DVD Ripper DVD Resolution 101?

[jumpinwired]

I'm so new to forums that you should be smelling the freshly molded plastic right now just like opening a new Blu-ray or DVD, so please redirect me if I've over looked this topic somewhere else. I've spent days looking but haven't found exactly what I'm looking for.

This is a general question so I'm not putting up my logs. But if I need to, just let me know and I will gladly do so as soon I can (few days).

What resolution should I choose when ripping? I want a 1:1 (Passthrough) result but my results just plain suck. Thinking the MP4 format is degrading some anyway but I want something that is universal and plays on everything I have.

I am ripping Star Trek Into Darkness (DVD). I've got v9.1.1.1. Win7. Everything seems to work correctly, no errors.

Started by copying to folders on hard drive, no compression, full disc.

DVD Fab wouldn't recognize the main title from this point so I used DVD shrink and copied main title to new folders, no compression.

Then used DVDfab ripper to convert to MP4, 480x204, customized bit/pixel rate all the way up, the 2 pass method, all the best settings I could get.

Chose crop and set to "disable" I think is what is says. Then I switched to resize tab and I see it chose 480x something around 260. Swithced back to auto crop and picked the 480x204. So I assumed 480 was same as source resolution. Am I just totally wrong about that? Please FYI me. I also noticed the output file was maybe 9xx mb which is no where near the original. This conversion also takes a very long time (8 hours), just making a note of that, most likely my computer. Is there a better format I should consider?

Thanks for your help. Will post whatever else needed asap.

[glenns]

(QUOTE)
I am ripping Star Trek Into Darkness (DVD). I've got v9.1.1.1. Win7. Everything seems to work correctly, no errors.

Started by copying to folders on hard drive, no compression, full disc.

DVD Fab wouldn't recognize the main title from this point

Lets stop you here first off we need a internal log file to see what your doing wrong.You don't have to convert to something else you need to learn the program.The copy program will copy in the resolution the disk has.Dvds are 480x720 unless letterboxed.You don't need to change anything.

Now what are you trying to do make a copy of Startrek into the darkness dvd correct?
Now tell us do you want to burn it to disk uncompressed on a 2 layer disk or compressed to fit on a single layer disk or just make a folder or Iso to hard drive to use with a software player or media player?

[jumpinwired]

Thanks for the quick reply. I will get the internal log file as soon as I can. At work right now.

Now what are you trying to do make a copy of Startrek into the darkness dvd correct?

No, I am trying to convert DVD to MP4. But I've always used "copy" to make image folders on my hard drive first so I'm not using my disc drive for 8 hours during the conversion.

Now tell us do you want to burn it to disk uncompressed on a 2 layer disk or compressed to fit on a single layer disk or just make a folder or Iso to hard drive to use with a software player or media player?

No to all of that, but I do want something versitile like a MP4 file so I can play it through my TV, smart phones, blu-ray players, PS3. At the same time I would like keep the source quality (resolution) but give up space (file size) in exchange.

Thanks glenns. Read alot of your posts to other people and your very helpful.

[jumpinwired]

Here it is.

Ok, the next to last log at 10:50 was when I replicated the problem where it doesn't recognize the main title when loading the image folder. It shows title 89 which I guess is the movie previews from the disc.

At 10:53, I opened the DVD straight from the drive and it seemed to recognize all of the source media.

I think somewhere in the first few logs it should show where I copied the movie from the DVD to my hard drive and I believe I tried that a couple times with the same results.

In conclusion, I don't really care too much about this issue with not recognizing the main title since I have worked around that by using DVD Shrink. Just wanting a MP4 with quality and resolution that matches the source DVD quality and resolution.

[Toccatta]

But I've always used "copy" to make image folders on my hard drive first so I'm not using my disc drive for 8 hours during the conversion.

An excellent idea, as this not only saves wear and tear on your DVD drive and disk, but also eliminates the slight pause at the layer break where many audio synchronization problems occur.

The thing you have to keep in mind is that when you reduce the image and the bit-rate, there is really no way to get a "pass through" quality reduction. I find that in most cases, keeping the width at 640 and setting the height based on the aspect ratio provides a very good copy with a lot of space savings. I personally think the two-pass method produces slightly better results, but it's also a LOT slower (particularly since it cannot use CUDA acceleration), and some people don't think that method produces a significant improvement. You should at least try using the single-pass method with graphics acceleration and see if the quality is acceptable. If you're looking for something even close to original quality, you won't want to drop the bits per pixel much below .25, and higher would be better, although there is an obvious size tradeoff.

[GregiBoy]

I would stick with the native width (usually 720 x XXX) with the height adjusted by the correct aspect ratio. autocrop on, as a start point and then adjust bits/pixel until you are happy with the result starting at .25.

Do an encode of a chapter only of a movie that you know well for testing to save time.

[jumpinwired]

Well I'm having to retype this because I think my login timed out so I'm going to keep it short.

Figured out I was confusing the width resolution with the height resolution. So basically, No need to discuss the reslotion quality issue anymore. DUMB!!

I'm always will to sacrifice file size and time for quality. With that in mind, I want to know what all of my settings should be (including common settings) for best quality. Well anything we haven't already covered I guess. Screen shots Please if possible. I really work well with seeing what I need to change. I will upload my system info if needed later today.

Thanks