This page gives you access to a list of DVDs available on your system with a list of the Titles and Chapters on the selected DVD is on the left while settings, preview and general information are shown on the right. Conversion jobs and settings for each job is set in this page.
DVD List
On the top, a list of the available DVDs are shown in the drop-down list. You may select a DVD or "Browse...". When the latter is selected, you may select a directory where a copy of a DVD-Video exists (e.g. "C:\DVDClone\VIDEO_TS\"). A refresh button forces the program to scan for newer DVD discs.
Notice: Only DVD's inserted in a drive will be recognized. No empty DVD-Drive will be listed unless it contains a readable DVD disc.
DVD Contents Tree
On the left you will find a DVD Contents Tree showing the Titles/Chapters available on the current selected DVD (from the top list). By right-clicking a Title or Chapter, you may change the conversion mode from the pop-up menu.
By checking a Title's or Chapter's checkbox, the item is enabled or disabled accordingly.
Settings Tab
In the Settings tab you may find all the settings available for the current selected title/chapter. If the current selected title/chapter is not enabled (is not checked in the tree) a single setting "Enabled?" will be shown.
The program features 4 modes of conversion: Whole Title/Chapter, Chapter Splitting, Chapters Merging and Time Range.
Whole Title/Chapter: Converts a complete Title or Chapter from start to end.
Chapter Splitting: Splits a Title into its Chapters and each selected Chapter is now an independent job/file with its own settings.
Chapters Merging: In this mode only the selected Chapters are converted and the output file contains the enabled Chapters joint together, leaving out the Chapter that were not enabled.
Time Range: By selecting a time-range in a Title/Chapter, you may convert only the selected time range. Once the mode of a job is changed to Time Range, the preview tab will be shown and enabled for time-range selection. For more information please refer to the Preview Tab of this help.
Enabled?
Enables or Disables a conversion. Only enabled titles/chapters are converted and no settings are shown for the disabled ones.
The output filename and path are specified here. The "..." button at the right displays the file-save dialog to aid you in selecting an output file path and name. When you change the output path, only the first time, you will get asked if you like to set the output of other job (if any) to the same path. This is useful if you like to redirect the output of different jobs from a single DVD to the same path. Easy DVD Rip will remember the last output drive you have set for later uses as the default drive, except for the first time, where the drive with the largest free space is set as the default.
Note: When the Split Size is set to anything but "unlimited", the filename will be used as a base-name and the actual files will have have '_x' appended to them, where x is the number of the part.
Example: Output filename: C:\movie.mpg. When a Split Size is set, the actual output files will become C:\movie_1.mpg, C:\movie_2.mpg and so on.
Set the maximum output file size. If the output file-size reaches this limit it will be split and the rest of the output will be saved in a new file until the limit is reached again at which point the file is split again.
Note: The playback time for VCD is the actual advertised CD time (74min. for 650MB and 80min. for 700MB), but it's about 50% that for SVCD (35min. for 650MB.)
Sets the output file format. Available options are: VCD (MEPG-1), SVCD (MPEG-2) and AVI (where you may choose DivX, XviD or any other preinstalled video/audio codec).
Note: When you select AVI, you must also select Audio and Video codecs. Two new settings appear at the end of the settings list. Although if you have selected no audio track or the selected Title/Chapter doesn't have an audio track, only the Video codec will be be added to the list, since no audio codec is required. If either of these codecs are missing the "Next" button will not be enabled.
If available, select an input audio track. By default the first audio track on the DVD will be selected. Information regarding each track, including language, purpose, format, sample rate and number of channels, are specified for each track, if available. In cases where no language information is provided (such as in the case of a music-only tracks), question marks will be displayed. You may also select "<No Audio>" in which case the output file(s) will contain no audio.
If available, select an input subtitle. By default no subtitle will be selected. The language of each track is displayed, if available. Some DVDs with (anamorphic) wide-screen usually have two versions of each subtitle, one for the wide screen and one for the Letter-boxed version (if available). If a DVD has two versions of a subtitle prefer the wide version. You may select "<No Subtitle>" in which case the output file(s) will contain no subtitles.
Resolution
Here you may specify the output video dimensions in pixels. For VCD and SVCD the standard video resolution is automatically set for you. Changing this from the standard video resolution for VCD and SVCD will result in a warning, since some players may not play the output correctly, if at all. For AVI the full DVD video resolution is set by default.
The resolution (both width and height) must be a multiple of 16 with minimum of 64 pixels.
Note: You cannot upscale (enlarge the original video frame.)
Deinterlace
A lot of the DVD-Video discs use interlaced video. Some discs contain interlaced-only video, some other contain both progressive and interlaced video frames, and others use progressive-only video. Since interlaced video is designed for CRT TV sets, which show annoying horizontal lines on computer monitors and LCD TV sets. This artifact is quite noticeable and annoying in fast-motion scenes. (Of course no such visual artifact is visible on CRT TV sets.) Furthermore interlaced video reduces the maximum compression ratio possible and reduces the quality significantly. Easy DVD Rip can automatically Deinterlace (remove the interlacing) the video for you. The default mode deinterlaces interlaced fields only. That is, progressive frames will not be processed. You may change this behavior to deinterlace all frames or to disable deinterlacing altogether.
If unsure leave the default option.
Deinterlacing works best for VCD and SVCD output. For AVI some codecs (including DivX and XviD) support deinterlacing and progressive encoding as well as interlaced encoding. If your target video codec supports interlaced encoding and you are sure the source DVD contains at least some interlaced frames, for best quality disable deinterlacing from Easy DVD Rip and from the codec's settings, set the encoding mode to "encode as interlaced" in the codecs' settings dialog. Notice that XviD (at least some versions of) doesn't have such an option; it automatically decides the best encoding mode during conversion. In the event that your target codec includes a deinterlacing option, and you decide to encode in progressive mode, remember that enabling deinterlacing in both Easy DVD Rip and the video codec is not recommended. For best quality enable only one of them and disable the other completely.
Since deinterlacing must be done before resizing the video, for the highest quality output, you must enable in the Easy DVD Rip when you change the resolution of the video. Otherwise, if your video codec supports resizing and deinterlacing (or even better, interlaced encoding) it is best that you leave the resolution to the maximum value in Easy DVD Rip, disable deinterlacing and instead resize from within the codec and enable interlaced encoding. This method is particularly recommended with DivX.
Note: Deinterlacing slows the conversion a little.
H.Q. Resize
A high-quality two-pass resize mode where the output is smoother and softer. This is especially useful for noisy video such as old movies and documentaries. Also, H.Q. Resize when used with VCD output produces higher-quality output with less compression artifacts.
H.Q. Resize slows the conversion a little.
Video Codec (available for AVI output only)
Video codec selection window
When the selected output type is AVI, a video codec must be selected. You must have some video codecs installed on your system, otherwise the codec list will be empty. You may install DivX, XviD or any other 3rd party windows video codec.
When you browse for a Video codec, a list of all available codecs will be shown and you may select whichever you prefer. You should set the selected codec's settings (if available) by clicking the "configure" button in the same window.
There are an overwhelming number of tutorials, guides and help on DivX and XviD settings on the web. doom9.net and www.videohelp.com are excellent resources. Some guides describe and explain the meaning and purpose of every option/setting in the codec. Also, for the highest quality, you can follow the guides that describe converting in 2-pass and multi-pass modes.
Note: Not all installed codecs are displayed in this dialog. Only compatible codecs with the source DVD are displayed.
Audio Codec (available for AVI output only)
Audio codec selection window
When the selected output type is AVI and an Audio Track is selected as well, an audio codec must be selected. You must have some audio codecs installed on your system, otherwise the codec list will be empty. You may install Mp3, Ogg Vorbis or any other 3rd party windows audio codec.
When you browse for an Audio codec, a list of all available codecs will be shown and you may select whichever you prefer. You should set the selected codec's attributes by selecting a supported encoding setting from the "Attributes" list in the same window.
Note: Not all installed codecs are displayed in this dialog. Only compatible codecs with the source DVD are displayed.
Warning: Some audio codecs have variable bitrate (VBR) and average bitrate (ABR) modes (attributes) vs. constant bitrate (CBR) modes. Sometimes VBR and ABR cause sync problems (where the audio lags or leads the video by a small, but noticeable, time) in the output AVI. It thus not advised to use VBR or ABR, prefer CBR instead. Usually an ABR and VBR mode is marked as such while the default is CBR.
Note: On some Windows versions there is a default version of Windows Media Audio V1 and V2 installed. These might show in the list of audio codecs. Nonetheless, if the full encoding version is not installed the program will end the conversion prematurely for the job with WMA audio and report 100% complete. In such cases please install the full WMA encoder and register it as required to enable encoding WMA audio in AVI files, then try again. This is problem of WMA as the default installed version does not support encoding although it reports that it does (hence it gets listed.)
The preview tab shows a preview of the video of the current selected title/chapter (if any). Besides the video area and the controls at the bottom, the video area also displays the current time of the video with high-precision. During the video preview no frame is skipped, each and every video frame is decoded and displayed. The preview tab serves two purposes; A video preview for a selected Title or Chapter, and, a Range Selection Tool for the Time Range conversion mode.
Preview Mode
When in the preview tab, when a new job (a Title or Chapter) is selected, the video playback start automatically. You may also pause, stop and seek much as you'd do with any video player. You may also pause the playback and seek the video, as well as use the keyboard arrows (left and right) to navigate within the video with a high precision. A single click on an arrow will either seek forward (right arrow) or backward (left arrow). The track-bar must be in focus in order to use the keyboard arrows for seeking.
In the Preview Mode, the playback speed of the video is as fast as possible.
Time Range Selection Mode
When a job's mode is changed to Time Range, Easy DVD Rip will automatically switch to the Preview Tab and will enter a special mode where you can set your selection of the desired time-range using the preview window. In this mode the track bar will have 3 markers as well as 4 buttons (2 on each end). The thin markers mark the start and end of the time range, while the tick one is the current preview position. You may change either bar using the mouse or keyboard. Furthermore, you may use the buttons at each end to control the selection range. The left buttons affect the start position, while the right buttons affect the end position. After using the +/- buttons, you may use the keyboard arrow buttons to change the marker position. When the range markers are changed, the preview position is also updated, as well as the displayed video and video time.
In the Time Range Selection mode, the playback speed of the video is real-time or slower. This is to aid the user make a more accurate selection.
Note: DirectX preview might not be available when another program has exclusive access to the DirectX resources.This includes other video playback software (such as Windows Media Player), DVD playback software (such as PowerDVD or WinDVD) or Games and Visualization programs. Easy DVD Rip prints a "Not Available" message in the middle of the preview window in such cases.
Info Tab
Lists general information about the currently selected Title or Chapter (if any). The information include Video details, Audio tracks with their attributes and subtitles with their respective attributes as well the play time of the Title or Chapter.