Which is better: 480 high-bitrate DVD rips or 1080 low-bitrate StreamFab downloads?

zapt

Two years ago, I set up a Plex server to host my media for the house and a few relatives. I dutifully ripped my entire DVD collection with DVDFab Ripper using the Passthrough MKV option, resulting in 480p and 480i video files with bitrates between 8mbps and 10mbps. Now with several StreamFab licenses, I'm considering replacing those rips with1080 downloads of the same videos. Unfortunately, those downloaded videos have considerably lower bitrates than the rips. In terms of output quality, is one better than the other? (Note that telling me to view both isn't helpful. I can't see them side-by-side, and it's too tough to compare them by playing the videos sequentially. Also, network bandwidth isn't an issue and the resulting video file sizes are comparable from the two approaches.)

walker189

In general, the 1080p downloaded file should be superior - and have better audio - than the DVD rip. If you compare a streamed 1080p movie to a DVD, the streamed version will have artifacts and banding issues that makes it more of a trade off, due to compression. Depending on the title, the online version may have been remastered from the original prints since the DVD release (if the movie was ever released on Bluray it more than likely was), offering a far superior 'starting point' that would leave even a compressed version better than the DVD. Also, An intangible you may not be considering, is some of your DVDs may be 4:3, while a new 1080p download could be a 16:9 version. Attached is an unscientific comparison. Movie is AI Artificial Intelligence from 2001. One image is from my Plex saved ripped DVD, the other is from Paramount (paused stream, NOT downloaded - downloaded should be at a minimum no worse than streamed, and in all likelihood would be better). Two things I notice are the 16:9 ratio, and the details in the faces of the people in the back (this could be attributed to the frame paused - but I would expect the streamed pause to be worse, not better).

KidJoe

I have several DVDs that I ripped using MakeMKV, and later downloaded the 1080p using StreamFab. The 1080p has always looked anywhere from just a little better to much much better looking.

Captain Ron for example, the 1080p download from Amazon looks way better than the ripped DVD, especially when watching on my Sony 77A80J OLED, or my 65" Sony X900F tv

I would suggest you take 3 or 4, download them and compare to your DVD rip and see what you think. Also consider, your DVD "passthrough" rip might have a high bit rate because its stored using a less efficient codec.

BearBo

DVD will always be lower quality. DVDs have to be MPEG2 video at 720x480 (or PAL) to conform to early 1990's tv standards. It is also usually interlaced and MP2 audio.

MPEG is a very inefficient compared to modern codecs that don't conform to DVD standards. Just to encode the limited quality 480p MPEG video takes about 5Kbps. A modern codec like x264 can encode a 1080p video containing 4x the pixels in each frame using a bitrate of 2000 Kbps or less and give a better image. Codecs like x265 & AV1 can use even lower bitrates for the same quality.

KidJoe mentions his OLED tv which contains a high-end video processing engine to upscale any image to 4k - this has a huge effect on perceived quality, but GIGO still applies. Feed it a 480p video, it will upscale to the 4k screen, but even the Sony can't make it look as good as any 1080p stream - even the lower bitrate ones.

That said, stream quality can vary greatly even at the same bitrates - one streamer can use "Faster" profiles, make no allowance for motion bitrate or chroma smoothing (banding in colors).
A different streamer file may have the same nominal bitrate, but take more care to minimize "quickie" encoding issues.

I usually go for a medium rate 1080p x265 if offered, which looks good on my Hisense 65"