Hello Everybody.

I just bought a WD TV, and i'm pretty happy with it.

I want to start encoding my DVDs collection, so i no longer need to shuffle DVDs.

This is the list of Containers/Codecs it supports:

MKV:
+ video:
-- MPEG 1 / 2
-- MPEG 4 (e.g. xvid, divx)
-- H.264 (MPEG4 AVC)
+ audio:
-- mp3,
-- pcm (Microsoft),
-- Dolby Digital (DTS, AC3),
-- AAC

AVI:
+ video:
-- MPEG 1 / 2
-- MPEG 4 (e.g. xvid, divx)
-- H.264 (MPEG4 AVC)
+ audio:
-- mp3,
-- pcm (Microsoft),
-- Dolby Digital (DTS, AC3)

WMV:
+ video
-- VC-1 Advanced Profile (WVC1)
-- VC-1 Main Profile (WMV3)
-- VC-1 Simple Profile (WMV3)
+ audio
-- WMA9 2ch (not Pro or Lossless)

MP4
+ video:
-- MPEG 4
-- H.264 (MPEG4 AVC)
+ audio
-- AAC

I think MKV is the best of the all.

Anyway, considering that I would play the encodings on a 720p LCD, i was wondering, what combination of audio and video codec would give me the best possible video quality for at least 1/2 the original size?

I assume h264 would, but just checking.

Thanks.

H.264+mkv+aac sound(or original)
As frontend: MeGui
http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/Guides/Basic_Guide

For Video encoding Doom9 forums are the best. http://forum.doom9.org/forumdisplay.php?f=78

this http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=...p;t=8696#p50646 seems to be a good overview (my conclusion would be to simply rip DVDs to isos, even if you loose navigation for now...)

I'm doing the same thing. I'm using the MKV container with H.264 and original AC3 sound (I prefer my movies in surround sound instead of 2-channel stereo). I'm using RipBot264.

I would use something like DVDfab or CloneDVD to choose the Main Movie option. That puts you at about 4GB depending on the movie. Then when you encode you'll get more quality for the size. That's what I do. Most frontend's just encode the whole movie with your choice of audio & subtitles.

I'm with Manu on this, rip 'main movie only' with Fab or choice of ripper, and convert to MKV or MP4/h264 with the mentioned RipBot, Handbrake, Xvid4PSP, AviDemux, or Megui, one of the best (a bit daunting for noobs)...

I'd be inclined to use something that merely puts the MPEG2 into a different container, so there's no quality lost by transcoding. This could also be much faster. Using disc images means you can always recreate (burn) the DVD if the original is damaged.

But, doing "main movie" only (and stripping out unnecessary furrin' languages) will add up to a significant saving in drive space (and copy time) by the time you've done a few hundred movies. Rip trailers to a separate folder... hopefully one day, media players will randomly show a couple of trailers before the main feature, to recreate that grindhouse feeling.

ISO DVD playback (with menus and everything) still not supported - at least not in the official firmware,

i got one for myself as well btw, some notes http://blog.somestuff.org/index.php?entry=entry090706-115714

(i'am encoding a lot of cartoons, dvd sources, using x264, and its definately worth it, especially with some low-motion stuff i basically get from say 7000kbps to 450kbps - huge disk savings and quality remains, also 'aspect ratio signaling' is supported by wdtv, so you don't need to do any resizing on sources)