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Best Quality DVD rips

cartmell

cartmell

macrumors member
Original poster
Hi all

About to purchase a 160gb ATV. So in the meantime I am going to rip all my DVD collection to an external hardrive using Handbrake.

What I want to know is what settings should I use on handbrake to get the bestest quality with the file size of about 800mb.

Thanks
 
The iPod preset is about that size. The AppleTV preset is more like 1.5-2GB per movie, depending on the length. I have used the AppleTV preset almost exclusively. The bitrate is 2500 and the picture is very nice on a 50" plasma. The iPod setting, or a movie the size you are talking, is not so nice on a screen that big. Looks good on my iPhone, but not the plasma.
 
KershMan said:
The iPod preset is about that size. The AppleTV preset is more like 1.5-2GB per movie, depending on the length. I have used the AppleTV preset almost exclusively. The bitrate is 2500 and the picture is very nice on a 50" plasma. The iPod setting, or a movie the size you are talking, is not so nice on a screen that big. Looks good on my iPhone, but not the plasma.
Click to expand...

I agree with you, KershMan. If the OP owns an HDTV, ripping using the preset in Handbrake is the way to go. I am always stunned by the quality of the streamed picture even on a g network.

Going for size (as opposed to quality) is a bad mistake, especially with the price per meg dropping.
 
I like the 2500 bit rate for H.264. I experimented a lot with different bit rates for stuff ripped from DVDs and that's what I came up with as a good middle ground. I watch on a 46" widescreen or directly on my MBP.

I did find that by jacking up the rates from there will make a small difference in certain specific circumstances, but it's rare enough that I thought 2500 was the right bit rate.

Also, I did some experimentation with 2-pass encoding. Not a lot, because of the extra time it takes. It isn't worth the extra encoding time IMO.
 
I have read that with H.264, 2-pass doesn't give you too much improvement and is not worth the time for most people.

Older codecs such as MPEG4/Xvid do benefit significantly from 2-pass.
 
madmaxmedia said:
I have read that with H.264, 2-pass doesn't give you too much improvement and is not worth the time for most people.

Older codecs such as MPEG4/Xvid do benefit significantly from 2-pass.
Click to expand...

I'll disagree with that assessment, based on my personal experience. There's a definite improvement in quality with 2-pass encoding IF you at "lower" bitrates (by lower I mean under 2500-3000kbps).

You can achieve quality as good or better than the AppleTV preset (2500kbps) at 1700kbps with 2-pass. The new 'turbo first pass' option on Handbrake cuts the time for the extra pass that I think it's hard NOT to justify doing it.

Just for some numbers, a quick test I did with a 2.4ghz iMac had the first pass run at about 90fps and the second at about 30fps. You add about 33% to the encode time, in exchange for better quality and/or smaller size.

For the OP, you cna get 800mb movies, but they won't be DVD quality. You'll lose some resolution, and have a little bit of macroblocking, etc, but it'll be good. Try 2-pass h264 at 720 by xxx (whatever the correct aspect ratio for the movie is) with an 800mb target size first and if that doesn't look good to you, try it at 640 or so by xxx and see how that looks (a lot of times the scaler in your playback device or TV will do a good enough job with lower res files that the extra data per pixel turns out looking better).

For the record, I'm encoding my movie library at 853 by xxx at 1500-2000kbps depending on the movie, and they're roughly 1gb (for shorter, lower bitrate films) to 2gb (for longer and/or higher bitrates). That was about as small as I found acceptable, but I was testing them on a 853*480 98" projector screen, so your results may vary.
 
I've been using the Elgato Turbo.264 for a little while now and movies look fantastic after the compression - really difficult to distinguish any difference to the original DVD.

The latest software update gives you more flexibility with the output settings too. I used Handbrake for a long time, through may iterations and the quality was also great.

If you can spend the xtra cash, the improvements in encoding speed are well worth the extra £,$ !! Elgato Turbo.264 wins on this alone for me.

Kuska
 
I've used handbrake for awhile.. 1 and 2 pass encoding. Most of the time I don't notice the difference, but for some movies, like "300" I noticed 2 pass with high bit rate came out with fantastic quality.
 
I use the following with my ATV to very good results:

Code: 
HandBrakeCLI --longest -i "$FROM/$dvd" -o "$HOME/Movies/$dvd.mp4" -e x264 --crf --quality 0.66 --ab 256 --markers --verbose --pixelratio --x264opts keyint=250:keyint-min=25:bframes=6:ref=3:subq=5:me=umh:mixed-refs=1:no-fast-pskip=1:trellis=1:vbv-maxrate=3900:vbv-bufsize=2100 --subtitle-scan --native-language eng --subtitle-force --denoise 2:1:2:3

Of most importance are that I'm using CRF at 0.66 rather than an Average Bitrate of 2500kbps. So HB is using the bitrate required to achieve the quality
0.66) that I want. The Advanced options prevent the bitrate from exceeding the capabilities of the ATV.

The denoise prevents the grain on old movies from pushing the bitrate up too high.

I find with these settings the average bitrate will be about 1500-2600kbps.

Cheers, Ed.
 
eddyg said:
I use the following with my ATV to very good results:

Code: 
HandBrakeCLI --longest -i "$FROM/$dvd" -o "$HOME/Movies/$dvd.mp4" -e x264 --crf --quality 0.66 --ab 256 --markers --verbose --pixelratio --x264opts keyint=250:keyint-min=25:bframes=6:ref=3:subq=5:me=umh:mixed-refs=1:no-fast-pskip=1:trellis=1:vbv-maxrate=3900:vbv-bufsize=2100 --subtitle-scan --native-language eng --subtitle-force --denoise 2:1:2:3

Of most importance are that I'm using CRF at 0.66 rather than an Average Bitrate of 2500kbps. So HB is using the bitrate required to achieve the quality
0.66) that I want. The Advanced options prevent the bitrate from exceeding the capabilities of the ATV.

The denoise prevents the grain on old movies from pushing the bitrate up too high.

I find with these settings the average bitrate will be about 1500-2600kbps.

Cheers, Ed.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the settings, I'll give those a try. I've been trying to find a constant quality setting that I'm happy with, but so far nothing has done as well (for me) as using 2-pass and just setting the bitrate between about 1250 and 2000 semi-randomly based on the movies genre and my personal level of acceptance for 'issues' with that film... ie, I want a near perfect copy of LoTR but don't care so much if Dude Where's My Car has some macroblocking.

🙂
 
handbrake does not rip form dvd

Hello everyone, first time posting here. I use handbrake to rip my own home video dvds to put on my MP3 player as well as into my NLE but how do I rip from hollywood dvds that i have bought. I would like to put those on my MP3 player as well as store them on my computer for my bus tripps to NY. Handbrake says that It will not rip encrypted DVDs so how does everyone else do it. I am not trying to break the law just watch my DVD movies on my computer or on my MP3 player. Please list any programs needed to do this for both Windows and Mac OS.
Thanks for everyone's help,
Nick
 
how long does it take you guys to rip a dvd? i was riping a tv show (1 hr long) on a 3 yr old pc with handbrake and it took 2 hrs!!! i dont want to use my MBP because i dont want to wear it out, any reason why it would be taking soo long?
 
acrahm said:
how long does it take you guys to rip a dvd? i was riping a tv show (1 hr long) on a 3 yr old pc with handbrake and it took 2 hrs!!! i dont want to use my MBP because i dont want to wear it out, any reason why it would be taking soo long?
Click to expand...

Join the club. It seems that video converting is a very labor intensive process, and it takes mighty processors to accomplish it. I am using a MBP and some movies can take 5 hours. I am seeking better solutions:
1. Dedicated machine, like a Mini
2. Buying a Mac Pro and getting the agony over with.

-- Mikie
 
acrahm said:
how long does it take you guys to rip a dvd? i was riping a tv show (1 hr long) on a 3 yr old pc with handbrake and it took 2 hrs!!! i dont want to use my MBP because i dont want to wear it out, any reason why it would be taking soo long?
Click to expand...

It takes about 12 hours on my Mac mini G4/1.42, using H.264 at 720xWhatever pixels... 🙁
 
alric said:
You should see a dramatic improvement in speed using the turbo.264 on that Mac mini.
Click to expand...

Yeah I know, however I'm only waiting on Leopard to buy a Core 2 Duo Mac mini. I can't afford to buy it now because I'd have to buy Leopard in a month or two, so even the Turbo.264 is too costly for me especially given the extremely specific use.
 
What about options involving buying a cheap 500GB or larger 7200.10 drive and actually ripping all videos in original Video_TS? I've been thinking about this more recently? There isn't a facility to play those on the :apple:tv yet, is there? It seems like, since you probably get close to 80 movies on a 500GB drive, it would be better to just not bother re-ripping, if you had a way to get it onto the TV. Plus you get all the DVD features (menus, chapters, etc) well preserved.
 
Kuska said:
I've been using the Elgato Turbo.264 for a little while now and movies look fantastic after the compression - really difficult to distinguish any difference to the original DVD.

The latest software update gives you more flexibility with the output settings too. I used Handbrake for a long time, through may iterations and the quality was also great.

If you can spend the xtra cash, the improvements in encoding speed are well worth the extra £,$ !! Elgato Turbo.264 wins on this alone for me.

Kuska
Click to expand...

I use this exclusively too, sometimes I'll deviate and tweak the Apple TV Profile, but mostly the straight preset yeilds great results
 
mkrishnan said:
What about options involving buying a cheap 500GB or larger 7200.10 drive and actually ripping all videos in original Video_TS? I've been thinking about this more recently? There isn't a facility to play those on the :apple:tv yet, is there? It seems like, since you probably get close to 80 movies on a 500GB drive, it would be better to just not bother re-ripping, if you had a way to get it onto the TV. Plus you get all the DVD features (menus, chapters, etc) well preserved.
Click to expand...

You cannot do this without hacking the box. You might want to look at a Mini...
 
MikieMikie said:
You cannot do this without hacking the box. You might want to look at a Mini...
Click to expand...

Well, for my purposes, my iMac is on a 50' leash along the wall from its resting place to my LCD TV... so I can always put all the movies on a drive attached to it. Mini's great for this purpose; the major limitation of course is that you would need to put a 3.5" drive in an external enclosure.

But so, for the :apple:tv, is the hack that lets you view VIDEO_TS relatively stable and does it work well?
 
it would be great if someone can answer my question stated above. What software does everybody use to decrypt bought DVDs so i can play them on my mp3 player and computer, since handbrake does not rip encrypted movies?
Thanks
Nick
 
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