Best DVDFab Xbox 360 settings

Movie Copy Software DVDFab / DVD Region+CSS Free
#1

I am currently evalauation DVDFab and like it thus far but I’m curious how to get the best quality for Xbox 360 use? Currently what I do is create the Audio and Video Files and use the DVD to Mobile option, select Generic and use the Xvid Audio settings at default. When I try to view these on my Xbox 360 it’s very grainy when set to widescreen, but when I set to Navite it’s very small but clear. As you can probably tell I’m new to this but would love for my 400+ DVD collection to be accessible via Windows Home Server and to my Xbox’s (I have 3). What can I do to get the best picture quality? It seems that DVDfab’s screen sizes need to be larger so I don’t get pixels movies.

I’ve tried using the preset Xbox 360 Mobile settings but the conversion takes forever it seems. I’m just looking for the absolute best conversion settings that will look nice on a set from 32" to 50" screen. File size is not really a limitation. If it has to be bigger for the quality of the movie to be better that’s no problem.

Can someone please share with me who have encountered this very same issue how they resolved this or did you use something other than DVDFab? Any help would be appreciated.

#2

In file conversion settings what is the Bits/Pixel?

IMO there is not anything out there better thand DVDfab, and I have used them all, and paid for most.

#3

It’s been varying between .1 and .4, but I’ve found that i can use the slider and bump that up to about .6 and it looks way better when stretch on my TV…I think I might have found the magic trick. The file size is about 2.6GB per 1.5 hour or so movie…plus or minus a little. Is this the magic trick? I hope so. I’d love to start burning all my movies as soon as I have the right converter settings…next question is do I pull the trigger on the Gold or the Professional addition? i don’t see that much benefit of the pro over the gold…

#4

[QUOTE=tthome;2200521]It’s been varying between .1 and .4, but I’ve found that i can use the slider and bump that up to about .6 and it looks way better when stretch on my TV…I think I might have found the magic trick. The file size is about 2.6GB per 1.5 hour or so movie…plus or minus a little. Is this the magic trick? I hope so. I’d love to start burning all my movies as soon as I have the right converter settings…next question is do I pull the trigger on the Gold or the Professional addition? i don’t see that much benefit of the pro over the gold…[/QUOTE]Your on the right track experiment and find the best bitrte for you.

#5

I’ve converted tons of stuff to use on the xbox.

Unfortunately, the xbox has got to have the worst scaling system ever. So low res videos look awful.

That means you pretty much need to upscale the video as part of the encoding process, which leads to bigger files.

Like you I’ve settled on xvid, with audio copy - that retains the 5.1 surround track, and privides reasonable picture.
For picture quality, I set the bitrate to around 2000bps, shooting for
.2 or higher, but not much higher.
I generally turn off cropping, feeling that a standard output ratio is likely to be more compatible.

One thing I experimented with was resolution - I set it to the highest possible rate for widescreen I think this is 848x480, for full its 640x480.

The results aren’t bad - they look incredible on a tube tv.
On a big screen however they still don’t look as good as the original DVD in an upscaling DVD player like the Toshiba A3.

It might be worth giving MediaCoder (free) a try - you can set resolution up to 1920x1200 - might do a better job of upscaling the source.

#6

I’m using DVDFab’s generic.avi.xvid.audiocopy profile to get a very good picture and retain the 5.1 surround sound. From this forum, it sounds like the generally accepted settings for this are:

Crop Settings = Automatic. This will not encode the black bars into the file, keeping the file size smaller. The horizontal black bars WILL still be “displayed”, because the content aspect ratio rarely equals that of the display device.

High quality encoding (2-pass)

Fixed Bitrate = 2048kbs (I’m using this because it’s a nice round number and looks good onscreen. Will adjust up or down with further discussion.)

Frame resolution – is a function of the auto cropping. I’m aiming for 720 and usually getting 704.

Bits/Pixel – is a function of how you set the Fixed Bitrate. My 2048 bitrate gives about .3xx Bits/Pixel. Sounds like the optimal Bits/Pixel is the 0.4-0.6 range, so you may want to adjust the Bitrate to get your Bits/Pixel in there.

Audio Bitrate = Same as source. The source being AC3/5.1

#7

The thing to watch is the bits/pixel. It is recalculated for you as you make changes in the picture size/framerate or video bitrate. The more the merrier (within reason), especially for the large screen sizes you guys are using. I agree with whoever said in an earlier post that 0.5-0.6 is a good number (if your playback device will swallow the high bitrate needed to produce it). Keep pushing it up until the files get too big or the player rejects the files.