Gaming Waching DVD Backup Files on PC

[Deleted User]

Hello

I backup almost every DVD that I like after buying or borrowing from library or a friend (FBI ain't gonna do shit), so I'm running out of space
If any of you guys watch DVD backups on your comp, could you recommend the best programs for doing that. (currently I use PowerDVD, but interface sucks)
I also need to buy a good external hard disk, could you please tell me which ones you are satisfied with. I'm currently looking at the Seagate FreeAgent Go 250GB and the IoMega Prestige 500GB, which cost the same.

Any help is appreciated

 

[FAST6191]

Backup DVDs that retain the actual format, I use media player classic home cinema. It comes with CCCP which I suggest for all Windows video watching purposes:
http://www.cccp-project.net/

two points though:
DVDs use MPEG2, why not convert them to a nicer format and with most players able to play just about everything I ask why not. I made several posts on this subject in the past but if you want I will do it again, failing that http://www.doom9.org/ is where you want to be.

Even if you still want DVD are these full DVDs or do you strip things from them.
If they are "1:1" copies they probably have a bunch of dubs, commentary or even stuff like DTS soundtracks (kind of pointless if you ask me) or 2/5.1 AC3 soundtracks (pick one to lose) and possibly MP2 audio (although that does not really exist stateside) which take up space.
It will choke on some of the newer protections meaning you need to rip with something else unless you use something like AnyDVD that works around it but programs like DVDshrink:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/DVD_Shrink.htm
In addition to this you can shrink the video streams quite quickly (it is usually my hard drive that holds things up) but keep DVD compatibility, it does impact quality but done properly it is extremely hard to tell.
You can can also axe pointless extras and things which I regularly see hitting 2 gigs.

 

[juggernaut911]

I use Xilisoft movie converter to convert trying to keep my bitrate up (but sacraficing it for small size. use 2 pass vbr)

 

[Deleted User]

Backup DVDs that retain the actual format, I use media player classic home cinema. It comes with CCCP which I suggest for all Windows video watching purposes:
http://www.cccp-project.net/

two points though:
DVDs use MPEG2, why not convert them to a nicer format and with most players able to play just about everything I ask why not. I made several posts on this subject in the past but if you want I will do it again, failing that http://www.doom9.org/ is where you want to be.

Even if you still want DVD are these full DVDs or do you strip things from them.
If they are "1:1" copies they probably have a bunch of dubs, commentary or even stuff like DTS soundtracks (kind of pointless if you ask me) or 2/5.1 AC3 soundtracks (pick one to lose) and possibly MP2 audio (although that does not really exist stateside) which take up space.
It will choke on some of the newer protections meaning you need to rip with something else unless you use something like AnyDVD that works around it but programs like DVDshrink:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/DVD_Shrink.htm
In addition to this you can shrink the video streams quite quickly (it is usually my hard drive that holds things up) but keep DVD compatibility, it does impact quality but done properly it is extremely hard to tell.
You can can also axe pointless extras and things which I regularly see hitting 2 gigs.

Thanks for the site and I'll try out that program
I'm not a DVD ripping noob, I know abot all the stuff you said. Some copies I make aren't 1:1, but I usualy keep the menus. Just yesterday I took out that horrible English dub in "The Hunter"
When converting VOBs to h.264, is it a good idea to keep the resolution the same as the source? Wouldnt that call for a higher bitrate and more space to keep a similar quality to the original? Whats are your typical settings for films?
I'm only good at conversion when making mp4s for my ipod using handbrake.

 

[FAST6191]

My apologies for underestimating, I never know how to play it around here.

Back on topic, I usually rip to whatever I need (xvid for the xbox for example) and I am not sure where ipods exist these days (back when that had rather pitiful AAC support). I usually go about 1.5 bitrate and whatever of the "scene" as it is my opinion that their xvid policies are right on the limits of the standards and implementations of it.
With regards to X264 and DVDS, DVDs I work with are usually quite well done but I do not count upon it.

Resolution: rarely will I shrink it as I figure space is cheap and X264 has enough bells and whistles to manage. Sometimes you need to correct aspect ratio (and I have seen some odd ones).
I will however clip borders leaving a mod16 resolution, no half borders or anything so I will actually go for the overcrop if necessary. Scaling is usually done by my players but I will change it if necessary and I also sometimes upscale a bit using filters that struggle to work in real time (some on the inpainting algorithms make for awesome upscaling but realtime in addition to general decoding and operating system stuff on anything sub 4GHz is probably not going to happen).

Bitrate: I tend to use a quantizer although I will cap the bitrate at just over a meg a second (what depends on action in the source).
Should I use bitrate then two pass at least at around 900 kbps limit 1300.
Quantization (sp?) matrices, will sometimes give them a go but usually stock or something from sharktooth at doom9 forums. My custom ones tends to be designed for a source.

Pulldown: pal region stuff is usually OK for such things and I tend to go with whatever DGmpegdec ( http://neuron2.net/dgmpgdec/dgmpgdec.html ) says about %film and for the most part I seem to get lucky and pulldown flags get used instead. I have seen some atrocious pulldown methods though which sometimes need a serious load of work. For the truly awful then my messing with mvtools usually happens:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=84770

Deinterlacing, after pulldown is sorted I will usually start with DGBob (frames set back to "half"; remember it takes each field and bobs that effectively doubling framerate), if I need to I will go to the most complex (slower) stuff I find in the doom9 forums and if I need speed (which I rarely do) I will go lower. I have been known to selectively use different filters on different sections as the situation demands, same with pulldown.

Frame quality: a tough one, later (and even better some of the custom) builds of H264 handles grain pretty well but I will fix noise and other faults as the situation demands.

Audio is AAC from nero (HE AAC + PS) or LAME MP3 as the situation demands.
http://www.nero.com/eng/downloads-nerodigi...o-aac-codec.php
Depending on how lazy I feel or what I have I will either merge channels or just go with 2 channel from the start.

My main toolkit (after killing encryption which is usually dvd decrypter with whatever else waiting in the wings for the few times that will fail) is
avisynth:
http://avisynth.org/ In the unlikely event you app does not support avisynth scripts http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=133313
DGmpegdec
http://neuron2.net/dgmpgdec/dgmpgdec.html
Megui (frontend for most good video tools and has decent multicore support).
http://sourceforge.net/projects/megui
And MKVmerge (part of mkvtoolnix) or whatver muxer works for me.
http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/
You could substitute YAMB as required if you want MP4 container stuff instead:
http://yamb.unite-video.com/
Note you will need to find a binary of mp4box somewhere, I usually pull mine from megui.

Subs I tend to go with handfixed SRT from subrip and subtitle workshop. I have been know to do vobsub when feeling lazy and ass/ssa when feeling bored.

For plain DVDs then vobblanker, pcgedit, ifoedit, rejig, dvdshrink, vobedit. If making them then FAVC.