Best mpeg4 converter/techniques?

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  • Bobcat_816
    Junior Member
    Junior Member
    • Dec 2005
    • 5

    Best mpeg4 converter/techniques?

    Hi, all. I am wanting to rip my DVD collection to my hard drive. The only problem is I have over 100 movies plus TV shows. I would need over a terabyte hard drive to rip without compression. I only have 250 GB to work with, so I am looking at different codecs to convert my disks to and am really looking at mpeg 4 as my choice, because you can get near DVD quality at 10% of the original file size. I haven't been able to achieve actual DVD quality though, and that's really important to me. If I can't achieve DVD quality or better at a signifcant file size reduction, then it probably wouldn't be worth it to me.

    So far I've tried Any Video Converter and Total Video Converter, and even at the highest quality settings the output still wasn't what I'm looking for. One of the biggest problems that I've ran into is what appears to be macro blocking in dark scenes. Like the dark colors don't really blend together, but instead are just blocks next to each other. I did create a video at a higher resolution that it's source in Total Video Converter, that in some ways was superior to it's source, but not so much in others. The major drawback was that it was only 2/3 the original file size instead of 1/10.

    I may be asking for too much in a program that produces a superior image at a fraction of the file size, but I thought that I would just toss this out there and see if anybody has any suggestions for a program, guide, technique, settings, or even a different codec that might be better for what I'm trying to do. Of course, I'd like to stick with a free program, but if there's a paid program that's superior, I may be interested in that. So, thanks in advance, and I'll check back later for replies.
  • benbryant
    Digital Video Master
    Digital Video Master
    • Aug 2005
    • 1314

    #2
    MeGUI for AVC (H264) or ASP (XviD or DivX) with great quality and small filesize. May also need AviSynth, ffdshow, DGIndex, and Haali Matroska Splitter. For more info, check links below:





    Regards

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    • anonymez
      Super Moderator
      • Mar 2004
      • 5525

      #3
      because you can get near DVD quality at 10% of the original file size
      x264, to my eyes, can achieve transparency somewhere around 50%, or say at least 2000kbps for 576p
      "What were the things in Gremlins called?" - Karl Pilkington

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      • gonwk
        Lord of Digital Video
        Lord of Digital Video
        • Dec 2005
        • 1500

        #4
        Hi Bobcat ...
        and special Hello to BenBryant & Anonymez ...

        Bobcat, FYI & Heads Up ... once you convert with x264 ... I hope you are not planning to play your AVI via a DivX/XviD certified dvd player on your T.V., because they are not able to play back the "Video" portion ... so you will get Sound and No Video.

        G!

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        • Bobcat_816
          Junior Member
          Junior Member
          • Dec 2005
          • 5

          #5
          Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I am currently expirmenting with StaxRip. I have done a couple of test conversions using primarily the default settings. Some things that I changed were the container format, which I changed to MP4, and increased the resolution on one test. So far I am pretty impressed with the results. They are much better than the results that I got with AVC and TVC. The only real issue that I am having is I am getting horizontal black lines through moving objects. They are not present in the source material. Does anybody else get these lines in their encodings and does anybody know how to get rid of them?

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          • Bobcat_816
            Junior Member
            Junior Member
            • Dec 2005
            • 5

            #6
            Ok, I figured out how to fix the black lines. I just had to de-interlace the video. I'm still getting the macro blocking problem in dark scenes, though. I'm using the x264 codec and MP4 container. Does anyone know what profile or settings would reduce or eliminate the macro blocking? Thanks in advance.

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            • anonymez
              Super Moderator
              • Mar 2004
              • 5525

              #7
              you can up the bitrate, use a custom matrix (like EQM AVC-HR) and take a look at sharktooth's profiles for some guidelines on settings. avisynth pre-processing is also an option

              not sure whether staxrip is still being developed anymore...
              "What were the things in Gremlins called?" - Karl Pilkington

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