Looking to Convert DVD to Divx to save space

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by mtyme

What options do you use with mkvmerge?

I just use the options that the mkvmerge gui produces plus "--engage keep_bitstream_ar_info" so that it retains the proper aspect ratio information. Otherwise my picture is distorted on SageTV due to the fact that I'm converting my DVD's anamorphic.

If you didn't already know, all DVD's are anamorphic. Meaning the 1:1 aspect ratio of the resolution that's recorded is different than the display aspect ratio. So, what that does is keeps the 720x480 resolution of the original DVD and specifies an aspect ratio in the file. That way anything that plays back the video should size it properly. This has the advantage of retaining the original resolution of the picture. Whereas if you convert a 16:9 DVD to 1:1 you are going to lose some vertical detail in the process.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by jphipps

Did you get much savings from H.264? I started trying that, but it seemed like the hours it took to convert the video, did not really yeild much space savings. I was using Nero recode, is there a better tool to use?

As I stated earlier my main intent wasn't necessarily space. Space comes second for me. I get approximately 1GB/hr at the 2000Kb/s average. Less than half of the average DVD.