Ripping my SD DVD collection

[kncowans]

Hello all

I am going to be Ripping my SD DVD collection soon and need to know if I should be Ripping them at 720x480 or 720x576.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

Kevin

 

[Gornot]

If the source video is widescreen: 720x480, if not: 720x576. Simple as that Although it depends on the source video resolution, don't stick with suggested resolutions strictly if you want to save the aspect ratio. Always be sure to crop any black bars from the video BEFORE resizing/upsizing or generally setting up the resolution. The most important thing is to preserve the aspect ratio, the resolution itself may not matter if you assign a good bitrate with strong settings to the encoder... Assuming that you'll be ripping to x264...

 

[kncowans]

Hello

Thanks for the reply.

I have just Ripped my first DVD (Matrix) to H.264 and was wondering if 2.3GB sounds about right for a Widescreen Movie of 02:10:00 in length?

Thanks in advance

Kevin

 

[blsbball]

Just wondering what programs you all are using to rip to h264. Just started ripping my collection in xvid with autogk and I have been pleasantly surprised with the compression and quality but am looking for something to use for h264.

 

[Wishmaster]

Size should only matter if you trying to keep a constant target size or conserve space etc.

As far as quality, really does depend on personal preference and what display you are watching them on.

If there's no artifacts present, and it looks good to you, then Id say keep it as is

My encoder of choice is MeGUI and have excellent results. Although the learning curve for it takes a bit if you are new to encoding, creating scripts etc, but worth it IMO as the results are quite good.

For H264 encode i personally prefer / MKV container with AC3 sound
Occasionally i use MP4 with AAC (2.0 or 5.1) sound using the Nero AAC encoder, but i find the matroska container to be far superior with less overhead.

As far as bit rate/size my personal rule of thumb:
DVD: bit rate 1750-2000 depeing on the source /with no regard to output size
2K bitrate with AC3 448 sound comes out at about 2.2GB for a 2hr10min movie

Bluray : 720P 6200-6500 bit rate with no regard to output size

Again, its all personal preference, and what looks good to you. this is just mine.

Auto Gk is a pretty good program actually.
MeGUi may take a bit get used to, but I think you be happy with the end result. A much sharper image is produced with x264. At least IMO

 

[kncowans]

Hello all

Thanks for the replies.

I have settled on Ripping my SD DVDs at the following:

Resolution: 720x480
Video Bitrate: 2500
Audio Bitrate: 128k

This results in files of approx. 2.5GB in size and playback fine.

The only thing I have noticed is that when I play them back in Quicktime Player Full Screen the image quality is pixelated. Has anyone else seen this?

When playing the same videos in WMP Full Screen the image quality is fine.

Thanks

Kevin

 

[Gornot]

Get rid of QuickTime. If you are using a .mov container for the encoded files change the extension from .mov to .hdmov
This way the videos you play will use DirectShow and thus display much greater quality...

The bitrates sound good. I personally care more about balancing quality and filesize for archiving and backups, so I use ~2260 kpbs for video and encode audio streams with Winamp's HE-AAC encoder into .m4a files of 64kpbs. I always use good, strong settings: the Main 3.0 profile but also assign 5 reference frames, at least 3 or 4 B frames, motion estimation is always hexagonal while direct prediction is spacial etc.
Once you get around the basics you can experiment with advanced settings and see what fits you.
These encodes I make are pretty close to Apple's trailers, though I still haven't gotten around the strange color difference between my encodes and Apple's...

 

[Wishmaster]

D2V index and set color correction in your AVISynth Script help?
Or have you already tried that or do it this way?

 

[kncowans]

Hello

The resulting files are .mp4.

I just wish I could specify the video player that iTunes uses instead of relying on Quicktime Player.

Bye for now

Kevin

 

[Wishmaster]

Are you wanting the videos to play in Itunes or wanting a different
player to open the file when you dbl click it?

WMP12 and WMC will do fine and look much better, just as Sopolias Falst has said earlier in the thread.

If your meaning you want another player to launch the file,

Change to default player:
1.right click your MP4
2.choose properties
youll see type of file and under that <opens with:>
3.Click change

you can now choose what ever player you want to be the default player for MP4 video

I always just assign it to WMP, although I usually use Media Center

if your wanting Itunes to play it with something else from within Itunes, Im not sure you can. But I admit, i do not use, nor do i know much about Itunes

 

[Gornot]

D2V index and set color correction in your AVISynth Script help?
Or have you already tried that or do it this way?

Not all of my encodes are from DVDs. I personally am a sucker for movie trailers, I always hang around Apple's trailer website and keep track of upcoming movies. Just for fun I'd download the 1080p version and make my own "custom" 480p that resembles Apple's 480p encodes. Keeps my collection going and it's a good practice
Practice makes perfect

As for playing H264 files I do not recommend iTunes because if it can't always display the video stream correctly. I use Media Player Classic instead with a Haali Splitter. Since it also effects the rendering mode used by WMP12, you can use that one as well.

 

[Wishmaster]

Practice makes perfect Indeed