shasam.net - Latest Comments in DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

Ender — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:33:02 -0000

As you asked: worked fine in NTSC DVDs.

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

Ender — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:28:33 -0000

Great post. Thanks for the step by step guide, really helpful !
But I have a question about something that looks to me like an XBOX bug: when I play a movie with 5.1 audio, the bass audio channel is too low. Playing the same movie at the PC the sound is fine. I have read a lot of this problem in several forums but until now I coundn't fine a solution. Can you help to solve this problem?

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

Evil MindFrame — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:17:50 -0000

I like your guide but it does not apply to me. I use downloaded videos and convert them with Kingdia converter so I can play them on my 360. I also have a high def 16:9 wide screen and I am having a lot of trouble making a good quality video that wont look "pixely". in no way do I expect Hi def picture but I would like a clear picture without blocks. Is there any way you can help me or even give me a link to a good guide for that?

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

PSP Movie — Sun, 04 May 2008 08:39:33 -0000

Great post. Thanks for the step by step guide, really helpful

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

Jason — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 18:43:29 -0000

Sorry new verticle number

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

Jason — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 18:30:53 -0000

Why not crop away the top and bottom black bars and then multiply the new horizontal # by the films aspect ratio? That leaves you with full horizontal resolution instead of the other way around? No? Also, anybody experiment with the fastest encoding speed vs HQ? I don't seem to notice a quality difference except that the fast setting is WAY faster?

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

gazoo — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:55:32 -0000

Shane,

Thank you so much for your instructions and help. I have read, and re-read all the posts here a few times now. Some of the posts get a little confussing to me as they go back and forth between PAL & NTSC. Am I correct that with a NTSC dvd, if I wanted to leave the black bars and have the dvd in the same aspect ratio as it would play normally in the dvd player I would set the ratio to 854x480 regardless of the 1:78, 1:85 or 2:15 ?

Thanks also to everyone who has contributed to this.

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

Wayne — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:52:13 -0000

TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress

2.35 Aspect Movies (PAL)

Picture Crop: 80 Top & Bottom, 10 Left & Right
Volume Adjustment: 125%

VIDEO >>>

Movie Format: WMV
Video Codec: WINDOWS MEDIA VIDEO 9 ADVANCED PROFILE
Size: 720 X 360 Pixel
Aspect Ratio: DISPLAY 16:9
Framerate: 25 FPS (PROGRESSIVE)
VIDEO ENCODE TYPE: 2 PASS VBR (AVERAGE BITRATE)
AVERAGE BITRATE: 1500
VIDEO QUALITY: 100%

AUDIO >>>

Audio Codec: WINDOWS MEDIA AUDIO 10 PROFESSIONAL
Audio Encoding Type: 2 PASS VBR (AVERAGE BITRATE)
Audio Format: 384 BBPS, 48 KHZ, 5.1 CHANNEL, 24 BIT VBR

OTHER >>>

Performance: Position 3 (One Notch Down From +Picture Quality

Above settings take about 2 Hrs 30 Mins to convert an 1hr30min film on a
Intel Core Duo 2 (E6600) at 3.15 Ghz.

Im not sure if these are the best settings, the final file size is about
1.3GB and the movie looks good on a HDTV 40".

Anyone comment on the above settings? Or sugest changes with reasons? Or any
other comments appreciated.

Cheers

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

scrytch — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 19:22:00 -0000

Rob,

I got it from being a little stoopid :oops: It's supposed to be 854 (EDTV "square pixel" horizontal resolution for 480p).

If you use 854 instead of 852 (and I'll go back and change everywhere I wrote 852).

If you take a look at the EDTV link, down the bottom of that page is a multi-coloured box with all of the different output horizontal and vertical resolutions - should give you an idea.

Regards,
Shane.

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

Rob Lominski — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 19:10:25 -0000

Sorry Shane, but one more question;

Where did you get the 852 for your horizontal resolution? I would like to keep the original res. of the movie, but I will be playing back on a 720p plasma, so is there a better resolution to start with?

Rob

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

Rob Lominski — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:32:15 -0000

Shane,

That does help. I was thinking of everything in terms of 720 (due to the 720x480) I guess. I will experiment with this tonight and see what happens. I am so jazzed about the smoothness of the movies now, I can't wait to get it all wrapped up and working 100%.

The FF and RW speed still stinks for movies (I stream them using MyMovies over a NAS box on the network). It is super slow, but that's for another time and thread!

Rob

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

scrytch — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:25:24 -0000

Rob,

There are two things you need to be mindful of:

1. The actual aspect ratio of the film on the DVD you are encoding
2. The output resolution you want the final encoded movie to be

With the DVD aspect ratio, they come in three types (for widescreen films):
2.35:1, 1.85:1 or 1.78:1

2.35:1 is where the film has large black bars (70+ in cropping inside TMPGEnc) and the movie on the screen looks long and thin.

1.85:1 and 1.78:1 are similar, except 1.85:1 has slight black bars and 1.78:1 should have none.

When you work out what aspect ratio it is, you need to decide your target output resolution for the encoded movie.

I use 852 as my horizontal resolution (normally smaller than the native DVD res but high enough to look excellent), so the way to work out what is the resultant vertical resolution is to divide 854 by the DVD's horizontal aspect ratio (ie 2.35, 1.85 or 1.78), so sum is:

854/2.35 = 363.40 (use 363)
854/1.85 = 461.62 (use 462)
854/1.78 = 479.77 (use 480)

TMPGEnc will normally round the vertical size to a supported encode resolution after you type it in.

You can change the 854 to whatever size you'd like, smaller or larger, but just keep in mind if you get too big you will increase the file size dramatically, and you may also start stretching the image. Too small and you'll lose resolution and when it fills your TV you'll see blocking effects.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Shane.

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

Rob Lominski — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:06:16 -0000

Thanks Shane,

If I can get it to work I will surely post it!!

One more item I find most confusing. I am always unsure as to how to set my final aspect (width and height) for my conversions. In other words is there a pre-determined ratio for 1.85 2.30 2.40, etc, etc. I would think there is.

What I want is to have setups for each. That way I look at the back of the DVD, check the aspect and pick the appropriate setup for TMPGenc.

I was doing the first xmen movie and set it for 720x308 and the movie looks stretched. I guess I am still confused about aspect ratios and anamorphic and etc.

Anybody can tell me how to do the converions (NTSC) or have a chart?

Rob

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

scrytch — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 01:40:54 -0000

Rob,

You're on the right path with AC3Filter (I think). I haven't tried it myself as my Media Center machine isn't hooked up to an amplifier/receiver.

Some things to check:
1. Ensure AC3Filter is being used by Media Center.
Grab the codec utility from here and set AC3Filter for the Audio filter.

2. Once done, make sure you have AC3 Encode enabled in AC3Filter, and SPDIF output enabled.

3. You might also want to try changing your sound card AND control panel speaker settings to 5.1

Let me know if any of that helps.

If it doesn't either (a) someone more knowledgeable than me will jump in, or (b) you can always go and grab a recent Pioneer Receiver that supports native decoding of WMA Pro audio.

Regards,
Shane.

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

Rob Lominski — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:20:33 -0000

Hey Gang,

Thanks for the info. I just burned a few movies using the 23.976fps settings and deinterlace prioratize motion and WOW they look good!
Now for the problem. I use Windows media 10 for audio 24bit 5.1 audio.
When I play back on 360 it is great, my AC3 light comes on my receiver and I am thrilled. BUT when playing on my HTPC (Vista Premium) I don't get 5.1 audio. I tried installing AC3 filter, but nothing! Of course when I play a DVD I do get the AC3 surround. I don't want to buy a new receiver that reads the Windows format for sound (will that even work?), do I need an additional piece of software!
I am so close I can taste it!

Rob

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

dazhoop — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 16:18:58 -0000

Shane - this has been a great read, and has given me some pointers that I had missed out on, plus a bit of education on certain aspects of the Xbox 360. To everyone, it is so pleasing that so many people are working on a similar project!

My question feels somewhat basic and out of place, given the detailed technical discussions, but here goes .... I converted a .VOB of one episode of a PAL verions of "The Office" via the DVD Decryptor --> TMPGEnc4 route. This conversion allowed me to rewind and ffwd through the streaming wmv on my X360, however, when creating a WMV of a PAL version of a full film I cannot repeat this feat.

Do you have chapter / search facilities on your converted WMV9 files via your X360, and if so, how did you (or anyone) achieve this?

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

Theaterman — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 10:57:07 -0000

Just found this thread. It's great to see so many others working on the identical projects.

I had random shakiness/choppiness on encoded DVDs and I contacted TMPGENC's tech support. They suggested I use Prioritized Motion on the de-interlace. I have now encoded 200 DVDs and have not once had the problem again. And, oddly enough, this setting seems to work for every single DVD I have - even cartoons and animated stuff. I have experimented with Special Animation vs Prioritized motion and haven't seen a discernable difference.

As for bitrates, I have tested extensively for this. I've been using 2-pass Variable Bit Rate with great success. I don't know if this will work on an Xbox (I am using a D-Link 520 and it works fine). The first thing I've found is that older movies that were originally of poor quality, don't seem to benefit from high bit rates in WMV. I rarely take the bit rates above 1200kbps for these. For high action movies, I have found anything above 1500kbps makes no difference that I can see (using 2-pass VBR). My viewing tests are on both a PC screen and my MCE2005 PC driving a 105" 1366x768 front projection screen set up. Of course 2-pass takes 5-6 hours per movie but I'm not in a hurry and time is cheaper than extra terabytes .

My current challenge is getting rid of the vertical black bars on 4:3 movies that have widescreen movies encoded. I'll go back through all the threads here carefully to see if anyone has addressed this.

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

SRbake1311 — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 23:53:32 -0000

Alright here's what I found. Using WM9AP at 720x480 at 1:1 it doesn't fill my entire screen (even sending it through the 360 or playing it back on my widescreen computer monitor running at 1360x768). If I set it to 16:9 it fills the whole screen.

If I set the bitrate to 2500Kb/s will that be ok? Also I took am going to try the 384kb/s 24bit 5.1 audio and see how that goes. I'll go try it on the 360 now..............................................and it doesn't fill up the whole screen..................

Now I'm trying 720x480 at 40:33 at a Bitrate of 2500Kb/s. It seems a bit choppy on the computer but we'll see what it looks like through the 360.....and bad again..

I figured it out. for me to get native DVD (at least with this particular film) I must encode it as 720x408 (a ratio of 1.777777778 or 16:9). I'm encoding with the following settings:

Codec: WM9AC
Size: 720x408 (I enter 720x405 but it changes my vertical to 408 for some reason)
Aspect Ratio: Display 16:9
Framerate: 29.97 fps (progressive)
Video Encode Type: 1 Pass VBR at 100% Quality

The film I am encoding was filmed using 2.35:1. Should I use 720x308 as posted above or will 720x408 work?

Matt

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

scrytch — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:36:36 -0000

Matt,

If you are using Windows Vista Media Center (VMC) then from what rewster says you should be able to encode without cropping or removing black bars. So leave your input resolution alone at step 8 (16:11 is probably what it will be), skip step 9, and for step 12 choose whatever your input resolution is (16:9 or 16:11). Then for step 13 just use 720x480.

I haven't tested this (I will today) but it may work for you, but it seems only under VMC at this stage.

As for upconverting to 1920x1080, you can do this if you want, but it's probably better to keep the file size small and let the 360 scale it up for you - it has a pretty good hardware scaler that it uses for this.

A native (square pixel) NTSC DVD resolution is 854x480. As this maps directly to a square pixel 16x9 ratio, this output could be set to 1920x1080 instead, using TMPGEnc to scale it up. You can try this - but I expect the output file size to be enormous.

Last thing - TMPGEnc Xpress 4.x supports encoding the AC3 5.1 audio into WMA Pro Audio with 5.1+ channels.

If you play this on your Media Center PC (and want full 5.1 audio) you'll either need a soundcard that can convert audio on the fly to Dolby Digital 5.1, a version of AC3Filter that can handle re-encoding to DD5.1, or an amplifier that can decode WMA Pro audio natively (like the latest Pioneers). If you don't want/need 5.1 from your Media Center, stereo still works.

If you play the files on your Xbox 360 Extender, the 360 can transcode WMA Pro 5.1+ audio directly to DD5.1 - Option 2 in the audio setup of the 360 will make it work.

Regards,
Shane.

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

SRbake1311 — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 11:02:45 -0000

and like always I don't think before I type. What I meant to say instead of:
I donâ€™t expect (or want to) upconvert and store all my dvds but I was wondering what settings to use for this.

was this:

I don't expect (or want) to upconvert and store all my DVDs at 1920x1080, but I was wondering what settings to use for this.

Thanks,
Matt

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

SRbake1311 — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 11:00:15 -0000

Hey guys,

I'm a total noob when it comes to this stuff and I have a few questions. I am looking to encode my NTSC dvds to stream to my 360. I'm using the trial version of TMPGENC now to see if it's going to work for me, but this guide doesn't say much about NTSC content. What's the problem with encoding it as 720x480 (native DVD resolution)? My television runs at a native 1920x1080 (1080p) resolution and my 360 is running through VGA at 1920x1080 upconverting all my content. I don't expect (or want to) upconvert and store all my dvds but I was wondering what settings to use for this. The black bars don't bother me at all so cropping isn't needed in my case. Also, does TMPGENC (or WMV for that matter) accept Digital 5.1 audio? Thanks ahead of time.

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

scrytch — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 16:07:14 -0000

Hi everyone,

I'm just wondering - what measurements are you guys using for step 13 above when doing NTSC content?

Thanks,
Shane.

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

rewster — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 12:14:33 -0000

Hi All

I have just tested Vista on my computer, it seems that Vista takes notice of the aspect ratio flag and sends this information to the XBox 360 so no special config is needed with TMPGEnc, ie if the video source is PAL (16:11 PAL WIDE) then just match this in the WMV aspect ratio config and XBOX 360 will display the video in the correct aspect ratio and keep the DVD vertical resolution intact (on the 4:3 monitor I am trying it on the videos now have black bars, all videos filled the 4:3 screen previously, on my 16:9 TV all play ok as these all displayed as 4:3 before) .

This even works for 1:2.35 manually cropped dvds ie Disney's Cars, Frighteners, Apollo13 etc.

I only loaded Vista as a test and it does seem to take all the hastle out of creating 5.1 surround video's for xbox360 playback, so I think I may upgrade my Media Center.

Skulker: I tried the performance slider at position 1 and the loss of quality is minimal (from 10 foot away anyway), on my 4200 x2 processor videos encode in near real time.

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

scrytch — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 18:42:16 -0000

I personally haven't tried the Special Animation deinterlace so can't speak on that topic (haven't done any traditional animation encodes).

As for occassional audio dropouts - yes I am getting them but not consistently nor in every movie encode. I'm considering sending TMPGEnc a support email asking them to look into it.

Regards,
Shane.

Re: DVD to Windows Media Video Conversion

Skulker — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 10:12:06 -0000

Has anyone tried the 24fps "Special Animation" deinterlace method? I can't decide what difference (good/bad) it makes compared to 24fps "Prioritize Motion". I *think* the picture seems a bit sharper with Special Animation, but am not sure.

Also, does anyone else experience occassional audio dropouts? They only last for a 250ms or less, but area annoying.