DVD Ripper Setting to adjust frame rate mode? (CFR vs VFR)

[Backslash]

Man, what a Sunday!

So I've been playing with getting a DVD to rip into an MP4/h264/aac file this weekend with the latest version of DVDFab so it'll play in my Xbox360. To make a looooong story short, the 360 apparently does NOT like variable frame rate videos.

Just to test this, I wrangled two sample files: one that MediaInfo reports as "Constant" frame rate mode (from old rips I had done) and the other is "Variable" frame rate mode. The variable will not play in the Xbox while the constant will.

I did a lot of searching and found older forums posts talking about how recent DVDFab versions are all using VFR now.

So the question is: How can we adjust which frame rate mode is used?


P.S. Just for reference, here's the video bits from the two files:

== Video 1 (works in XBox)
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L3.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=15
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 2mn 33s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 4 086 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 6 000 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 400 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.592
Stream size : 74.6 MiB (97%)

== Video 2 (does NOT work in XBox)
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L3.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=15
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 11mn 52s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 4 126 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 6 144 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 306 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.35:1
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Minimum frame rate : 23.974 fps
Maximum frame rate : 23.981 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.781
Stream size : 351 MiB (97%)
Encoded date : UTC 2012-10-28 23:21:00
Tagged date : UTC 2012-10-28 23:22:44
Color primaries : BT.601 NTSC
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.601

[terry5]

Yes, it is. The profile "generic.mp4.h264.aac" is for variable frame rate mode,which may not be playable in xbox360. Why not give a try of the profile "xbox360.wmv.wma9" or "xbox360.wmv.wma10"? Wish it helps.

[GregiBoy]

Why not enable users to set "Constant Frame Rate" if they need to?

There are still a lot of players/TV's that struggle with VFR.

[signals]

The video bitrates are also very different (and very high) between the two sample files. Try reducing the bitrate to about 0.3 bits/pixel. That is usually enough for 720x400 AVC.

[Backslash]

Thanks for the input/suggestions

@terry5: Yup, I started with the "generic.mp4.h264.aac" profile and modified the settings from there. I even played with the .preset that it's attached to looking for something to let me adjust the frame rate mode but nothing jumped out at me. I really need MP4/h264/aac (which worked great in 8.0.7 something I think it was) for what I want to use these files for.

@GregiBoy: Hmm, that makes me think there *isn't* a way to adjust this other than reverting to an older version.

@signals: I do have the bit rates cranked up. It's because I'm more concerned with quality than file size. I always notice really bad blocking in dark scenes or fade-to-dark sequences if I drop it down lower than 4k. I'm pretty sure this isn't the cause of the failure to read on the 360, but any idea's on how to improve are always welcome.