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Nubben · May 27, 2005, 08:27 AM

Hi everyone,

Have a question re the above. I'm on Tiger and a PB 15" 1.25Ghz, 512MB memory. I have a couple of DVDs I would like to put permanently on my HD and was wondering if there's a way of doing this using the new codec in QT7. I understand that I have to use MacTheRipper or something similar to rip the CD first. I also have Popcorn but I think that only allows me to shrink/copy a DVD to a blank DVD and not to a .mov format movie.

Anyone have a good way of going about doing this?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Nubben

chabig · May 27, 2005, 12:52 PM

I like HandBrake.

Chris

ambush · May 27, 2005, 02:27 PM

Yeah, HandBrake definitely... it does H264!

-Q- · May 27, 2005, 02:33 PM

Third supportive post for Handbrake. Works very well.

Nubben · May 27, 2005, 02:36 PM

Thanks for all your replies! So what I need then is MacTheRipper and HandBrake combo (and in that order)? Thanks in advance.

-Q- · May 27, 2005, 02:43 PM

IIRC, Handbrake can convert the movie straight from DVD so you wouldn't have to use MacTheRipper.

MaxPower2k3 · May 27, 2005, 02:44 PM

I just started playing with Handbrake. It looks pretty nice. The only problem is that H.264 + AC3 audio isn't playable in Quicktime, only VLC. so, you're either stuck with VLC + AC3 or QT + AAC audio.

King Bob On The Cob · May 27, 2005, 03:55 PM

You have to have the entire movie done before Quicktime will play it. Trust me, I did the Matrix that way (took me forever but I did it)

plastiqueusa · May 27, 2005, 11:29 PM

As far as AC3 in Quicktime, it is not natively supported but you can download and install a plugin for it--then there should be no problems.

bmedina · May 28, 2005, 12:05 AM

Does handrake do Quicktime H.264 or x264?

MaxPower2k3 · May 28, 2005, 12:15 AM

Originally Posted by bmedina

Does handrake do Quicktime H.264 or x264?

it uses x264, not QT's more optimized encoder. Since handbrake is cross-platform (OS X/Linux/BeOS), there don't seem to be any plans to switch to QT's encoder, which is kind of unfortunate. I guess someone could hack it in, though, since it's open source.

Jacke · May 28, 2005, 05:28 AM

Originally Posted by plastiqueusa

As far as AC3 in Quicktime, it is not natively supported but you can download and install a plugin for it--then there should be no problems.

AFAIK the AC3 plugin relies on the DivX codec for avi parsing, and the DivX codec only comes into action when the video is DivX/XviD.

If someone knows if it does work with h.264/AC3 combo, chime in.

bmedina · May 28, 2005, 12:21 PM

Originally Posted by MaxPower2k3

it uses x264, not QT's more optimized encoder. Since handbrake is cross-platform (OS X/Linux/BeOS), there don't seem to be any plans to switch to QT's encoder, which is kind of unfortunate. I guess someone could hack it in, though, since it's open source.

H.264 isn't platform-specific. One can play back Quicktime's H.264 on Windows today.

MaxPower2k3 · May 28, 2005, 01:47 PM

I'm talking about the encoder. QT doesn't use the x264 encoder, it uses Apple's more optimized encoder. Handbrake uses the open-source x264 encoder, which works across virtually every platform, but isn't as optimized (and so not as fast) on OS X as Apple's own encoder.

chabig · May 28, 2005, 04:29 PM

Originally Posted by MaxPower2k3

I'm talking about the encoder. QT doesn't use the x264 encoder, it uses Apple's more optimized encoder. Handbrake uses the open-source x264 encoder, which works across virtually every platform, but isn't as optimized (and so not as fast) on OS X as Apple's own encoder.

But the results ought to be the same or very close, no?

MaxPower2k3 · May 28, 2005, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by chabig

But the results ought to be the same or very close, no?

I don't have QT pro, so I don't have any real evidence, but I've heard that Apple's encoder doesn't use a few of the features H.264 is capable of (I think CABAC or something like that is one of them) so that encoding is faster, so x264 may actually produce slightly better results. I'd imagine, practically, both produce fairly similar results, though.

Someone who has QT pro and has done side-by-side comparisons between the two encoders can give a more definitive answer, however.

Lew · May 30, 2005, 06:16 AM

Originally Posted by chabig

But the results ought to be the same or very close, no?

Like how Apple's MPEG4 encoder produces results as good as third-party encoders?

bmedina · May 30, 2005, 01:44 PM

Originally Posted by MaxPower2k3

Handbrake uses the open-source x264 encoder, which works across virtually every platform, but isn't as optimized (and so not as fast) on OS X as Apple's own encoder.

What, it takes two months instead of one to encode a feature-length movie?

My guess is that x264 outperforms Apple's encoder, but it's just conjecture. Apple's encoder was quite a let down from the hype they gave it.

jasong · May 30, 2005, 11:27 PM

Is there a way to convert the DVD into a quicktime movie and keep the 5.1 surround sound?

Eug Wanker · May 30, 2005, 11:58 PM

Originally Posted by Lew

Like how Apple's MPEG4 encoder produces results as good as third-party encoders?

MPEG4 ≠ H.264 (aside from part of the name)

Originally Posted by bmedina

My guess is that x264 outperforms Apple's encoder, but it's just conjecture. Apple's encoder was quite a let down from the hype they gave it.

What's wrong with Apple's H.264 encoder? It looks pretty damn good to me.

Uncle Skeleton · May 31, 2005, 01:32 AM

Originally Posted by jasong

Is there a way to convert the DVD into a quicktime movie and keep the 5.1 surround sound?

If you extract the ac3 stream you can decode each channel separately with macAC3Decoder. Then you have to add each channel to the same movie and set each one to the correct channel in the audio settings. Then you can export the whole mess to one multichannel AAC track. If anyone knows of a more automated route please let me know.

Like how Apple's MPEG4 encoder produces results as good as third-party encoders?

MPEG4 ≠ H.264 (aside from part of the name)

Yes, but Apple = Apple, and they hyped their SP MPEG 4 codec just as hard as they did their h264 one.

Nubben · Jun 9, 2005, 09:14 AM

Is there any way I can bookmark a .mov file? I have a DVD with music videos I'd like to convert but unfortunately the chapters have not been properly bookmarked so a new chapter starts before the video has finished or new chapter starts slightly in to a new video (conversion of VHS tape in to DVD). If I can't bookmark it I was thinking about breaking the tracks up per song and put them in iTunes. Would I be able to create on file and then edit it aftewards, similar to a wave editor? Thanks in advance. Nubben

Jacke · 01:42 PM

You can add chapters to Quicktime files using MetadataHootenanny.

-Q- · Jun 9, 2005, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by Jacke

You can add chapters to Quicktime files using MetedataHootenanny.

Thanks for the link. And I love that name.

bmedina · Jun 9, 2005, 03:34 PM

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

What's wrong with Apple's H.264 encoder? It looks pretty damn good to me.

First, it's excruciatingly slow to encode. Second, it doesn't take advantage of many H.264 features, like cabac and in-loop filtering.