Postby davea0511 » 26 Nov 2007 18:03
I've had best results using VLC to transcode DVDs to MPGs as follows. There are a TONS of ways to do this with VLC, but to me the below method seems the easiest and most versatile (I watch the resulting filethrough my wireless mediaMVP client connected to my TV in the playroom WHILE IT IS BEING ENCODED - very cool - like streaming but in some ways it's better than streaming to a device on your network, you're streaming to a file on the same machine as the DVD and then sharing it on the network). In the following example, it creates an mpg file in the "C:\Shared" directory called "starwars.mpg". You'll, of course need to edit the filename parameter (#7 below) so that it puts the file in some intelligent place on your computer.
1) put DVD in PC
2) run VLC player
3) File - OpenDisc
4) Select "DVD" (not DVD-menu), select the correct DVD drive, leave
titles and chapters as is. In some cases you'll need to change the title and chapter so it streams the right content, but often this is not necessary.
5) Checkmark "stream/save"
6) click "Settings" button
7) Paste this into the field titled 'Target" all on one line:
:sout=#transcode{vcodec=mp2v,vb=1024,venc=ffmpeg,scale=1,audio-sync,deinterlace,acodec=mpga,
ab=192,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=file,mux=ps,dst="C:\Shared\starwars.mpg"}}
8 ) Paste the above (#7) into the field called "target", but change the filename info to some location on your computer. If you wish, you can select the options in this panel to create the above parameter (#7 above) however you'll notice that some things shown above must be added manually to the Target parameter. Note that if you toggle anything on this dialog-panel whatever you typed into the Target parameter will be erased. That's why you should probably just paste the above (#7), change the filename info then select "OK". Make sure you specify a folder on your computer that is shared if you plan on sharing the file as it is being encoded.
9) Select OK.
10) Play.
Now go to the "C:\Shared" directory on your computer (or whatever directory you provided in #7 above) and watch the file grow.
After about a minute you can start watching the transcoded file over your network (assuming you've shared that directory).
Notes:
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Feel free to do a google search on vlc+sout and learn all about the different parameters you can use in the "Target" field. You can change sizes, encoding capsulation, bitrates, etc. No need for all these other programs for most transcoding. VLC can do it all.
I must admit however to convert to an iPod compatible file, Handbrake is better (and also free!) than VLC. There are tons of "how to's" you can google to find out how to do that.