Insight requested

[Ahri]

I'm new to this forum, and to DVD ripping/encoding as a whole. I'm using linux and have so far ripped and encoded a few DVDs with dvd::rip, I've been using an ogm container with ffmpeg and vorbis (quality level 6), and 'bigger frame, fast resize' settings. I have a couple of questions which I'll try to keep as concise as possible!

dvd::rip is optimized for encoding DVDs down to 1.4gb (ie. 2 CDs) but I'm really not interested in creating VCDs and only want to back up to my hard disc with a fairly high quality (which is why I'm using vorbis with quality level 6; I understand that this is lossless stereo quality - unless I'm mistaken!) It seems to me that if it's purposely crushing down the video element in order to fit on 2 CDs, then I'm losing quality pointlessly. Disc space isn't too much of an issue to me; 1.5-2.5gb per movie is just fine - can I improve on my method?

I tried opening my OGMs in Windows and failed dysmally; even using both mplayer and vlc for win32 (I tested these as I know they work fine in linux.) The sound worked but I got no picture. I assume I'm missing some ffmpeg codec for windows but I can't seem to figure out where to get it, can anyone help on that front?

Final question; I've read up a little on an audio codec called MPC and understand that it's lossless, and that it can be used in the MKV container. I don't know how to encode into an MKV container, or whether MPC is worth the effort to find out. Can someone with experience put me on the right path?

Thanks for any help you can give. Oh, if using linux to encode is a problem for any solutions you might offer then it might be helpful to know that I'm dual booting Win2k so I can encode there instead (grdugingly ;))

Edit: Just started downloading all the gKnot stuff, and noticed that it contains an ffmpeg codec, which may nullify my 2nd question?

[Tuning]

Welcome to doom9 forums,Ahri

To my experience GordianKnot is the best suited GUI for creating MPRG-4(DivX/XviD)Videos.As you have started downloading i can give you links to tutorial using GKnot.There you are:[http://www.doom9.org/divx-encoding.htm](On how to use GK for DivX/XviD)If you understand how it gets working it will be easy to create perfect looking rips.

For the second Q,i think you are missing the directshow filter for OGM.It is required to watch OGM.Look here [http://www.doom9.org/software2.htm#filters]There you can OGG direct show filter implementation.

To my litle knowledge you don't need lossless codecs for movie audio,as it would be overkill/Wastage of bitrate,which you can save to video if you use lowbitrate lossy audio compressors.For me the best suited audio is mp3 at 128kbps.If you preffer ac3[Dolby Digital] then directly mux it with video using VirtualDubMod.

Again VirtualDubMod can be used for creating MKV[Matroska]containers.
Look here for tutorial:[http://www.doom9.org/vdubmod-procedures.htm]

BTW,All these tools work only in windows.

Tuning

[Hiro2k]

1) Since size is not an issue, then you should consider encoding all your movies at a quantisizer of 2 and disable b-frames. That will give you the best quality and still reduce the filesize significantly compared to the original DVD.

2)Tuning is right. ON windows systems, in order to playback a file you need the right filter. This quote is from the MKV FAQ, but the same is true for OGM's. So you need to get the oggds filters. You can get the newest filters from this thread: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=61578
These are the 0.9.9.6 files, the ones on Tobaises site are the 0.9.9.5.

Originally posted by ChristianHJW
How can i play matroska files on Windows?

detailed answer: two things are needed for playback in any directshow based player:
- a splitter filter, which splits up the container file into the included streams (audio, video, subtitles) during playback
- a decoder filter, which decodes the encoded streams (for example with XviD, MP3...)
so to say the only thing you need to playback a matroska file is the matroska splitter filter (there are two available, from gabest and matroska.org) and of course the specific decoder filter (for example Vorbis, AAC, Realmedia or AC3)
the only reason why you don't have to install a splitter for AVI is that it is already installed on windows by default (the same as the MP3 decoder)


3) If you are interested in creating matroska files, then you should try the program created by Mosu it's a linux based tool ;). mkvtoolnix (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=55637)

Also if you are intereste in other audio formats, then I suggest you try Ogg and AAC. I don't see the point to lossless encoding since the AC3 file is big enough.

[Ahri]

Thank you both for your replies, I'll have to wait a few hours to test them at home, until then I have one extra question! I'm using the ffmpeg codec based entirely on comments I read in a DVD ripping guide I found specifically for linux; the author basically said that libavcodec > XviD > DivX5 (here (http://www.bunkus.org/dvdripping4linux/single/index.html#software_codecs)). As far as I could ascertain, the only way to use this exact codec was to use ffmpeg (no amount of replacing 'mpeg4' with 'libavcodec' or 'lavc' in the ffmpeg settings actually worked, so I assume that the ffmpeg default setting is libavcodec.)

Tuning suggested using DivX or XviD, but no mention was made of the ffmpeg codec, am I to understand that the ffmpeg codec produces inferior quality video? I'm a bit confused by the whole libavcodec bit :)

[Tuning]

Sorry Ahri,I have no knowledge on ffmpeg codec.Might Hero2K can answer your question.I think every body here is using XViD/DivX for thier DVDBackups.:rolleyes: