Quality of converted DVD to MP4

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AndyCJ
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2007 11:42 pm

Quality of converted DVD to MP4

Post by AndyCJ »

Hi, I am new to this so this question may be answered very easily. I am taking TV recorded shows and compiling them onto a DVD using iDVD. I have managed to rip them from the original no problem and create the DVD using iDVD but the quality isn't that good when they are played back on the TV. So hear is the basic question, I am working on the basis that the maximum Target size for each of the 5 20 minute programs can be no more then 900MEG to be able to fit on the DVD. If I increase the target size will that improve the end quality and is there a way of compressing the ripped files so they will still fit on one DVD.

Ok so that's 3 questions. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated
rhester
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Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 10:24 pm

Post by rhester »

A standard single-sided DVD is 4.7GB, so yes, your assumption about the size is correct (you could stand to go very slightly larger, but not much).

I am assuming you are using H.264 instead of ffmpeg/xvid - if not, H.264 alone will provide you with significantly higher quality. You could potentially increase the quality of the rips slightly using features like CABAC and b-frames that are part of the H.264 standard, but not yet part of MediaFork/HandBrake.

Rodney
jbrjake
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Post by jbrjake »

rhester wrote:You could potentially increase the quality of the rips slightly using features like CABAC and b-frames that are part of the H.264 standard, but not yet part of MediaFork/HandBrake.
CABAC is indeed part of MediaFork/HandBrake, as long as you're not encoding for the iPod.
AndyCJ
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2007 11:42 pm

Post by AndyCJ »

Thanks to both of you for your help. I will gie it a try. Thanks again Andy CJ
whimpers
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Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:03 pm

Post by whimpers »

In my eyes, your quality problem has to do with taking too many recompression steps. I suppose these are your steps:
- record TV show (HD or DVD recorder, I assume) = mpeg2 format
- rip DVD with HandBrake = mpeg4 format (recompression)
- use mpeg4 with iDVD: mpeg4 gets converted to mpeg2 (recompression again)

You should try to keep your original quality when making your compilations. If you have Toast you can use the Video tab, DVD-video to import .vob files from different DVD's and have a menu to navigate through them. Sizzle is a free program that can do the same thing but is a bit less user-friendly.
If you would like to trim parts of the DVD files before making your compilation, you can use Mpeg StreamClip: set in and out points and choose 'save as' to have a single .vob file for your selection.

All this doesn't allow you to do any fancy editing, it's basically just cutting, but you have no quality loss if you stick to a total of about 4.2GB.
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