Hello All - I'm in the process of purchasing a Windows Vista machine with Media Center and using the Xbox 360 as an extender.   I have a vast collection of DVD's and have been researching the process of converting them to HDD.

I am not interested in preserving the menus/subtitles/etc....

I just want the original movie and audio track.

I would like to preserve the original aspect ratio with  the best video quality possible and also the dolby digital 5.1 audio if applicable.

I've read about ripping the .VOB into one file and changing the extension to .MPG but find that in my tests with Media Player 11 (& others I've read about) that some movies don't play all of the way through or skip around.   The video times are also all out of whack.  Is there a method for properly converting these .VOB's into one stable .MPG file that would suit my purposes?

I've also read that the .WMV format is an excellent choice as it's highly compatible with the Xbox360 setup.    Is this a reasonable alternative to .MPG files?    How do they compare quality-wise?

With regard to converting .VOB's to .MPG or .WMV what are the best software  packages for doing the conversions, considering quality and time to convert?

Thanks for your time,
Kato

I've converted mine to DVR-MS files as it is quick (a few mins per film), supports AC3 soundtrack, and allows proper FFWD and RWD when viewing on the 360.

To do it I have slysoft's anydvd installed (to remove copy protection) then I use DVD shrink to rip the main movie file to HDD as one vob (being careful not to compress it) and then finally VideoRedo to convert from the Vob to DVR-MS. Doing this there is no recompression (Vob and DVR-MS both contain Mpeg 2 streams) and so no quality loss

Everyone does it different, but here is what I do.
I also only rip the main movie, no extras.
I use DVD shrink (free) to rip the movie into one big VOB file. I don't use any compressions either. I used to, but hard drives are cheap.(Although I have been thinking about converting to h.264, but don't know what kind (if any) quality loss there would be from that.
Since VOB's are just mpg, you can use VOB2MPG (free) and convert right to mpg, which the xbox will play just fine. My only problem with this is fast forward/rewind don't work.
I personally convert from the VOB's to DVR-MS, which is still mpg, but it allows fast forward/rewind. For that I use VideoRedo.
Once they are converted, I use My Movies to organize them, although there are other programs to do that, and that's a whole seperate issue.
As for converting to wmv, since it is converting from mpg to wmv, there may be some quality loss, but i've never done it personally.

desperado:

I've converted mine to DVR-MS files as it is quick (a few mins per film), supports AC3 soundtrack, and allows proper FFWD and RWD when viewing on the 360. To do it I have slysoft's anydvd installed (to remove copy protection) then I use DVD shrink to rip the main movie file to HDD as one vob (being careful not to compress it) and then finally VideoRedo to convert from the Vob to DVR-MS. Doing this there is no recompression (Vob and DVR-MS both contain Mpeg 2 streams) and so no quality loss

This DVR-MS format is intriguing.    I'm assuming that the original aspect ratio is preserved?   (1.85:1, 1.66:1, 2.35: 1)

When you say 'no compression' with DVD Shrink does that mean to encode at DVD-9 if the movie file is larger than DVD-5(4.7 GB)?

What happens if you do compress???  Other than loss of video quality?

Are there any shareware programs that do this .... or is it worth paying for VideoRedo?

How easy is it to convert the DVR-MS to other formats?   I'm curious because I've read that Microsoft is going to dump this format for "WTV" format .... whatever that is...

Thanks for the quick response

Kato

Video redo is the best option hands down

If you want a one step process not two like mentioned above get anydvd (quickly before they go to subscription based)

With anydvd and video redo you can select the main title with video redo and convert to DVr-ms no need for DVD shrink unless you don't want to buy anydvd but be warned DVD Shrink does not work on some encrypted DVDs like anydvd will



And yes you can keep 5.1 tracks and aspect the same except for you can't do dts

PLUCKYHD:

Video redo is the best option hands down If you want a one step process not two like mentioned above get anydvd (quickly before they go to subscription based) With anydvd and video redo you can select the main title with video redo and convert to DVr-ms no need for DVD shrink unless you don't want to buy anydvd but be warned DVD Shrink does not work on some encrypted DVDs like anydvd will And yes you can keep 5.1 tracks and aspect the same except for you can't do dts

Video Redo sounds good .... I haven't had any problems with the DVD's that I have ... I've used a combo of "DVD decrypter" and "Rip It For Me" on problem DVD's and all has worked out ....  perhaps I'll check out Any DVD ...

Thanks,
Kato

I haven't had any problems with MPG's other than they don't FFWD/RWD through the xbox. But, like the other post said, VideoRedo is the best option. I didn't get it for a long time because it wasn't free, and VOB2MPG did fine for me then.

Sweet - Just purchased VideoRedo and tried encoding Mad Max.

When I loaded the .VOB into VideoRedo the time was all screwed up .... said the film was 29 minutes long.

When I saved as a .DVR-MS file it thought it was only encoding 29 minutes of the film saying the encoding process would take 2 minutes.     After the two minutes the 'time left' got all messed up but eventually finished.

The output result looked like this:

Input Sequence Errors:	1246
Video resync frames removed:	10
Audio resync frames removed:	2
Video output frames:	131969
Audio output frames:	86002
Processing time (secs):	535
Processed frames/sec:	246.47
Actual Video Bitrate:	5.86 Mbps

Does this output look normal?

Seems to play well in Media Player 11...

Sorry to butt in guys, but I have the same problem but I am starting out with dvr-ms files recorded from TV.  I own AnyDVD HD and VideoRedo Plus already.  Can I use the dvr-ms files direclty with AnyDVD or does it work only with Ripping DVD's?

Here is my process for converting to dvr-ms with AnyDVD and Video Redo.  I convert directly from the DVD drive.  The only issue I have currently is the lack of forced subtitles.  For movies like Babel and Kill Bill.  Basically no subtitles during foreign speaking parts in the films.. makes it hard to follow the movie. 

With VideoRedo You will want to use quick stream fix.  If you don't you might end up with a messed up movie.

Open Video Redo, select Open Title From DVD

Select DVD drive and VIDEO TS directory

Select Main Movie in DVD Title Selector (usually longest length)

Check Auto QuickStream fix

Take notice of Audio Stream that you want..  usually 0x80 (6ch english for me) but sometimes it might be 0x81, 0x82, etc.. Click OK

Quick Stream Fix window will open up, Click Select Stream, Video PID will be xe0, Audio PID should be the one that you wanted from the previous step.  I have seen many times before that the wrong audio stream is selected by default.  Select the Audio stream that you want in the drop down box and click OK.

Select output stream directory and filename.  Click, Start Quick Fix

That's it..

 

scottmbritton:

.........You will want to use quick stream fix.  If you don't you might end up with a messed up movie

Agreed .... that was the source of my errors ... when I use the quickstream fix operation those errors disappeared.    For some DVD's I've been getting a few video and audio resyncs .... less than 20 which I've been told are insignificant.

I do have one last question though - if I want to convert a .dvr-ms file back into a playable DVD what do I need to do?   

Using VideoRedo I can go back to a .vob no problem but what do I do next?   

Just use your original disc. Or am I missing something.

Ok ... I finally have my Windows Vista MC setup with the Xbox360 as my extender.

I now have a question regarding the quality of these DVD --> .dvr-ms conversions.

When I watch them using the extender the quality is definitely not as good as the original DVD at 480p

Opening credits for a film tend to "shimmer"  ... this effect is especially noticeable on the text at the beginning of the Star Wars films for example.     This shimmering effect is also noticeable during the rest of playback.

Should the quality be as good as the DVD at 480p? ... or is this a limitation of the .dvr-ms format or the extender in general?

All of the movies I have converted to .dvr-ms with no compression, using VideoRedo quickstream fix.
Could I encode them differently to improve the quality?

Thanks in advance for your help and insight,

Kato

Bump .... anyone??

The quality should be identical as you aren't converting anything.  You are "repackaging" the mpeg2 stream that was in the .vob container into the .dvr-ms container.   Identical video stream and identical audio stream, just handed to you in a different "box". (think re-gifting a present...you unwrap it, and wrap the exact same gift in new wrapping paper).

Make sure you aren't compressing or shrinking the files.  I've done over 50 DVD's this way and stream them to my 360 with no change in quality of video or audio.