Episode DVD - Undersized result

[Craz]

I'm trying to encode an episode DVD (3 episodes + some extras), which always results in an undersized (1.66gig) with DVDRB.
One try DVDRB finished after 1 hour with a result of 4.06gig when normally it takes 6-7 hours for DVDRB to finish.

I'm using DVDRB 0.76 & CCE 2.5 (same result with CCE 2.67).
When I'm trying to rip it using the Big 3 method I get a result of 2.87gig.

Is this a common problem with this kind of discs?
Are there any tricks I can try out on this disc to get a succesful encode?

@jdobbs: if you want to take a look at any of the files, ik kept the workingfolders of the 1.66gig result and 4.06gig result.

[jptheripper]

open an m2v or avs.. there is a chance you have an avisynth error (black with red text)

1.66gb sounds about right if this happened

[pg55555]

Craz

Have you selected Half D1 and Half space for extras or Steal Space from extras?

[Craz]

I selected 50% extras (don't care about extra quality)

[mpennel]

Never steal space for extras with an episode DVD. DVD-RB will look at the largest part of the disc, and assume that is the movie, and then it will assume the rest of the disc is just extras. Of course, you've got 3 big parts with your 3 episodes, and DVD-RB is probably assuming 2 of the episodes are extras. That is probably your problem.

While it's not recommended to preprocess a dvd with DVD-RB, you could load the DVD into DVDShrink first, and set the entire DVD to NO COMPRESSION, and then select the extras, and compress the heck out of them ONLY (or even better, set them to STILL IMAGE), and Encode it. You could then load that into DVD-RB, and encode the entire disc.

[pg55555]

mpennel has explained why you should NEVER select Half D1 or Steal space for extras for episodic DVDs (the only exception is when all the episodes are in the same VTS)

My prefferred method for dealing with extras in these DVDs is using RBOpt: it allows you to control the bitrate and if Half D1 on a VOBID basis.

[Craz]

Can you explain a little more about using RBOpt for the extras ?

[jptheripper]

setup rebuilder with no extras options (no steal space)

run prepare step
open the .ini with rb-opt and adjust the bitrates of only the extras

save, and then run the encode and rebuild steps

[Craz]

Thx for the info, gonna try it out ! :D