VidCoder and a quest for strait conversion from TS to MKV

[kslick]

Good Day everyone or anyone willing to read this...

I've spent the last 15 years ripping every DVD i bought into TS or ISO format to use with a server/client solution called "mymovies" but with solutions like Plex, Kodi, media portal etc the developer of MyMovies has gone into maintenance mode and is no longer developing ways to utilize it's back SQL and data-stores for newer versions of windows, and why would they with everything available today.

So over the last few years i've been trying to figure out a way to convert the thousands of DVD's and Blu's into MKV but without touching the size or quality of the original file. I've also been trying to do this with some level of automation. I attempted handbrake but I lacked the knowledge to really make it work for me, and other solutions would often cause the audio tracks to be out of order or not in sync. I started to re-rip all of my movies from scratch when i came across Vidcoder which seems to be user friendly enough for my skill level with a queue system and what seems to be a wide arrange of profiles to chose from.

Here is where my questions come in:
Am i just seeing file size growth because it's doing a conversion? a 4gb TS folder coming out to a 10gb MKV seems a bit excessive like it's trying to up convert. I've been tweaking settings and running tests for a few weeks now and i cant seem to get a 1 to 1 conversion. Preset profiles will convert a decent looking output into a smaller filesize but again that is not really what i'm looking for.
Does it have to do with the profile, or is it an codec issue, is the container the cause?






[Attachment 54316 - Click to enlarge]
(attached is my vidcoder preset export in it's current state)

Thoughts, sugguestions? thank you for taking the time.

[lingyi]

Use MakeMKV. It will remux (place the video into an .MKV container) directly from the VIDEO_TS folder or .ISO. The file will be a few hundred MB smaller because it removes the additional info contained in the .VOB container. No loss of quality at all.

Edit: Looking at your Vidcoder settings, you're definitely upscaling and converting to H.264. You're not remuxing, you're converting.

[jagabo]

Or MKVToolNix.

[kslick]

Use MakeMKV. It will remux (place the video into an .MKV container) directly from the VIDEO_TS folder or .ISO. The file will be a few hundred MB smaller because it removes the additional info contained in the .VOB container. No loss of quality at all.

Edit: Looking at your Vidcoder settings, you're definitely upscaling and converting to H.264. You're not remuxing, you're converting.

I did play with MKV and it does work just fine on a one by one basis. it's been awhile since i toyed with it, didn't i have to add each movie one at a time to the queue?

I think the h.264 was a default on the profile i was tweaking, what should it be?

[netmask56]

You are over complicating the whole process. Just drop them into Makemkv, no re-encoding file size in will be file size out for the main movie

[lingyi]

I've seen .bat files to automate the processing of files with MakeMKV, but they all have some issue. One of which is that MakeMKV, MKVToolNix, Vidcoder or any other program can only output separate files for each video remuxed. That is, if your RIP has anything but the main movie only, each additional video will be in a separate .MKV and depending on the .ISO or VIDEO_TS folder, may not default to a unique file name. A potential issue if you try to run a batch file.

My preference is for MakeMKV and it takes <5 min to remux, including the time to choose which videos you want, plus audio and subs.

As netmask56 stated, you're overthinking things trying to use VidCoder to do something MakeMKV and MKVToolNix are far better suited to do.

[lingyi]

I don't use VidCoder and had to look it up. It's a frontend GUI for Handbrake and doesn't support remuxing only. Stick to MakeMKV or MKVToolNix if you want to retain the original quality of your RIPs.