DVD ripping with AutoGK

As we are sharing mostly video files here we sometimes need to convert from DVD into avi format to make files smaller so that it becomes easy to share. Anonno requested me to write a tutorial about DVD ripping. I am describing here how to convert DVD video into avi (Audio Video Interlace) format using AutoG. You can use many other applications available on the net, to rip DVD. For instances, Divx Create, Dr. Divx, FlaskMPEG, DVD2AVI, TMPEGEnc and many others, some are free and some are sharewares. But I found AutoG as the most user-friendly, the best one, time-saving and it gives you very high quality video picture.

Softwares necessary to rip DVD:
AutoGK http://www.autogk.me.uk/ (latest version 2.20), AviSynth, VobSub, DVD Decrypter with Xvid and Divx codecs. These all comes with AutoG pack except Divx codec and DVD Decrypter, but you can download it from www.divx.com for free.

Follow the steps described bellow:

First Step: ripping from DVD disk:



Rip the original DVD with DVD Decrypter.
a) Use IFO mode from the Mode menu.
b) Select source if it does not come automatic,
c) choose destination directory,
d) input PGC (it is selected automatically, but when you have more than one movie in the DVD you have to choose it manually, one after another) and
e) press the DVD to HDD icon to start ripping. Note: it takes approximately 20 to 30 minutes depending on your DVD reader and processor.

2nd Step: Converting to avi format with AutoGK:



i) Step 1: Input file: Select the first IFO file with name i.e. VTS_01_0.IFO for the first movie and VTS_02_0.IFO for the next movie and so on…



Output file: Select the output file name and the directory where you want to save.
Under the Output file name you will see the video and audio information and duration.

ii) Step 2: Select Audio track and source: Here you don’t need to change anything; audio information and channel info will come automatic.

iii) Step 3: Select output file size: Select the file size carefully. One simple calculation is that you put 5 MB for every single minute video. For example, if under output file name it shows 30 minutes you choose 150 MB here. It is the normal quality with xvid codec. Default selection is 2 CDs (1400 MB).



iv) Step 4: I suggest you leave it as it is. If you click on Advance Settings you will see all auto and Xvid codec are selected. For Advance Settings you need more knowledge on Video editing tasks.

v) Step 5: Add Job: Push this button and you will see the list of your selected jobs bellow. If you want to add more jobs just follow all steps from 1 to 4.

Finally you push the Start. If you like your PC should shutdown automatic when finished you choose it under step 3. Note: it takes normally very long time, at least 10 hours for a 3 hours DVD. So be patient and do it during evening before you go to bed. I also suggest you to close all other programmes and network connection so that no other unexpected persons can hack you during this time. You can even close anti-virus protection to increase the activity of your video converting as it takes most of your working memory.

Please leave your feedbacks.

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TeolABM

DVD to DivX 5.x using Gordian Knot
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Return to DVD to DivX using Gordian Knot Guide

Gordian Knot started out as a bit-rate calculator, and has now turned into one of the best DVD to DivX conversion tools around.

Below are instructions on how to convert your DVDs to DivX 5.x using Gordian Knot. If you want to convert your DVDs to DivX 3.x, please refer to this guide.

You should download the following software, which are required for this article :
DivX Pro 5.x
Gordian Knot 0.28.x - New (SourceForge) version



Install Gordian Knot - Gordian Knot is a large package that comes with many bundled software - you should leave the default installation alone, unless you know what you are doing. Also install any patches that are available (see Gordian Knot download page for additional instructions). There may also be separate rip-pack and codec-packs for Gordian Knot on the official download page, so make sure you install these packs if you haven't done so before.


Setting up Gordian Knot :

Start Gordian Knot (GKnot) ...



Gordian Knot can save the settings you use in any particular conversion session. If you want to save your current settings, go to the bottom right hand side of the main GKnot screen and use the pull down option box to select a free slot to save your settings. Then click on the "Rename" button to rename the slot with a more suitable name.







We'll now rip the DVD ("DVD rippping" definition : copy the DVD to your hard-drive, without the DVD copy protection screwing up your files). Go to the "Ripping" section by clicking on the "Ripping" tab, and click on the "SmartRipper" button to start the DVD ripping software SmartRipper.







In SmartRipper, click on the "Target folder icon" to select where you want to rip to. Please select a hard-drive that is large enough to hold the movie you want to rip (5 to 10 GB of free space, depending on the length of your movie). For this tutorial, I am only ripping Chapter 19 of the Back to the Future III DVD, but if you to rip the entire movie, don't touch any of the SmartRipper settings, apart from changing the target directory. Then click on the "Start" button to start ripping - this can take several minutes, depending on the speed of your DVD-ROM drive and also the length/size of the movie you are ripping. Close SmartRipper when the ripping has been completed.









We'll now make a DVD2AVI project file. Still in the "Ripping" section, click on the "DVD2AVI" button to start DVD2AVI. Please follow this DVD2AVI guide to find out how to make a DVD2AVI project file. Also take a note of the "Statistics Window" results you get when playing back the movie in DVD2AVI - the properties you should remember are "Aspect Ratio", "Video Type" and "Frame Type". You can close DVD2AVI after you have finished saving the project file.





Now load in your newly created DVD2AVI project file (.D2V) by using the "Open" button on the bottom left hand side of the screen - this will open a new window showing the movie - don't close this window, but you can minimize it. GKnot will read the project file and automatically set the number of frames and frame rate.







Now go to the "Bitrate" section. Select the "DivX 5" option. Also select the number of CDs you want to span the movie across. You can also manually change the file size, which is what I have done (set to 65 MB for Chapter 19) since I am only encoding a section of the movie.







Now change the Interleaving option. Leave the "Calculate Frame-Overhead" option selected, as this will prevent your movie from becoming larger than the separate video and audio files added together (due to overhead). Also select the audio options - "1x vbr-mp3" is a good option if you want 1 audio track encoded using variable bit-rate MP3 (best quality VS file size ratio).







Now we configure the audio option. Choose a bitrate from the drop down menu. There is also another option ("Audio B") for selecting the properties of the second audio track, if you wish to have one.







Now go to the "Resolution" section. It is here we'll choose the resolution/aspect ratio of the movie. We'll first crop the movie first, which is simple to do under GKnot - just click on the "Auto Crop" button and select the "Smart Crop All" option.







You should select "PAL" or "NTSC" and then "anamorphic", "non-anamorphic" modes for the "Input Resolution" and "Input Pixel Aspect Ratio" - you should know what to select here by remembering the values shown in DVD2AVI's "Statistics Windows" (back in step 5). You can go back to the window that was opened when you loaded the DVD2AVI project, select the Preview ("FrameNo") window to see what the cropping and resizing will look like.









We can now select the actual resolution of the output DivX movie, made easy by using the big slider. Now look at the bottom of the screen, the "Bits/(Pixel*Frame)" section, and observer the rating. If this rating falls below 0.17, then you are going to have a pretty bad looking video. If your rating is above 0.30, then this could cause the file to be oversize (over the size you selected earlier).









Subtitles can also be added to the movie using VobSub. Instructions for this coming soon ...


Video and Audio encoding :

Now that GKnot has been setup, we can finally start with the encoding process. But before we can hit that magic "start encoding" button to sit back and wait, there are a few more options we need to set ...



Bring up the preview window again, and click on the "Save and Encode" button. These are the options you need to set :
Resizing : - Leave "Selected Output Resolution" selected


Resize Filter : - Bilinear makes everything a little blurry. Bicubic can make things very sharp, but jaggies can be apparent. The best option to choose is the middle ground between the softest and sharpest option, which is the "Neutral Bicubic".


Field Operation : - This option is not needed by all videos. If you can remember back to when you saved the DVD2AVI project, the "Frame Type" that I reminded you to remember earlier on becomes important here. If the "Frame Type" is "Interlaced", then you need to enable "Fast Deinterlace" here - otherwise, set it to "None".


Noise Filter : - Unless your source video is very noisy, you should turn off this filter as it would decrease the video quality. Most DVD movies don't have much noise anyway.


Subtitles : - Only use this option if you want the subtitles to be burned permanently into the AVI files (can't be removed at a later date, no matter what you do). If that doesn't appeal to you, then you can use DirectVobSub to playback the subtitles files you created earlier, and you can choose to turn it on and off whenever. If you want burned in subtitles, click on the "Select VobSub Files" button and load in the ".ifo" file that VobSub created for you (not the ".ifo" file you ripped from the DVD).


Compressibility Check : - Here is one last step to ensure you get the maximum quality out of your DivX movie. What this option does is to quickly scan through your movie and determine how good it can be compressed at. This should let you know whether the file size/resolution settings you set earlier on are suitable. To use this check, enable the "Use" option and press the "Now" button - after a short while (VirtualDub is loaded to scan through the video), you should be returned to the preview window (it will say "Compressibility Check: Finished" on the Window's title bar). Check the "Bits/(Pixel*Frame" section on the bottom of the GKnot window to see the results of the check.

The "%" value means the ratio between your currently selected Bits/(Pixel*Frame) value and the suggested value. The equation Bits/(Pixel*Frame) should let you work out what you need to change in order to increase/decrease this value (eg. increasing file size/Bits increases the value, whereas increase Pixel or Frame size, decrease this value).

Ensure the "%" value returned by the Compressibility Check is between 60% and 80% for maximum quality. Going over 80% is not going to increase the quality too much, so it's not worth doing it. Falling below 50% will mean poor quality. To modify the "%", you should try changing the file size (step 6) and/or resolution (step 11).






Don't worry ... we're nearly there. Press the "Save & Encode" button (shown in the picture above) and choose a name for the AVS that will be generated. This should bring up the following screen :







We now configure some of the DivX Pro 5.x specific options in the "DivX 5" section. Press the "First Pass" button - this should bring up the DivX Codec Encoding properties screen :





You'll now need to setup DivX Pro 5.x's first pass settings - I have already written a reference guide to setting up the DivX 5.x codec, and you can access this guide by clicking here. The suggested settings for the 1st pass is :


Variable bitrate mode : Multipass, 1st pass
Encoding bitrate : don't modify the pre-set setting (Gordian Knot would have setup this for you)
Write MV file : selected
Psychovisual Enhancements : off or light
Max keyframe interval : the frame-rate of your movie x 10 (eg. 23.976 x 10 = 240 frames)
Use Quarter Pixel : selected
Use GMC : selected
Use Bidirectional Encoding : : selected


Now press the "Nth Pass" button - again, it's just like setting up the first pass above, but you'll be setting up the Nth pass (eg. 2nd pass, 3rd pass, 4th pass ...) settings instead :


Variable bitrate mode : Multipass, nth pass
Encoding bitrate : don't modify the pre-set setting (Gordian Knot would have setup this for you)
Update log file : selected
Read MV file : selected
Psychovisual Enhancements : off or light
Max keyframe interval : the frame-rate of your movie x 10 (eg. 23.976 x 10 = 240 frames)
Use Quarter Pixel : selected
Use GMC : selected
Use Bidirectional Encoding : : selected

Now go to the "Audio 1" section. Use the "Select" button to load the AC3 file DVD2AVI saved earlier on. If you want to keep the AC3 audio, select "Just Mux", otherwise, select "MP3, custom Parameters". Most of the options will be filled in for you automatically, but you do need to set the "Transcoding Parameters". Use the drop down list to select your options (note : "--alt-preset 160" means the MP3 will have a bit-rate of 160). Repeat the same for "Audio 2" if you have two audio tracks.







We're nearly there now ... Return to the "DivX 5" section and press the "Add Job to Encoding Queue" - you should be prompted to either start the coding now, or add more jobs to the queue before you start. You can always add to the job queue afterwards, if you wish. If you choose to start the job now, GKnot will start working, calling up different programs and in a short while, your encoding should be finished - during this time, you do not need to do anything, and you can still use your computer for other tasks.







Finished !! (and if you're interested, the 191 MB VOB file for BTTF 3 Chapter 19 was compressed to about 63 MB - I set 65 MB for the video, so the file size is quite accurate, but that's expected with DivX 5.x - with excellent video and audio quality, as expected)


Source:
http://www.divx-digest.com/articles/...rdianknot.html

I used to spend lot of time after converting DVD to mpg or avi format. I used to do it in different ways. Let me tell you a little. Sometimes I used Dr. Divx and it is also very nice program with excellent quality. If you set it auto then it converts audio into VBR that was another problem when it was necessary to cut the video file. There was time delay with audio and video. You can set it manual so that it will convert CBR and then it goes well. Size becomes bigger with this divx codec.

Once I used FlaskMpeg. It was nice with very high quality but it took long time. and sometimes audio was not that good. Then I found another tutorial where it was in details how to convert with VirtualDub. First video with FlaskMPEG and then audio with another soft and finally with VirtualDub to dub them all together. It took enormously long time but quality was very high but small size. I used xvid with this soft.

Now I found that only AutoG can do all the jobs I did with earlier step= flask+audio+virtualdub. If I set all function auto and only file size 700 for 2:30 min video and xvid codec then it converts with excellent quality but still file size small.

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TeolABM

teoelABM, I have a question for you. If I have more than 1 vob/ifo file, how do you merge them into 1 single avi after encoding or while encoding? My auotGK does not seem to allow me to take more than 1 file as input. With this setting, I can make separate avi files but the problem is how to merge them into 1 file? There are some software to merge files but they don't work fine.

So, my question is there anyway I can select multiple file in autoGK and get 1 single output? Thanks.

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redneck bhai, autogk merge files automatically if the vob files indicate same movie. I mean in DVD vob files are kept in the format “VTS_0X_Y.VOB”. here X (an integer) indicates the movie number and Y (an integer) indicates the part number. If there are 3 movies in a DVD and each of them are divided into 2 parts then the files will be
1) VTS_01_1.VOB
2) VTS_01_2.VOB
3) VTS_02_1.VOB
4) VTS_02_2.VOB
5) VTS_03_1.VOB
6) VTS_03_2.VOB

Now if you start avi conversion with VTS_0X_1.VOB, autogk will continue automatically with VTS_0X_1.VOB, VTS_0X_2.VOB, VTS_0X_3.VOB, VTS_0X_4.VOB etc. and merge them in a single avi file.

In a DVD if you find the following 5 files:
1) VTS_01_1.VOB
2) VTS_01_2.VOB
3) VTS_01_3.VOB
4) VTS_02_1.VOB
5) VTS_02_2.VOB
and start autogk with VTS_01_1.VOB, it will combine VTS_01_1, VTS_01_2 and VTS_01_3.

I start avi conversion selecting VOB files as input. IFO and BUP files are not necessary for conversion. Sometimes I copy only the VOB files to my hard drive and then start conversion with autogk.
Even if the frame rate and frame size of two different movies match with one another we can merge them by changing the names of VOB files. Once I did this (just for testing).

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Bhayer Mayer Eto Sneho
Kothay Gele Pabe Keho
O Ma Tomar Charon Duti Bokkhe Amar Dhori,
Amar Eai Deshetei Janmo, Jeno Eai Deshetei Mori.

Thanks krisna for nicely explaining this. So you r saying that if you have the filenames in that format (or order), you need to start with the first file and autogk will automatically select the rest and meger them? you don't need to do anything? Then it's good. let me try.

But one problem again, if it works works like this, then what do you do if you only want to encode the 2nd part of 1st movei, say for example to encode only VTS_01_2.VOB?

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:) BT - A Place for Bangla Monoronnjon :)

It merges the consecutive files if you start from “VTS_0X_1.VOB”. But if you select “VTS_0X_Y.VOB”, (Y >= 2), it does not merge any file, rather it converts only that file (only the file selected as input).

__________________

Bhayer Mayer Eto Sneho
Kothay Gele Pabe Keho
O Ma Tomar Charon Duti Bokkhe Amar Dhori,
Amar Eai Deshetei Janmo, Jeno Eai Deshetei Mori.

Also while ripping DVD's most usual setting is to fit it into 2x700 MB CDS. in that case AutoGK will keep the original merged file along with the two separated 700MB files. The second will have eventually the 2nd part.

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Mobile And Wireless
Vobghure Trachira

very nice explainations by krishna and jazaman. thanks you all for you time and explainnig all these things. i live in sweden and when i sleep you start your evening work. when i woke up i saw all problems are already solved by you. it is a nice feeling seeing others to solve questins.

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TeolABM

Dear Friends,
I have few Uttam,Soumitra,Suchitra,Aparna,Sandhya Roy, movies downloaded from Youtube.
Each movie has several chapters:.Is there any way to make in one avi and upload into torrents? Your advice is appreciated.Thanks.

Pokon

jazaman bhai,
I have few Uttam,Soumitra,Suchitra,Aparna,Sandhya Roy, movies downloaded from Youtube.
Each movie has several chapters:.Is there any way to make in one avi and upload into torrents? You mentioned "It merges the consecutive files if you start from “VTS_0X_1.VOB”. But how can I get“VTS_0X_1.VOB”. I always get "VTS_1_VOB Youtube files are flv files.Pl.guide me.
Pokon

You can use video joiner softwares to join multiple video files. Two of them are:
Boilsoft video joiner and Kate's video joiner. 1st one is not free, u've to buy it. 2nd 1 is free & u can save the joined video as avi, mpeg, wmv, dvd, vcd etc. I use this one, easy to use. U can try.

Dear Ferdous_23,
I downloaded and tried the Kate's joiner but whenever I tried to work it gives error messege: Video Processing Error:
VFCJ
The object involved has disconnected from its clients.
Kindly guide me.You could please send me the sounce of the software from where you downloaded.Sorry for bothering you.Thanks.
Pokon

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tonmoygrocery(তণ্ময়)

I burn flv format clips of a movie into DVD and copied tp my hard disk.Tried Kate's files joiner into avi format.It says processing.How long does it take to join a whole movie?

Sorry, I'm not a tech savvy person. I can't give the solution of yr problem. Sometimes 1 natok/movie or others are released here in 2 or 3 separated files. Then I use Kate's joiner to join them just for easing of watching. I found this software on net by Google search.
Hope some tech professional will come up to give u a better solution.