DVD Ripper Best Rip from VOB

[javry]

Got an issue for you. What is the best way to rip a movie from a VOB and still retain the video quality of the VOB? Before I left home for Afghanistan, I copied the HBO John Adams Series to my hard drive as VOB files. I now want to rip them to MKV, AVI or other but retain the video quality of the VOB. I'm finding it next to impossible. There continues to be some grainy-ness poping up in the rip. Should I rip it as a BR file even though it's not? I just can't seem to get a good 720p presentation. It's my first time doing this so a step by step would be nice.

[signals]

You may be asking too much of the conversion process. The original DVDs are 480p, so you are trying to upscale them. Try converting to MKV or MP4/M4V at something close to the original size using the h264 codec, and set the bits per pixel to around 0.3. Convert the audio to AAC or MP3 if file size is an issue or if you have A/V sync problems.

[kdparton]

Can't you use the Video Converter and go from VOB to MKV and use the MKV.Passthrough profile??

I have done the same with my BD rips, mkv.passthrough just puts the original files into an MKV container.

The best quality will be the original aspect dimensions...if its a DVD then keep it at dvd resolution.

[signals]

You can, but for a DVD it will never be better than the original VOB file, which you can have with VOB Passthrough in DVD Ripper.

[rajahd]

Similar to javry I want to convert native DVDs (VOB files) to AVIs but retain the best quality I can. I've been pretty happy with GregiBoy's suggested bitrate guidelines (from another thread) but I've noticed the Ripping feature of DVDfab is changing the resolution of the output video.

How can I get it to retain the native resolution of the DVD being ripped? I can go into Video Effects Settings, view the Original Frame Resolution, and set a custom resolution but this is crazy tedious for hundreds of DVDs. Please tell me there's an easy way to retain the original's resolution and I'm just missing it! At the end of the day I want a DVD converted to an AVI retaining all of the possible settings and quality (I don't want to upconvert it or change it's resolution).

A side question - I've been ripping using xvid but I've noticed the ambient sound volume in the ripped AVI is noticeably lower than the original DVD. There doesn't seem to be any way to retain/boost this during the ripping process as the xvid audio settings are "Same as source" and the volume control is locked. Suggestions?

[signals]

As mentioned, to change the volume during the conversion, you must decode and re-encode the audio stream. When you have it set to audiocopy (same as source) this does not happen, hence no volume adjustment is possible.

As to the frame size, you can set it using profile editor to have a size closer to the original. Remember you are setting the sixe of the decoded DVD Video, which is not 720x480 or 720x576 but different based on the aspect ratio of the movie (1.333, 1.78, 1.85 2.35, 2.45 etc.) If the value you use in profile editor is close, DVDFab will correct it to maintain the correct aspect ratio; enable automatic cropping for best results.

[javry]

You may be asking too much of the conversion process. The original DVDs are 480p, so you are trying to upscale them. Try converting to MKV or MP4/M4V at something close to the original size using the h264 codec, and set the bits per pixel to around 0.3. Convert the audio to AAC or MP3 if file size is an issue or if you have A/V sync problems.

I think you're probably right. I misquoted in saying that I wanted 720p. My laptop will handle up to 1080p so what I really wanted was the best quality conversion possible. Since posting, I've been experimenting with a few things and paying particular attention to the menus and what they have to offer. I've found that converting as close to native resulolution on DVD is always best and that passthrough is good to use when you can. MKV remux or VOB seem to be best for this as best as I can see so far. To answer an earlier question, I'd rather have the quality than the quantity so if I have to use up a few gig to get it then it's ok. Better that than to be watching a mvie go from 3 gig to 700MB just to save space. For me it's just not worth it. I'd just as soon delete something else to make room for it or just not mess with it at all. Most of us here are just watching movies on our laptops after work anyway and it probably won't make it home to the bigscreen.

[signals]

I have a 1080p laptop also and I just converted Contagion Blu-ray to a 1280x720 M4V using the iPhone4-1080 profile and the bits per pixel set to about .25. The output file was 3.5 GB but it looks really good on the laptop and the little DVDFab HD media player. Even DVDs straight from disc look pretty lame on a 1080 line screen when you get used to Blu-ray.

[javry]

so you went from BD to 720p basically? That's pretty good - especially if you like the PQ. I don't have any BDs here with me but I do have a few more VOBs I copied before leaving home. I'll play around with them and report back what I get.