DVD Ripping Problems (Artefacts & Stuttering)

[Ponce918]

I am relatively new to ripping my DVDs -- and am having very frustrating problems. I have been ripping DVDs with DVD Shrink 3.2 on a Win XP Dell XPS Desktop with 2GB of RAM and a 3 GHz Pentium D dual-core chip -- the DVD drive is: NEC DVD+-RW ND-3530A. (I try to avoid running any other programs while I rip.) I do not compress the video with DVD Shrink (i.e. I am ripping at full fidelity).

The problem is that there are a lot of encoding artefacts in the ripped ISO files. When I play ISO files back on my hard drive media player (Pixel Magic HD mediabox MB100), the video playback stutters -- i.e. the video freezes for a second while the audio continues. This happens maybe 5 or 6 times for every 30 minutes of video on every disc I rip. At first, I thought this was a bug with the MB100. However, I've confirmed that the symptom also occurs on my computer when I play back the same ISO file with the VLC Media Player. At the point on the ISO where the video stutters when played on the MB100, the video playback on VLC either also stutters (i.e. video freezes for a moment) or I see an encoding glitch/artefact. Hence, problem is not with the playback device but with the ripped ISO.

In my limited tests of ripping with DVD Decrypter instead of DVD Shrink, the problem seems to be as bad or worse.

Has anyone else had this problem or have any ideas what in my computer configuration could be causing these problems? I haven't been able to find much info on this problem via Google searches.

[VWRacer]

From your descriptions, indications would sound like bad media, and too high a recording speed. What brand of DVD blanks are you using, and what format (+ or -). At what speed are you burning?

Racer

Welcome to Doom9.

[Ponce918]

From your descriptions, indications would sound like bad media, and too high a recording speed. What brand of DVD blanks are you using, and what format (+ or -). At what speed are you burning?


This is not a media issue. I am not burning the ISO. I am playing it from hard drive on a media player on my computer (VLC) or on a video hard drive which connects to my TV. There is no disc involved.

[VWRacer]

Just for fun, have you tried ripping the DVD as a file? I have noticed an occasional problem with ISO rips.

Racer

[setarip_old]

@Ponce918

Hi!

Sounds like a hardware problem. Perhaps your videocard is not properly seated, or the contacts might be dirty.

Before opening your system, you should try the suggestion made by "VWRacer". If a burned DVD made from one of these "problematic" .ISO images plays properly on a standalone player, you'll have eliminated the creation of the .ISO and the .ISO itself as causes of the problem...

[check]

hi, are the errors there if you play the original DVD disc in your computer?

[Ponce918]

Interesting new wrinkle to the situation. So far, every DVD I've ripped to an ISO file with DVD Shrink or DVD Decrypter has had the artefacts/stutter problem. However, yesterday, I tried ripping with DVDFab Decrypter for the first time. This program rips in IFO mode (i.e. preserves the file structure of the original DVD as opposed to producing a single ISO file). For this particular DVD (Entourage Season 2, Disc 3), I had 3 rips: one from DVD Shrink, one from DVD Descrypter and one from DVDFab. The ISO files from the first two program had the stutter problem I've seen with every ISO rip. Happily, though, the IFO/VOB files from DVDFab played back perfectly. I watched two episodes and there wasn't a single stutter.

I'd still like to solve the problem, but if DVDFab continues to perform well, then at least I'll have one viable solution.