Idiot-proof DVD ripping ness?

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-06-22 12:09am

I've got some blah DVD ripping software, right, but I always get huge/crap quality results. My Doctor Who season 1 disks are scratched to all hell (many players refuse to play them, I have to use PC's/DVRs/etc where they play fine with no image problems) and I want to slap the eps on my server instead of using the disks. Sadly, I can't even get quality similar to the 350Mb TV-rips poor, misguided criminals illegally download. And my filesizes usually blow out to 450-500Mb.

So, remembering I'm completely clueless and wouldn't know a quantiser from my own ass, does anyone have any recommendations?

PS, ideally I'd want mp4 output files, but I could perhaps live with xvid etc.

JLTucker · Post by **JLTucker** » 2007-06-22 12:18am

Use AutoGK. It works wonders.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-06-22 12:23am

Thanks! Does AutoGK produce xvid-encoded stuff in different containers, or does it have proper mp4 support? I can always convert to mp4/h.264 later, but ideally I'd like something similarly idiot-proof that supported it directly.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-06-22 12:23am

Try DVDShrink. I haven't had much patience to try it out yet myself, but I hear lots of raves about it.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-06-22 12:26am

DVDshrink copies DVDs, I didn't think it outputs anything other than vobs/isos? I'm looking to archive this stuff on the server as media files, not produce another disk.

EDIT - Actually, can't Quicktime Pro convert DVD->mp4?

JLTucker · Post by **JLTucker** » 2007-06-22 12:31am

AutoGK outputs avi files with either the DivX or XviD codec, depending on what you choose. Here is a link to the official site.

Program features support of:
- DVD/VOBs(unencrypted from hdd), MPEG2, MPEG1, transport streams (including multi-program ones) and AVI/DV input sources
- XviD or DivX(5/6) output formats
- AC3, DTS, PCM, MPA input audio tracks
- AC3, DTS, MPA, CBR/VBR MP3 output audio tracks
- two audio tracks in AVI
- external (vobsub) or internal (burnt-in) subtitles (with support of forced subs)
- HDTV input/output resolutions(upto 1920x***) and frame rates (50/60fps)
- automatic crop and resize based on compressibility of the source to achieve best results
- automatic detection of input source: PAL, NTSC, FILM, HYBRID
- automatic deinterlacer and IVTC
- automatic split into CD-sized chunks for main video and external subs

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-06-22 12:34am

Yah, I've been reading about it: no h.264 support yet. Like I said, I can simply rip to very high-quality xvid then convert to h.264 later (as I did with pretty much my whole library when I got my 360). While I'm at work I'll test AutoGK and a few Mac tools to see what gives me the best results.

Turns out even though it's 2 years old, there isn't much software support for h.264 yet, which is kinda a shame. I blame Microsoft, otherwise xvid would be fine.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2007-06-22 12:35am

Handbrake?

JLTucker · Post by **JLTucker** » 2007-06-22 12:38am

The best way to rip individual episodes, in my opinion, is to use IFO mode in DVD Decrypter + AnyDVD (removes copyright protection on some discs that DVD Decrypter cannot do) to rip a single episode onto your hdd. Then use Auto GK to encode the episode.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-06-22 12:39am

How the hell didn't that show up on my googles? Clearly I fail the internets. That looks like what I'm after - is there any differences between the OSX/PC versions? I've noticed Macs seem to have more polished tools for h.264s.

I'm thinking of using the four season one disks to get my two Macs and two PCs cranking while I'm at work to compare.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2007-06-22 01:38am

Stark wrote:How the hell didn't that show up on my googles? Clearly I fail the internets. That looks like what I'm after - is there any differences between the OSX/PC versions? I've noticed Macs seem to have more polished tools for h.264s.

They're supposed to be the same codebase but the Mac site might be more mature. YMMV.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-06-22 02:41am

To be honest, I've tried ripping DVDs to other media, and I've always found that the most convenient way to rip a DVD is to a DVD-R. It will work on any player with no hassles, and it's absurdly fast; you can often rip, shrink, and burn the goddamned thing faster than you could watch the movie.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-06-22 03:01am

Ideally I'd like to store them in the same 'no fuss' way I've got other stuff, so it's exposed to my 360 and all my computers without disks. And it frustrates me that the results I get always suck compared to the quality/size ratios I've seen on other rips.

Decue · Post by **Decue** » 2007-06-22 08:42am

I always use FairUse Wizard when I rip DVDs, real easy to use, and it supports h.264