Whats better to put DVD's on A2, rip from comp or DVD player?

[I_needhelp11]

Which one will give you better quality? If I rip a dvd to my computer, then use some kind of dvd converter, then to my A2. Or just record from my DVD player which seems much easier?

[grungysquash]

Originally Posted by I_needhelp11

Which one will give you better quality? If I rip a dvd to my computer, then use some kind of dvd converter, then to my A2. Or just record from my DVD player which seems much easier?

I don't belive the cowon supports macrovision, this means recording a DVD (move that is) directly from the DVD player this will cause artifacts in the recorded movie.

The best way for a quality result is to convert the DVD in your computer.

[I_needhelp11]

Originally Posted by grungysquash

I don't belive the cowon supports macrovision, this means recording a DVD (move that is) directly from the DVD player this will cause artifacts in the recorded movie.

The best way for a quality result is to convert the DVD in your computer.

Then why do pople say how good of quality it is when you record from a DVD player and why does cowon say its a big feature?

[grungysquash]

Originally Posted by I_needhelp11

Then why do pople say how good of quality it is when you record from a DVD player and why does cowon say its a big feature?

Quality is in the eye of the beholder, for you this may not be an issue - For me the recorded quality is fine if veiwing on the Cowon, which has a lower compression and fixed res. Im not saying it's not watchable, but IMO and it is just that an opinion I perfer higher quality at similar compression settings which can be acheived by using a computer.

You must remember that the cowon is trying in real time convert a video in MP4 format. This is no small feat for a device this size - but by using a computer you have more control over the settings and can run two pass encode's this allows the encoder to 'know' what the video is like and save commpression in darker area's for fast moving scene's.

[I_needhelp11]

Originally Posted by grungysquash

Quality is in the eye of the beholder, for you this may not be an issue - For me the recorded quality is fine if veiwing on the Cowon, which has a lower compression and fixed res. Im not saying it's not watchable, but IMO and it is just that an opinion I perfer higher quality at similar compression settings which can be acheived by using a computer.

You must remember that the cowon is trying in real time convert a video in MP4 format. This is no small feat for a device this size - but by using a computer you have more control over the settings and can run two pass encode's this allows the encoder to 'know' what the video is like and save commpression in darker area's for fast moving scene's.

ok, I understand, thanks, ok then what encoder would you reccomend?

[grungysquash]

Originally Posted by I_needhelp11

ok, I understand, thanks, ok then what encoder would you reccomend?

The best encoder to use IMO is Xvid, this is a free opensource encoder, while there are many programs to encode DVD's I only use a few of the free applications. The process must do a few simple things, firstly "rip" either the whole DVD or the .ifo file and main movie, a great free tool for this is DVD decrypter, while this is no longer being updated and will struggle on more modern DVD's that have advanced copy protection it works fine on 95% of current DVD's.

You can get a copy from www.doom9.org - which is an excellent site for many encoders and options.

Once the DVD is ripped onto the hard drive you have two options depending on how you ripped the movie, if the movie has advanced copy protection - which is based on unreadable sector's I use alcohol 120%, which is one of two tools that costs $$$ but will copy dam near everything. Using this to rip the whole movie while using DVD43 (another free tool) which removes the CSS protection, while this tool is fine it's not as good as anyDVD which also costs money.

OK so once the DVD is on the hard drive in either an .iso format for in a folder under the video TS folder you have two options. I use DVDx 2.6 (the base version is free just google DVDx) you open DVDx and select the source .ifo file, if the copied movie is in the video TS folder then just select the correct .ifo file in that folder. If the file is in either an .iso or .mds file then you will need to mount this on a virtual drive - this basicly is a DVD drive that exists only on your hard drive and this tool is included in alcohol120%.

Once this is done just select the .ifo file that relates to the movie and open the input settings and tick the following options.

audio/video sync, Luminance filter (just tick the box no need to change the settings), and select opyput frame rate (NSTC,PAL) tick the detect 24Hz, Make sure you have the correct audio track and set the input volume to 4.

No other changes are needed. then click OK

Then select the output settings and select the following options.

avi for the output, audio lame just use 128Kbs or higher if you want better sound but I've always used 128kbs, but if it's a music DVD you may want higher (note - you must have MP3 lame installed but again it's free just google and download), then select Xvid for the MPEG 4 codec and select either 1 pass or two pass - for the beginner one pass is the best option, tick the enable video option and open the 1st pass box - This where most people get lost!!!! for the beginner just use home, portable, Hi def etc this will work on the cowon and sets the default options. For the beginner home is a good place to start for a reasonable compromise between quality and size.

Now move to the export settings and select the res you want, set the zoom to custom - this allows you to remove the black bars which we will get to soon. I set the resize to bilinier SSE2 P4 cos I have a CPU that supports SSE2, and I've thought Bicubic was worse the Bilinier but thats just MO and my eyes yours may differ. Max frame - click on whole (this is critical)

Volume don't exceed - I just use infinite cos it's going onto the cowon not a CD. Mis ignore overwrite message - this just lets you know that you are writing over the avi file if you forget to change the filename on the output file.

OK now just click apply - don't worry about the expert settings, your a beginner damit!!!

now select settings - preview aspect - free, this allows you to remove the black bars, now simply move the bottom slider to a light scene within the move and move the green bars to the areas that relate to the black bars, after this is done move back the move slider to the start.

Now click on settings - crop - adjust output - and select preserve ratio - this fixes the ratio to ensure its viewable not squashed or streached.

now click on file - select output file, and type in the name - after this just click on encode.

If your not to sure you have done it right just leave it for a few minutes and stop the encode, find the avi file and open it - if you have done it correctly this file should play the movie well just the bit thats been encoded. You can even test this on the cowon to see if it plays.

This is how I do it - it works but as you can see is more complex that a simple one click option.

[I_needhelp11]

wow thankyou ,but that all seems waaaaay too complicated for just one movie. If I ever don't want a one click solution then I'll use that but I was looking for a one click solution