# Storing DVDs on a hard drive



## Firefly2012 (May 22, 2012)

If you rip your DVDs to your hard drive, what format(s) do you use to store them and what kind of file size do you find gives an acceptable balance between size and quality?

I encoded a DVD in mp4 last night and was a bit disappointed to find that a 6Gb DVD still occupied 1.9Gb after encoding (I was using default settings in Handbrake though so may well be able to push the size smaller).

I'd be interested to hear your experiences (I *don't* need links to forums like afterdawn or doom9 thanks).


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## litrelord (May 22, 2012)

Most guides, purely for tradition, will point you towards cd sized conversions (700MB or 1.4GB) and this seems a fair trade-off between size and quality to me. 

If you're watching the results on a phone or tablet then you can get away with smaller sizes but if you might want to watch it on a 50 inch screen you'd start to notice problems on a smaller file. 

Also the type of film makes a difference. If you think of it like compressing a text file the more similarities in the text the more compression can be used. Similarly, the more action is in the film (or the more the scenes change and alter) the more space will be needed for an equally good encode. 

I haven't used handbrake before but if it's anything like programs I've used before thereshould be an option to limit the file size; use this along with two-pass encoding and you should be good to go. 

HTH

Nick


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## Firefly2012 (May 22, 2012)

Thanks Nick - yeah, I want to watch on a 51" TV!  Fortunately, most of what I want is cartoons so I expect they can be squashed right the way down.  I will have a play with what works best.  

What's the benefit of two-pass encoding?  Is it a similar idea to oversampling when you play a CD?


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## litrelord (May 22, 2012)

Firefly2012 said:


> Thanks Nick - yeah, I want to watch on a 51" TV!  Fortunately, most of what I want is cartoons so I expect they can be squashed right the way down.  I will have a play with what works best.
> 
> What's the benefit of two-pass encoding?  Is it a similar idea to oversampling when you play a CD?



Think of the first pass as a test run so the second pass knows what to do. 

If you only do one pass it has to guess what bitrate to encode the entire clip in order to get a good quality encoding. With two-pass encoding it can change the bit-rate more intelligently so the pieces that need higher bitrates (the fast action or detailed sections) retain good quality whilst the less detailed sections can benefit from using less space in the finished file. 

So two-pass and variable bit-rate and you should get a better finish all round. 

If you have an option to change the audio settings that might be worth looking at too as they can take up a lot of space. If you're fine with 2 channel sound then that will take up a lot less room than full surround.  MP4 is actually a container file which has two files inside it, one for audio and one for video. The audio can be either MP3 or AAC with MP3 preferred for smaller 2 channel files and AAC if you have more channels and want better quality audio.

Right, sun's out here so time to grab a beer and go sit in the garden 

Nick


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## Firefly2012 (May 23, 2012)

I looked at using some bloatware software that came with my computer that claimed it was ultra quick because it could use Intel's Quick Sync (CyberEspresso6.5). I was skeptical, but tried it out last night - it was unbelievably fast. Whole DVD (already ripped to hard drive) was encoded in mp4 at a good quality in 3 minutes. It will probably be worth paying for the whole product.


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## diddi (May 24, 2012)

whats the quality like?  suggest .mkv which supports hd and 5.1 sound.  a 720p movie will be about 1.4gig


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## litrelord (May 24, 2012)

diddi said:


> whats the quality like?  suggest .mkv which supports hd and 5.1 sound.  a 720p movie will be about 1.4gig



MKV and MP4 are both container files* that support 5.1 sound. The difference will be with what you put inside those containers. AAC sound would usually be used for 5.1 and MP3 for 2 channel, both of these can be used in MKV or MP4. MKV is being used more and more but compatibility isn't as strong as MP4. On the other hand MKV is open-source so it gets a vote from me for that reason. 



*MKV is short for Matroska Video with mastroska being another version of matryoshka which are those russian dolls within dolls - hence why they used it to name a container file format - clever eh?  

Nick


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## diddi (May 24, 2012)

how does mp4 go with file size/resolution?  i have had unpleasant experiences trying to get 5.1 in mp4, but could be my encoder, too...


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## Firefly2012 (May 25, 2012)

I can't comment on the sound (my set up only uses the tv's speakers) but quality seemed good to me on 51" screen.

I found some freeware that claims to use Quick Sync so I'm going to have a go with that to find out if it is as good as the MediaEspresso - I have been put of the Espresso because of the pretty appalling reviews for support that Cyberlink gets.


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## Kyle123 (May 25, 2012)

FWIW I've always just used iso, the menus still work, they're a doddle to burn back to DVD and they're fast. With disk space being so cheap I've never bothered about encoding to compress them - well that and I'm impatient and encoding has always taken aaaaaages in my experience 

Although you say you can encode in under 3 mins, that's gotta be worth a look...


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## diddi (May 26, 2012)

what i find great with the hdd solution is that i can plug straight into my TV and they play. the quality is virtually uncompromised, and using hdd it is easy to network with others using the same system to expand ones collection. the movies burn to dvd in other formats and the bulk of players will play them so long as you check that your codec is supported before ripping 100 dvds in anticipation. also if one has a dtv card, it is a great way to collect favourite shows and chop out the ads etc and play whereever, rather than paying hundreds for hd recorders for each member of the houosehold that wants to watch a show.

my mum who is in a nursing home has a hdd and dtv.  she plays her movies, old photos, tai chi instruction, mp3s all from the hdd.  when i visit i bring new movies etc.  she is the envy of the staff, cos she is more up with technology that they are. 

GO the HDD.  they rock


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## Firefly2012 (May 28, 2012)

Right, being a complete newbie at ripping/converting I have now come to the following conclusion:

If you are looking at storing DVDs with a small HD footprint (ie mp4 or similar) and your DVDs are mostly TV series with lots of individual episodes on each disk then it makes sense to convert each episode individually.  It just isn't worth it if you want to try and maintain a menu structure in a complete disk conversion.


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## Kyle123 (May 28, 2012)

Firefly2012 said:


> It just isn't worth it if you want to try and maintain a menu structure in a complete disk conversion.



bit confused  What do you mean by this? An ISO file maintains the structure, it is exactly the same as sticking in the actual DVD


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## Firefly2012 (May 28, 2012)

Kyle

I don't mean storing as an ISO - I mean converting to mp4 using h.264 or DivX or equivalent.


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## diddi (May 28, 2012)

yeh. do individual episodes.  i use h264, but some devices wont play it. i get what you mean...


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## JamesW (May 29, 2012)

I suggest trying DivX.. My personal favourite. Excellent quality which can be stored upto 1080p.


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## Kyle123 (May 29, 2012)

How long does the encoding actually take these days? I can rip a dvd to iso in around 12 minutes depending on the size of the disk. How much longer would it then take to convert?


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## Firefly2012 (May 29, 2012)

The transcoding can be very quick (using paid for software MedaiEspresso on a trial basis it took me 3 minutes per ISO).  Using Handbrake (freeware) it is taking me longer at about 9 minutes.  However, I like the flexibility and options in Handbrake (and the zero cost!) so I am not sure whether I will take the plunge to pay for an admittedly fast paid-for product.


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## diddi (May 29, 2012)

what videoaudio spec are you using to do it in 3 minutes?


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## Firefly2012 (May 29, 2012)

I'll have to check when I get home as I don't know off the top of my head I'm afraid


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