DVD to MKV - what settings do you use?

General Discussions
1

Currently I am converting my raw MKV files which I got from my DVDs I owned.
Movies are something like 4 GB in size, series episodes 1,5 GB.

In XMediaRecode I convert them like:

  • subtitles and audio copied
  • MPEG-4 AVC / H.264 (Nvidia NVENC)
    • VBR, 2500 to 10000 kpbs

Examples:
Winnie Puuh DVD, raw mkv 2,93 GB. After converting the video 1,29 GB.
The Lion King 3 DVD, raw mkv 2,94 GB. After converting the video 2,12 GB.

I am not quite sure if I have quality loss or not. But I don’t think so.

Is there some kind of thumb rule I can follow to know, how much GB I can save before having quality loss OR what variable bitrate I can use? Or something else than VBR?

My next mission is to convert all my 80+ episodes of Everwood to save some space. Each episode is 45 minutes and ~1,5 GB.

2

I use handbrake: https://handbrake.fr/

3

Handbrake is too complicated in my opinion.
But the settings whould be the same.

What settings do you use for DVD to MKV (compressed)?

4

Here is a nice writeup from @JuiceWSA for his dvd handbrake settings: DVD Rip Quality on Plex/Roku Ultra

5

So with VBR (2500 to 10000) everything seems to be OK. Audio I let original / source.
I converted 7 videos so far with XMediaRecode. Before 21,9 GB, now 12,6 GB.

Question: is there a difference when converting with CPU x264 or GPU x264 regarding playback later?

6

GPU based will provide worse quality then CPU based right now… that’s the trade off for speed.

XMediaRecode is using ffmpeg in the backend with some generic defaults
Handbrake is using a mix of things depending on source/result and give you some control to tweak
megui/staxrip + avisyn is the full control perfectionist territory.

imo… you should use handbrake with their profiles… it’ll get you better results than XMediaRencode
For example Lion King is animation… you should easily get it down to 900-1.2GB easily without perceived detail loss… even lower possibly as animation squishes extremely well. If you get results that are 1.5GB or more for DVD (talking avg movie length) then either the film is extremely grainy or something isn’t set right.

In the end if it looks good to you then just use whatever tool produces those results with the effort you’re willing to put into it.

7

If I can save some hdd space, I will try Handbrake.
I will let you know later what I got.

But I think I will use Nvidia NVecn in any case. CPU rendering takes just TOO long time.

8

Just remember to use the presets so it auto-populates and does most the work for you

Only thing that needs adjusting:
If a cartoon select Animation and everything else is safe with Film
Anything B/W should use greyscale… it’ll cut down on size and time to encode
RF around ~20 (I think it defaults to 22… try samples and pick what you like)

That should simplify the workflow and give decent results

9

What about “Schindlers List”. it’s 95% of the time black and white but there are a few seconds we can see a little girl with red clothes.
Would “Greyscale” in handbrake remove that red color?

10

Pretty sure it would
Handbrake has a sample option that encodes just parts of a few seconds so you can see what it will do

11

OK I think i already gave up using Handbrake after 5 minutes. It’s just too over-complicated for normal users who do not do video editing all day long.

I continue using XMediaRecode with NVENC. Handbrake is for pro’s and I’m not one.
The GUI is horrible, too small, everything hidden … not for me.

12

Just to let everyone know: Problem solved.

I’ve found my perfect settings. Everything like above.
VBR 2500 to 10000 for animation movies with no preset set.
VBR 6000 to 15000 for big movies. Also, no preset set.

I’ve converted 6 animation movies and 3 normal movies so far and saved 20,2 GB without losing quality what I can see.

13

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