DVD Rebuilder for better quality copies?

[lordsmurf]

from e-mail...

Quote:

hi mate. Bit of advise needed here.
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/vi...-rebuilder.cfm
Is this a dcent link to download dvd rebuilder? I am finding that when I use DVD shrink for wrestling dvds they are coming out too pixalated. I think you said this program will sort that? But the description here says it shrinks it?
Any advice and also links for it?

DVD Rebulder "shrinks" by way of a full re-encode. It decodes then encodes the video.

The lower-quality "shrink" done by DVD Shrink is a rough transcode. Without getting into tech jargon, what happens here is that the video is not decoded and subsequently re-encoded to a new file, but the math equation of the existing video file is re-done. It takes some shortcuts to shrink the data file size. It's much faster, but at the price of quality.

The problem with your blocky images is more likely related to poor bitrate allocation, moreso than the transcode. Now, the transcoded version will look worse than the full decode/re-encode, but even that may be rather poor, if it's low on allocation. Sometimes just shrinking the bitrate isn't good enough. You need to keep enough bits per pixel to still look good.

Wrestling has a LOT of motion and small details going on, so high bit-per-pixel bitrate is really needed. The easy solution for this is to drop the resolution from Full D1 720x480 (or Broadcast D1 704x480) down to Half D1 352x480. Half D1 is comparable to what you're already seeing on your television, from satellite or cable. It's not "low quality" by any means.

DVD Rebuilder is indeed the right tool for this task, using the built-in HCEnc encoder, and then use the AVISynth Half D1 option. See image below...

dvdrb-halfd1.gif

The Afterdawn link you have is a good one.
However, you can also try the author's site directly: http://www.jdobbs.com/Pages/Downloads.htm
As well as the VideoHelp.com mirror for another direct download: http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tools...y=Name&hits=50
The free version should suffice.

[Superstar]

Few q's about rebuilder..I just downloaded it, and I didn't have the 2 encoders that were listed to use in the program, and I just skipped those during that part of the installation and thought that I could use the one that was built into rebuilder to copy DVDs, the HCE one, is that ok to use?
To copy a DVD with rebuilder, do I need to rip it to my hard drive first?
Also, other then what was shown in the pic above, is there any other settings I'd need to change?
And, what goes in the Source Path, and the Working Path spaces?

[admin]

As mentioned in the first post, yes, use either HCEnc or QuEnc. I believe HCEnc is the generally preferred encoder, and it's the one I use as well, the few times I need this kind of software.

The DVD must be pre-ripped to the hard drive, in file mode (VOB, IFO, BUP files).

Nothing else needs changing.

Source Path and Working Path should be self-explanatory. Source is where the ripped DVD files are. Working is where the computer temporarily puts things while it works. Output is where the new DVD files will be encoded to by DVD Rebuilder.