Want to get started in video encoding

[aetherh4cker]

Alright, my goal is to be able to rip an anime DVD on to my computer, then turn it into H.264 AVC MP4's or MKV's of the highest quality per filesize that I can.

My DVD I'm using isn't encrypted or copy protected or anything like that, so I don't need advice on decrypting DVD's if it is potentially illegal.

So far all I have done is copied the contents of the DVD to my harddrive and I'm not quite sure where to go from there (sad, I know). Someone told me to check out the x264 codec and so I would like to stick with that, but I have no idea what software I need to get started!

If anyone could help, I would greatly appreciate it. Obviously I would prefer freeware recommendations, but I'll take anything. I just really want to get started making the best quality per MB movies that I can. The H.264 thing is supposed to be 'new', so that's what I want to start with. I've read that software that automates too much of the process won't produce the best quality.

Thanks in advance for any help. I look forward to your replies!

[EricB]

Originally Posted by aetherh4cker

Alright, my goal is to be able to rip an anime DVD on to my computer, then turn it into H.264 AVC MP4's or MKV's of the highest quality per filesize that I can.

My DVD I'm using isn't encrypted or copy protected or anything like that, so I don't need advice on decrypting DVD's if it is potentially illegal.

So far all I have done is copied the contents of the DVD to my harddrive and I'm not quite sure where to go from there (sad, I know). Someone told me to check out the x264 codec and so I would like to stick with that, but I have no idea what software I need to get started!

If anyone could help, I would greatly appreciate it. Obviously I would prefer freeware recommendations, but I'll take anything. I just really want to get started making the best quality per MB movies that I can. The H.264 thing is supposed to be 'new', so that's what I want to start with. I've read that software that automates too much of the process won't produce the best quality.

Thanks in advance for any help. I look forward to your replies!

quicktime pro and nero has that format

[TheEnd187]

im thinking he wants MKV cuz we wants X264 not H.264,when most ppl talk about X264 they are talking MKV

[aetherh4cker]

x264 is a H.264 AVC codec, or as described by Wikipedia: "x264 is a free software library for encoding H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video streams". Nero Digital does indeed support H.264, but isn't free.

I was able to find some stuff about it, if anyone else was interested. The first link is the guide, the second is a download location for x264 and MeGUI:
Guides:Basic Guide - MeWiki
x264 burning frames directly into your brain

[EricB]

Originally Posted by aetherh4cker

x264 is a H.264 AVC codec, or as described by Wikipedia: "x264 is a free software library for encoding H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video streams". Nero Digital does indeed support H.264, but isn't free.

I was able to find some stuff about it, if anyone else was interested. The first link is the guide, the second is a download location for x264 and MeGUI:
Guides:Basic Guide - MeWiki
x264 burning frames directly into your brain

so does quicktime pro, which isn't free either. it's name was on that list. quicktime was using it when everybody else was stuck on mpeg 2