ffmpeg ripping dvd to xvid, suggestions on options to use ... ?

H_TeXMeX_H · 06-06-2009, 08:45 AM

So I've done many rips of DVD .vob to Xvid .avi and then burned the resulting files to a DVD. This is mostly so I can make my movie collection more portable ... with a compression ratio of about 6:1 (1 dvd can hold 6 Xvid) that saves a lot of space in my luggage. These will play on portable players that support xvid.

Anyway, I use vobcopy to copy the vobs, and then use ffmpeg to encode them to avi. My question is: What are the best options to use. For the ffmpeg site I got that this is the typical way:

Code:

ffmpeg -i DVD_VIDEO1.vob -qscale 7 -vcodec libxvid -s 640x360 -r 23.976 -aspect 16:9 -ab 128k -ar 48000 -async 48000 -ac 2 -acodec libmp3lame -f avi -g 300 -bf 2 blues2.avi

Of course changing those parameters as necessary. I understand what all the above options mean.

But I also see in the ffmpeg FAQ that they recommend:

Code:

'-mbd rd -flags +4mv+aic -trellis 2 -cmp 2 -subcmp 2 -g 300 -pass 1/2', things to try: '-bf 2', '-flags qprd', '-flags mv0', '-flags skiprd'.

What do these options mean ? I've recently tried the first few, but they seem to cause unwanted artifacts in the resulting movie, flickering and twisting pixels especially in dark areas or uniformly colored areas. I think it's cause mostly by '-mbd rd' option. But I have no idea what any of these options mean and there seems to be no documentation for them. Anyone know what they might mean ?

Or, does anyone rip DVDs differently ? I've used mencoder for a while, but found that ffmpeg tends to give better results for some reason, the colors are brighter, the image less blurry, etc. Maybe it's just me ?

rylan76 · 06-11-2009, 04:17 AM

Quote:

Or, does anyone rip DVDs differently ? I've used mencoder for a while, but found that ffmpeg tends to give better results for some reason, the colors are brighter, the image less blurry, etc. Maybe it's just me ?

I use this... output is a DivX5 (not Xvid) .avi of about 1.2 GB for a 2 hour DVD that I think is of quite suffiecient quality - but I'm no quality freak. Maybe you can use some of these options (however, you already seem to be using more options than me anyway)

Code:

mencoder dvd://1 -alang en -o sw1.avi -oac mp3lame -lameopts vol=8 -ovc lavc -ffourcc DX50 -lavcopts
vcodec=mpeg4:aspect=1.78/1:vbitrate=1800:vrc_eq=tex:naq:ilme:trell:cbp:preme=1:keyint=132:mbd=1:qns=1:vme=4:dia=2 -noskip

H_TeXMeX_H · 06-11-2009, 04:02 PM

Thanks, that may come in handy. However I'm still mystified by what all those options mean ... some seem to be magical options ... like alakazam and the video comes out better ... or worse (as in my case). And I don't know the magic ...

I mean I do know in very general terms what some of the options may be referring to in terms of the processing going on, but I don't know what the numbers being given are and what they mean and when they might need to be used and when not to be used. They seem to cause artifacts in the video and I don't know why, shouldn't there be some contraindication ... like don't use this option if ... is true, or use this option if ...

Anything like that, or some type of easy to understand explanation of what's going on. If not, I guess it's fine too, I'll just keep using the basic options without magic, but was hoping the magic could work for me.

H_TeXMeX_H · 07-13-2009, 12:14 PM

It seems 'ffmpeg -h' will list a lot of the options and explanations. It's interesting because in this case 'ffmpeg -h' is more informative than 'man ffmpeg'.

Messing around a bit with mencoder I've gotten good results with something like:

Code:

mencoder file.rm -ovc lavc -ffourcc XVID -lavcopts vcodec=libxvid:vqscale=5:aspect=4/3:keyint=150:vmax_b_frames=2:vpass=1 -ofps 15 -oac mp3lame -lameopts abr:br=44 -o file.avi

Adjusted as necessary and with vpass=2 after running this one. I guess you can also output to /dev/null for the first pass. Well, it doesn't seem too hard to use mencoder either, so that's one option, but I still prefer ffmpeg.