RatDVD for compressing KDVD backups
 

@All,

Just came across a program for DVD compression to store and expand
when needed DVD backups.

http://www.ratdvd.dk/

D/L'ed this test version and the compressed file plays back using WMP 10.
Seems like an interesting and useful tool for archiving DVD backups.
Has anyone tried it :?:

-BP

Sounds interresting but what about the quality ?

IMHO this should replace ugly Divx by something that, at least, had all the features of the original DVD (menu and so on...). But I won't do any "DVD backup" with is : DVDDecypter ISO is far better.

@BP

Hi, mate ! I've seen the announce of it right now at Doom9 forum. So, I went to its website and readed about that. I'll guess very interesting, because of the developer seems to have done a new codec and a proper transcoder engine. I'll downloaded and will give it a try asap.

See ya !

I heard about this tool via danpos and I find it very interesting, I have to do some tests but I like the idea behind it. :D

Very cool :!: :D
Thanks BP :cool:

-kwag

@Kwag,

Thanks :)

Checking AfterDawn's forum and D9, some are using VLC in place of
WMP 10. WMP 10 is only used with XP and I like others have W2K.

Here's an interesting use for ratDVD. Suppose you compress a KDVD
backup (movie only) and then ratted to fit a CD-R. Would this play
on a PC with VLC decoding the compress rat file. :roll: The compression
for RatDVD defaults at 95% and some have experienced macro blocking
in the compressed playback. More testing needs to be done for an optimal
compression vs movie size. This is only the first version of RatDVD and
it's already showing good promise. :wink:

-BP

For that I will remind that DIVX 6 is coming out and it will support all authoring features that exist on a DVD.
I don't like divx for the moment, but compared to a new codec, I figure the quality should be better.

Or ratDVD has discovered how to perform a miracle :D

Hi BP,

The way I see it, the guy wrote a wrapper to the internal DVD API structure, so the flat file looks like a DVD structure when opened with a software player. Similar to how MakeAVIS, VFAPIConvert, etc. work, which make the file look like an AVI. DVD2AVI project file does this too.
This way it should play with any software player, because the players think that they are reading a real DVD structure.
But this won't work for VCD/SVCD formats, because it's a different disk structure.

-kwag

@Kwag,

Kwag wrote:
You mean KDVD is mpeg-2 (SVCD) and not a true DVD structure :?:
Then only a transcoded DVD has a true DVD structure, such as one
created by DVDShrink, DVD2One, etc. Still, they can create files that
fit DVD-R (4.3GB) or DVD+R(4.6GB) in size and RatDVD could reduce
this to a size that could fit CD-R (800MB). The players for DVD would
see this flat file as a DVD structure. I'll try one of my backups to test
this and report later. :wink:

-BP

No. I was refering to regular KVCDs which are "VCD" structure when burned as VCD :) Or a re-encoded DVD, such as one proceessed with DVDREasy and Notch matrix, which produces a KDVD ;)
That should of course work correctly with Rat I see what you mean :)
Let me know the result. But the site mentions that it "transcodes", so I assume the quality will be very poor when it transcodes a full DVD down to ~800MB ;)

-kwag

@Kwag,

I referring to movie-only DVD. Let's say DVDREasy creates a backup
DVD+-R of 4.6GB and RatDVD compresses this down to 800MB or less.
This target size is what I'm interested in just like calcmatic predicts the
Q to obtain a file size to fill a CD-R. I'm curious as to how good the results
will be played as a compressed file to fit a CD-R. If it's lousy, I can surely
store multiple RatDVD file movies on a DVDR for compressed play back
with good quality. :wink:

I'm also concerned with the hardware and software requirements to
use RatDVD. It would be nice to include Windows 2000 as an OS with
some flexibility in using VLC to playback compressed files. I'm not
a big supporter of XP and it update(s) compatibility issuses. I have a
trial version of Server 2003 and will be testing RatDVD using this OS.
If you have any experience with Server 2003 vs XP, please let me
know. RatDVD user guide says it uses XP or greater :roll:

-BP

@All,

http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-5731042.html

This link was supplied by Doom9, MrBass.

-BP

For sure. Neither am I :lol: Sadly, I'm using Windows 2000 with SP4 and all service cratches. I MEAN, :arrow: "service patchs" :mrgreen:
So it doesn't run on my machine :roll:

-kwag

We have a saying in spanish: "El que da primero, es el que da mas duro"
It means that the first one that hits, is the one that hits the hardest.
These people just hit harder than DivX and others, so I wouldn't be surprised that "RatDVD" will soon be the top movie distribution format for just about every shared movie on the net :!:
Because DivX is not as flexible as DVD specs, it was doomed from the beginning, so it will never catch as "standard" dvd players supporting regular MPEG-2 DVD types.
Now, just think about it for a moment, if some DVD manufacturers decide to support "RatDVD" option on their firmware :idea:
Do you know what that will do to the DivX industry :?:
I'd say BYE BYE DivX, welcome RatDVD, with full menus and director cuts :mrgreen:
Time will tell :cool:

-kwag

The sad thing is that RatDVD will undoubtedly be used for piracy it is a fact of life. KVCD itself it used for such purposes as is DivX and XVID.

These groups will always take advantage of new compression tools I can certainly understand why Hollywood and the MPAA are panicking a bit.

However for legimate usage I think this is a great tool, I mean you could compress several of your DVD's onto say your laptop's hard drive and go on a holiday and watch your DVD's with all the features intact without having to worry about scratching or losing your precious DVD's.

I think this is a great idea, I hope this software doesn't disappear as it can be used for good as well as bad.

But those wrapers need original avi, isn't it?
He need without doubt, to use any type of compression. In that case that can not to be good. Or yes?

No. The single file that is created looks just like a DVD when played on any software player.
Just the same way if you open a .d2v file with TMPEG, it "looks" like an avi, but it's not.It's a transcoder, but I don't know what compression is done internally.
But it really doesn't matter, because the stream looks just like an MPEG-2 stream, because the CODEC (wrapper) they wrote does that automatically.

-kwag

HI Karl,

So is this a transcode in a similar vein to say DVD Shrink using a similar compression method?

If that is the case I would use DVD-RB using the KVCD matrix to backup my DVD then just use RatDVD to make it into a single file for viewing on my laptop if I wanted to watch the movie without having to bring the actual DVD along with me.

Or use DVDREasy :)

-kwag

Lol yes indeed, you know I still haven't got round to installing and testing this software I have read good things about it on this board.

I must do this next week. :D

It does not work on Win2000.
Always a failure at the last step. And as it removes intermediates files (like just encoded video), I lost two times 5 hours and removed it.

Kwag wrote:
I use DVDREasy version 6.3 and encoded with CCE 2.6 with no
trouble at all on Windows 2000 Pro. I quit using HCEnc due to
the very long time (12+ hours) for two passes to finish encoding.
My results are fantastic. My encoding times are 4 to 8 hours total.
I changed my partition drive to NTFS which allows DVD Decrypter
to create a .vob file greater than 4.2GB in size. :)

-BP

I did a test with both encoders and had the same error in the next step. Something about a bad value "5" that is out of range. I don't even know what causes that.
(I used 0.64, the one for CCE 2.70)

I just tried playing a .ratdvd file that I did on my wife's machine (she's on XP), and I can play it on W2K :D :!:
Just so you all know that although you can't encode on W2K, you can playback :cool:

-kwag

Still the same question : what about the quality please ?
And also, final target file size obtained compared to source's one ?

If you mean that you won't use ratDVD for compressing then, again, an ISO done with DVDDecrypter is exactly what you need. ratDVD is useless here.

Very good :!: It encodes in CQ mode, so the file size will be different for every movie.
Still, way under the 4.3GB limit.
Check your PM :cool:

-kwag

Lmao. :lol: :lol: Yes you are right of course Phil, silly me. :oops:

It is far esier to do just that and use an ISO from DVDDecrypter than to mess around encoding my DVD's again. :D

@All,

There has been an update to the playback programs which no longer
requires WMP 10. These filters use DirectShow and players can
be configured to use them for .RatDVD files. Check the RatDVD website
to download them. :)

-BP

I just had an idea :idea:
Because RatDVD used Directshow to process a DVD, how about a program that would "trap" DVD reads (break the filter graph chain), redirect them to AviSynth, and redirect back to ratDVD :idea:
The idea is to divert the stream being read from ratDVD, so that we may apply filters to the stream, and then loop back to rat's processing.
Then we could call it "ratDVD Trap!" :lol:
Maybe I'll look into Directshow API and see if something can be done :cool:
Does this make sense, or is this another of my "dumb, early morning" ideas :?: :mrgreen:

-kwag

I always say that you should never use Direcshow to encode your source because you can't know what is interfering in the render chain between the source and you. Your idea is the exact illustation of this :)

I agree, but in this case, ratDVD DOES use Directshow for processing :!:
So breaking the filter chain would be the only way to add external filtering.

-kwag

Yes, that's what I wanted to say. If I'd develop something like ratDVD, I'd never user directshow. Because there is always a crazy mind to have the idea to screw my efforts with his crazy ideas :D

Thanks :!: :mrgreen: But my crazy idea is not to screw up ratDVD. On the contrary ;)

-kwag

@Kwag,

Keep coming with those ideas. :idea: Some will become very useful :)
Your purpose would be to improve the compressed RatDVD picture and
that's worth a try. 8) Others will improve your ideas later, but try it
out as a start. I would like to see KVCD Notch matrix somehow applied
to RatDVD. It certainly helped DVDREasy improve it's picture quality.

-BP

I see that nobody understand when I'm doing jokes... :(

It's because you're a "serious guy" :!: :lol: :lol: :lol:

CYA :!:

sometimes is like "a delicated sound of thunder"... :lol:
don't worry,like danpos said,you seems a serious guy(and is of course) but it's only the words that you choose to write.change the sinonimous in your posts and will transmit more friendly answers! :wink:
see how Rui can be amazing and lovely even when "brave" .yep,another Rui fan here! :lol:

I take it as a compliment :D.
But Phil is a supermod on 49 sub-forums here at kvcd.net.
He has 8490 posts in ~2 years, which gives more than 11 posts/day.
Not to mention that he also is a mod in other communities.
With such figures you have to agree that sometimes it's difficult to choose the right words before hiting the "submit" button :lol:.
Cheers

I'm pretty sure that Phil always write that he want, with corrects words that he carefuly selected.