DVD Ripper best Practice for Ripping DVD's to H.264

[Bilboman]

Greetings,

Please forgive the newbie questions. I am trying to Rip DVD's and Make good quality H.264 files. Is there a best Practice. I know there are a lot of variables. Here is what I am doing so far and the questions I have.

I am Using Ver 8.178

I first do a DVD Copy Full Disk copy to a Folder on my PC (This seems to work better that decrypting and ripping right from the DVD).

I then run DVD Ripper on that Folder.

What I want is an H.264 File in MP4 container with aac audio. That seems to be supported on the most devices. The Devices I use mostly: XBMC, PLEX on a Roku, and Driod Phone and Tablet, and Windows PC.

I am totaly lost when It comes to all the choices when I select DVD Ripper. I have been selecting "To MP4" but then I have a million more options. I have been trying various different choices there with different success. My questions are:

What framerate should I use? Aren't DVD's 29.97 by default so wouldn't I want to stay the same as the source? It does not seem to give me the option to keep it the same as the source.

What Frame Resolution should I use? I believe DVD's are 720 x 480 but that is never an option to choose? Does it automatically pic the best resolution?

Should I choose Deinterlacing?

For the Audio, If I choose 5.1 will I get all the others, and will it play on a non 5.1 system ok? Or should I choose ProLogic II or Stereo.

Any Advice on this would be welcome.

Bottm line is I want to try to make an H.264 (MP4) version that plays well, and the audio is in sync etc.. on all my various devices. I would like to keep it as close to the original quality as possible but need it to be smaller than the DVD rip.

[Vysey]

I too would like an answer to this cause I get mixed results! I need a good profile for ripping ISO's to MP4 to playback on mainly my iPad, PS3 and Xbox 360 over a NAS =]

[signals]

The best practice for a truly optimum output file will vary with the intended playback device. You need to first make the copy to a folder on your HDD, then decide which tradeoffs are acceptable. For DVDs, never use a frame size larger than 720xXXX, let the player do the upscaling on the fly. You can set DVDFab to always use Same as source for framerate in Settings, and I do recommend this for fewer sync problems. With h264 profiles, set the video bitrate so that the bits/pixel reads around .2-.25 or higher for fast action on a large screen playback device. Setting the audio encoding for "Stereo" results in a smaller file size overall and is adequate for most playback devices. The iPhone4 1080p profile has the widest range of choices for frame sizes and works well with DVDs even though it was designed for converting Blu-rays. The tradeoffs of video or audio quality (framerate, bitrate, frame size, audio format etc.) are subjective so you should experiment to see what is acceptable for your goals.