just curious because this would be amazing. i ve heard you can rip somewhat (im not sure how much) with dvd2xbox but i am concerned about space.

You're aware that transcoding to DivX from decrypted VOB files would take 8-12 hours, right?

But anyway, no, there is no such utility for the Xbox at this time.

Use dvd x copy express it will shrink down your orig. dvd to fit on a regular 4.8 dvd disc then just use that copy for your xbox, even if the orig. dvd movie is smaller than 4.8 it will even shrink it more. Use a dvd rw to use again. This will save you plenty of room

I downloaded a tool called DrDivX that converts a decrypted DVD to a DIVX AVI file in one easy step.
You can choose the target file size you want or the encoding rate which will determine the file size.

It worked well for me. Took approx 4 hours on an Athlon 1800.

I recommend Gordian Knot which can be found here: http://www.doom9.org/
It will cut a High-Res divx up to 2+ gig's (3+ CD's) using DivX 3.11a, DivX 5 and Xvid.
using some of the best tools available all built into one nice interface.

The instructions to use it are built in as well.

The avi's I cut are near DVD quality and pass the casual viewer tests....
most can't tell the differance.

I have some instructions that I have written that give some hints and short cuts on
how to get the best results and save time if you are interested.

It is very CPU intensive and 10-12 gigs of free Hard drive space is a must.
I can cut a 4-5 gig DVD down too 1.5-2gigs in about 3-4 hours tops on a P4 2.4 Ghz machine.

I can fit up too 3 movies per DVD-R.

is there a loss in sound quality? will it still retain its dolbydigital and dts qualities? will the xbox and or a receiver recognize the dd and dts after being ripped to a divx?

You can choose too compress the AC3 stream using MP3...
I think you know what that means (basically 2 channels of audio)
or if you want
Leave the AC3 stream intact... and you should retain all that audio goodness.
(this will increase the file size by about 15-25%)

I have never tested this because I dont have a receiver to test this.
I good friend of mine has confirmed that it works fine for him.

QUOTE (erexx @ Jul 30 2003, 03:30 AM)

I recommend Gordian Knot which can be found here: http://www.doom9.org/ It will cut a High-Res divx up to 2+ gig's (3+ CD's) using DivX 3.11a or DivX 5 using some of the best tools available all built into one nice interface. The instructions to use it are built in as well. The avi's I cut are near DVD quality and pass the casual viewer tests.... most can't tell the differance. I have some instructions that I have written that give some hints and short cuts on how to get the best results and save time if you are interested. It is very CPU intensive and 10-12 gigs of free Hard drive space is a must. I can cut a 4-5 gig DVD down too 1.5-2gigs in about 3-4 hours tops on a P4 2.4 Ghz machine. I can fit up too 3 movies per DVD-R.

Interesting I have a P4 2.4 it does have 400mhz DDR and hyperthreading enabled. I've replaced virtualdub in gordion knot with the p4 optimised version and I can rip movies in just slightly quicker than realtime for both passes at high quality.
1 cd rip for 90 minutes and less
2 cd rip for 120 minutes or less
3 cd rip for 180 minutes or less
never ripped a film over 3 hours

If I have a high bitrate I normally add a AC3 sountrack otherwise I just encode the audio at 224Kbit Mp3.

If not already replace your virtualdub with the P4 optimised version it (seems to me at least) to make quite a differnce. should try turning off hyperthreading and see how I do then.

QUOTE

If not already replace your virtualdub with the P4 optimised version

You know I have been thinking about that.
I have experimented with different versions of virtual dub and the Gordian Knot package.
But the few times I did it crashed the job.
I haev not have good luck mixing anything outside of the Gordian Install package.

Shaving an hour or more! off the encoding process would be nice for sure.
I am going to try this again asap.

Good to know someone else is using this fantastic application.

I would like to ask you a few questions about how you use the app as well.
I take a few short cuts and I am wondering if they are common knowledge...

Ive used gordian knot a few times and ive been happy with the results. But the encode times you guys get are crazy. Using a P4 2 ghz it takes me about 6-7 hours to do a 2 pass 1.4 GB encode. I also found the program a bit overwhelming. The all in one programs suck, even Dr divx IMHO. Any help u guys can offer me (apart from links to doom9.net ) would be appreciated. Ive been using an older version of GK cuz with the latest version i kept getting error messages (about a plug-in) that I didnt take the time to figure out, and just switched back to the version that worked for me.

EDIT: erexx: shortcuts?... Any help u can offer me is much appreciated.

Thanks desertboy
I replaced the packaged virtuadub with the newest P4 optimized version from sourceforge.
I backed up DareDevil in 2 hours 41 min last night.
It made a 1.5 gigbyte avi... awesome quality and it plays back nicely off dvd-r in XBMP

kooks
Encoding is totally processor/hardware dependant.
Your results may vary.

ShortCuts...
The basics of how I use the tool.
I get AWESOME hi-res divx avi's every time.
SVCD cannot hold a candle to the quality even though the file sizes are similar.

Basically I follow all the instructions up to the DVD2AVI conversation
My shortcuts start after I have the d2v created using DVD2AVI.
(forced film @ 23.976 fps)

I skip all the bitrate testing and crap...
I don’t think its necessary because I am not concerned about file size.
This is written only for Progresive Films.
If the DVD your are backing up showed a lot of Interlaced frames in the preview
Then there are steps not listed here to deal with that.

BitRate:
Choose your codec.
I prefer DivX 3.11a
Audio Bit Rate is set to 160kBits/s : (If not using AC3)

Total Size the Movie will be cut to:
Click on 3CD’s … this is really important.

Interleaving & AVI-Overhead:
I use 1xvbr-mp3 (Really 2 channels of Audio Only)
You really CAN choose 1x AC3 / cbr MP3 here.
The movie will increase in size by about 15-25% if you use AC3
and retain ALL the audio experience 5.1 system users like experiencing.

Audio A BitRate: Same as the bit rate you intend to choose to compress the audio.

Time to open the DVD2AVI (D2V) Template created earlier.

Open the D2V file by clicking on the open tab on the bottom Lft.

Set FPS in the bottom right Corner to 23.976

Resolution:
Input Resolution: Same as DVD2 AVI Preview
Input Pixel Ratio: Same as DVD2 AVI Preview (16:9) most often.
Output Resolution: Turn the Slider Bar all the way up to 704 x 384.
In other movies the 384 value might be different.
Ignore that. 704 for Width is the only thing that matters.

See the Pixel option Under Crop… get ready to use it.

Crop the Black Boarders around the image above.
Get rid of them.
Use Crop and the 4 boxes to the left to adjust the image.

Use the Crop Pixel tool to remove as much of the black boarders that you can.
Cut the Left and Rt. sides completely off.
You may need to leave a little black at the top and bottom (only)
This is solely because you want to come as close to the original [Aspect Error] as possible.
Watch the Aspect Error value change as you crop the movie.
This is very important, as the movies image will distort if you don’t.
I try to come as close as <> - + .01…or .02 %
If the W-zoom and H-Zoom Box's turn Red it does matter here but is irrelevant
You really don’t want to create a movie that is less
than 704 x XXX in resolution…. It just looks bad.
If you have to cut a little off the top or bottom it’s acceptable trade off for resolution imho.

Once you are done here click on Save and Encode in the Project Preview window.

Notice that Gordian Knot chooses the best filter automatically.
Works for me but the author says he prefers Neutral Bicubic.
Everything else should be set to default

Once that is done the encoder will automatically kick in.
Check the Anti-Shit =] Box. (This is optional and can skipped)
It will give you a warning that you can click Yes too and then set the Audio dB to 0
If you don’t the audio output in the final video will be very low.

Next its time to click on the Audio tab
Browes to the audio stream you intend to mux with the video.
I Choose the first and biggest file.
(This usually the engilsh language track although movies like the Animatrix put the jap track first)
If you choose to use MP3 then the AC3 file will be transcoded to MP3 first
and then mux with the video after its done encoding.

If you are using MP3 then set the encoding rate to 160kBit/Sec minimum.
128 is too low and will distort with high-pitched sounds…
192kBit/Sec is the next highest level
192 is recommended only if 160 still has audio distortion.

After that’s done click on the DivX3/Xvid tab.
If you don’t and choose to start encoding under
the Audio tab you will only create the audio file.
Then click on the Add job to Encoding Que.

There it Goes!
If you get any errors in the log file below about -File size for codec Selection, Blah Blah- -ignore them all-
The final quality of the video is all that matters...

This method works great for me, if you don’t like it then use the built in instructions.
And throw the whole thing away and do it your way … I really don’t care.

Any Questions please fell free to ask.

Wow.

Thanks erexx. i dont know if you had already wrote those shortcuts as a tutorial, but either way it seems like alot of work. Much appreciated. Im reinstalling windows shortly, and the first thing I'm gunna do is install GK and try out the process you just wrote.

One question... I am concerned about file size and have had some problems with file sizes ending up too large. My HDD space is limited, so i prefer to burn the avi's to cd-r's then stream using relax. A few times ive had the files end up at approx 1.48 GB so it kinda sucks to have such a small part left over to burn to a disk. Im sure i can figure that out. One other thing is someone told me in a newsgroup that xbmp wont play vbr audio. I tried playing a movie i had encoded using vbr and sure enough it stopped playing as soon as the audio kicked in. Is the only way around this to stick with CBR?

Thanks and yes this is an excerpt from a longer version with pictures..
so it didnt take that long...

So dont thank me now... only if this works for you. ;p

I am sorry I should have mentioned that the reason why I do it this way
is precisely because file size is not a concern of mine... only quality.

No I dont have -any- problems what so ever using vbr mp3 audio on xbmp2.3 or 2.4.
The only time I use cbr is when I want to append multiple avi's together
I dont see any reason why you couldnt use cbr in any case...
vbr only saves space really....

I use dvd-r which caters to this method very well.

I also use Relax.075 exclusively to stream data.

The only problems streaming i have are with files over 2 gigs
-they fail to play so I must split them.
and sometimes there is some stuttering in very busy scenes...
but I suspect that is bandwidth related since they always play fine from DVD or the HD

If you can get a bigger hard drive... for your Xbox or your PC.
I just paid $80 bucks for a another 120gig 8MB 7200rpm Maxtor from 0ffice Depot.