New to BluRay ripping

[dansrfe]

Ok so I have a couple of BD's that I've wanted to backup to 1080p rips but haven't had the chance and don't have much knowhow on the subject either. I've done loads of dvdrips and have experience in x264 dvd ripping but I realize that bluray ripping is a whole different ball game that's why I'm here to ask you guys what is the optimum way to do it.

1. I prefer using command line if possible. I'm not extremely familiar with x264 command line but I have used it a couple of times for dvd rips.

2. What parameters are relevant to put in the command and where can I find a set of the default parameters if I do not specify one of the parameters?

3. I want to do crf encodings and don't want to go more than L4.1 which I guess that takes me down to 4 ref frames for 1080p. Something 10GB and under for 2:30:00 movies approx. or somewhere around there. Nothing dead on I just want to be able to store these in a reasonable amount of space on my external hd.

4. How do I determine what to put for crf, qcomp, aq, trellis, cabac, scenecut, deblock and the others? Also is me=umh a good option to use?

5. I don't care about time as long as the encode finishes within 1-3 days. I'm on a Intel C2D @ 2.66GHz, 4GB RAM, ATi Mobility Radeon HD 4570, Windows 7 x64. Connection to my external hd 1tb is through e-sata and I will be encoding directly to it.

[sneaker_ger]

If you don't care about time (and high electric bills...) I'd suggest the following command line:
x264 --preset veryslow --tune film --level 4.1 --crf 18 --vbv-bufsize 30000 --vbv-maxrate 40000 -o output input
a) you may also use "--tune animation" for anime or "--tune grain" for grainy content instead of "--tune film"
b) the command line will make sure that the number of reference frames is within the level 4.1 limits
c) bufsize 30000 and maxrate 40000 are actually the blu-ray limits, but while h.264 are a bit higher you probably won't need anything higher and this should keep it compatible with most hardware.
d) lower or raise crf if you're unhappy with the filesize

You can view the default settings and the presets using "x264 --fullhelp". ("x264 --fullhelp > help.txt" to save to a text file under windows) If you look at how the different presets set the options you should get a good idea which settings are sane, but it is generally recommended to just to stick to the presets.

[prOnorama]

1. command line works great for x264 (I use it with AviSynth)

2. http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings

3. Should be possible for CRF 18-22 at that movie length/filesize, depending on the source

4. just use the presets. (me=umh is a good option, the best one speed/quality wise)

5. a C2D is OK but rather slow nowadays compared to quadcores, I'm guessing 1 day for default settings and 2-3 days for --preset slower for 3 days on your CPU for 1080p encodes.

I get like 2 FPS for a AMD Phenom X4 955 3.2 Ghz quadcore @ --preset slower --merange 24 --no-fast-pskip for Blu-ray to 1080p encodes. I think your CPU will be at least 2x slower.

[dansrfe]

What does "--merange 24 --no-fast-pskip" do?

[linyx]

What does "--merange 24 --no-fast-pskip" do?
They're both explained in the wiki posted by prOnorama.:)

--no-fast-pskip
Disables early skip detection on P-frames. Very slightly increases quality at a large speed cost.

--merange
merange controls the max range of the motion search in pixels. For hex and dia, the range is clamped to 4-16, with a default of 16. For umh and esa, it can be increased beyond the default 16 to allow for a wider-range motion search, which is useful on HD footage and for high-motion footage. Note that for umh, esa, and tesa, increasing merange will significantly slow down encoding.

Given your desired encoding time, I'd leave them both alone, but that's just me.

[nurbs]

It should be noted that --merange 24 is activated in the veryslow and placebo preset and --no-fast-pskip is only used in placebo because they are not that useful.

[dansrfe]

^ I was just about to say that :D But can I override one of the settings in a specific preset by eg. --preset veryslow --merange 16?

[JEEB]

^ I was just about to say that :D But can I override one of the settings in a specific preset by eg. --preset veryslow --merange 16?

Yes, it is possible to override settings. Although in most cases you can just drop/raise a preset.

[dansrfe]

So any other piece of advice for the command? What does --vbv-bufsize 30000 --vbv-maxrate 40000 do and how do I know what to set for optimum values? Also what would be the visible diffference between --preset veryslow and --preset slow?

[sneaker_ger]

--vbv-bufsize and --vbv-maxrate make sure that the bitrate doesn't exceed a certain limit (according to a leak bucket model). The h.264 levels not only dictate the maximum number of ref frames but also maximum bitrates. These commands make sure that those limits aren't exceeded. Specifying them is just a precaution. x264 will tell you after the encode if the limits have been exceeded even if you do not specify these.

I don't know the average quality gain between those presets (given equal bitrate), maybe someone else can help out...

[nm]

--vbv-bufsize and --vbv-maxrate make sure that the bitrate doesn't exceed a certain limit (according to a leak bucket model). The h.264 levels not only dictate the maximum number of ref frames but also maximum bitrates. These commands make sure that those limits aren't exceeded. Specifying them is just a precaution.

However, as you said earliear, VBV is required for compatibility with hardware decoders, so those parameters should be used when aiming for wide playback support. Blu-ray limits are a safe choice.

I don't know the average quality gain between those presets (given equal bitrate), maybe someone else can help out...

Bitrate/filesize difference at equal quality is perhaps easier to comprehend. It depends on the content, but maybe 5 to 10 % between slow and veryslow?