Ripping to h.264 or VC1

[DisgruntledVirus]

Instead of ripping my movies to Divx or avi formats, I wanted to start ripping them to h.264 to get a higher quality file. I know I could just increase the size of the Divx or avi file, but from what I know h.264 has better compresson ratios while retaining the quality.

I also am about to jump on to the Blu-ray ship and need a program that will work with standard DVD vob's or Bluray files.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

Decrpyt the DVD using DVDDecrypter or any of the various tools out there.

For encoding, look at MeGUI, using the x264 encoder. Here's an excellent guide
I tweaked the profiles a little bit based on my reading of doom9's forums and a little bit of not-very-scientific testing. Did some screenshot comparisons and encoded several small video clips (of the same source) at different settings. This is how my profile is set up

Works excellent with DVDs and I assume BR titles too. (Look around on torrent sites and you'll see lots of DVD-sized ripes taken from Blu-ray/HD DVD source discs). Do keep in mind that encoding will take much longer than DivX.

 

[newnameman]

Watch out for BD+ protected titles on Blu-ray.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

AnyDVD HD has cracked BD+

 

[Auric]

Reencoding olde timey MPEG-2 to AVC is fine because the quality loss is imperceptible for a significant savings in size. However, to do so with AVC or VC-1 is folly since it cannot be reduced in size without losing significant quality and thus defeating the purpose of HD.

But the size of HD formats can be reduced significantly by remultiplexing to eliminate the extraneous content (audio tracks and extras) and at the same time make them more ergonomic, as 'twere -i.e. no warnings, logos, advertisements, display limitations, and so on.

If using the free x264 encoder, be sure to use AVC compliant settings to ensure hardware playback.

 

[Modelworks]

http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/te4xp.html
Its become my new favorite for working with video formats.
I don't know about bluray support, but it works fine with h.264
Its probably the best low cost editor/converter I have seen.
Only thing that beats it is premiere and that cost much more.

I just looked and it has the following under HD format MPEG.
1440 x 1080, 29.97fps, interlaced.
1280x720, 29.97fps, progressive.
1280x720, 59.94fps, progressive.

It also uses all cores for encoding.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel
AnyDVD HD has cracked BD+

Not really. The situation is a little more compex than that. IIRC, it's only been cracked on certain titles.