dvd to h264/aac

[fenomeno83]

I read many and many topic to find the "best"(exsume me for this word :rolleyes: ) video and audio format!I want rip my dvd in my hard disk.I used xvid/ac3 but now I want change and get output file with less dimension and the same quality.I want to use h264 for video and aac for audio.For h264 encoder i read about x264 and nero(but many users prefer x264).Are there others h264 encoder that you prefer to x264(also not free!)?
For audio I want use aac (I read that the users prefer nero aac encoder).But if I have a 5.1 ac3 can I covert it in 5.1 aac(with multichannel)or aac is only for stereo sound?

[check]

For a GUI approach I'd recomment MeGUI - you can read information about it in the wiki. The only problem is that the update server is dead at the moment.
To answer your other questions:
o x264 is really the only open source h264 codec. The only alternative for 'personal' use is Nero's.
o aac supports 5.1 :)

[fenomeno83]

Thanks.For your personal experience do you prefer x264 or nero?Is the AAC quality similar to AC3(but compressed)or AC3 is much better than AAC(I want have a very good multichannel audio but compressed)?

[giandrea]

For a GUI approach I'd recomment MeGUI - you can read information about it in the wiki. The only problem is that the update server is dead at the moment.
To answer your other questions:
o x264 is really the only open source h264 codec. The only alternative for 'personal' use is Nero's.
o aac supports 5.1 :)

If I were you, I would consider encoding options compatible with most of the decoders out there, including QuickTime and other non high profile decoders.
You will get a bit less quality for bitrate, but more compatibility, including hardware players like the iPod and future set top boxes, like iTV...

[fenomeno83]

I will used my h264/aac video only in my PC,so I haven't compatibility problems!So I prefer quality than compatibility

[DDogg]

I will used my h264/aac video only in my PC,so I haven't compatibility problems!So I prefer quality than compatibilityIf you don't care about final file size, a quick way to get a great encode is to use AutoMK - choose your desired resolution (not auto) and the CQ-ASP_Q2_eq(crf) profile. Simple and easy.

[fenomeno83]

I want the best quality possibile(I don't want video and audio differences between original dvd and h264/aac rip).If the encoding is much much slow,there isn't a problem for me,but I want quality the same of original dvd!The final dimension isn't a problem for me!

[Sharktooth]

use lossless codecs then...

[fenomeno83]

I want to use h264 for video and aac for audio.I want get the maximum quality in h264 video and aac audio,why using these audio and video compression I have a similar quality of source(dvd) but with less final dimension.But I want optimizer video h264 encoding(max quality possibile)and aac encoding(max quality possibile)

[DDogg]

I want to use h264 for video and aac for audio.I want get the maximum quality in h264 video and aac audio,why using these audio and video compression I have a similar quality of source(dvd) but with less final dimension.But I want optimizer video h264 encoding(max quality possibile)and aac encoding(max quality possibile)As does nearly every other person on this forum. Suggest you spend some time with MeGUI (when the update server is back on line) or AutoMK now. If you were to choose 1/3 or 1/2 dvd as your target filesize I think you would always get what you wanted. Or, choose the CQ-ASP_Q2_eq(crf) profile as mentioned (constant quality method). You might play around with editing the CQ-ASP_Q2_eq(crf) profile to use 15 instead of 18 in the [<BitrateQuantizer>18</BitrateQuantizer>] line. I think that is overkill, but something you might want to try.

X264 is pretty incredible. Spend some time getting to know how to use the tools on this forum and I think you will get exactly what you want.

[Thunderbolt8]

use lossless codecs then...
considering that, how much (percentage, or variety of percentage of difference kinds ofmovies) is the difference between the filesize of the lossless encoded video stream compared to the orginal one ? would both files have the same filesize (or closely) so that its actually not really worth doing it ?

[fenomeno83]

I want get a similar video and audio final file similar to original dvd.for example if mpeg2 video bitrate of dvd is 9000 kbit/s,witch is the h264 video bitrate to get a similar quality(with the same resolution=720x576)?and for audio?(aac 5.1 high efficent,witch is the bitrate to get similar to original ac3)?

PS:using automvk witch setting can I do(I prefer quality than speed!!)

[foxyshadis]

considering that, how much (percentage, or variety of percentage of difference kinds ofmovies) is the difference between the filesize of the lossless encoded video stream compared to the orginal one ? would both files have the same filesize (or closely) so that its actually not really worth doing it ?

For DVD video, which is usually 5-8 Mbps, the lossless range is around 25-30 Mbps. Definitely a not worth it.

For best quality, the best option is always to keep the originals (unless you like processing the heck out of them). If you need more space, there are great xvid presets for keeping near-perfect backups at half the size or less. x264 won't gain much over that and may not even look as good to you, but it's worth testing.

That especially goes for the AC3, since audio isn't very big. The only good reason to convert it is needing extra small files, or wanting to compress the sound (make it louder), which ac3filter and all dvd players can do anyway. Recomprssing audio always loses some quality.

btw sharktooth, are you going to update any of the profiles to use --deadzone?

[bond]

use lossless codecs then...he mentioned that he might use x264 ;)

[DDogg]

...
PS:using automvk witch setting can I do(I prefer quality than speed!!)Probably best to ask that in the AutoMK thread so that information can be shared with others.

[check]

Thanks.For your personal experience do you prefer x264 or nero?Is the AAC quality similar to AC3(but compressed)or AC3 is much better than AAC(I want have a very good multichannel audio but compressed)?

Personally I've only used x264 for real work for some time now, but I like to play with the nero encoder every time they update it.

AAC will gives you far better results at lower bitrates, for example ac3 requires 192kbits minimum to sound good in stereo, while AAC can start sounding good at 64kbits. Encode a small section of audio to different bitrates to see what bitrate you need/want.

[Dark Eiri]

Simple! Use MeGUI to do a x264 encode in HQ-Insane, using 2000kbps (yeah, that's freaking high, I know :D), Automatic 3pass, no Turbo. Then, mux the original AC3 (if possible, DTS) with the video, using MKV Muxer, in MeGUI. That should be the most insane DVDRip ever.

[chipzoller]

Or for audio consider processing it into AAC using the free Nero AAC encoder. Unless you have the hearing of a professional concert piano tuner, you can drastically reduce the size of the audio stream and experience no audible difference. On my high-quality DVD rips I make (using x264 and MeGUI), I set the nero aac encoder to Q=0.37 (Q=0.37 for movies with general speech and higher for musical content) and cannot tell a difference when comparing this stream to the original AC3.

[fenomeno83]

you set aac 5.1(original)?how many MBYTES do you sparing?For example an ac3 of 350 MBYTES in AAC how many MBYTES is?
And for musical contents usually which quality do you use?

[chipzoller]

When I encode movies with general speech, I downmix to stereo because personally I'd rather trade great video quality and sacrifice surround sound. This is my personal decision but I believe 5.1 is less important when making a high-quality rip (because I make them come out around 700MB). If you down-mix AC3 that was 5.1 surround to 2-channel stereo, the resulting file is around 80MB or so depending on length and quality setting.

In any case, if you're going to convert to AAC I would HIGHLY recommend the free nero aac encoder (did I mention it was FREE?).

[fenomeno83]

to get a similar audio quality but in aac 5.1(not downmix stereo) which Q must I use?

[imcold]

try -q 0.25, listen a bit to it, and if it sounds good, use it... let your ears judge what setting you should use.

[fenomeno83]

Or for audio consider processing it into AAC using the free Nero AAC encoder. Unless you have the hearing of a professional concert piano tuner, you can drastically reduce the size of the audio stream and experience no audible difference. On my high-quality DVD rips I make (using x264 and MeGUI), I set the nero aac encoder to Q=0.37 (Q=0.37 for movies with general speech and higher for musical content) and cannot tell a difference when comparing this stream to the original AC3.

for musical content which quality do you usually use (0.40-0.45-0.50.....)?

[chipzoller]

to get a similar audio quality but in aac 5.1(not downmix stereo) which Q must I use?

The quality doesn't change for the number of channels but rather that quality setting is applied to ALL the channels in a given stream. So if you use Q=0.35 (which is what I use for movies) on 2 channels versus that same setting for 5 channels, the file size for the 5 channel stream will be considerably larger than that of the 2 channel.

And actually, if you're going to encode the full 5.1 channel surround, you could even set it a little less.

I believe the cutoff for the nero encoder is the following:
<Q=0.32 represents AAC-HE
>Q=0.32 represents AAC-LC

I think for most people Q=0.25 is much too low, especially if you're creating a stream to accompany a high-quality x264 rip, but again this is personal preference.

for musical content which quality do you usually use (0.40-0.45-0.50.....)?

I usually set it ~Q=0.42

[Sharktooth]

btw sharktooth, are you going to update any of the profiles to use --deadzone?
When ill add deadzones to megui ill add deadzones to profiles.
Keep in mind deadzones are actually useless with trellis.

[frodeste]

You might want to read about how I found "my" settings for what I precive to be the best settings to achieve what you are looking for. "My" beeing my personal subjective opinion.

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=114947