megui complete dvd ripping graphical guide
TRANSCRIPT
MeGUI COMPLETE DVD RIPPING GRAPHICAL GUIDE [ DRG ]
This guide was written as a basic guide on ripping a DVD into a single computer video file via the free program MeGUI. The aim of this guide is to be a complete walkthrough of the basic concepts for ripping a DVD, and is aimed at everyone from the complete newbie to intermediate users.
It covers:
1.Setting up the required programs
Required Programs:-
a) MeGUI- This is the main program that you will be using. It is actually a 'frontend' for a number of other free tools but includes a number of useful features that significantly reduce the difficulty of creating a good quality DVD backup. This installer will install the base required files for meGUI to function. You can then run the in-program updater and let it download all the updates you want. In total, the updates add up to around 35mb of files.
Download MeGUI
MeGUI requires a number of other programs to run correctly. If you do not already have the programs below, then please acquire them:
i) Microsoft .NET framework 2.0:This is a free Microsoft update around 20mb in size available from Windows Update or the Microsoft Website
Download Microsoft .NET framework 2.0
ii)Avisynth:This is a separate program that is used to do editing of video through the writing of scripts. Download the latest stable version below. MeGUI will download a number of plugins for Avisynth through its updater utility - you do not need to download any yourself to get MeGUI working.
Download Avisynth
iii)Other optional programs that MeGUI can use:
a) Nero AAC Encoder:This is the free Nero Digital AAC encoder which can be downloaded from this Nero webpage. Extract neroAacEnc.exe and set the right place to it in Settings -> Program Paths -> Audio -> neroAacEnc
Download Nero AAC Encoder
b)DVD Decrypter:DVD Decrypter is the program used to rip the raw DVD data off your DVD. The last available version is 3.5.4.0 and decrypts the vast majority of available DVDs
Download Dvd Decrypter
c)CCCP Codec pack:Any playback filter / codec pack that can decode ac3/dts audio. My suggestion is the CCCP Codec pack: The CCCP is a codec pack that installs a minimal set of filters that decode the vast majority of files
Download CCCP Codec Pack
Setup
MeGUI: MeGUI requires no additional setup after you have fully updated it. By default, it will prompt you to update whenever there is one.
DVD Decrypter: Once installed, set the program mode to IFO mode (mode->IFO) and open up the settings (tools menu). Under the "IFO Mode" tab, set splitting to none and check the box to create OGG format chapters as well as Stream information.
Once you've done this, proceed to the next section:
2.Ripping the dvd: which involves:
* Ripping the data off the DVD Disc* Demuxing the audio streams and creating a d2v index.
Basic Info
This section deals with two actions:
* Extracting & decrypting ('ripping') the raw data off the DVD* Demultiplexing (demuxing) the audio streams from the resulting file and creating an index file for the video data.
Ripping the DVD
* Start up DVD Decrypter and choose your DVD drive in the drop down box.* Select the PGC (ProGram Chain) that matches the length of your movie (may be
auto-selected):
* Choose your save location
* Click the Rip button. Once this process completes you will be left with:
* One large vob file (the video and audio data),
* If you didn't set DVD Decrypter to create only one VOB file, you will end up with a number of 1gb sized VOBs. Just use the first one for the next step.
* An ifo file (part of the DVD file structure),* The OGG format chapter file (open it up to see how the chapters are stored),* A stream information file (with information on the audio and video streams in the vob).
Demuxing the audio and creating the d2v index
* Start up MeGUI* Go tools -> d2v creator
* Select the .vob file from DVD Decrypter as the Video Input* Choose "demux all audio tracks"* Choose the location to save the d2v file to
* Click "queue"
* Go back to the main screen and click on the tab. Click the button to create the d2v.
Once you've done this, proceed to the next section:
3.Encoding the audio:
Basic Info This section deals with encoding the audio into its final format (which is up to you to decide) with the MeGUI audio encoder.
Creating the input file
There are three options for creating an input file. All will work, you can choose whichever you prefer:
* Use the audio file as direct input: For supported audio files (ac3, mp2, mp3 and a few other formats), you can directly select these files to be used as input.
* Create a new AviSynth file to use as input: The audio encoder dialog also supports audio from avs files. You can create a new avs script which can load the required audio with the following line (assuming you have the required decoders): directshowsource("path\to\file.wmv",audio=false)
* Modify an existing AviSynth video source file: If you created an avs with the avs script creator in the previous step, you can simply change the audio=false in the directshowsource(... line to audio=true.
Encoding the Audio
* On the first page of MeGUI click the [...] button next to "audio input". Browse to
the audio file and open it
* You now have to choose which audio format to use. Here is a quick rundown of the advantages of each format. Formats that are not recommended have been greyed out:
* ND AAC: Nero AAC encoder. AAC is probably the equal highest quality format available for stereo files (ties with Vorbis). Variable bitrate (VBR) is recommended.* CT AAC: Coding Technologies AAC encoder. Opinions vary on whether this or ND AAC give better quality files, I can only suggest you decide yourself. (Personally, I can't hear any difference, and the Nero encoder supports abr and quality modes, so that's what I use.)* MP3: The oldest and most common audio format. Can be played on all Windows computers, but gives the lowest audio quality out of all formats (which is still reasonable). ABR is recommended. In MeGUI, this is encoded with LAME, which does incredibly well on such an old format.
* AudX 5.1: A very new encoder which encodes 5.1 channels into a normal MP3 file. Not recommended for basic usage yet, as it is still relatively new and its future is uncertain.* Vorbis: Free and open-source, often called 'ogg' (ogg is the filename extension and container format, Vorbis is the audio format).* AC3: An encoder for DVD format audio. Don't use this encoder - if you want to have an AC3 stream, simply use the version that was demuxed from the original DVD and skip any audio encoding.* MP2: Very similar to MP3, gives slightly better quality at bitrates above 256kbits (some say 192kbits), but not by a large amount, and bitrates that large aren't recommended.* FAAC: Another AAC encoder, not-very-good quality output. Use ND/CT AAC instead.
* For more information on Audio formats, check out the computer movie files page.* Once you have chosen your audio format (if in doubt, stick with MP3).* For a normal movie, 128kbits is usually used. This corresponds to approximately q3 for vorbis files. For concerts or movies where you want a higher audio quality, you can increase this value up to 160 (q5 for vorbis) - any higher is probably a waste.* Once you have chosen your bitrate, click the 'enqueue' button, move over to the
tab and click to start the job:
Once you've done this, proceed to the next section:
4.Encoding the video: which involves:
* Creating an avs script
* Calculating the required bitrate
Basic Info This section is divided into three sub-sections:
* Creating the Avisynth script file for the video* Calculating the bitrate for the video* Encoding the video
Creating the AviSynth file
* Open up MeGUI and start the avisynth script creator from the tools menu
* Set your d2v file as the video input* If "Input DAR" ratio is a different ratio to the aspect ratio of the preview window, it means the DVD is anamorphic. You can either resize to a non-anamorphic resolution, or keep the video anamorphic by checking the "anamorphic" button. If you encode anamorphic, the video will be stretched on playback to maintain correct Aspect Ratio
A little info on the three anamorphic modes:
* "Resize to mod16" will only resize the video if the width or height are not equally divisible by 16.* "Overcrop to achieve mod16" do the same as above, but instead of resizing, the video will be cropped.* "Encode non mod16" will not resize or crop the video, but if the resolution is not mod16, the compressibility of the video will suffer. This loss is basically negligible unless you are going for extremely high quality encoding.
* If the video has black bars around the edge, you should crop them with the tool.* If you want to resize your video, check "suggest resolution" and change to the
resolution you want. If you want the highest quality file, do not resize.* Flip over to the second tab. Under deinterlacing, check the "source is anime" box if your source is anime or cartoon, then click the analyse button. The analyser will make one or two passes to determine the optimal filter. Choose whichever option it gives you for deinterlacer.* Choose your resize filter. Use spline36 unless you know why you should use another.* Enable denoising and pick the appropriate level. Denoising reduces noise, which makes the image look better (less flickering) and compress better (less flickering = lower complexity). Always enable at least minimal. Medium & High denoising should be used sparingly.* Use MPEG2 deblocking only if there is noticeable blocking in the source. Very few DVDs need this.* Save the avs (it should automatically load into MeGUI once you do this) and proceed to the next section.
Calculating the bitrate
* If your avs file is not loaded, load it now (by clicking the [...] button next to "Avisynth script").* Open the bitrate calculator in tools. Once it opens, MeGUI should automatically fill in the information such as length and framerate.* Choose the format and container that your final video file will be in* Choose your final desired size ("total size")* Click the "select" button in the Audio 1 area and select the audio file you created.* The required video bitrate should appear in the lower right corner, write this number down and click apply.* For more information on the Bitrate Calculator click here.
Encoding the video
* You should already have the avs video file loaded into MeGUI - if not, load it now (click the top [...] button).* You have two options for choosing the video format to encode in: XviD and x264. It is beyond the scope of this document to give a large discussion of the differences between these two formats. Suffice to say:
* XviD is a very popular encoding format - it is used almost exclusively for 'scene' TV and movie rips. It has been around for a long time and offers a reasonable level of quality for filesize. You can compare it to mp3 in many respects.* x264 is a 'new' standard. Both new disc formats (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray) will support x264 encoded files, and it looks set to become the successor to XviD. It has not yet reached a large level of support yet, although support and use is constantly growing. It gives better quality than XviD, especially at bitrates under 1500kbits or so.
* To encode in XviD:
* Select your codec as XviD, and choose your container as AVI* Click the config button* On the first page:
* Set mode to "automated 2pass" and check "turbo"* Set your bitrate to the figure you got from the bitrate calculator* Set the keyframe interval to ten times the framerate (which you got from DGIndex)* Set the VHQ mode to 4.
* Click OK
* To encode in x264:
* Select your codec as x264, and choose your container as MP4* Click the config button* On the first page:
* Choose the profile as either HQ-Slow or HQ-Slower. I personally recommend HQ-Slower, you only run the encode once and the quality will stay forever.* Set mode to "automated 2pass" and check "turbo"* Set your bitrate to the figure you got from the bitrate calculator
* Click OK
* Click the 'enqueue' button, move over to the tab and click to start the job
Once you've done this you will need to wait for all the audio and video encoding to finish before you move onto the last step, which is muxing the files together.
5.Muxing together the two streams with chapters to produce the final file:
Basic Info In this step the audio & video are muxed together with chapters if desired.
Muxing The Final File
* Open the adaptive muxer in the tools menu under 'muxers'
* Select the video file you encoded as the video input. The name field is optional.* Do the same for the audio.* You can add the chapters file that was demuxed by DVD Decrypter too if you want, it will work for mp4 and mkv files.* Choose the container format* Choose the output filename.
* Click the 'queue' button, move over to the tab and click to start the job.
