my Samsung Smart TV.

I never watch on my computer or burn them to DVD or Blu Ray disks


NOTE: I have been using WonderFox, quick and easy, but not quality. I have used Avidemux, a lot of manual labor and can't get quality results. I installed Handbrake, took 3.5 hour to encode 19 minute of one 24 minute show (I have 100's, if not a 1000 episodes in VOB's), I must be doing something wrong with that, though video quality is great.

[davexnet]

Encoding speed is determined by your computer specs (mainly CPU) and also the settings used by x264.

Try Vidcoder it has reasonable default settings.

For old shows like the Golden Girls, it was probably shot on video at 29.97 fps interlaced.
Perhaps you can try Bob deinterlace giving twice the frame rate progressive.

[transporterfan]

http://www.pazera-software.com/products/mp4-converter/

Select first preset (H.264/AAC - original size and quality - threads Auto, max speed)
Leave everything as Auto (unless you have a need to change a value to something specific)
Set your output directory

Start with one, check the quality is ok and move up to 20 or 30 files at a session.
This is not a fast process. You will probably be sleeping during most of it.
If the quality is too low then up the bitrate. You may have to experiment to find a happy medium of quality/file size
Hopefully, the presets work well enough that you don't have to concern yourself with the minutia
Let me know how you get on or if you get stuck. Enjoy.

[tonyclem]

I have a second computer setup for this once I figure the setting and how Handbrake works, so if a batch can be done, that would work much better. Most ripped VOB's seem to have 4-5 episode, so being able to load 5 into queue would do for me.

[Bernix]

Hi,
I suggest you to dont use Peak framerate. Use framerate same as source and constant frame rate. Also I suggest you to use CRF constant rate factor. You have to experiment which number is good quality for your eyes. Lower crf higher quality but largest file size. If you find CRF number that is suitable for your eyes, then all videos will have same quality but videosize will vary (depending on scenes comlexity)

Bernix

[transporterfan]

The program I mentioned is a batch converter. That's why I suggested it. Just drag-and-drop as many VOBs as you fancy onto it.

[tonyclem]

Great info so far, thanks everyone. Trying many new approaches

[tonyclem]

So I ended up installing Handbrake and then installing Vidcoder (which uses Handbrake to encode). Set this up on my extra computer, loaded VOB's, put the episodes in the queue to the tune of 50-100 at a time and let it go. It takes a while, but this setup is doing a great job for me. Thank for all the help.