DVDFAB - Resolution

As a real newbie to this stuff I have been searching for something that will give me a copy of my DVD's in Divx format with as high a resolution as possible (as near DVD quality as possible).

As i see it the biggest AVI file that can be produced with DVDFAB was around 4GB mark (understandable I guess). But I have the option to change the resolution and I always put it up to the biggest I can get (typically 1024 x whatever) but that ends up only producing an AVI which doesn't have the entire movie on it and ends abruptly. I also keep the framerate the same as the original as near as possible.

Now if I am watching the AVI on my PC I am happy with a lower resolution (in which case it will copy it all!) but the question is what is the best resolution to use to get as near DVD quality when it's shown on a Video Streaming device on my TV...becauise there the lower res stuff looks grainy..

Any help would be gratefully received - I do think that maybe I need to experiment a bit by testing out different resolutions and framerates but what is the best for normal/widescreen TV ..anyone know?

Thanks guys..
Gordon

bump!

You had lots of questions!
1. Leave the frame rate alone. Unless you like the silent movie effect.
2. Truncated movies are a known bug that is being addressed. Keep file size below 1GB to minimize this.
3. I don't understand why you want to convert to MPEG-4 if you are willing to accept file sizes in the 3-4GB range. Why not just use the DVD VOB files? I have not found any MPEG-4 settings that look as good as the original DVD, particularly on large screens. The bit rate is just too low IMO. If you drive the bitrate up using the slider, you can actually wind up with predicted file sizes that are larger than the original DVD (and take over 2 hours to transcode). If I am missing something here, enlighten me.
4. That being said, the deafult settings in the Generic profile produce almost acceptable quality (usually 7XXx5XX) for smaller TVs.

I agree the VOB file seems the best option but If I view it in my Streamer it shows it as Video_1.vob etc not meaningful - can you rename them so it reads as say ,"Grease.VOB" and it would play..there are usually several VOB files whichj all seem named in sequence...hence thats why i never tried renaming..I will rename and try..

The TV i have is an HD 50" Job...7xx x 5xx is grainy... hence the resoltuion question.

Thanks...i think i asked a dumb question now having seen your response..funny that how it seemed a good Q when posted but now it doesn't... LOL cheers mate..

The only dumb question is one that is asked twice. VOB file names are part of the structure of a disc, but they will play by themselves (at least with WinDVD). To accomplish what you want you would need to see if your player will tolerate this and get some older software with the option of writing the a movie as a single file, rather than broken into 1GB chunks. Or, if your player will do it, you could just put the unencrypted DVD files into a folder with whatever name you like on it. You will need to experiment with your player, I think, but I doubt you'll ever be satisfied with MPEG-4 on a 50" screen. Regular DVDs start to look crappy to me at that size.

Hi,

The resolution is not the only fact affects quality. In my options, you should consider "Bits/Pixel" more, for MPEG4, it should be larger than 0.2, for H264, it should be larger than 0.15, then the quality is acceptable for me, even I don't preserve all the 576 or 480 lines.

For example, for same file size, if the resolution is 1024x576, but the Bits/Pixel is only 0.1, the visual quality will be worse than resolution 736x416 with Bits/Pixel is 0.2.

Best Regards,
Fengtao

Best Regards,
Fengtao

Ahhh it tends to make more sense now... Thanks for this I will expiriment a fair bit and see what happens...I can think of another question but will check out other posts first to see if answered...before posting here..