DVD Catalyst question: I know just enough to be dangerous. Need advice DVD ISO rips.

[strider_mt2k]

What is the best setting to use that will give me the highest quality results on both a set-top player or an Android tablet or phone?
I only have DVD content but would like them to still be viewable on an HDTV, tablet, or higher end smartphone. (I own a Droid Bionic, for example)

I've already ripped all of my DVDs using "Any DVD" to ISO files that are stored on my home server. Presently I have about 3TB of ISOs, so DVD Catalyst is IDEAL for a job like this. It's automation features are indispensable for large projects.

I attempted this project once and was pretty happy with the results, but wanted to double check before committing to a certain setting.

Right now I'm using the standard Sony PS3 resolution set for 720-480, mild up-scaling, and de-interlacing, shooting for MP4s, as they seem to be the most universal
I chose this setting because it seems like the PS3 has settings that other ripping utilities like Handbrake use as a kind of standard. -I am by no means married to that setting and am open to suggestions here.

When I play the video back using the Windows 7 Media Player the videos still look a little bit...interlaced? (I'm seeing some lines)

I fall into the group described in the documentation as wanting closer to the original DVD quality with less concern for storage space, but I'd still like to keep the average size for movies at or under 2GB per.

Any advice is welcome. I'll even accept admonishment for missing something obvious, because I'm great for that kind of thing.

Thanks in advance folks!

 

[dvdcatalyst]

What is the best setting to use that will give me the highest quality results on both a set-top player or an Android tablet or phone?
I only have DVD content but would like them to still be viewable on an HDTV, tablet, or higher end smartphone. (I own a Droid Bionic, for example)

I've already ripped all of my DVDs using "Any DVD" to ISO files that are stored on my home server. Presently I have about 3TB of ISOs, so DVD Catalyst is IDEAL for a job like this. It's automation features are indispensable for large projects.

I attempted this project once and was pretty happy with the results, but wanted to double check before committing to a certain setting.

Right now I'm using the standard Sony PS3 resolution set for 720-480, mild up-scaling, and de-interlacing, shooting for MP4s, as they seem to be the most universal
I chose this setting because it seems like the PS3 has settings that other ripping utilities like Handbrake use as a kind of standard. -I am by no means married to that setting and am open to suggestions here.

When I play the video back using the Windows 7 Media Player the videos still look a little bit...interlaced? (I'm seeing some lines)

I fall into the group described in the documentation as wanting closer to the original DVD quality with less concern for storage space, but I'd still like to keep the average size for movies at or under 2GB per.

Any advice is welcome. I'll even accept admonishment for missing something obvious, because I'm great for that kind of thing.

Thanks in advance folks!

Hi Strider,

Thank you for using DVD Catalyst 4,

Don't use the PS3 setting

For your purpose, I would recommend selecting one of the HQXT profiles, such as the Motorola > Xoom HQXT profile for example.

* If the resolution is higher than that of the original source video, DVD Catalyst 4 will keep the original resolution in order to produce the best quality video. By selecting the Xoom profile, the resolution set in the profile is higher.

* Minimal-upscaling (global > tweaks) is nice for devices that have near DVD resolution. If the selected resolution is only slightly higher (5% or so) than the original resolution, DVD Catalyst will do an upscale of the video, so on the selected device it will result in a nicer screen-fill, but for a variety of different playback devices, I wouldn't recommend using it. With the Xoom HQXT profile selected, it would not kick in anyway, so it doesn't matter though.

* The HQXT profile automatically enables CRF, and sets it to 24. For best quality, you want to change the CRF setting to 20. To stay around the 2GB for the majority of your movies, 22-24 might be a better choice.

* For video playback, do not use Windows Media Player, but use either VLC or Quicktime. Both of these apps use their own codecs, rather than whatever is installed on the system, and provide a more realistic playback experience. There are a lot of different codecs that enable support for mp4 in media player, such as corecodec, divx, ffdshow, sharkypack, k-litepack etc, and even Windows 7's own video codecs, and all result in different behavior.


To get your DVD Catalyst 4 knowledge a bit beyond "enough to be dangerous", I'd suggest to have a look at these articles:


profile differences:
DVD Catalyst 4 – Device Profiles Explained (4.1.x) | Tools4Movies | DVD Catalyst 4

(HQXT information)


CRF:

What is CRF? | Tools4Movies | DVD Catalyst 4



Filesize:

Tip : How to make your video files smaller | Tools4Movies | DVD Catalyst 4



the file-size article provides an interesting read as to what effect different crf values have, and is loaded with screenshots.

 

[strider_mt2k]

Thank you!

I'm already a fan of VLC player so I'll make it the default.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

you are welcome,

Let me know if you have any more questions

 

[strider_mt2k]

I did a test run with the settings you suggested and the results are looking great now!!

I did read the links you posted, and they are extremely informative!
This is an incredibly well supported piece of software. Being able to reach out to the developer means a lot.

The only thing they didn't do was give me the answer to the question I had about what specific file type/format to use and such, but that was only because of the broader scope of my project.
You handled that, with endless thanks to you for it!

If I was only ripping for my Acer Iconia A500 and my phone, it would be a total no-brainer, as DVD Catalyst has specific settings for my tablet, and I know my phone will handle anything the tablet can; however, I was concerned that including a "popcorn hour" type set-top device connected to an HDTV might complicate matters or at least throw me a curve I wasn't ready for.

(I was hoping that I could just use the ISO files for the set-top box, but I'm undecided on which one to get, support for ISO files on these devices seems spotty, we don't make much use of additional DVD features and a "one size fits most" solution seemed like the most practical way to go for now.)

One of the great things about DVD Catalyst that reduces these concerns is the fact that the entire project can be put together again and re-ripped to a different set of specifications as long as I have the storage to accommodate the files and the time for a large library to be processed.