good quality video....

[nuno1959]

Hi guys !

recently, after a couple of accidents/damaged disks, i've decided to rip my DVD collection & store it away for safekeeping but being a total newb to the video world/formats/etc.. i thought i'd ask you guys what you would advise me to use - preferably software that would produce files that take a bit less space - many concert DVD's i have go up to 8 or 9GB !!

my computer is a late 2009 27'' iMac i7/1TB/16GB of RAM & after googling up & reading about ripping & video encoding ( is that the right word ?.. ) i am more confused than before if that's possible ! :-b

i have tried VLC, HandBrake, etc...but having absolutely NO IDEA of what settings work best, i just got my head spinning after fiddling with those & trying this & that setting....

my aim is to strike a balance between a really good quality/ease of use/file size & not necessarily ABSOLUTE BEST quality movie files, if possible remove some slight ''blockiness'' some DVD's have but without getting real deep into video processing/encoding/transcoding/whatever !!! ;-)

i have my iMac connected via HDMI to my 42'' Panasonic HD TV, want to store my files on W.Digital external drives which i already have & play them from there

sorry for such a long post, any help would be VERY appreciated - many thanks to you all for the info & pleasure i get from this forum

cheers

Nuno

 

[blueroom]

I encode using the AppleTV2 preset in Handbrake. Works with all iOS devices & iTunes plus some media players.

 

[slothrob]

If you are not obsessed with getting the absolute best quality possible, I would also suggest just going with the aTV2 preset. This is a pretty well refined setting and it looks excellent. There is no real need to be fiddling with a bunch of settings you don't understand, you probably won't improve the encode.

I would strongly suggest checking the Decomb and Detelecine boxes for content recorded in video. Also, you can decrease the Constant Quality:RF setting to 19.25, and you might see an improvement in the encode if you look really close, probably close to indistinguishable from the source.

 

[nuno1959]

encodes, formats...

thanks guys - much appreciated

i'll give it a try this afternoon & see how it goes. as i said, absolute best quality isn't a priority, i just want them to look as the original DVD's or as close as possible but WITHOUT agonizing over it ;-)

will let you know how it went - by the way, any experience with Elgato Turbo.264HD ? i read some good things about it, checked it out & it's interface looks SO simple & neat
cheers

 

[slothrob]

The Turbo thing produces lower quality encodes than Handbrake, without being any faster than Handbrake set to produce similar quality encodes, from what I've read.

 

[peterjcat]

This is true. The Turbo software does have a nice interface, but, you know, ideally you'll be spending more time watching the movies than looking at the interface. So use Handbrake and the ATV2 preset.

 

[OmegaRed1723]

The only change I make to the default ATV2 profile on standard definition source material is moving the slider from 20 to 18. You may wish to experiment by encoding a small sample, or doing a live preview in Handbrake. Other than that, ATV2 profile is great for me.

 

[nuno1959]

encodes...

Ok. guys, i hear you !!


many thanks for your input, not only is it good info as you saved me some money as well with the Turbo whatwhat..

now all i need is to get down to it & start converting a couple of hundred DVD's - any volunteers ?? ;-)

cheers

Nuno