[Arkon11]

Yeah I've looked at handbrake before, but I was wondering if with handbrake you can set any of the resizing filters (lanzco, spline, ect) because the last time I checked the GUI didn't have a spot for it, while autoMKV did?

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

[johnny2]

if size is not a concern, i would just use iso image of the actual mpeg2 dvd's.

Exactly. I never understood why people will spend 12 hours reencoding a 90 minute movie they will only watch once in their lifetime. It makes no sense.

[technojunkie]

Exactly. I never understood why people will spend 12 hours reencoding a 90 minute movie they will only watch once in their lifetime. It makes no sense.

Fortunately for most of us, a respectable single core processor can transcode a movie in less time than it takes to watch it

(that and I have a personal policy of watching a movie before ripping that way I don't store a movie I hate )

[ashlar]

As far as programs go, I have no idea. As far as formats go, definitely one of the 264 codecs (x264 for example.) for any HD content. Encoding a DVD in x264 is kindof a waste,

I disagree. x264 is the way to go for SD content too, if you care about quality and wish to save some space.

Otherwise, you could leave stuff in MPEG2. But I wouldn't give up 30-40% space gains easily.

I backed up the whole Buffy and Angel series in h264 using Handbrake.

[waldo22]

Yeah I've looked at handbrake before, but I was wondering if with handbrake you can set any of the resizing filters (lanzco, spline, ect) because the last time I checked the GUI didn't have a spot for it, while autoMKV did?

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Handbrake has an "h.264" tab where you can add the command-line options you want.

Also, it has a "query editor" tab where you can manually edit the entire command-line query that is generated by the GUI.

All it is is a GUI that uses many of the same open source tools that autoMKV, autoGK, and others do. It just helps you generate the right command-line commands, that's all.

[Zeron]

Can any of the tools be used to upscale DVD content to 720p?

[Arkon11]

Bump?

I was wondering the same thing

[technojunkie]

Why would you want to? Upscaling the actual video in the files will increase the file size without adding any quality. Just let XMBC scale it during playback.

[Arcanthur]

I encode all my DVD's as h.264 MKVs using handbrake. I create 5.1 and sterio audio tracks and use the new constant quality slider. It generally takes 45min - 1hr to encode 1 movie and the file sizes vary from 1 - 2gb.

The quality is nearly indistinguishable from the source, something I cant say for xvid, the output is always considerably more "muddy". Aside from the obvious filesize advantage, it carries a few other benefits over mpg or vob:

• black bars are cropped from movies, meaning non anamorphic sources will automatically display fullscreen.
  
• the aspect ratio flags are accurate over thier mpg or vob counterparts
  
• vobs have issues with timeshifting, mkvs do not
  

[moviebuff]

Make Mkv is a very good program to put into an mkv file for playback. Handbrake is great for encoding to a much smaller size for blu ray or dvd without much video quality loss and both programs right now are free. I think once Make mkv is out of beta it will cost $ but handbrake is still free

[lloydsmart]

+1 vote for MakeMKV. It makes it incredibly simple to rip from a bluray or dvd straight into an MKV file complete with chapters, multiple audio streams (if required) and original untouched video, the best way to rip IMO.

If you do insist on reencoding the video, I would still stick with the MKV container, but you'll have to use other software for that like those already mentioned in this thread.

MakeMKV is free right now, but when it's out of beta some parts of it will cost money. I think it's just the bluray ripping and streaming, not sure though. The DVD part will remain free. This much I know.

[dbldown768]

can any of you who use constant quality and meGUI upload your profiles here?

[gabbott]

I encode all my DVD's as h.264 MKVs using handbrake. I create 5.1 and sterio audio tracks and use the new constant quality slider. It generally takes 45min - 1hr to encode 1 movie and the file sizes vary from 1 - 2gb.

The quality is nearly indistinguishable from the source, something I cant say for xvid, the output is always considerably more "muddy". Aside from the obvious filesize advantage, it carries a few other benefits over mpg or vob:

• black bars are cropped from movies, meaning non anamorphic sources will automatically display fullscreen.
  
• the aspect ratio flags are accurate over thier mpg or vob counterparts
  
• vobs have issues with timeshifting, mkvs do not
  

What he said, plus I'm anal about having aspect ratio flags be correct.

[wstewart]

Up until recently I have been using handbrake. I am trying out Staxrip and it has flexibility that handbrake does not. I've tried Megui but find it to much trouble to use, particularly the UI. I like staxrip as it has a preview window that we can verify the cropping (as does megui). It also has flexibility to add a variety of filters like megui, that handbrake can not.

Handbrake does pretty good on the quality, but I like to have the preview window. Handbrake can directly read an ISO where as staxrip and megui can not.

One caution with Handbrake, if you set it for strict, it will not generate a video that is modulus 8 or 16 dimensions. The xbmc software scaling will not scale to fit the screen properly if the dimensions are not mod8 or 16. At least in linux anyway. If you run VDPAU, then you don't need to worry about mod8 or mod16, it will scale to the full screen no matter what the dimensions are.

[wstewart]

Why would you want to? Upscaling the actual video in the files will increase the file size without adding any quality. Just let XBMC scale it during playback.

My understanding is the the xbmc upscaling is not yet on par with better upscaling DVD players.