Is there a better way (for Mac) to convert DVDs into a movie files than how I am doing it?

November 12, 2007 3:33 PM

Am I using the best process/set of applications for converting DVDs into Movies?

Here's what I am using: Mac the Ripper to rip the DVD to hard drive, Cinematize to turn the DVD into a large .mov. I usally encode to a high resolution MPEG format, which usually turns it into a a 25-35GB file. Then I use MPEG Streamclip to encode to MP4 and reduce it in size, which results in a file ranging from 800MB to 1.5GB in size. Is this the best way to do it?

A drawback is that the whole process will take almost two days to complete. Is there a software package that can reduce steps? I'm hoping to rip my entire collection in this way, so I can share out my movies on iTunes to other machines in my home network, and don't want to embark on this massive project in this manner if there is an easier way to do it.

posted by Hypnic jerk to Computers & Internet (14 answers total)

Best answer: I go right from DVD disc to MP4 with Handbrake. Hour and a half or so per movie, ends up about the same size as you mention, and the quality is, I dunno, as good as I expect. I can't tell the difference from the original DVD, anyway.

I keep meaning to add a script or two so I can just insert a DVD and walk away until it ejects (then insert another), but haven't done that yet.
posted by rokusan at 3:43 PM on November 12, 2007 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I just use Handbrake. You can choose things like format (mp4, avi), framerate, and resolution. I managed to get things directly from DVD to my PDA in one step.
posted by monkeymadness at 3:43 PM on November 12, 2007

And rokusan is faster than I am at typing.
posted by monkeymadness at 3:43 PM on November 12, 2007

I am no expert but I frequently use Handbrake to go straight from DVD to mp4, usually takes around 1-3 hours total depending on quality settings.
posted by jlowen at 3:44 PM on November 12, 2007

The intermediate conversion to MPEG is inducing artifacts which will negatively impact the final quality. It would be best to find a way of converting directly from the VOB file's MPEG2 to the ultimate MPEG4.

I can tell you how to do that on a PC using free software, but I'm not familiar with Mac software. (For ripping, I use SmartRipper 2.41.)

2 days seems extreme, but of course you haven't told us how fast your CPU is and how much RAM you have. And you should know that MP4 encoding is extremely CPU intensive. Perhaps it even should be considered "CPU hostile".

I have a workstation with dual 2.4 GHz Xeons, and with both processors maxed out, doing a 1-pass encode, it would run at about 50% of playback speed, by which I mean that one hour of material would take two hours to encode. When you start using two-pass encoders, or doing anything even more fancy, it gets even slower.

If you're running an older Mac, with a 1 GHZ or less PPC, you better get used to waiting. It's going to take overnight even in the best of scenarios.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 3:45 PM on November 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

You need Handbrake. Of course breaking DVD encryption is illegal, but let's assume you have a boat that you take out to international waters when you're doing this.
posted by mullingitover at 3:47 PM on November 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

There is a great free one called AutoGK (short for Auto Gordion Knot); which connects several smaller utilities into one larger tool.

I've had great success with it, but it's for PC. I never tried running it in any of the OSX/ Windows options though.
posted by quin at 4:59 PM on November 12, 2007

Seconding Handbrake, it will rip it for you, preconverted to a format that will work for ipod / appletv / iphone, etc. depending on your liking in terms of file size and quality.

Any encoding to h.264 will take a while, as it is much more complex compression than just mpeg2.

Handbrake did a 2:1 (two hours compressed in one) on average on my macbook pro c2d, if i remember correctly.

If you have an older machine, you may want to look into this article here which talks about using an external h.264 accelerator for dvd encoding / ripping, and weighs the pros and cons.
posted by mrzarquon at 5:15 PM on November 12, 2007

Handbrake will also work under Ubuntu Linux, btw. Not that I would know from experience, 'cause that would be illegal...
posted by tarheelcoxn at 5:46 PM on November 12, 2007

Your workflow and toolchain is, frankly, terrible. You want Handbrake if you're just trying to produce an MP4 container with the content of a DVD in it. On modern hardware, you can rip to a very nice 264 (CQ/VBR 62%, cropped, without scaling) in a little over an hour or one-pass MP4 video in about 30 minutes. Deinterlacing will take a little longer if you wind up having to deal with that. Reencoding audio will add a touch more time compared to just passing it through.

Do keep in mind that Handbrake's defaults are not just stupid but actively bad and produce either ridiculously slow rips with little quality added (by turning on a bunch of analysis features that don't do very much except slow down the encode), or ridiculously fast rips with hideous results (by compressing the crap out of things). You'll have to experiment a bit -- rip a chapter several different ways -- to find what you like.

Keep in mind MP4 video looks awful, though. If you have the CPU power and a little more time, 264 at anything above 54% quality will produce much nicer results.
posted by majick at 6:15 PM on November 12, 2007

majick, do you have recommendations for handbrake settings? If you don't mind sharing...
posted by misterbrandt at 8:16 PM on November 12, 2007

to backup dvd's, i've been using mac the ripper and then dvd2oneX. its a two-step process, but i can do the steps in stages. I havent spent enough time trying to compress a commercial dvd into a standard dvd-r.
posted by prophetsearcher at 12:58 AM on November 13, 2007

Response by poster: Your workflow and toolchain is, frankly, terrible.

Hence the post to askme.

Thanks or the tips on Handbrake. Finally was able to rip my copy of Almost Famous without losing sync in the audio track. I am running a 1.25 GHz Dual Proc Power PC G5.

I ripped the movie mentioned above (in my offshore lair) using MPEG-4/AAC Audio with the FFMpeg encoder (2-Pass), at an avg bitrate of 1500 kbps in a little under two hours. Final product looks great. Obviously, much better than what I was seeing with Cinematize in a much smaller file container.
posted by Hypnic jerk at 3:28 AM on November 13, 2007

While not directly answering the original question, PC owners can get good results from Fair Use Wizard, which is available in pay-for ($20) or free versions. The Free version is limited to 700MB filesize maximum, but can rip individual titles/tracks (e.g. TV DVDs to 350MB DivX/h264 files). The Full version has no file size limits.
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 5:37 AM on November 13, 2007