I bought a bootleg copy of I Am Legend in New York City today for $4. I figured it would be horrible quality but I popped it into my DVD player and it was AMAZING quality, superb! Anyway, when I put the DVD into my computer it said that the DVD was 3.98GB. Is this this the average size of a DVD? What's the average size of a DVD rip after its put trough Handbrake? I'm using Handbrake now and it has been ripping for an hour plus. Is it going to be a huge (3.8GB file) when it's done?
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How many GB are DVD rips?
- Thread starter jason2811
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depends on how nice you want the quality- a complete rip of a dvd can be anywhere from 4-7GB usually, but if u convert a dvd thru handbrake to .mp4 or whatever - its ure preference, 700mb is common- i prefer around 1.2 -1.8GB a movie for good quality for my 
tv.
tv.so even though the DVD is labeled as 3.98GB it won't actually be after its converted in Handbrake to .mp4?
Also, how long does Handbrake usually take to rip a DVD? And what Handbrake settings would you recommend so that I can play the file on both my iPhone and HDTV? Thanks.
Also, how long does Handbrake usually take to rip a DVD? And what Handbrake settings would you recommend so that I can play the file on both my iPhone and HDTV? Thanks.
DVD = low compression
mp4 = compression
You can compress down to whatever size you want, you will just lose quality.
mp4 = compression
You can compress down to whatever size you want, you will just lose quality.
hey jason2811
here's some clarification for you.
when you "rip" a DVD it will ALWAYS be the same size as the source image on the DVD itself. a single side of a DVD can have one or two layers. so a single sided comsumer purchased DVD can be from 4.7 to 9 gigs approx. some DVDs will note whether they are a Dual Layer DVD or not.
the software you mentioned can convert DVDs (which use MPEG-2 compression) to other codecs, such as MPEG-4. most of the time the source can NOT be encrypted, so you have to use a program like Mac The Ripper to first rip the DVD to your hard drive and at the same time remove the encryption. then you use a program like Handbrake to convert the huge MPEG-2 DVD rip into a smaller more manageable file that uses MPEG-4 maybe.
for the sake of example...Apple uses the MPEG-4 (h.264) codec to encode movies that can be purchased and downloaded from iTunes. i've personally not bought any yet, but i've seen where these feature length movies (1.5 - 2hrs) are usually 1.2-1.5 gigs in size. i think that would be a pretty good expectation if you use handbrake (properly setup) to convert your DVD rips to MP4.
another example for you, that doesn't have to do with DVDs is Digital Video (DV). DV tapes (DV, mini DV, etc) use 12 gigs per hour. i can take a 1 hour program from my cable box that's attached to my computer and recorded it as DV in iMovie. when i take out the commercials it becomes about 40 mins in length and takes up 8-9 gigs. after i convert it to h.264 (for iPod, iPhone, AppleTV) it is then between 350-700mb.
h.264 (MP4) compression is definitely the way to go. it's the same compression codec being used for HD-DVDs. it gives small file sizes with little or no loss in quality (when conversion is setup right)
good luck
here's some clarification for you.
when you "rip" a DVD it will ALWAYS be the same size as the source image on the DVD itself. a single side of a DVD can have one or two layers. so a single sided comsumer purchased DVD can be from 4.7 to 9 gigs approx. some DVDs will note whether they are a Dual Layer DVD or not.
the software you mentioned can convert DVDs (which use MPEG-2 compression) to other codecs, such as MPEG-4. most of the time the source can NOT be encrypted, so you have to use a program like Mac The Ripper to first rip the DVD to your hard drive and at the same time remove the encryption. then you use a program like Handbrake to convert the huge MPEG-2 DVD rip into a smaller more manageable file that uses MPEG-4 maybe.
for the sake of example...Apple uses the MPEG-4 (h.264) codec to encode movies that can be purchased and downloaded from iTunes. i've personally not bought any yet, but i've seen where these feature length movies (1.5 - 2hrs) are usually 1.2-1.5 gigs in size. i think that would be a pretty good expectation if you use handbrake (properly setup) to convert your DVD rips to MP4.
another example for you, that doesn't have to do with DVDs is Digital Video (DV). DV tapes (DV, mini DV, etc) use 12 gigs per hour. i can take a 1 hour program from my cable box that's attached to my computer and recorded it as DV in iMovie. when i take out the commercials it becomes about 40 mins in length and takes up 8-9 gigs. after i convert it to h.264 (for iPod, iPhone, AppleTV) it is then between 350-700mb.
h.264 (MP4) compression is definitely the way to go. it's the same compression codec being used for HD-DVDs. it gives small file sizes with little or no loss in quality (when conversion is setup right)
good luck
I'm in the process of converting all my kids cartoon movies to play on the iPod for viewing on our dvd player in our expedition and to play at hotels or grandma's house and ripped they are an avg 1-1.5g's.
I use handbrake and the quality is very nice viewing on my 24" iMac it's pretty good and so far I've got 22 ripped and they're taking up about 21g.
I use handbrake and the quality is very nice viewing on my 24" iMac it's pretty good and so far I've got 22 ripped and they're taking up about 21g.
Actually DVDs use pretty high compression. Lets say you have a film which is one hour long. On a DVD you would expect that to take about 4GBs maybe if not less.
1 hour of DV footage (straight from a standard definition camcoder) takes up 11-12GBs of space and that is a compressed format as well. Uncompressed footage takes up even more space.
I agree with both of you. MPEG-2 compression was extremely impressive in its day, but now it's been eclipsed by newer codecs. HOWEVER, it's worth noting that the extra compression comes at the cost of increased computing complexity, and therefore CPU usage/power/etc. It's always a trade-off.
In order to make a bootleg DVD play in a standard DVD player it needs to be copied. Most DVDs are dual layer but the discs are expensive so there is software that can strip out material such as extras and also apply more compression to the original MPEG2 movie encode without losing too much quality. This will get the normal 8+GB down to under 4.7GB which will then fit on a cheap single layer DVD. Typically, MPEG2 for full DVD quality will average around 5Mbps, with peaks at around 10Mbps. By dropping the bit rate you can reduce the size of the encoded file while staying in the MPEG2 standard but there may be more compression artefacts.
If it doesn't need to play on a DVD player you can rip it to MP4/H.264 which produces a much smaller file for the same quality as MPEG2. For example, MP4 at 2.5Mbps is pretty much indistinguishable from the original DVD. H.264 at 1.5Mbps is a little worse I find but still good enough. I have generally ripped to MP4 at 2Mbps in handbrake at iPod resolution (640x480) and that produces a very watchable file that is about 1.4GB for a typical 2 hour film and encodes pretty rapidly. H.264 takes much more time to encode but can drop a 2 hour film to under 1GB and still be very good quality.
If you're willing to drop the quality more still you can get a full 2 hours into about 500MB but it isn't going to be full resolution and there will be noticeable compression artefacts. To my eyes, 1Mbps H.264 640x480 is the lowest that will still be good quality on a regular TV. Anything lower should be relegated to portable use on really small screens.