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Author Topic: 'lossless' video formats?  (Read 21365 times)

gappie

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'lossless' video formats?
« on: March 21, 2007, 03:28:58 pm »

im getting lost in this jungle. i have all my dvd's ripped to ifo/vob. but im unhappy about how mc handles them. so ive been trying to convert those files to other formats, none of those made me happy.

what im looking for is something that keeps the original dvd quality in sound and image, so also surround sound. has an option for subtitles, but also the option to put them of, and has chapters. and what programm should i try for it.

thanks
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glynor

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2007, 03:59:30 pm »

There's really no such thing as a "lossless" video format when talking about video ripped from a DVD.  DVD's are compressed using MPEG-2 compression, which is a lossy format to begin with.  Uncompressed standard definition (8-bit) video takes up approximately 24MB/sec of disk space, not including format overhead and audio tracks.  This means a little over 10 minutes of uncompressed video would completely fill a DVD-9 disc, which obviously won't work.  There are "flac-like" lossless compression formats for video, but they're still massive and unwieldy.

It's made more confusing by the fact that there are two "pieces" of any video file -- the "container" format and the "stream" format (or compression codec).  The container is like the "wrapper" for the file.  It's the AVI, or MP4, VOB, MOV, or MKV.  This says little (or sometimes nothing) about the format of the video contained within.  The container format specifies how the video stream is represented on disk by the computer, and how additional information is stored with it (such as audio tracks, tags, subtitles, etc).

The compression format of the "stream" is the true format of the video.  Like I said, uncompressed video is not a realistic option.  This is often referred to as the "codec" of the video (codec stands for COmpressor/DECompressor).  The codec is actually the piece of software or hardware that does the transformation to and from the compression.  Some of the popular compression formats currently in use are:

MPEG-1 - old style MPGs and VCDs)
MPEG-2 - DVD video and some new BluRay media
MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile (ASP) - codecs like XviD, DivX, 3vix, and some Sorenson codecs
MPEG-4 Part 10 / AVC (Advanced Video Coding) - new, high quality codecs like VC1, x264, NeroDigital AVC
DV/DVC/DVC Pro - high, quality codecs used by most camcorders on MiniDV tapes
M-JPEG - a compression format capable of very high quality at file sizes lower than uncompressed -- used by many professional editing suites.  Generally requires specialized hardware for encoding and playback at high qualities.

There are also plenty of others never adopted by the MPEG standards group, such as those used by Microsoft in their "windows media" formats, and Real in their own proprietary formats, and hundreds upon hundreds of others.

If file size is (relatively speaking) not a concern, and you want the best possible quality while retaining the ability to manage the videos as single files in MC, with all the advantages of that, the format I'd recommend is looking into MKV as a container format.

MKV can accept a wide variety of different types of video and audio streams, including everything that would come off of a DVD.  If you "de-mux" your VOB files as part of the DVD extraction process (which separates the streams into their individual component MPEG-2 video and PCM, MP2, or AC3 audio components) you can easily use a tool like MKVtoolnix to re-mux these streams into a MKV file.  This would be identical in quality to the original DVD, but would have the benefits of easy management and tagging from within MC.  It'd also be fast and require no lengthy re-compression.  I, personally, like to save the space and I recompress most of my video to x264.  At high enough bitrates this provides transparent quality to the original MPEG-2, but still requires FAR less disk space.  However, it does take a lot of time and effort!

A good place to visit for more info on this stuff is Doom9 (especially the forums there).
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bbrip

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2007, 04:16:39 pm »

As glynor said, there are lots of "schools of thought". personally, I have made pretty good experiences using the Nero Recode software contained in their Nero 7 package. Using the "Nero Cinema AVC" profile and appr 1.5mbps video quality, shrinks the DVD material to about 25% of its size without any visible loss in quality. You can also "shrink" the files further but to me personally, the results dont satisfy me (or my eyes).

Its all very much a personal matter and you need to try a bit around converting the same sequence (ideally a complex one) using different quality settings and just compare what suits your needs best.  There simply is no "one-size-fits-all" solution for video conversion.

BB
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gappie

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2007, 04:20:09 pm »

thanks a lot, glynor. i knew about the lossless, thats why i putted '' around it, more like without loosing any quality compared to the original dvd. ive been searching the net and the doom9 forum the last days to get some grip on this mater, but only got lost even more. your post makes a lot clear  :) ill check the mkv.

thanks a lot again!!

ill check nero also, there is enough about it on this forum nowadays  ;)
thanks bbrip
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InflatableMouse

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #4 on: March 22, 2007, 05:23:21 am »

There is a simple program called dvdshrink that can be used to rip parts of a dvd to single file. The program is generally used to rip and compress a dvd9 to a dvd5 but I have used it to rip to a single file and use custom compression settings. The resulting VOB can simply be renamed to MPG and will play in most video players.

Pros are that its got an easy GUI, few clicks, and its fast. Cons can be that its compression is not optimal. It won't reach the compression factor that CCE will get on MPG, but CCE is much more complex to figure out.

Video compression remains a savvy thing and is not for the faint of heart. Esepcially divx and xvid codecs or alike can lead to much frustration and countless hours of getting it right.
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gappie

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #5 on: March 22, 2007, 05:56:15 am »

im trying the mkv road at this moment. doing the first vob file using mkvmerge is not a problem and looks promising. but when i want to add or append the second vob i always get file identification failed 'error parsing the first AC3 audio frame'.  :(
i learned already a lot about the mkv container and it looks interesting. and converting my small 'dolby test' vob to mkv was no prblem, now if i only could convert the multiple vob movies.
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InflatableMouse

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2007, 06:16:29 am »

You can use dvdshrink to rip to a single file and no (extra) compression. That will most likely solve your issue.
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gappie

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2007, 06:31:14 am »

You can use dvdshrink to rip to a single file and no (extra) compression. That will most likely solve your issue.
thanks, i actually tried that after your previous post. did not do it. but i try again.

now that works!
unchecking split vob file helped a lot.  :D
mkvmerge is now muxing  :)
thanks!

ill see how that works out.

edit:
now that works nicely and simple. only thing i have to work out now is chapters and subtitles and than it is bye bye vobs, bups and ifos. and i even gained 100 Mb in the process. :P

thanks glynor and inflatable mouse
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NickM

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #8 on: March 22, 2007, 07:29:40 am »

And then there's the idiots version... ( that's me, with respect to video.  Although I am learning slowly. )

I used to use DVDDecrypter and all manner of coders, re-coders and danced with Glynors AutoMKV for a while.  Far too complicated, although, I am sure that with time I could work it out.

So, instead I use DVDFab Platinum.  Yes, you have to pay for it, but the trial version is fully functional.  It is a single application that rips, then extracts the main title ( should you so wish ) and codes into a FEW formats.  It obvisouly doesn't have the flexibility of AutoMKV, but produces stuff for my MC HTPC and iPod.
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benn600

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #9 on: March 22, 2007, 09:55:11 am »

You may also want to try Fair Use Wizard.  I used to use it heavily for re-encoding DVDs.  It's very simple...just tell it what you want to re-encode and then the quality levels.  It will rip from the DVD and convert all in one step.  Plus, you can setup huge queues.  I had ~10 TV DVDs process in a row automatically once when I was going to be gone all day, so it ran all day/ night/ etc.  As long as it took.

I actually encoded about 150 DVDs around 4 times before I finally made my quality decision.  I had 6 computers encoding--that helped a lot.  We had recently purchased 3 older, used 2.4 GHz P4 computers for $300 each--this has been about 9 months ago).

Funny story.  I placed an order on Buy.com and it didn't show up...so I placed more...blah blah blah.  I ended up with three orders that they told me had been canceled (two of them anyway).  Somehow things went wrong and they weren't canceled.  I could have rejected them but we ended up keeping them and it was a great move.  Now we have a decent computer in our theater room and family room computer.

So I had these three computers, my fast computer, and 2 slower computers (600 MHz).  I didn't bother shuffling and setting up my older Celeron and 180 MHz or less computers (lol).

It was an incredible process.  What I would have liked even more, however, was if there was a simple way to use Fair Use on one computer and then simultaneously catch the resources from the other computers (having them help).  That way, I could encode things really fast.  Basically, I want a render farm.  That didn't seem possible at all.  So I ended up with this crazy process.  It was crazy because I had to store the full DVDs on the server (only some would fit on the small computer drives)...etc.  I don't even like thinking about how crazy it was.

In the end, I performed a Ctrl + A, Del, Enter...and watched as weeks of encoding time was quickly removed.  Now I just use DVD Decryptor.  I am not really happy to say I have 2.00 TB of direct from DVD rips.  That includes a lot of home DVDs, TV DVDs, music DVDs, comedy DVDs, and movie DVDs.  BTY, that's how I break them down:

DVD Comedy
DVD Home
DVD Movies
DVD Music
DVD Television

Anyone have any better organization ideas?  I'm a big fan of getting music dvds (like music videos and live concerts).  The home DVD section is very personal, based on what types of home movies were recorded.  The movie section is quite large, obviously, accounting for 0.92 TB, or almost half, so it would be nice if I could include some general breakdown inside Movies.  In a way, I wonder if I should just movie DVD Comedy and Music to the movie section with top-level folders:
Comedy, Music, Horror, Chick Flicks, Children, etc.  Although comedy to me, or at least in this folder, is not just general funny movies, it is more for actual comedians.  But lots of movies are comedies, too.  Any ideas on an effective breakdown?

I rarely use MC to view these movies.  I either use my Xbox or VLC.  Therefore, folder structure is very important.  In MC, I know it doesn't matter.  But like I said, I rarely use MC to watch movies.  I prefer the lightweight VLC and I often don't want to stop MC.  I usually have it opened with a good playlist or such that I'll resume after the movie.
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gappie

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #10 on: March 22, 2007, 10:55:15 am »

actually using dvdshrink together with mkvmerge works nice for a part of my files. i already have everything on HD, used dvd clone. the end result is what i hoped for. for the files it does not work (wich are ripped the same way as the ones that work) and for subtitles (how to get those out of the original and into the mkv) and chapters (idem) ill gona check the doom9 forum. and maybe ask some newbie questions overthere later.

Quote
I often don't want to stop MC.  I usually have it opened with a good playlist or such that I'll resume after the movie.

for that reason i have two zones in mc. one for the music and one for videos and images.
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glynor

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #11 on: March 22, 2007, 11:23:14 am »

I'd probably look into using a more adept ripper application than DVD Shrink (which is really designed for recompressing the video to fit them onto DVD-Rs).  I really like DVD Decrypter (and the "companion" RipIt4Me tool).  Another good choice is DVD Fab Decrypter.  Either one should be able to extract the subtitles and all relevant audio/video streams in formats that MKVtoolnix can use.

Chapters you'll probably end up having to manually recreate if you want them, though I could be totally wrong on this.  Asking (well search first or they'll yell at you) on Doom9 is probably a good way to go.

(If I happened to have a commercial DVD with me today I'd probably just try to figure it out for you, but I don't).
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gappie

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #12 on: March 22, 2007, 12:50:50 pm »

i have dvd decripter. the problem for me is that as far as i remember (will test that again later) it does not let you choose audiostreams (sometimes up to 6 (director/actor comments, turkisch, german etc)) and subtitles, sometimes more than 20 and its is harder to get three different movie (television serie) from one disk. all is easy with dvdclone, i need dvd shrink to attach the different vob files before i can use mkvmerge.
and an other thing with dvd decriptor (and that is something i miss now in it) is that it is, as far as i can see, not possible to use it for already ripped dvd,s on the hard disk, but maybe i can 'fool' the programm with virtual clone drive.

now the nice thing about dvd decriptor is that it is easy to substract the chapter info using the ogg chapter format. something that mkvmerge can handle. i only want that for for instance the scene selection of the monty pothon television series and some concert videos. im testing that now! maybe ill find something for subtitles also.

thanks again glynor

edit: yes, that works. chapters is easy using dvd decripter, and i can even give them names. nice!
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skeeterfood

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #13 on: March 22, 2007, 01:04:59 pm »

Hey glynor,

Any chance you know off the top of your head how to rip a single non-title-movie using RipIt4Me?

For example, my kids love the movie Cars, but they also love the Ghost light short on the DVD.  I ended up ripping the whole DVD because I couldn't find a way to just rip the Ghost Light short by itself.  All I really want is the main movie with AC3 audio and no subtitles in one mpg/mkv/whatever and the Ghost Light short in a separate one.  Chapter breaks in the main movie would be nice, but not essential.

I'm currently playing all my DVDs/rips through TheaterTek at 1920x1080 (1840x1030 actually visible) on my SXRD TV.  I'm using it because it's the only player I've found that works properly in VMR9 renderless exclusive mode.  With any other VMR9 mode my P4 2.2 GHz with Nvidia 7600GS agp card tears annoyingly.  Overlay mode doesn't tear, but the colors just seem off.  Too bad my trusty ATI Radeon 8500 had to croak.  It looked great using Overlay mode.

-John
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glynor

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #14 on: March 22, 2007, 01:13:51 pm »

and an other thing with dvd decriptor (and that is something i miss now in it) is that it is, as far as i can see, not possible to use it for already ripped dvd,s on the hard disk, but maybe i can 'fool' the programm with virtual clone drive.

You can't, unfortunately.  DVD Fab Decrypter can do this.  The other way to fool it is using a tool like Daemon Tools to create a virtual optical drive, as you suspected.

i have dvd decripter. the problem for me is that as far as i remember (will test that again later) it does not let you choose audiostreams (sometimes up to 6 (director/actor comments, turkisch, german etc)) and subtitles, sometimes more than 20 and its is harder to get three different movie (television serie) from one disk. all is easy with dvdclone, i need dvd shrink to attach the different vob files before i can use mkvmerge.

I'm not sure what you mean here...

DVD Decrypter has the Stream Processing tab, when in IFO mode.  IFO mode is the mode of DVD Decrypter that allows you to choose which title you want to extract, and it'll do only that title as one solid VOB file.  If you choose the Stream Processing tab, this will let you choose which audio/video streams you want included (by default all of them).

Also, on that tab if you enable Demux mode it will separate the VOB files into their component M2V (video) and AC3/M2A/PCM/WAV (audio) files, which can then be fed directly into MKVmerge.  I'm reasonably sure that the subtitle "streams" would show up and can be de-muxed there as well (though I don't have a commercial DVD to use to test it with).  It should spit out a text file though that would contain the subs in the correct format for MKVmerge to use...  I might try it when I get home this evening and let you know.
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glynor

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #15 on: March 22, 2007, 01:27:00 pm »

Any chance you know off the top of your head how to rip a single non-title-movie using RipIt4Me?

This is trivial with DVD Decrypter in IFO mode (you simply select another PGC in the Input list).  Unfortunately, there isn't a way currently with RipIt4Me to select the specific movie you want -- it dumbly always picks the longest title.  There are a few options though:

1. Try just ripping the movie using DVD Decrypter directly in IFO mode.  If the DVD isn't protected with the new fancy "RipGuard" protection (the bad sectors thing) then RipIt4Me isn't needed.

2. Rip the DVD using DVD Fab Decrypter.  It may also fail if the DVD is protected with some of the new sector based protections though (the web page seems to indicate that it can handle them though so this is certainly worth a shot).  DVD Fab Decrypter is a really nice free app.

3. Rip it using RipIt4Me in Full DVD mode.  Then use DVD Fab Decrypter (the ripper only part of it is free) to re-rip the files off of the folder on your hard drive (it lets you choose a folder as the source location, rather than only allowing optical drives).  DVD Fab Decrypter also lets you choose which specific title you want to rip off of a disc, when in "Main Movie" mode.  This could also come in handy if you've already ripped to a folder and don't feel like digging out the original disc...  :D
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skeeterfood

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #16 on: March 22, 2007, 01:38:59 pm »

Thanks!

-John
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gappie

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #17 on: March 22, 2007, 06:51:13 pm »

yes, glynor. that did work for getting the subtitles out. problem is that mkvmerge does not accept them. ill look further
thanks
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benn600

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #18 on: March 22, 2007, 07:02:49 pm »

Thanks for the amazing idea to use multiple zones in MC.  I still have a big problem though!  I might need to start a thread but if I recall correctly, no one was interested in helping as this is by-design.

Anyway, whenever I start a DVD from MC, Vista exits Aero.  I really don't care that much but then when I stop the movie, it stays in the regular mode.  Plus, there's an extra delay and sequence of monitor flashes that gets annoying.
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NickM

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #19 on: March 22, 2007, 07:04:10 pm »

Ben600, I keep my DVD's in a folder structure with the Genre & Year like htis:-


Importing into MC, I apply a rename like this:-


And finally, view shemes in Theatre view to match like this:-
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NickM

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #20 on: March 22, 2007, 07:08:21 pm »

The questions about chosing sound tracks, re-ripping from HDD locations, guessing which title to rip and selecting the sound tracks...
DVDFab Platiunum does it all without any fuss.

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gappie

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #21 on: March 22, 2007, 08:57:45 pm »

yes, glynor. that did work for getting the subtitles out. problem is that mkvmerge does not accept them. ill look further
thanks

now, using vobsub rip from gordian knot i succeded to get an idx file. it also went smoothly in the mkv file. but i get no subtitles. pff time to sleep.
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Osho

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #22 on: March 22, 2007, 09:26:09 pm »

im getting lost in this jungle. i have all my dvd's ripped to ifo/vob. but im unhappy about how mc handles them. so ive been trying to convert those files to other formats, none of those made me happy.

This is slightly OT but can you tell how exactly you are unhappy about how MC handles them. I have been IFO/VOB using them with MC for a while and they seem to work great for me.

thanks,
Osho
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benn600

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #23 on: March 23, 2007, 04:04:37 pm »

Ben600, I keep my DVD's in a folder structure with the Genre & Year like htis:-
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/7751/scan1va4.jpg

Importing into MC, I apply a rename like this:-
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/7924/scan3io2.jpg

And finally, view shemes in Theatre view to match like this:-
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/8474/scan4fn8.jpg

That's a great idea.  Although I would probably just use separate folders instead of making the folder/file names so long.  Then, just replace the _ part with a / for a new folder.
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Magic_Randy

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #24 on: March 23, 2007, 10:57:16 pm »

I too use DVDFab Platinum.  It works fine for ripping DVD's and converting them for my iPods.

The only problem I have with DVDFab is converting to iPod (mp4 files) for DVD's that have a 24 bit 48kHz uncompressed PCM soundtrack. 
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gappie

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #25 on: March 24, 2007, 03:56:28 am »

This is slightly OT but can you tell how exactly you are unhappy about how MC handles them. I have been IFO/VOB using them with MC for a while and they seem to work great for me.

thanks,
Osho

i have two big isues with vob/ifo in mc
the first is here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=37766.0
this is realy bothering when viewing a serie.

and i have a serie were mc puts the right time in duration, but the slider makes it much longer so at the end of the movie the slider is at a third and last played/number plays is not updated. in these files clicking on next chapter just jumps to a random chapter back.

both things are not a problem when playing these files with an other programm.

besides that, a nice extra is:
that i can take screenshots.
that you can locate the files on disk (right click on an ifo Locate on disk always says it does not exist)
you can name the files and that it is one file.
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NickM

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #26 on: March 24, 2007, 04:56:33 am »

The only problem I have with DVDFab is converting to iPod (mp4 files) for DVD's that have a 24 bit 48kHz uncompressed PCM soundtrack. 

You could use the generic setting and enter your own parameters.
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Magic_Randy

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #27 on: March 24, 2007, 09:07:33 am »

You could use the generic setting and enter your own parameters.

I've been in contact with the DVDFab support team.  They do not support the high definition audio yet. They said they are working on it and will provide this support in a future release.
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glynor

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #28 on: April 05, 2007, 02:39:41 pm »

There's more discussion on this here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=39795.msg271817#msg271817

So... Here's a way to convert a DVD to a MKV, but retain full original quality, and still have access to the subtitles and chapters (if you want).  There's a few steps, but it actually doesn't take that long, since you're not recompressing the video in any way.  The longest step by far is ripping the actual DVD.

1. Decrypt the DVD using any preferred means.  I suggest DVDFab Decrypter in Main Movie mode.  Other options are: RipIt4Me+DVD Decrypter, or AnyDVD+DVD Decrypter (DVD Decrypter and RipIt4Me are available here and AnyDVD is here).

2. Rip the subtitles out of the files using VSRip (available as part of the guliverkli project here).  This is simple.  Open VS Rip.  Click the Load IFO button and browse and select the largest IFO file you got when you ripped the DVD (usually VTS_01_0.IFO).  Then Click the Save To button and pick somewhere to save them.  I like to make a subfolder of the location where I ripped the DVD called "subs" and save them there.  Then click next and it'll rip them for you.

An alternative to this process is to just download the subtitles from one of the SRT web sites out there.  The nice thing about using a SRT instead is that the subtitles will be much higher quality.  You can certainly mux the SRT file into your final MKV file as well, so it'll still be managed as one single file.  You can download SRT files for a variety of languages from these sites:

http://www.opensubtitles.org/
http://www.divxstation.com/
http://www.divxsubtitles.net/
http://www.subbiee.com/
http://titles.box.sk/

2a. If you want to, you can use ChapterXtractor to create a chapters text file so that your MKV will still have the chapters included.  Open ChapterXtractor and hit the Open IFO button and choose the same IFO you used in the previous step.  It'll read the chapters out of the IFO file.  Switch to the Format tab and choose OGG as your Preset.  Then click Save Data and save it somewhere (I call mine chapters.txt but that's irrelevant).

3. Open DVD Shrink.  First you have to set the option to prevent DVD Shrink from segmenting the VOBs. Go to Edit --> Preferences --> Output Files tab.  Uncheck Split VOB Files into 1GB Sized Chunks.  Then click OK.  This only needs to be done once, as the setting is remembered from then on.

4. Click the Open Files button in DVD Shrink and choose the folder where you extracted the files in step 1.  Make sure you are in "Full Disc" mode rather than Re-author (assuming that you ripped only the main movie in step 1).

5. Change the Video recompression setting from Automatic to No Compression.

6. Make sure to uncheck any sub-picture streams listed under Subpicture.  MKVtoolnix doesn't like these in the source VOB files and doesn't work properly if they're there.  You can also check any of the additional audio streams if you want to make sure you have access to them all in the MKV file.

7. Click the Backup! button and choose Hard Disk Folder as the backup target.  Select an empty folder for the output files in the next box down (not the same place where you initially ripped the DVD).  I usually make a "shrink" subfolder of my main rip folder and save them there.  You can uncheck the Create VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS box if you want, as you won't need those extra folders.

8. Wait for DVD Shrink to finish.  This should only take a few minutes because you're not recompressing the video.

9. Open MKVmerge GUI (available as part of the MKVtoolnix package here, scroll down for the windows version).

10. Drag drop the big VOB file created by DVD Shrink into the Input Files box in mkvmerge, which will then recognize the streams in the VOB.  Then, if you want the subtitles, drag the IDX file created by VSRip in step 2 into the Input Files box as well.  If you're using SRT files instead of the IDX files ripped by VSRip, then just drag the SRT file(s) you downloaded in here and MKVmerge will recognize them.  Lastly, if you extracted the Chapters in step 2a, switch to the Global tab and hit the browse button next to Chapter File (middle of the dialog).  Select your chapters.txt file (or whatever you called it) and hit Open.

11. Hit Start Muxing and wait for MKVmerge to do it's magic.  This will take about 10 minutes or so for an average length movie on a reasonably powerful machine.  When you're done, you'll have a MKV that includes a completely full quality copy of your DVD, including Chapters and Subtitles.  MKVmerge will automatically save it to the same folder as the first input file you chose, so that's where it'll end up!
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thenoob1

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #29 on: April 05, 2007, 02:46:49 pm »

I don't want to say it's the best quality tool on this sector....but it is. Dvd rebuilder http://dvd-rb.dvd2go.org/
is the best tool because it encodes the material new with the cce encoder. But when you buy cce it coasts around 60$. Dvd rebuilder is freeware and the pro version coasts 30$. trust me...test it and you will be excited about the results.
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glynor

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #30 on: April 05, 2007, 02:51:51 pm »

That would be for re-encoding the DVD.  (And, yes, CCE is considered to be the best quality MPEG-2 encoder there is.)  The above procedure does not re-encode the DVD at all.  It simply uses the original MPEG-2 stream from the disc, which provides the best possible quality (and it is also very fast).

Not quite the same thing at all.
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glynor

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #31 on: April 05, 2007, 03:50:34 pm »

Sweet!!   ;D  ;D

I've been nagging the developer of AutoMKV to add a video passthrough option to it, so that you could just use AutoMKV to accomplish this task.  He just responded:

Quote
@glynor
i will look!

 :)
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robydago

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #32 on: April 05, 2007, 04:13:19 pm »

Glynor,
I just did the same: AutoMKV seems much better at parsing all stream inside .IFO+.VOB files, so that not external tool to rip subs would be needed.
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gappie

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Re: 'lossless' video formats?
« Reply #33 on: April 05, 2007, 05:03:11 pm »

that is a nice guide, glynor.

ive done about 100 dvd's in the last week, more or less this way. they were already ripped and used dvd shrink and mkvmerge to make mkv files. i also tried auto mkv and ended up using mkvmerge. i will give auto mkv a new shot, since i understand so much more now. one problem i had, is that i stumbled over a few dvd's that refused to get converted to mkv files. reripping did not help. what did help was using dvd decripter to demux the video and audio stream and put those into mkv merge seperatly. first the video and then the audio (otherwise you get an mka file).
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