dvdshrink vs auto GK

[noah1]

Hi All, I was wondering if when shrinking a video file to about half the original size which program would yield better results. I want to take dvd rips and compress them to about half their size. I find when using handbrake the results are poor but that is bringing a file size down to 700 mb. Dvdshrink seems to work the best but the file sizes are still a little big (3-4 gig). Auto GK seems to offer many more options but the process takes a long time ( I have a q6600 quad core). 2 Gig files are ok I have almost 3 terabytes.

Thanks
Glenn

[BigDid]

Hi,

...
Dvdshrink seems to work the best but the file sizes are still a little big (3-4 gig). Auto GK seems to offer many more options but the process takes a long time ( I have a q6600 quad core). 2 Gig files are ok ...

Dvdshrink produces mpeg2 compliant dvd files so it needs more space.

AutoGk produces mpeg4 (ASP) files more efficient.
1/ 2gb (2 pass encode) can often be too much for autogk and result in an undersized final file.
2/ To get equivalent quality use the 1 pass quality encode with 75% (default) to 85 %. Above 85% is suboptimal. 1 pass is quick; for a Q6600 30 to 45mn (I have a Q9400).

Another solution would be to use a x264 encoder (Mpeg4 AVC) even more efficient and around 2Gb in size (1 pass CRF18 or so) will give you superb quality (for dvd sources).

If interested you may want to try Ripbot264 or StaxRip for that prupose. For ripbot:
* wiki for install and first steps:
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/wiki/index.php/RipBot264
* download:
http://www.mediafire.com/?ninjgmy1zii
* discussion here:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=127611

Did

[noah1]

Thanks for the quick response. So what you are saying is that if I want these files to be playable on a stand alone dvd player then I should use dvdshrink, and if I want to maximize HD space then Auto GK or Mpeg4 AVC. Is the quality of the finished product comparable? I like the fact that with Dvdshrink there is no pixelation, I cant yet comment on Auto GK because I have yet to try with the settings you recommend.

[7ekno]

Use Ripbot264 or StaxRip for H.264 encoding via x264 ... XviD (AutoGK) needs 50% more bitrate to match the quality of x264 used by Ripbot264 or StaxRip (unless of course you need stand-alone DVD player compatibility, in which case you should use avi.NET) ...

7ek
PS The MPEG2 of Shrink just won't compare to file sizes and quality generated by x264 ...

[Chetwood]

And which DVD standalones do playback x.264 content? None. So he's better off using AutoGK and Xvid.

[7ekno]

And which DVD standalones do playback x.264 content? None. So he's better off using AutoGK and Xvid.

He hasn't specified a playback device, he was just repeating the advice given ;)

Read both his posts slowly and thoroughly, the only qualifiers so far are "space saving" and "quality", which H.264 fits :P

7ek

[Chetwood]

No matter how fast I read his posts, his mentioning of DVD standalones indicates he is in fact targeting playback on such devices. Just wait for him to comment on this.

[noah1]

Thanks for all the great info. While being able to play on a standalone DVD player would be nice the most important thing to me is HIGH quality in a small package. I guess if I wanted to have the ability to play on a standalone DVD player I could re-encode back to mpeg2 ( I hope). I downloaded ripbot and played with it a little today and the results look very promising. All in all I am trying to do two things, 1: Save my original DVDs from my kids and keep things simple for my wife and 2: Have an awesome video server that I can have all my movies at my fingertips. In an unrelated story I am building a settop box that I can stream this 264 content to.

[Chetwood]

Re-encode back to mpeg2 will certainly be a waste of quality so it would be better to make up your mind before starting conversion to one format to stick with.

[cwl7454]

I am at a loss here; why would if you want quality want to shrink below 4GB, is it to include the menus and other addons? If so why don't you just use a dbl layer. Yes I rountinly use shrink but it is because I just want the main movie, but for the daughter I rountinly use DL to give her all the features, or are you perhaps saying that you have a stand alone that doesn't play back DL.
just curious

[noah1]

Thanks all, I am very happy with the results of ripbot. What I am going to do to accomplish what I want is rip the movie to a file then use dvdshrink to create a backup dvd then I will use ripbot on the original file to create a new file of a about 2 gig then I will delete the original rip leaving me with a 2 gig high quality file and a backup dvd. Thanks again for all the help. My last question is how long should ripbot take? I have a q6600 quad core with 2 gig of ram and Inglorious Bastards took 1.5 hrs.

[BigDid]

... My last question is how long should ripbot take? I have a q6600 quad core with 2 gig of ram and Inglorious Bastards took 1.5 hrs.
Hi,

A test with no crop, no filtering, no audio is expecting around 50-53fp/s or 55-60mn for a 2h PAL movie at CRF 18.
Real conditions with heavy filtering is 15 to 18fp/s.
I have a 9400 quad o/c to 3.2Ghz so your Q6600 should be 20-25% slower or so.

Did

[netmask]

1 terrabyte hard drives are so cheap now I just transfer my DVD's uncompressed as ISO files to my network player. (Beyonwiz DP1)
I can always shrink the ISO to make a conventional DVD5 or DVD9 as the case dictates. Episodic TV stuff I compress down to 350MB xvid.