View Full Version : Best practice, codecs/format & encoding tools for ripping DVD-Video movies for Xbox?
jerkychew
2006-07-07, 02:17
hi all,
i'm new to the xbmc scene. i installed it on my xbox via a softmod, and am still getting to know it. i've gone through the wiki and the online manual, but can't find an answer to my issue...
i've been ripping dvds to my home server in standard 'ifo' mode - i browse to the video_ts folder for a specific title and launch the dvd by clicking on the first .ifo file.
anyways, is there a better way to do this? for my windows network i have shortcuts to each ifo set up in one directory (i.e., the shortcut called 'snatch' goes to the .ifo file in the snatch\video_ts folder), so double-clicking the file from a windows box will launch the dvd app and we're golden. is there a way to do this in xbmc? i'd love to have a folder of nothing but thumbnails, where clicking on a thumbnail would launch the corresponding dvd.
thanks!
if you have all of your movies in seperate folders eg
'matrix' - 'video_ts' - vobs/ifos
'lord of war' - 'video_ts' -vobs/ifos
with the bits inside the ' ' being folders, you can simply press play on the remote while on the matrix folder. you can also bring up the context menu (white on controller) and select play. you can have a thumb with each parent folder.
is this what you were wanting?
snappz
jerkychew
2006-07-07, 23:01
yup, that sounds perfect! i'll test it when i get home.
thanks!
i use a program like autogk to compress my ripped dvds into a single .avi file. this allows me to save tons of space since the actual ripped files are still pretty bulky. you can play with the settings to keep the best quality and you can adjust the files size as you want. the only thing you lose is time. it can take 5-7 hours to compress depending on lenght of movie and how much compression you are using. the manual is very good at helping set this up.
i agree with the use of autogk. i get very good quality at 1.5gb per movie. others will want uncompressed dvd on a server somewhere, for me several hundred movies from my dvd collection backed up onto one 500gb drive in my xbox internally and out of my kids hands is much better for me....
meh, mpeg4-asp is so yesterday. using megui on xbmc hi res profile and mkvtools you can use the higher quality avc video encoding and package the native ac3/dts stream into a mkv container. plus multiple subs, chapters etcetc
jerkychew
2006-07-10, 06:16
i do have some movies converted to either divx avi or mpeg, but i like having all the included menus and options when i play a movie. that way i can do a chapter jump, view the original menu system, etc.
that being said, my server is almost full, and with my dvd rack containing over 150 movies, i'll have to add on some disks if i want to keep it this way. :)
LaTropa64
2006-07-10, 12:55
meh, mpeg4-asp is so yesterday. using megui on xbmc hi res profile and mkvtools you can use the higher quality avc video encoding and package the native ac3/dts stream into a mkv container. plus multiple subs, chapters etcetc
maybe i shouldn't ask because, if i like it, i'll probably want to re-rip all my dvd's but do you have any more information on this?
about how long does it take to go from dvd to mkv? with my current machine (p3 2.8ghz) it has been taking about 3 hours to rip the average dvd movie to an avi.
jerkychew, in mpeg4-asp you have the .divx container format which allows for menus and other dvd like features. you can do this now in that format.
as well, hd-dvd and bluray is supporting mpeg4 part 10 codecs like avc and vc-1 wmv9 advanced profile with their own two different platforms of menu features. you should be able to do this soon with tools for hd-dvd and bluray authoring.
latropa64 the internet is full of information on avc and mkv. some search strings in goodle would be:
matroska
mkvtools nix
x264
megui
avc encoding is slower than mpeg4-asp due to its complexity but using megui with sharktooth's pd_hires xbox profile it's well fast enough on moderate machines. x264 as an encoder is highly optimised using assembler and will take advantage of symmetrically multiprocessing machines.
Hi, what is the best format to store DVDs on my Xbox HD for a good space/quality ration, I have a 400GB drive in my XBox. Don't necessarily need the DVD extras just the main feature.
thanks for any help
Well an ISO is the best quality and retains all features but is definitely not space friendly. For compressed rips try compressing the video with xvid or divx or some other h263 mpeg4 codec as they run smoothly and dependably on xbmc. If the audio is PCM you'll want to compress it as well to mp3 or something similar for ac3 and aac are already compressed pretty well so no real need to compress them. Then multiplex them into a container format I highly suggest mkv the Matroska container.
If you want subtitles as well you can rip them right off the disc and either convert them to a script format or leave them as is and multiplex them right in to an mkv when you multiplex the rest of the file.
Also with mkv containers you can define aspect ratio or display resolution (which really just defines the aspect ratio as xbmc still upscales the video) which will allow you to display the odd resolutions that dvd's are fromatted in in the proper aspect ratio without requiring you to resize the video while compressing thus retaining a higher quality.
wHack,
can u tell me a lil more about what programs you use?
chall5,
as for myself I use dvdshrink to rip the main movie and autogk to compress, i started out with using the xvid codec on my movies with autogk and they looked great at about 1gb per hour. for most movies i do 1.5gb, if it is an action movie or whatever, i keep the ac3 5.1 soundtrack, otherwise for a comedy, i usually do vbr mp3 for soundtrack. u can do subtitles as a seperate .srt file and turn on/off within xbmc. I had issues on some movies with xvid and switched to divx 6.4 pro which i had to pay for (20 bucks), i use this within autogk as well. looks great. u will have to decide what filesize/compansation u want to live with. i have a 480p edtv which i will keep for at least 10 years. if u have a standard crt tv, u can go much smaller than that. like 700mb per movie.
i would love to back up full iso but space is a issue for me. i downloaded a few hr.hdtv tv shows from the internet. these look fantastic in xbmc. i hope down the line i can rip the new blueray or hd-dvd and compress to hd divx. how cool would that be? even a bluleray at hr-hdtv resoultion would look fantastic on my display. have fun and let me know if there is anythig better than autogk out there....
I use xvid with mp3 sound using avi.NET (http://www.clonead.co.uk/)
works for me.
Hi, here's my two cents:
I rip dvd's with dvddecrypter and convert to XviD (in an avi) with mp3 using AutoGK as well. I don't really care for the AC3-track, as it takes up too much space I'd like used on video bitrate. I found that ripping with as low as mp3 CBR 112kbps still gives great audio quality (In AutoGK, 112kbps is the lowest CBR that maintains a samplerate of 44.1kHz; as long as you have this, your sound isn't very likely to distort)
Ripping movies of up to 2 (maybe 2,5) hours at 1,5GB makes them look great on a standard tv. Mp3-tracks with 112kbps sounds great on a Logitech Z-680, using the optical output.
It sure beats 4,4GB or more if you ask me! :D
Thanks for all the suggs, previously I have been using DVDFab Decrypter which gives me a DVD in about 4GB (sometimes more) which is a bit much. I know I might cop it for this but is there a 1 click soloution where I can whack a DVD in to my computer and it will rip it and compress it to around 1.5GB which I can then FTP over to my Xbox (no subtitles or extras required, only the main featuer). I noticed CloneAD requires me to already have ripped the DVD before it converts it again - is there a one stop shop for this ?
thanks again
not sure, i think ripping with dvdshrink and compressing in autogk is very easy. I am still trying stuff to obtain best results. I agree, on a standard crt, 1.5gb would look fantastic, on a high def display, if u look hard enough u can find artifacts. i have all the original dvd's that I have compressed to xvid/divx so I can always rerip if something better comes along or harddrive space gets even cheaper. I may build a server in the future and back up iso's of the dvd. I wish xbox could do h.264 with all the bells and whistles. havent tried nero recode yet. I will try dr \. divx and avi.net as well. thanks...
fairly simple way to do it is 1. Get a copy of "DVD region+css free", then 2. Get a copy of "Clone DVD2". Put these on your computer and rip whatever movie you want, then you can transfer to your xbox. The dvd region program takes care of the copy protection and clone dvd2 lets you rip out menus, subtitles, different sound formats (dts, 5.1, etc.) and you can chose vidieo quality by means of ripping it to what size you want it to be. Hopefully this helps. It's the best way i've found so far for getting movies on the box, but i'm all ears if someone has a better way.
fairly simple way to do it is 1. Get a copy of "DVD region+css free", then 2. Get a copy of "Clone DVD2". Put these on your computer and rip whatever movie you want, then you can transfer to your xbox. The dvd region program takes care of the copy protection and clone dvd2 lets you rip out menus, subtitles, different sound formats (dts, 5.1, etc.) and you can chose vidieo quality by means of ripping it to what size you want it to be. Hopefully this helps. It's the best way i've found so far for getting movies on the box, but i'm all ears if someone has a better way.
doesnt clone dvd2 just due mpeg2 transcoding? or does it do mpeg4 as well? i am trying fairuse wizard right now as well. could not get avi.net to install for some reason...
just to give you my 2 cents, MP3 audio below about 160 KBPS actually sounds like an mp3. 128 sounds like crap to me. we have been around the block on this one a bunch of times in the audio engineering forum I frequent, and the general consensus is that 192 KBPS is your best bet for compromising between quality and file size.
My ripping solution is the venerable old Gordian Knot suite. I pretty much always go to a "2 CD" size 1400 MB AVI file, with audio as described above and Xvid for the video. Works great with XBMC over a network, and the video quality is good enough for me :)
Ok, I found an app to do 1 click ripping to divx (.avi) that lets me strip out menus and subtitles (Xilisoft DVD Ripper Platinum 4). Next question is should I rip all the chapter thats comprise the film to one big .avi or one .avi for each chapter ?
If I do the latter will XBMC just play .avi after .avi in sequence and if so will I see any break in the film when it finishes playing one .avi and starts the next ?
thanks
ok tried that, got a 1.5GB .avi file, FTP'd it to my Xbox, clicked Play on it and it said "Detected AVI file" and sat there for ages - is that expected behavoir ? It plays fine on my PC
thanks
i would use autogk or fairuse wizard. both are free. there is a free version of fairuse wizard compiled by celtic druid. i have tried both of these programs throughly now. I have to say I prefer fairuse wizard. the aspect ratio of the movie was closer to the original dvd with less cropping and the video quality was better (less artifacting). it did take longer to encode however about 8 hrs for a 2 hr movie. i use anywhere form 1.5gb to 3gb depending on the movie. both of these programs produce xvid or divx that is complient with the xbox. good luck.
I'm starting to move my dvd collection onto a 500 gb hdd so I can stream to xbmc. I'm trying to decide what format to use (straight iso copy, I've got nero recode, another h.264, something else I don't know about?)
I know there's no right or wrong, just looking for some input.
I'm starting to move my dvd collection onto a 500 gb hdd so I can stream to xbmc. I'm trying to decide what format to use (straight iso copy, I've got nero recode, another h.264, something else I don't know about?)
I know there's no right or wrong, just looking for some input.
That really depends on your preferences.. Do you want the full DVD with all the added stuff on it, or just the main movie? if you want the full DVD, I would go with ISO images. But that takes up the most space as well.
I just rip the main movie and encode it to DivX or XviD. So a movie ends up being 700-800 MB instead of 4.7GB or so.. And trust me, 500GB will fill up fast.. My 1.5TB server is bursting at the seams..
That really depends on your preferences.. Do you want the full DVD with all the added stuff on it, or just the main movie? if you want the full DVD, I would go with ISO images. But that takes up the most space as well.
I just rip the main movie and encode it to DivX or XviD. So a movie ends up being 700-800 MB instead of 4.7GB or so.. And trust me, 500GB will fill up fast.. My 1.5TB server is bursting at the seams..
I'd say picture quality is my main concern. I'll just buy more storage if I need to, but I know there's more efficient codecs than mpeg2. I'd like to keep original pq and save whatever space possible.
gzusrawx
2007-01-23, 20:58
For the movies I wanna keep in high quality I use the quality percentage setting in auto gk usually I tell it to keep the original sound track and a quality percent of 70 it ends up being pretty close to 1gig per hour using the xvid codec
it also depends on how much time you want to spend on it. its alot easier and faster to rip the dvd into an iso than to transcode it. im just about to put together a massive raid5 media server with six 750g sata drives in a 5+1 configuration.
i have a little over 50 movies right now in iso format on an old server i'll be moving over, but i dont want to spend much time transcoding my other movies which are on disc. it'll just take forever. as it is, i have too many other more pressing projects i gotta do. (moving sucks... i gotta finish cabling the house, theres the typical painting and whatnot, and im planning on building an office in the basement. and these are just the bigger projects.)
i figure if space starts to become an issue later on, i'lll start purging some of the movies or maybe expand the array as i could technically support 10 drives)
im just happy i was able to convince the boss aka my wife, that we needed to spend some money on this :)
right now im leaning towards the seagate 750gb drives because ive had good experiences with seagate in the past, and they have the best warranty in the industry. i know hitachi recently announced a 1tb drive but i havent seen them for sale yet, and i dont have any experience with them. i know these are essentially the old ibm deskstar drives, but i havent used them since hitachi picked up ibms storage division. anyone have any experience to share or thoughts on the hitachi drives?
I have been using a 250gb hitachi drive in my main computer for over 2 years. It hasn't given me any troubles and has preformed really well. The 1tb drives are supposed to come out later this year at a price point of about $400. I really like seagate and would probably recommend waiting until the 1tb drives come out and get the cheaper of the two. The seagate drives should come down a lot in price by then.
im just about to put together a massive raid5 media server with six 750g sata drives in a 5+1 configuration.
Sweet.. I will be doing something similar here soon as well.. Right now I have about 1.5TB in a IDE Raid5 config and will move to a 6 Disk SATA Raid5 as soon as I can find some cash and figure out what drives to use as well :)
Sweet.. I will be doing something similar here soon as well.. Right now I have about 1.5TB in a IDE Raid5 config and will move to a 6 Disk SATA Raid5 as soon as I can find some cash and figure out what drives to use as well :)
NASLite - highly recommended. Free version = slow but sufficient, max 4GB files. Full version, $30 = ata, raid, ftp, ftp, nfs, gigabit... Grab an old PIII 256-512 MB RAM and you're all set. :D My office pc handles all p2p and bittorrent shares, the NAS stores all files, and XBMC reads from the NAS, so it doesn't matter if the office PC needs a reboot, is occupied by some processor-intensive stuff, or whatever.
im sticking to a full linux server. its a tried and true solution that ive been using for many years. it also makes the box alot more versatile. however, for those of you not really familiar with linux it can be a pain in the ass to deal with. it requires alot of research and learning.
Gamester17
2007-01-25, 19:08
@mgtiger, if you are looking to keep as good as quality as possible and use the Xbox with XBMC as your player then you can forget about x264 and Nero Recode AVC (which are both MPEG-4 AVC H.264 video codec), read this (link) (http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/wiki/index.php?title=XBMC_Features_and_Supported_Format s/Codecs#Supported_video_formats_and_resolutions) why. The highest resolution the Xbox processor can handle for MPEG-4 AVC (H.264 with Cabac and Deblocking) is 352x288 which is half the reolution of DVD-Video movies, and you do not want to lower the reolution if you plan on keeping the video quality as close to the original as possible.
If you don't care about the price for storage then just decrypt your DVD-Video movies and either leave them as DVD (vob/ifo) files or keep them in a ISO image, (leaving them as DVD vob/ifo files is best for compability as XBMC is practialy the only media-player that can parse ISO images), if you only want the main movie then you can save some space you can use CloneDVD or similar tool to rip out any extras (like the menu, additional languages/subtitles, commentary soundtracks and special features). However if you want are willing to compromise some on the video quality (and don't care about the DVD-Video extras) then I recommend you transcode the video to MPEG-4 ASP (XviD or DivX), I suggest you aim for either 700MB (1 CD) or 1400MB (split on 2 CDs) per movie, test different bit-rates yourself until you achieve a quality that is acceptable to you. (Personaly I think 700MB XviD is good enough for all my movies, even on 85" front-projector screen when upscaled to 720p by XBMC).
As for storage, I'm planning on putting together a storage server/computer myself based on the 4 x Seagate 750GB SATA2 harddrives in a RAID-5 (for 2TB of usable storage) in a couple of months, I'm just going to have to wait until after Seagate and Hitatchi releases their 1TB so that Seagate drops the price on those 750GB drives which are just a little too expensive as it is right now, (both Seagate and Hitatchi said they release the 1TB drives before end of March this year). Though per GigaByte the 400GB Seagate harddrives are currently best prices in Sweden today. I have managed to got a hold of a mid-tower 1,8Ghz/1GB Pentium-4 computer and an 4-port Adaptec SATA2 RAID-5 controller for free, so I 'only' have to pay for the harddrives. I pretty sure I'm going to use ClarkConnect Community Edition 4 (http://www.clarkconnect.com) as the operating-system for it, it's based on Linux Red Hat Enterprise but it does not require any Linux/UNIX knowlage (in fact, it's even much simpler than Microsoft Windows).
@kraqh3d, do you mean you got a RAID-5 plus a hot-spare when you say 5+1 configuration? :shocked: That's 2 x 750GB drives 'lost' for redundency!, why not use all 6 drives in a RAID-5 and then configure the server to shutdown for safety if one harddrive breaks and just buy a new replacement harddrive that that time?, then you would gain 750GB storage, ....almost 4TB of storage!, me druling! Are you using hardware or software RAID by the way?
Anyway, more on NAS and 'cheap' storage solutions here => http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/wiki/index.php?title=Nas
J_K_M_A_N
2007-01-25, 20:41
I have been using RipIt4Me to rip the movie only and then I use AutoGK and compress with the following file sizes:
0-1 Hour in length - 80% compression
1-2 Hours in length - 1/4 DVD-r 1120 meg
2-3 Hours in length - 1/3 DVD-r 1493 meg
3+ hours in length - 2 gig max
So on average, I use about 1 to 1-1/2 gigs per movie. The quality is VERY good I think. I get an average compression of about 60-70%. It looks very good on my 50" HDTV upscaled to 720p I think.
J_K_M_A_N
I'm using DVDFab Decrypter to rip my DVDs to VOBs stripping out everything but the movie and the audio in English. They come out around 4-6GB in size and go on my 400GB drive. I don't have loads of movies so space isn't a problem yet
[QUOTE=Gamester17;123448I pretty sure I'm going to use ClarkConnect Community Edition 4 (http://www.clarkconnect.com) as the operating-system for it, it's based on Linux Red Hat Enterprise but it does not require any Linux/UNIX knowlage (in fact, it's even much simpler than Microsoft Windows).[/QUOTE]
Isn't that a Firewall/Router OS?
Gamester17
2007-01-26, 14:14
I pretty sure I'm going to use ClarkConnect Community Edition 4 (http://www.clarkconnect.com) as the operating-system for it, it's based on Linux Red Hat Enterprise but it does not require any Linux/UNIX knowlage (in fact, it's even much simpler than Microsoft Windows).Isn't that a Firewall/Router OS?Yes supports that too, like the website sais, ClarkConnect Community Edition 4 can provide everything that Red Hat Enterprise Linux can, but you do not have to use (or even install/configure) the functions you do not want to use so if you want you can only use the Windows file server (Samba) and FTP server for NAS functionality. It has a simple 'next,next,next' installation and after the installation you can control everything from via any computers webbrowser over your local-network or the internet.
http://www.clarkconnect.com/info/compare.php
So just like how XBMC has loads of features/functions that you do not have to use if you don't want, only use the ones you want.
I would like to back up some of my dvds and make them xvids with ac3 5/6 channel sound. I've looked around on line with nothing but run arounds. The one program I found that does a great job with the video part is Magic DVD Ripper. It looks great and it "says" it's encoding it to 5/6 channel, but it's doesn't actually encode it as 5/6 channel. It only encodes it as 2 channel. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
gergtreble
2007-05-17, 07:37
Yep AutoGordianKnot does exactly what you want. Ive used it to copy all the DVD's Ive rented from lovefilm.com
I've tryed following the tutorials and perhaps I'm over annalyzing, but I'm not sure I understand the steps to take. When I open the program and load disc, there are numerous different vob files in there. Do I select each one and load them all to the que to be processed as one file?
Rip in IFO mode. The movie is generally going to be the largest section in there. If you're unsure, look at the movie time when you play it and then compare to the times that DVD Decrypter lists. Just rip the one you need.
It's going to be very confusing the first couple of times, but stick with it and it'll start making sense and getting easier. Encrypting takes a LONG time, just so you're aware. I generally encode overnight while I'm sleeping.
speed32219
2007-06-01, 05:15
OK, so I have been copying my dvd collection (converting it to ISO format) to a Ubuntu server and using XBMC as the front end. It works great and I have been loading the thumbnails for the video's and it looks awesome. Great job to ALL.
Now, I have 1.5 TB of stoarge and growing since I decided to add my music collection (MP3) and digital pictures as well as home video's. I have plenty more dvd's to add but I now need to order antoher 500 GB HD for the Linux server.
Is there a better way to convert my DVD collection to a format that is less than 4.35 GB (ISO format average) per movie? (Without de-grading the video output at 1080i)
I also want to use the video cover thumbnails with any format I use.
Thx, I love XBMC, my friends/family are blown away when they see it on the big screen.
Gamester17
2007-06-01, 14:01
First of all your DVD's are not 1080i they are 480i or 480p, XBMC just upscales them to 1080i (and it can upscale all video to 720p and 1080i).
If you still want to keep the 'special features' and menus from the DVD-Video then there is currently no alternatives that XBMC support. If you however only care about the mail movie then you can convert ("transcode") all your movies to a other video codec like Xvid, (or DivX). Xvid (and DivX) is a MPEG-4 ASP video codec that has better compression ratio than the MPEG-2 video codec used in original DVD-Video movies. You can select the bitrate and quality of your chooise, but general pactise is either to aim for 700MB (which will on one CD-R disc) or 1,4GB (which will fit on two CD-R discs if you split it). 1.4GB will have better quality than 700GB and is a better option if you like to keep the 5.1 surround AC3/DTS audio-stream, but if you are not that picky about the audio and storage space is more important than the little video quality gained when comparing 700MB rips to 1,4GB rips then I recommend to aim for 700MB for each movie and convert the audio to 2.0 stereo MP3 (MP3 CBR at 128KB, 164KB or 196KB in 48KHz to be exact).
Thgere is a multitude of both manual and automated transcoding tools out there, "AutoGK" and "Dr. DivX" are probably a good place to start your tests.
speed32219
2007-06-01, 14:32
I have downloaded AutoGK for testing and I want the AC3 as well as a good Video quality, so the 1.4 is a good place for me to start. If I can get the movies to 1.4 - 2 gb of file size without noticable difference in Video/Audio quality then I will be able to store twice as many movies per Hard Disk. That would be nice. Thanks again.
J_K_M_A_N
2007-06-01, 15:17
I use AutoGK also. I go with movie only (using RipIt4Me witch works great by the way) and I usually go with 1.1 gig for movies under 2 hours and every thing 2-3 hours I go with 1.4 gig and over 3 hours I go with 2 gig (max). Everything else I leave on auto. I think they look just fine. I don't want to shell out a ton of money on storage. ;)
J_K_M_A_N
Try This out thats what i use works perfect
http://www.fairusewizard.com/lang_en/fairuse_wizard_dvd_divx_xvid_backup_tool_light_edi tion.html
btw the free version only creates xvid up to 700 mb u can easily get the full version on any bt site. much better than autogk in my opinion although autogk is good though :)
full version here from Celticdruids site. this his own version so its freeware
and has no restrictions like the free version from fairuswizard.com
http://mirror05.x264.nl/celtic_druid/force.php?file=./fu2.5-setup.exe
biggrumpyballs
2007-09-11, 12:44
I have just finished modding my xbox and have installed xbmc dash thanks to the aideluxe disc.
I have seen several different answers to my question from doing some searching.
I am looking to rip my dvds to PC h/drive then ftp to xbox and was wondering if there is any file format better than others.I have dvd decrypter which i believe i can use to create a vob file which i can rename to mpeg and the xbmc will still be able to play the file.
Is this the best way to go or are there better methods to keep the quality.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.
ultrabrutal
2007-09-11, 13:16
use dvddecrypter yes, and output as img/iso format and then rar it into chuncks using NO COMPRESSION
earthtorob
2007-09-11, 15:23
use dvddecrypter yes, and output as img/iso format and then rar it into chuncks using NO COMPRESSION
Is the Rar 'chunking' ment to avoid the 2 gig file size limit?
ALL video is compressed.
DVD for instance is compressed with Mpeg2. (A very poor compresser)
HD TV is compressed with an Mpeg4 type compresser. (H.264???)
There are also other ways....
You could try Xvid. AutoGordianKnot is a very easy way to start. Google and try it.
With Xvid a 2 hour 9Gig Dvd will compress to 1.5 Gig and retain 90% or it's quality.
ultrabrutal
2007-09-11, 16:41
earth, 4 gb limit... yes exactly
xbox cannot handle x264 even at dvd resolution so don't recommend that unless profiles or something is used to take care of the xbox hardware limitations
using dvddecrypter you get an exact copy with menus and all, plus it's much easier than doing reencodes
Gamester17
2007-09-11, 16:42
Please search BEFORE you post:
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=22657
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=10224
There are many more similar topic-threads here but I thought those two best match your question.
PS! For more hints on tips about ripping I recommend you visit avsforum.com (http://www.avsforum.com) and/or Doom9 (http://www.doom9.org)
I figured I'd ask these here instead of another topic:
1: Is there a way to rip an entire DVD (film+extras) and compress it all to xvid(or whatever).
My basic understanding of how DVD's work is that there's a bunch of VOB files which are basically the video, and some others with extra data, menu layouts, subtitles etc. (this understanding might be wrong)
Can those VOBs be converted to other things, whilst leaving the rest of the data untouched? Could XBMC play back a compressed VOB (i.e. is VOB just a container, like AVI where the file header dictates how to play the actual file data).
2: Are there any hyper simple rip+compress programs available? i.e. if I gave my mum XBMC and she wanted to get another DVD into it, I can say:
> Put the disk in the PC (xbox would be ideal, buit it's a bit slow).
> Run TheMagicRippingProgram.
> Leave it for x hours or overnight, it will do all the work (and copy it to a samba share somewhere).
> Your DVD will now appear in the "movies" section.
Ideally combined with some sort of auto updating script for XBMC to identify new content and pull down all the necessary imdb infoz.
earthtorob
2007-09-11, 21:12
maybe i shouldn't ask because, if i like it, i'll probably want to re-rip all my dvd's but do you have any more information on this?
about how long does it take to go from dvd to mkv? with my current machine (p3 2.8ghz) it has been taking about 3 hours to rip the average dvd movie to an avi.
Cpu preformance chart....
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=946&model2=882&chart=429
I prefer AMD. Torrenza will have a big impact in the future. It will make it possable for a company (AMD) to produce a x.264 20x faster then a general purpose CPU.
Gamester17
2007-09-11, 21:17
Please respect that this is a forum about XBMC and not a forum about decrypting/encoding/transcoding video or audio, so if you need futher information than I provided bellow on that subject then please go to or AVS Forum or Doom9 instead, thanks.
http://www.doom9.org
http://www.avsforum.com
1: Is there a way to rip an entire DVD (film+extras) and compress it all to xvid(or whatever).
My basic understanding of how DVD's work is that there's a bunch of VOB files which are basically the video, and some others with extra data, menu layouts, subtitles etc. (this understanding might be wrong)
Can those VOBs be converted to other things, whilst leaving the rest of the data untouched? Could XBMC play back a compressed VOB (i.e. is VOB just a container, like AVI where the file header dictates how to play the actual file data).There are three formats like that I know of but XBMC do not support menus in any of them; those three formats are "DivX Media Format (DMF)", "Matroska (MKV)", and "fluxDVD" (formally known as "ratDVD"). The reason they are not supported in XBMC is either because there are no open source code for them, or no developer with have had personal in programming it for XBMC (which is needed for it to happen). Note that there are already feature request for them all in the suggestions forum so go to those existing topic threads if you wish to discuss any of those formats futher, (also note that XBMC can play the main movie in both .DivX and .MVK containers but it does not support menus or playing any of the extras, and fluxDVD/ratDVD is not supported by XBMC at all because there is is not open source code for it available).
That just leaves keeping the DVD-Video VOB/IFO format and just re-enocoding the VOB files to a lower-biterate using a software program like CloneDVD or DVD Shrink, with those you can at least shrink a 9GB DVD-Video to a 4GB DVD-Video and still keep a respectable quality.
2: Are there any hyper simple rip+compress programs available? i.e. if I gave my mum XBMC and she wanted to get another DVD into it, I can say:
> Put the disk in the PC (xbox would be ideal, buit it's a bit slow).
> Run TheMagicRippingProgram.
> Leave it for x hours or overnight, it will do all the work (and copy it to a samba share somewhere).
> Your DVD will now appear in the "movies" section.There is just one DVD ripper for the Xbox as that only decrypts the files and copy them to the harddrive like DVDdecrypter or DVDFab does on a computer, that Xbox application is called "DVD2Xbox", (there are no encoders/reencoders for the Xbox). There are however many softwares like that for computers (though I personally would not trust my mom with any of them). First of all in order just insert a disc you need to a software that decodes the encryption on-the-fly in the background, a software like "AnyDVD". Then you need a software that does the re-encodeing (a.k.a. transcoding) to a MPEG-4 format like DivX or XviD, there are a lot and you have to try them to find one you like, examples are AutoGK, FairUse, DVDx, and Dr DivX.
bripab007
2007-09-11, 22:28
Xbox can handle x264 just fine at dvd resolution. I rip my dvds with http://handbrake.m0k.org/ I use x264 codec, typically .avi container, usually 128kb/s MP3 audio codec, but sometimes 192kb/s, and usually aim for a video kb/s rate of 800-1200, depending on the source material.
Works fine in streaming from my NAS to XBMC.
There is just one DVD ripper for the Xbox as that only decrypts the files and copy them to the harddrive like DVDdecrypter or DVDFab does on a computer, that Xbox application is called "DVD2Xbox", (there are no encoders/reencoders for the Xbox). There are however many softwares like that for computers (though I personally would not trust my mom with any of them). First of all in order just insert a disc you need to a software that decodes the encryption on-the-fly in the background, a software like "AnyDVD". Then you need a software that does the re-encodeing (a.k.a. transcoding) to a MPEG-4 format like DivX or XviD, there are a lot and you have to try them to find one you like, examples are AutoGK, FairUse, DVDx, and Dr DivX.
I should have been a bit clearer about this one I guess.
I know there is a DVD ripper for the xbox, and I know that there are many many PC rippers / encoders available, I've used a couple. But, my question is asking for a very simple, easy to use one, because I don't want to have to tell my mum what a ripper is, an encoder, how to set them up, how to use them for different dvd types, how to get the best picture etc. etc. I'd like to beable to give the instructions that I posted, without worrying about details.
I figure this is as good a place to ask - doom9 and avsforum are all about the technical side, this is more of an 'end product' site, so I thought maybe someone would know of a good program to do what I'm looking for.
dash it, can't edit my post and just noticed this:
There are however many softwares like that for computers (though I personally would not trust my mom with any of them)
This is exactly what my problem is, I don't live anywhere near my parents, but think they'd get a lot out of XBMC, more so if they can add to it themselves, and it'd be really nice if there was a one-button way to do that.
Gamester17
2007-09-12, 10:31
Xbox can handle x264 just fine at dvd resolution. I rip my dvds with http://handbrake.m0k.org/ I use x264 codec, typically .avi container, usually 128kb/s MP3 audio codec, but sometimes 192kb/s, and usually aim for a video kb/s rate of 800-1200, depending on the source material.The difference between the Xbox geing able to play h264/x264 (MPEG-4 AVC) encodes at DVD resolution (720x???) has mostly to do with bitrate (you going to have to use really low bitrate in order for the xbox to not drop frames at DVD resolutions), but also remember that AAC audio is more complexed than MP3 audio so it takes more processing power to decode.
http://xboxmediacenter.com/wiki/index.php?title=XBMC_Features_and_Supported_Format s/Codecs#Supported_video_formats_and_resolutions
You are better of using MPEG-4 ASP (like DivX and Xvid), then you can use higher bitrate and higher resolution without worrying if it will play or not. Also most stand-alone DVD-players can play MPEG-4 ASP (like DivX and Xvid) today so you keep compability there too.
bripab007
2007-09-12, 17:12
MP4 is a container, right, not necessarily referring to the format/codec of the video. For example, you can rip a dvd to Xvid or x264 codecs and "wrap" them in an .mp4 or .avi container.
Yes, I understand AAC requires more processing power, so if you have the option to rip the audio codec to .mp3, why not just use that?
Using x264 video codec, 128kbit mp3 audio codec and standard (~480 horiz. lines of resolution) DVD video, I think I've been able to rip up to ~1500kbit video w/o dropping frames. It's been a while since I did tests, but it was definitely well over 1000kbit.
Gamester17
2007-09-12, 18:46
MP4 is a container, right, not necessarily referring to the format/codec of the video. For example, you can rip a dvd to Xvid or x264 codecs and "wrap" them in an .mp4 or .avi container.Correct; VOB, AVI, MP4, MKV, OGM, NUT are all video containers (and most can contain audio and video encoded in any codec format).
Yes, I understand AAC requires more processing power, so if you have the option to rip the audio codec to .mp3, why not just use that?For the same reason you use MPEG-4 AVC (H.264 video like x264) instead of MPEG-4 ASP (H.263 video like DivX and XviD); AAC audio has better quality at the same bitrate than MP3 audio.
It is quite uncommon practice to use AAC audio with MPEG-4 ASP (H.263) video like DivX and XviD, just as it is quite uncommon practice to use MP3 audio with MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) video like x264. AAC and MPEG-4 AVC usually go together (most commonly in a MP4 or MK4 container), and MP3 and MPEG-4 ASP go together (most commonly in a AVI container). This is because MP3 and MPEG-4 ASP came out in about the same time as each other, then AAC and MPEG-4 AVC came out later came out in about the same time as each other, and both designed to replace MP3 and MPEG-4 ASP respectivly.
DJ_Izumi
2007-09-13, 08:42
AAC was available as an option some time ago really, as far back as 1999. Well, at least on PAPER. Adoption has been extreamly slow, even after Apple standardized AAC as an audio format for iTunes people often just saw it as the 'iPod Format'.
The real reason that MP3 has stuck around so long is because we have patheticly clung to the AVI media container and AAC in AVI requires some interesting hacks, so people just stuck with MP3. Granted, it took a few hacks alone to get MPEG-4 video into AVI and doing so does result in B frame decoder lag anyway. It's actually sort of amazing that no one bothered to adopt the MP4 container format as MPEG-4 video became available, since they were basicly DESIGNED for each other.
Gamester17
2007-09-13, 11:34
The real reason that MP3 has stuck around so long is because we have patheticly clung to the AVI media container and AAC in AVI requires some interesting hacks, so people just stuck with MP3. Granted, it took a few hacks alone to get MPEG-4 video into AVI and doing so does result in B frame decoder lag anyway. It's actually sort of amazing that no one bothered to adopt the MP4 container format as MPEG-4 video became available, since they were basicly DESIGNED for each other.That is all correct.
AAC was available as an option some time ago really, as far back as 1999. Well, at least on PAPER. Adoption has been extreamly slow, even after Apple standardized AAC as an audio format for iTunes people often just saw it as the 'iPod Format'.H.264 video has been available on paper just as long AAC audio, (the slow adoption of AAC has also to do with the fact that it took a long time for most portable 'MP3' music-players and stand-alone DVD-player to also support AAC), but the reason adoption of H.264 video has taken longer than AAC audio has more to do with hardware technology (processors in computers, and integrated chips in portable devices and stand-alone players) needing time to catch up, as the complexity of H.264 is much greater it requires much more processing power to endcode and decode.
bripab007
2007-09-14, 04:22
It is quite uncommon practice to use AAC audio with MPEG-4 ASP (H.263) video like DivX and XviD, just as it is quite uncommon practice to use MP3 audio with MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) video like x264. AAC and MPEG-4 AVC usually go together (most commonly in a MP4 or MK4 container), and MP3 and MPEG-4 ASP go together (most commonly in a AVI container).
Well, I guess I'm just uncommonly enjoying my x264-video-encoded, MP3-audio-codec'd DVD rips streaming efficiently across my network as my Xbox decodes them without dropping a frame.
It's just uncanny :D
Hi guys,
I have a couple Xbox’s (and an xbox360), as well as too many PC's. I have a DVD collection of about 250 movies that I would like to store on my media server. I have done a few searches on this forum but much of the information I came across is from a couple years ago. I am trying to create a library that is accessible via a share to XBMC and to other pc's as well as to the local media pc that is currently hooked up to the amp and TV.
1) What is the best compressed format to rip to for XBMC?
--I tried a few things, divx of course, and the Nero format (trying to keep the 5.1 sound) with some poor results.
2) What is the optimum resolution to rip DVD’s to in divx/xvid format for wide screen DVD’s and TV?
3) Can XBMC read .iso DVD files over a network share?
4) What folders do I delete to remove any old settings from previous versions of XBMC? I saw it somewhere on this forum but can't find it now...
Thanks for your time!
stanley87
2007-10-23, 09:35
Hi cutha,
This is similiar to what I have done, i decided to rip all movies to .Avis (Xvid).
It takes awhile, but worth it in the end.
Try using this tut:
http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/dvd_to_avi_autogk.cfm
Thanks
Thanks Stanley.
So that takes care of question #1.
How about the others, anybody?
solareclipse2
2007-10-23, 22:21
3) Can XBMC read .iso DVD files over a network share?
Yes. I had to do it because I messed up a dvd but still had the iso on my pc
4) What folders do I delete to remove any old settings from previous versions of XBMC? I saw it somewhere on this forum but can't find it now...
If you have an old version, I'd just delete everything and start with the latest svn. Otherwise if you're just upgrading replace everything except your userdata folder.
Hi cutha,
This is similiar to what I have done, i decided to rip all movies to .Avis (Xvid).
It takes awhile, but worth it in the end.
Try using this tut:
http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/dvd_to_avi_autogk.cfm
Thanks
I had a fair few lip synch problems when just using agk. i prefer to get the vobs out onto the hard drive using dvd decrypter then hit it with agk.
What resolution are you guys using when you rip your movies?
stanley87
2007-10-24, 05:07
Hi, yes, I use DVD decrypter to rip to IFO mode which rips an ifo file and the vob.
No sync issues at all with me, PERFECT quality avis. I use the same specs as AXXO.
Hi, I am no using Fair Use to rip my DVD's to Divx. I have two questions.
1) I want to keep the 5.1 sound. Other then selecting AC3, is there a compressable format that keeps all the channels? I have mp3 and OGG in the drop down list as alternnatives to AC3.
2) I want to keep the DVD's in really good quality, and I'd like to use a rule of thumb as far as kbps rate as far as encoding and then do the size from that. What is a good rate for action movies, and for like drama movies, and do animations require something different?
Thanks,
Cutha
Gamester17
2007-10-30, 20:37
1) I want to keep the 5.1 sound. Other then selecting AC3, is there a compressable format that keeps all the channels? I have mp3 and OGG in the drop down list as alternnatives to AC3.Not any audio formats that XBMC supports, no.
Hi Cutha,
I use DVD Decrypter along with AGK. I keep the original 720 width of the DVD and let AGK figure the Horizontal rez after cropping out the black bars and such. I also keep the AC3 track as it gets passed directly to my receiver, lowering the overhead in decoding the video. I encode at constant quality of 85-90% since space is not an issue for me.
In Xvid, I've encoded HD DVD at up to 1280x720 with no playback problems but generally keep HD at 960x?? because it scales up easily to my 1920x1080 display.
Cheers,
igboo
gzusrawx
2007-10-31, 17:59
Gamester17 is not 5.1 aac supported? Granted xbmc can't handle it with the video most of the time but I've been able to create at least one 420p x264 video file with 5.1 aac that xbmc can play.
Gamester17
2007-11-01, 12:37
I'm not so sure, XBMC will of course play it but will it play all channels and send them to correct speakers?
Try to find some samples (which indicate which channel it should be comming out of) and test it. ???
griffore
2007-12-20, 20:20
I've been using 5.1 AAC for a while now and it works and sounds fine on my end.
griffore
2007-12-20, 20:22
With the release of Nero 8.2 (and Recode 3), has anyone fine tuned the settings for XBMC?
Greetings,
Tried to find some more info on the site about compressed video formats - as I don't know anything about them (divx, MP4, avi etc to name a few). Would like some advice from people familiar with compressed formats - and sorry if this is in the wrong forum as I wasn't sure where to place it.
Here is the situation. D/L'd my first divx file (44mins long by 350mb approx). I was shocked by how good the quality was (in W/Screen too) - seemed as good as the recordings from SatTV
While I'm not interested in re-encoding my whole collection nor in interent downloads, I do have numerous recordings I would like to store in high quality (now I see a compressed format is a real possibility) - without sucking up heaps to server space.
I have always backed up using the DVD format , but this has got me thinking.
Is there one format that is better for XBMC than others? What problems does one encounter. What software does this? (Doesn't have to be free, but simple/easy to use) What about aspect ratio, chapters etc. How about 5.1 in these formats? What are the problems directly associated to XBMC (if any)?
I guess the aim is to get DVD quality (no picture loss) with a file that is half (or more) the size, that doesn't take 3 days to re-encode. Is this possible? Thx for your advice as once I know what to look for and the questions to ask, I can track things down myself.
I started writing a big rambly thing but then realize most of the stuff isn't relevant if you're thinking about encoding.
It seems like most people on this forum (myself included) current favor the Xvid codec for encoding DVDs. Its a free, open source codec (unlike DivX), and it generally works really well in bringing DVDs down to a managable size.
Xvid is ONLY the video format and is independent of how you handle audio.
My basic feeling on audio is: if the movie is the kind where you really want surround sound, then I leave the original track alone and use that. If its something like a comedy, or they only give me a stereo track, I run it through BeSweet and convert to 192KBPS MP3. I like doing that cuz it normalizes how loud the audio is (which generally makes the audio louder, in some cases a LOT louder than the original), and sometimes you get smaller filesize. I find that 192 KBPS is a sufficient bit rate that you pretty much can't hear the compression.
When you are coming from DVD there's a few things to keep in mind:
1-DVDs are lower resolution than high definition screens and videos, which is why they need to be "upscaled" to fill the screen.
2-during encoding the video CAN be re-sized/upscaled, but people generally only reduce the resolution, as you can't really increase the resolution during encoding and end up with "super good looking" quality. Also, XBMC does a great job of upscaling stuff as it is played, so you can usually leave the resolution the same size, which makes encoding "easier" (faster).
3-When you do reduce the resolution, its generally to make it possible to encode the video at a lower bit rate (resulting in a smaller file)
4-In the olden days people ripped movies to files tailored to fit onto CD-Rs, which is why most DVD rips you see floating around online are 700MB or broken up into two 700MB pieces. Understand that you can encode at basically any bit rate, so you could easily take a 4GB DVD and encode it into a video that's 16 GB if you chose to do-so. Higher bit-rate just means better image quality, but generally you're not going to make the video look "better" than the original.
5-Because you are encoding for use on a streaming server and thus do not care about making the files fit onto burnable media, you can encode specifically to hit a given bit-rate / level of quality, as opposed to a specific file size. This will mean you can say "I need to encode this movie so it looks good, and its OK if it ends up being 1.7 GB" A lot of times the bitrate you will need to use will vary a bit depending on the content of the movie. Lots and lots of fast action requires higher bit rate because you have lots of changing pictures. Slow stuff takes less data ;) I often times encode comedies and stuff to 700MBish files with stereo mp3 audio, and you can't really tell its compressed except for the occasional artifacts (usually in dark scenes).
6-Having a strong CPU helps a LOT when encoding video. Dual core = a lot better because you will get sometimes more than 2X faster encoding, plus you can still multi-task with your computer while running the encode job. I use an Athlon 64 4200+ X2, and I can encode a 2 hour movie in about 60 to 90 minutes most of the time.
There's tons of guides and software on how to rip DVDs. My personal thing has been "Figure it out for yourself and use Gordian Knot". Gordian Knot is free but far from easy to use. It gives you complete control over how the video is encoded each step of the way, which is why its "hard" for some people to use. I am sure others on here have thoughts on this subject as well ;)
To the software question, I almost always use the following:
DVD Decrypter (pretty much standard, right?) to rip DVDs.
AVS Video Tools (http://www.avsmedia.com/VideoTools/index.aspx): to do conversion.
I have numerous other video converters/compressors, but I swear by AVS. It is easy to use while giving a lot of control over how video is converted. It's not free, but it's not expensive either ($40US). It continues to be my product of choice when doing this type of work.
SleepyP - Thx for the major post. Certainly a lot to think about. All my knowledge is on the DVD side (ripping, building, chaptering, joining etc), so compressed formats (other than DVD) are somewhat of a mystery.
I guess the main thing is S/ware recommendations than a beginner can get a handle on and what codec is good. All material will be 720x576 PAL in stereo. I use Womble's editor, which comes with an MP4/AVI converter. I can't seem to get the aspect ratio right with it (even though it's got settings for them). Widescreen comes out squashed like it's 4:3 - weird.
Questions l have are like - What is a good file size for a 2 hour video? etc. Good recommendations on s/ware and settings can save hours of searches and reading 100's of posts. Thx again.
FalconX - Thx for the link. I've seen their site while browsing, but never had the need or the desire to play with re-encoding. Things change :laugh:
jaredharley
2008-01-24, 17:09
I use MeGUI - it takes a bit to learn, and it isnt always user-friendly, but I've found a lot of info at the Doom9 forums.
MeGUI (http://sourceforge.net/projects/megui) - MeGUI Wiki (http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/MeGUI:Main_Page) - Doom9 Forums (http://www.doom9.org)
As far as encoding videos go, I use xvid and ogg vorbis for the audio. Audio isn't very important to me, as I don't have a fancy surround-sound system.
My encodings usually end up larger than the ones you download, because I go for quality (I also store my stuff on the network, so size isn't overly important). Depending on the length of the movie, I've got files anywhere from 700mb - 1.7gb. Most "hour-long" TV shows usually end up around the 300-400mb range.
More important than the size of the file is the bitrate you encode at. Personally, I like to try and stay around 1100.
As far as your "squashed" video - make sure your encoder isn't resizing the file, or if it is, make sure it's doing the aspect right. In MeGUI, when I go to create the .avs (AviSynth Script) file for the video encoding, I can set the "resize filter" - MeGUI always sets the first number, but I have to click the button that sets the height value to the proper ratio, otherwise mine will come out squashed too.
MeGUI's got a great basic guide (http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/Guides:Basic_Guide) to ripping a DVD.
Thx Jared for the post. Now that I have some starting positions I can start the learning/testing process. Can't believe I missed this thread I've been moved to. :shocked:
LaTropa64
2008-02-11, 02:29
I know that the original xbox can handle some of the standard resolution (like 720x305) mkv's that I've downloaded. It doesn't handle them all though because some will skip and drop tons of frames. I'm pretty sure this is because of different options used during encoding.
I know a lot of people use handbrake to convert DVD's to MKV's and I was wondering if anyone had any presets for it that would work for Xbox playback? I was hoping to be able to keep the original resolution, the AC3 audio and keep the file size to less than 1.4GB... all while still being able to play the file back on the xbox regardless of whether or not you are offloading the audio through an hd pack.
I'm not sure if this is the best forum for this question but I couldn't see a better place to ask.
agathorn
2008-02-11, 02:35
Doom9's probably a better place to ask.
However h264 is iffy on XBOX hardware. About the only way it seems to work is if many of the advanced features are turned off, in which case why not just use an ASP encoder like xvid or divx instead.
LaTropa64
2008-02-11, 02:45
I was hoping to be able to use a lot of the container options in mkv for things like chapters, subtitles, etc. It is nice having the subs all in the same file rather than having to keep a .sub and .idx around for the avi's.
Doom9's a good place but I figure more people here would know what encoding options would work with the xbox hardware limitations.
agathorn
2008-02-11, 14:12
I was hoping to be able to use a lot of the container options in mkv for things like chapters, subtitles, etc. It is nice having the subs all in the same file rather than having to keep a .sub and .idx around for the avi's.
Doom9's a good place but I figure more people here would know what encoding options would work with the xbox hardware limitations.
The container options are probably fine. Its the AVC options of h264 that cause most of the problems because of the added CPU useage.
If your main concern is for the container options of MKV, that should be fine but bear in mind you can still create an MKV using XviD as well.
LaTropa64
2008-02-12, 01:28
The container options are probably fine. Its the AVC options of h264 that cause most of the problems because of the added CPU useage.
If your main concern is for the container options of MKV, that should be fine but bear in mind you can still create an MKV using XviD as well.Can that be done with handbrake? It seems like everytime I tried creating an xvid with it it just gave me an avi and no option for subtitles.
agathorn
2008-02-12, 02:23
Can that be done with handbrake? It seems like everytime I tried creating an xvid with it it just gave me an avi and no option for subtitles.
Never personally used Handbrake though i'm pretty sure I read it could do XviD. I know you can do it with GKnot.
soonerlater
2008-04-07, 06:05
Is there a consensus opinion on what the best container/video codec/audio codec/maximum bitrate/maximum resolution for use when ripping DVDs to be played on xbmc (and upscaled to 1080i)? If so, what is it?
I've been doing some experimentation in using AnyDVD to unlock, CloneDVD2 to copy VOBs to my hard drive and Nero Recode 3.1.2.0 (latest) to create Nero Digital files (AVC/h.264 video; AAC audio; with Cabac and deblocking). I was shooting for keeping original dvd resolution 720x480p, but either there's a weak link in my (wired) network or that's just more than the xbox PIII 733mhz cpu can handle, because the files I've created do stutter just a bit. However, according to the xbmc Wiki (http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=XBMC_Features_and_Supported_Formats/Codecs#Supported_video_codecs:), what I've created shouldn't play at all. The Wiki says that MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) with Cabac & Deblocking should go no higher than 352x288 and MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) without Cabac & Deblocking should be limited to 480x480 (480x576 for PAL). The Wiki also says that MPEG-4 ASP (H.263) (like DivX or Xvid) can handle up to 960x540.
With all of this in mind, what's the consensus on what's better? MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) with Cabac & Deblocking at only 352x288 or MPEG-4 ASP (H.263) (like DivX or Xvid) at 960x540? Or something completely different?
I encode to 720x304 xvid using AutoGK and it looks as good as the original to me. Takes about 1 hour per movie with my E6750, and setting it up is pretty quick and easy. I wouldn't mind just a little bit more customization than AutoGK allows, but all of the other programs are too complex for me. I don't want to be a video-encoding guru, I just want a quick and easy way to convert files at the resolution/bitrate/codec I choose.
jmarshall
2008-04-07, 08:02
Just rip the main title using DVD Shrink or similar and leave it at that. HD space is cheap.
Iceypeepee1
2008-05-13, 14:38
Ive tried a few so far and they all were pretty pathetic when it came to options and results of my encodes. They always lagged a frame or two every couple of seconds in xbmc and it took a long time to encode a video.
Ive looked everywhere in the forum to find the encoder appp everyone is using but the name isnt mentioned in any of the threads its just talked about.
Can anyone help me help thanks so much ^_^
Iceypeepee1
2008-05-13, 16:36
Also if anyone could recommend any good settings that would result in smooth playback that would be much appreciated (:
Iceypeepee1
2008-05-13, 18:23
Also one more thing im tzalking about encoding 720P movies.
Anso oo yea sorry for all the post this forum needs a edit button X-D
That's your problem right there. You can't really do 720p. xvid tends to be fine. As almost no 720p content is encoded xvid you can pretty much forget about it. If you searched even a little bit you'd see that 720p content is basicly a no go on the xbox. It's one of the main reasons for the ports to other systems. h264 (the most common codec for 720p content doesn't stand a chance of ever working on the xbox itself).
Iceypeepee1
2008-05-14, 14:28
Ile have to disagree. After hours of trying to get 720p running on the xbox ive suceeded to getting it to run perfectly with 0 dropped frames. the quality and performance of the video is perfect but there still a big problem. Media coder only out out putted 40 minuets of the 2 hour movie. Anyone know y this happened or y how to fix this?.
I followed these directions
Video: 3850 kb/s en XVID and file .AVI
Audio: Lame MP3 VBR in position 7, it is like 192 kb/s +/-
Picture: The same, all the movies I have downloaded are in 23.98FPS.
These direction are flawed all thou. For fps limiter you have to disable it/ uncheck it or the videos will always lag one or two frames every second no matter what the quality its on. TURN OFF THE FPS LIMITER :-P
Imo the videos Hd it looks amazing on my tv.
http://techfatale.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/hd-movies-in-xbmc/
JPSiemer
2008-05-30, 09:26
If only we could get H.264 content running @ 720P! Will probably never happen, but we can dream!
masteroc
2008-06-24, 09:37
So basically i want to take my dvd collection and rip it to my hard drive to play through my xbox. The thing is, and i did some searching, i never came across a good answer about what settings to use. I have a 1080i tv and would like to take as much advantage of that as i can. I will be using handbrake to rip my dvds to my hard drive and i would like to know what are the BEST settings that i can use to give me the best picture WITHOUT pixelating or artifacts. As long as the size of the movie doesnt go over about 3-4gb then thats fine, but i want it to look just as good if not better than the dvd.
Thanks!
I'm in a similar situation, but I'd like to rip them to the current best standard (IMHO) - mkv/x264, however the Xbox isn't quite fast enough to support smooth playback of these files.
I've come to the conclusion I'm going to just keep the original ripped vob of each movie. At a later point when I've built a dedicated htpc (and got rid of the CRT TV) I'll get round to re-encoding them. I just hope I don't run out of space in the mean time.
This thread may be of some use to you though...
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=33429
marlboroman1
2008-06-24, 18:19
The resolution of a dvd is stranded definition so there is no advantage to encoding with x264. It is more cpu intensive and cant increase quality of the original dvd and at high bitrate wont play on the xbox. your best bet for quality vs size and simplicity is rip the full film and then do 2 cd AC3 dvdrip using autoGK with xvid as the encoder. if you feel these rips are too low quality you can set to a target size in GB or give it target of 100% quality
Cocophone
2008-06-25, 02:11
I just bit the bullet and bought a 1TB hard drive for my media server. Plenty of room to rip all my dvds. I usually just rip the main movie.
TeknoJnky
2008-09-11, 23:02
At the risk of necro-posting, I did not see mentioned anywhere on the thread, that dvd-shrink (and probably other similar tools) can support shrinking to smaller than 4 gig, while retaining the menus and other dvd features.
Simply choose custom for the size in the options, and choose your desired size. Optionally uncheck any undesired streams (alt languages etc).
Nero Recode (2.2) even has a preset profile for 1.4gb discs (Fit to target dropdown).
While I mostly just leave it at the standard dvd5 size, I have found fairly decent results at 2500 to 3 gig, especially if you use the advanced/HQ analysis modes.
I have not really found anything more suitable for my use (with xbmc) than anydvd+dvdshrink to ISO files in conjunction with xbmc's library mode and various shared drives/folders.