DVD to...?

cormie

Hi,
I just ordered an Argosy Media HD so think I'll put my DVDs onto it, I know it can play VOB, but I'd prefer to maybe compress them a bit. So what's the best format to use and what would be the best tool to convert?

Any feedback appreciated

MunsterCycling

Link to the item ordered?

MC

cormie

Here's the HD: http://www.ibood.com/site/eu/forum/index.php?action=vthread&forum=1&topic=23238

From what I know, xvid and Divx would be the best, but which of these to choose I suppose is the question, or is there better? I'm not that concerned about menus and all that, but they would be nice if possible.

Basq

You won't get menus with a DivX / XviD I'm afraid anyways - they're not interactive, they just contain a video and audio stream.

There's no specific benefit to using either DivX or XviD as both are just implementations of the MPEG4 video standard - XviD is probably not quite as widely supported but that's open to interpretation.

For a beginner to DivX / XviD, i'd recommend Dr Divx (basic enough but plenty of little tweaks / options so look up a tutorials on Google - there should be some up on VideoHelp.com.

I've an earlier version of that DivX / XviD drive and they play practically anything thrown at them anyways..

Sherifu

Check out DVD Shrink.

cormie

Thanks very much

I don't suppose Dr Divx can convert an iso to DIVX?

cormie

Sherifu wrote: »

Check out DVD Shrink.

I have that already, but isn't that just for making a big dvd smaller, to be burnt back onto a DVD? I didn't know it did DIVX/Xvid? At least mine doesn't.. I think:o

Sherifu

cormie wrote: »

I have that already, but isn't that just for making a big dvd smaller, to be burnt back onto a DVD? I didn't know it did DIVX/Xvid? At least mine doesn't.. I think:o

You say it can play VOB?

Basq

Yeah, DVD Shrink can make a DVD smaller - or the series of VOB files smaller (to be more precise).

But a DivX / XviD will produce much MUCH better quality than files produced by DVD Shrink - and it can get much smaller too (and regain this quality).

With regards to converting the ISO, the contents of the ISO would need to be extracted first (using MagicISO or something similar) and then if it's a video, you can probably do something with it in Dr DivX.

Sherifu

It was the only way I could think of to keep the menus. I've never tried to compress a dvd below 4.5g with dvd shrink, give it a shot if you're feeling adventurous.

Gadgetman496

Anyone know where these are available from aside from iBood?

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Standard Toaster

http://handbrake.fr/

Supported sources:

• Any DVD-like source: VIDEO_TS folder, DVD image or real DVD (encrypted or unencrypted, but protection methods other than CSS are not supported and must be handled externally with third-party software), and some .VOB and .TS files
• PAL or NTSC
• AC-3, DTS, LPCM or MPEG audio tracks

Outputs:

• File format: MP4, MKV, AVI or OGM
• Video: MPEG-4 or H.264 (1 or 2 passes or constant quantizer/rate encoding)
• Audio: AAC, MP3, Vorbis or AC-3 pass-through (supports encoding of several audio tracks)

Misc features:

• Chapter selection
• Basic subtitle support (burned into the picture)
• Integrated bitrate calculator
• Picture deinterlacing, cropping and scaling
• Grayscale encoding

It really is idiot proof and the quality is alway decent. Has templates foe loads of devices or just plan old mp4 divx/xvid
And it's free

cormie

Thanks the edge, have you experience of Dr.Divx too or just the one you linked to? Anyone know the differences between the 2 programs?

Sherifu wrote: »

You say it can play VOB?

Oh yeah, think I'd prefer to just put them to DIVX just to get it over and done with

gadgetman496 wrote: »

Anyone know where these are available from aside from iBood?

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http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/1088219/art/storex/mediaplayer-club-mpix-355.html

Standard Toaster

Well, one big difference straight away is handbrank will only use un-encrypted DVDs/VOBs as source while DrDivX can use MPEG-1 & 2, VOB (un-encrypted), AVI, FLV, MOV, MP4, AVISynth. Prob some others.


On the other hand, it only outputs DivX video. Afaik it will output mp3 & ac3 passthrough for sound

I prefer more control over my encodes. I will admit, it's been a while since I used Dr DivX (prob v1.0) so maybe it has changed alot since.

cormie

Ok thanks for that. I'm not too fussy about the encoding side of things, I'll probably just go with the defaults. I might just go with drdivx. See in the "supported sources" part of Handbrake, it says DVD Image, does this mean it can encode an iso of a DVD to Divx?

cormie

Can you "burn" the subtitles into the picture on Dr.Divx too? or can you do it so that you can have a subtitle txt file and change the language as you please by changing the text file?

Standard Toaster

Just read the specs of your device.

DivX Subtitle Format: IDX – SUB/SRT/ASS/SSA/SUB (type II)/SMI/PSB
File Extension: dat/mpg /mpe/mpeg/vob/avi/divx/xvid

Doesn't say if the the subs can be a seperate file or if they have to be embedded in the file. I'm guessing as a seperate file with same filename.

Like:
Jenna_Jameson_&_Friends.avi
Jenna_Jameson_&_Friends.srt

(Subs on porn....well, ok, maybe not)

Ahem.

Divx uses XSUB subtitles...no mention of that support.

What I would do, as a test, is to encode the first chapter of a DVD using both handbrake & Dr Divx.

Use VobSub to rip the subs out to say SRT or SSA and play around with them.

As for 'burning' in the subs....avoid if it can be helped. You're just introducing more details for the encoder to encode. Mpeg4 doesn't like hard edges. (Frames are split up into 16x16 pixel macroblocks)

I couldn't tell you for certain if DrDivx can burn subs of not. Maybe someone else can clarify.

cormie

Cool, I think I'll give Dr a go tomorrow and if it does what I want, I'll just stick with it. I hate having loads of programs installed that all do the same basic thing I'm not going to be too picky about this anyway

Thanks for all the help everyone!

cormie

Is there a way to split by chapter? For example, I have a few music video DVD's and I'd like to be able to put each into a folder and have track 1, track 2, track 3 DIVX files if you get me?.. Can't see an option in Dr. Divx

Standard Toaster

Not 100% familiar with Dr. Divx so no idea.
If you use DVDDecrypter to rip DVD to harddrive you can specify just to rip certain chapters to VOB and encode from there

cormie

Hi, just another question on this. Is there a way to rip the audio alone from Vob files using Dr.Divx or DVD Decrypter? Can't see the option anywhere, just to MP3 would be fine

Gadgetman496

cormie wrote: »

Hi, just another question on this. Is there a way to rip the audio alone from Vob files using Dr.Divx or DVD Decrypter? Can't see the option anywhere, just to MP3 would be fine

AoA Audio Extracter (And it's free too )

Just make sure you select "Files of all types" when you browse for the VOB or else it won't appear in the list.
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cormie

Thanks

Pity all these things aren't just in one single program, ah well!

cormie

Just had a look at that program and it seems in order to get audio from DVD you need the dvd ripper, which isn't free

Note: If you want to extract audio/video clips from DVD movies, please use AoA DVD Ripper

Gadgetman496

cormie wrote: »

Hi, just another question on this. Is there a way to rip the audio alone from Vob files)

I use A0A to extract audio from VOB files all the time & I don't have their ripper?





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Standard Toaster

cormie wrote: »

Hi, just another question on this. Is there a way to rip the audio alone from Vob files using Dr.Divx or DVD Decrypter? Can't see the option anywhere, just to MP3 would be fine

Sure, you cn use DVD Decrypter. Use the stream processing option to rip the audio. You'll need to transcode it to mp3 using another app......say Besweet

cormie

Ah cool, thanks again

Doing it that way would be good if you just wanted the audio off a DVD, but if you've already ripped the DVD to VOB on your computer, I think it's best just to convert the VOB to MP3 rather than rip again.

I'm using dbpoweramp 11.5 with a winamp plugin if anyone else is interested. I keep getting err - decode error 2 for some reason, but the mp3 file still seems to be created without any problems.