How to rip a DVD and maintain full quality?
 

I'm ripping with 2pass encoding @ 1400kbps to AVI format and it still looks like crap.

What settings do you use to rip dvd's in high quality? I don't care about the filesize.

It depends on the software you use.

I developed a ripping app that upconverts to full quality DV so we can edit in Final Cut. There is no quality loss with upconversion.

THe other best option is to use an app that pulls the raw MPEG-2 stream with no re-encoding. It's fast like copying files off the disc since no compression is done.

Most ripping apps have piss poor encoding engines IMO.

Raw mpeg stream might be a bit too much for people to download. There must be a possible conversion no? I'm using DVDFab.

no thats just how you get it off the DVD to then re encode using a good quality app. I would suggest h.264 for flash as your encode format.

You said filesize was not an issue ;)

What quality app are you using?
I've tried DVDFab and Videocharge.

I use mencoder and some perl scripts

work like a fucking charm with amazing quality and sound

I use my own scripted app. But when I said re-encode with a quality app I meant like sorenson or episode engine

1400 kbps is not enough, you need at least double that and more like 6000 for the best.

I'm ripping one right now and it will be perfect

The wife uses DvDMagic - does a great job.

copyprotected DVDs? there are tools like "Handbrake" but as mentioned you need about 6000 kbit/s for full quality.

if not copy protected simply drag and drop the "Video_TS" folder from the DVD on your harddrive - no tools needed

If you want the best quality results and most flexibility, you might try my workflow. You use an app like DVD Decrypter to pull the VOB files off of the DVD and put them your hard drive in exactly the same quality they are on the DVD itself. Then google for an app called DVD2AVI. That app will make dozens of large file size very high quality avi files in sequence and a single corresponding wav audio file from the VOBs. You can put those AVIs and wav on a timeline like in Adobe Premiere, edit them however you want to add disclaimers, credits, or edit for content. Then you can output a DV AVI file from the editing app, which you can then import into your video encoding app of choice like Cleaner XL or Sorenson Squeeze or Adobe Flash Encoder to make whatever final format(s) you wish. I do not think that there is a better way to do it that gives you the best quality at every step of the process and also gives you flexibility to edit as you see fit.

dvdshrink+dvddencrypter

Both are freeware.