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how dependent is DVD ripping on HARDWARE?

T

tkim

Platinum Member
ok, i know hardware matters but how much. i am interested in building a HTPC but dont want to spend all that much money. at what config can i get good ripping done? duron, athlon, xp, celery, p4....? also, what ghz?

how much ram should i invest in?

also, with each config, now long would a standard movie take to rip? (approx 2 hours or so)?

thanks dudes.
 
RIPPING is when you take the data from your DVD to your HD.
The faster the DVD drive, the better. (HD helps too I guess).

ENCODING is when you take that data and make into ... Im assuming avi since most people rip into divx avi.

I just ripped and encoded Monsters ball (halley berry mmmmm)
the ripping took about 15min with my 16x pioneer dvd drive

encoding took 45min- 1 hour per pass with my 2.26 ghz.

It doesnt really matter how fast my comp is for me , because the ripping doesnt take longer than 30min, and I leave the computer encoding the crap overnight anyways.... you might want to do that and save $
 
let me get this right, h/w is important but not all that...to a relative degree. if that is the case, how important is ripping and encoding software in all of this?

oh yeah..what about ram?
 
Ripping is almost completely dependent on the DVD drive since that's the real bottleneck for that particular situation.

Encoding on the other hand; my 2.8GHz P4 w/ 512MB DDR400 encodes DVDs about half the time it took my T-Bird 1.1GHz w/ 512MB PC133. These are very rough estimates from observations by the way, I could be off by a bit. The point though is that it _is noticable_ with a faster system (CPU).
 
well hot dam....my rig is way outdated. i was planning on doing a HTPC rig with the new mini pc from shuttle with a p4. i got a 120 gig hd as well.

for half the time, i will HAVE to upgrade!!!

thanks dudes
 
Get a good dvd-rom....the liteon 16x was the fastest dvd ripper...Then a nice fast hdd 7200rpm to wirte the transferred data...

For encoding is raw power....

I run 2 pass gknot divx movies of high quality 1400-1800 bitrate and left at 720x480 (usually cropped black bars gone), 192-224kbit mp3 sound.

Same 2 hour "gone in 60 seconds" movie at same settings...encoding times

tbird 1400@1500 w/ 256mb crucial pc2100@284mhz cas 2

4hr 10 mins......

1.6a@2.74ghz w/ 512mb corsair pc3200@342mhz cas 2

2hr 15 mins

1.6a@2.66ghz w/ 512mb corsair pc3200@442mhz cas 2.5

2hr 18mins

high memory speeds can help offset lower cpu power but basically raw power wins....

My northwood doubles my tbird and is obviously helped by a 684mhz fsb, 512kb of l2 cache, and 342mhz of most aggressive ram settings.

I would be surprised geekish thoughts if a 1100tbird with pc133 ram only took twice as long as 2.8p4 w/ 400mhz ddr...I don't think so...My 1100 tbird I never ran with gknot program Ihave now but it was noticeably slower then my 1400 so proportionally it likely would have been a 5hr encode time for me.

 
Originally posted by: tkim
let me get this right, h/w is important but not all that...to a relative degree. if that is the case, how important is ripping and encoding software in all of this?

oh yeah..what about ram?
Click to expand...

CPU power is everything when it comes to encoding. Ripping is the least of your worries since it doesn't consume that much time even with a slower DVD drive.

Encoding times can also vary depending on the encoder you use. I use Cinema Craft (TMPGEnc is also a good alternative) with 6 VBR passes. VBR stands for variable bitrate -- it means that the encoder will go through and analyze each frame multiple times. Depending on the complexity of the scene, the encoder will adjust the amount of compression used for that frame. Using VBR, you'll notice less quality loss during high motion scenes when compared to the same scene encoded with a constant bitrate. With a P4 2.4GHz, the entire encoding process for a 2 hour movie with 6 passes takes roughly 7 hours. I usually start the encoding process, go to sleep, and wake up with a great DVD encode waiting for me in the morning. 🙂
 
frankly I have done the more then 2 vbr passes and I would have to say I really stopped seeing the difference after 2....Talk to thugsrook about my quality with 2 passes using gknot. On my monitor I had my wife hard pressed to tell if it was the dvd or not.

I totally agree with the above the ripping is about one of the smallest things you will do....It is all about encoding and how long you want it to take....

Right now I am not real time from say starting the encoding and starting the movie in the other room and when I come in it has a bit left before it synchs the audio and video and finishes....I think a 3ghz machine with daul channel pc2700 will get me the extra 15mins I need for real time 2 pass encoding.
 
duvie, santiago, geekish, thanks for the input. but it brings up some more questions.

what software do you recommend? (i want the highest quality possible!!)

also, i heard that sound is a major issue when doing this sort of stuff. well, to make a long story short, my friend rips the audio separately then combines it back with the video. he's says doing it straight up is bad because the sound is not very loud. any thoughts on that??? also, does it support 5.1 and all that good stuff?

in reference to the 1st question, how large is a high quality file?

again, thanks for the help!

 
Software: Xmpeg 4.5 and newest Divx codec the totally free version.

Hardware: AthlonXP 333fsb (overclock) or P4 Northwood over 2.2 ghz.
512 DDR RAM
At least 40 gig HD if not a whole lot more.

Bare min hardware: AthlonXP, P3 tualatin, or p4
256 meg
20 gig HD

You probaly could shave an hour off encoding with the 33fsb Athlons or a 533 fsb p4.
 
For the highest quality possible, you'll want to go SVCD.

I recommend DVD2SVCD for this. It's very easy to use and has worked great for me. I can hardly tell the difference between SVCD and DVD.
 
Originally posted by: Geekish Thoughts
For the highest quality possible, you'll want to go SVCD.

I recommend DVD2SVCD for this. It's very easy to use and has worked great for me. I can hardly tell the difference between SVCD and DVD.
Click to expand...

Wow! Awesome!

I just got a fast new computer and my apartment complex has 100 dvds you can borrow for free, I was about to start ripping, and I defintely will now that I can use an easy tool.

How long does it take you to do?

Specs:
p4 1.8A (overclocking later this week)
gigabyte 8iexp v2
Mushkin 512mb pc2700
5 different 7200 rpm hds... but 1 120gb WD 8mb Cache SE 7200 rpm hd 😉
16x Liteon DVD

I think I am set 😀

Spac3d
 
as you guys can see i am new to this encoding stuff. what are the differences in svcd and vcd? can svcd be played on a normal player?


also, i know that mpeg 1,2 and 4 are compression formats (right?) ...but what are the main differences and which one is the best?

i hate new booty status! 🙁
 
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