DVD to AVI in full resolution

[Quantos]

Hello everybody,

I have once again to much spare-time and want to waste it on the coversion
of some of my most favourite DVDs to AVI. As I'm quite a quality-aficionado
(or maybe just affected by some sort of castration-complex :) ...), I want
to retain the movies in full resolution (mostly PAL movies).

Now, the difficult question is which codec (Xvid/Divx and Mpeg-4 AVC) does at which bitrate (the size of the encoded file is less important...) the job "as good as possible". I know,the codec/quality/bitrate-question is the one most common and most difficult to answer, but in my case, I don't want to find the perfect "equilibrium" between quality/size, I just want to know at which
(high-) bitrate which codec is delivering its best quality. I don't care of filesizes as long as they are somewhat smaller than the original DVD, but even if not, I would like to edit some of the material, and MPEG-2 is somewhat tricky there, isn't it? But please correct me if I'm wrong there.

So, my questions in a nutshell:

1.Which codec delivers best quality at (unreasonably ;) ) high bitrates?
2.Which audio-conversion or encoding has to be done?
3.Is there a possibility to cut the unprocessed DVD-material (without
running in any sync-problems or alike afterwards)?
4.I'm very interested in those Mpeg-4 AVC codecs. Which one is at the
moment the "king of the hill" and/or would suit my task best?
5.Which tools/software am I going to need for the job?

Sorry for my english and thanks for your answers!

Greetings
Quantos

[jggimi]

1.Which codec delivers best quality at (unreasonably ;) ) high bitrates?There is no simple answer to that question. Quality is subjective. While there are mathematical benchmarks such as PSNR, what you view with your own eyes, on your own display device, in your own lighting, will have a big impact upon your determination what is best for you.

I recommend that you review Doom9's Codec Comparisons (http://www.doom9.org/codec-comparisons.htm). These were a great deal of work, and show you just how difficult it is to declare a single codec "best" for any particular situation. But it will, I think, help you make a selection of several codecs which might be of use to you in this particular quest, and provide you with a good explanation of one of the reasons Rule #12 (http://forum.doom9.org/forum-rules.htm) exists.2.Which audio-conversion or encoding has to be done?None, usually. DVD soundtracks may be left in their original format, if that soundtrack can be used with .avi containers. IIRC, this includes Dolby Digital (.ac3), and Linear PCM (.wav). I don't recall whether MPEG-1 Layer II (.mpa or .mp2) or Digital Theatre Sound (,dts) are usable in .avi or not.3.Is there a possibility to cut the unprocessed DVD-material (without
running in any sync-problems or alike afterwards)?Yes, using tools such as VobEdit or DGIndex.4.I'm very interested in those Mpeg-4 AVC codecs. Which one is at the
moment the "king of the hill" and/or would suit my task best?See Doom9's codec comparisons (link above), and do your research by reading in the MPEG-4 AVC forum (http://forum.doom9.org/forumdisplay.php?f=77).5.Which tools/software am I going to need for the job?That will depend upon the codec(s) you choose, and the toolsets available for each.Sorry for my english and thanks for your answers!Your English is wonderful. You are welcome. Good luck!

[CWR03]

There is also Cuttermaran, a free and very effective editing tool that can work with MPEG-2 without re-rendering so there's no loss in quality.

You said you don't care about filesize, but you may want to know that some standalone DivX/XviD players, should you eventually decide to use one, cannot play back files over 2 GIG in size or are limited in the bitrate they can play smoothly.

I'm glad you didn't need one of the horrible automated translation tools that sometimes makes a question come out like "I banana want at good Epstein-Barr syndrome."