[surjones]

I have the new MBP 2.93ghz with 4gb Ram. It still takes 1.5 to 2 hours to back up 1 DVD. Why so long?

[PB PM]

Video encoding is one of the most CPU intensive things out there and it takes time. You wont see any major drops in encoding time until you move into the 2.66Ghz Quad Core arena.

[Ryan]

Also, your settings can make a difference. I have a 2.4Ghz MBP and DVD takes around an hour to rip.

[surjones]

What do you mean my settings? I typically insert DVD>Select Apple TV> set bitrate at 1000 and then hit start.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by surjones I have the new MBP 2.93ghz with 4gb Ram. It still takes 1.5 to 2 hours to back up 1 DVD. Why so long?

In short, the time to encode is directly proportional to the quality/encoder settings you give Handbrake. Some combinations of settings will convert quickly but will look ugly. Other combinations will take longer and will result in better-looking video, to a degree. There is a point of diminishing returns.

Also, if you're ripping from the disc itself within Handbrake instead of using a dedicated ripper first (like MacTheRipper), it'll probably be a bit slower due to using VLC's library. In my experience, using VLC's library is a bit slower than using MacTheRipper and then converting that rip.

Originally Posted by surjones What do you mean my settings? I typically insert DVD>Select Apple TV> set bitrate at 1000 and then hit start.

For information about the presets and how the various options behave, read the wiki:

http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/HandBrakeGuide
http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/Presets
http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/BuiltInPresets
http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/x264Options
etc.

Yes, there is a lot of information out there, but Handbrake is just extremely flexible like that.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by surjones What do you mean my settings? I typically insert DVD>Select Apple TV> set bitrate at 1000 and then hit start.

Exactly.

Those presets just set different compression and encoding settings. I don't know much about video encoding—just enough to rip DVDs to my iPod Touch—but I made a custom preset in Handbrake for that purpose and the rips got a bit faster. That wasn't the goal, but it was a nice side effect.

[curiousuburb]

Single pass will be faster but lower quality.
Multiple pass will be slower but higher quality since it will parse the whole video first in order to optimize.

You may also notice different content benefits from different settings.

Flocks of birds or high-motion content in Planet Earth or tons of CGI can be prone to artifacting with all but the highest quality settings.

Talking heads on static backgrounds or slow tracking shots or some animation and you might get away with lower settings to save space.

Experiment and see.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by Brad http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/BuiltInPresets

Oh, and if you don't feel like reading through the wiki, here's a summarizing picture of the presets from the above wiki page:

[Dorian Gray]

Well, let's see: 720 x 480 pixels per frame (more in PAL regions), 24 frames per second (25 for PAL), 1.5 hours = about 45 billion pixels in a typical DVD movie. That gives you an idea of the volume of raw data we're dealing with.

For each of the ~130,000 frames in the movie, the encoder (x.264 in your case) must divide it into a series of blocks (typically 8 x 8 or 16 x 16 pixels, but H.264 goes down to 4 x 4 if you want). So we're talking thousands of blocks per frame. Then the encoder must compare each block against thousands of previous and/or future blocks for similarities in content (a process known as motion estimation).

If there's a good match the encoder can reference the other block to avoid storing the same data twice; if the match is poor, the encoder instead stores a series of instructions for arriving at an approximation of the block's texture based on a starting point of surrounding blocks.

This a crude explanation and many other computationally intensive tasks are performed to improve quality or compression, but that's the basic idea. Then when you've got a nice encode, the whole thing is losslessly compressed further with CABAC, which is again very time-consuming to encode.

And you ask why your monstrously powerful computer can't do this much faster than realtime? A few years ago it would have taken a week!

[surjones]

I have a couple issues that have been happening with Handbrake. I just use default AppleTV and change BitRate to 1000 - other than that nothing changes. But when burning a movie, it has successful. but parts of the movies skip during the burning process, sometimes up to 10mins. FOR EXAMPLE - The duration says 01:53:54 in Handbrake, but the final file was 01:46:27 - I have not watched this one, but I mean its dihearting when backing up 8 dvds a day (about 1 per 1.75 hours) just to go and watch and the thing craps out and I have to go get the DVD player and DVD. any help?

[Swox]

I found it goes a lot faster if I rip the DVD to my HD with Mac the Ripper first, then convert it with Handbrake. The Handbrake part of the equation that is, the overall process takes longer. Maybe part of the bottle neck on my MBP is the DVD drive?

Anyway, probably not overly useful.

[k squared]

Originally Posted by Swox I found it goes a lot faster if I rip the DVD to my HD with Mac the Ripper first, then convert it with Handbrake. The Handbrake part of the equation that is, the overall process takes longer. Maybe part of the bottle neck on my MBP is the DVD drive? Anyway, probably not overly useful.

The MTR forums do a pretty good job of bashing the SuperDrive in Apple's laptops. I tend to agree, as my external FireWire DVD burner blows away my MB drive in ripping discs

[turtle]

Originally Posted by k squared The MTR forums do a pretty good job of bashing the SuperDrive in Apple's laptops. I tend to agree, as my external FireWire DVD burner blows away my MB drive in ripping discs

Same here. Hands down my external blows away the internal in every aspect.

Also, you might consider using RipIt. I've moved to them and it was well worth it too. Sure it's not free, but I haven't run into a disk it can't get past. Can't say the same for MTR.

[HezMah19]

Another vote for Ripit. Worth every dollar.

[surjones]

I bought RipIt, but I dont care to rip the entire disc. I just want to rip the movies themselves. Example: I was ripping my Heroes Season 1 Disc on on Handbrake, and I checked the DVD Player TRT, and it was like 1:14:56 and when I Handbrake'd it, it was 1:08:09 - I dont care for commentaries, or anything, just want the movie. Anyway how, or should I ask for a refund?

[surjones]

How are you guys who bought RIPIT, storing all this heavy gigs? I have only 300 movies backed up (210 movies backed up using handbrake) and that was at 1000bit rate, filled up 250gigs. with only 7 now DVD's I have filled up 50gigs! that is crazy! 7 for 50gigs vs. 210 for 250gigs.

[Maciej]

Doesn't Handbrake encode the movie into a single different file, while RipIt just rips down a copy of the disk?

I might be mistaken tho, I don't have RipIt.

[Brad]

RipIt (and MacTheRipper and FairMount) rips (read: copies) the disc bit for bit (post-CSS-decryption).

Handbrake rips and transcodes to your format of choice, by default I believe MP4.

Again, depending on the options you define in Handbrake, the quality and file size of the output will fluctuate greatly. Handbrake can produce large files, small files, high quality files, and poor quality files, all taking varying lengths of time.

[turtle]

I use RipIt to rip the whole disk so I can use the Queue in Handbreak to batch convert my videos. It's much faster and easier to rip disks and then use HB to encode rather than HB do it all.

[Maciej]

What version of MacTheRipper are y'all using? I've got 2.6.6, is this the latest available version? Activity monitor says its running PPC, so that means its running through Rosetta?

Also, should I rip to my external or internal? Do you guys think using external would slow things down significantly, speed them up, or no effect?

[Brad]

2.6.6 is the last free/public version and, yes, it's PPC-only and will run via Rosetta on Intel machines.

From the official forums: http://www.ripdifferent.com/forum/vi...hp?f=34&t=9355

Many of you were directed here from the mactheripper.org page which gives a brief history of and instructions on how to use version 2.6.6. A lot has happened with the MTR project since that page was last updated over 2 years ago. Mainly: (1) MacTheRipper is no longer freeware and is out of "beta" status. (Currently at version 3.0R14M (3.0 Release 14M))

The current 3.0 build is a Universal Binary. You have to "donate" an unspecified amount to get access to the 3.0 builds, IIRC.

[Maciej]

Thanks Brad. Sorry I didn't bother doing the footwork, I tried google but I overlooked ripdifferent.com for some reason.

I'm contemplating getting RipIt now.

Do you think that running a Universal Binary would be a noticeable upgrade in terms of speed, in this particular application?

[surjones]

I've got RipIt and besides the fact you HAVE to burn the whole disc. It's a great program BTW have about 10 terabytes. I had to buy it cause I have 300 DVDs and all the season Hereos DVD boxes.

[Maciej]

Originally Posted by surjones I've got RipIt and besides the fact you HAVE to burn the whole disc. It's a great program BTW have about 10 terabytes. I had to buy it cause I have 300 DVDs and all the season Hereos DVD boxes.

It won't let you just extract the main feature? I'm gonna download the trial and check it out.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by Maciej It won't let you just extract the main feature? I'm gonna download the trial and check it out.

Correct. RipIt has a very minimalist interface. There are only two buttons: Rip and Eject.

[surjones]

Yea it wont rip just the Feature Film. BUT from what I read on their site they are looking to implement that. The only Thing Ive used it for was the HEREOS season boxes. I like that show, and the Special features. ALSO I will add this: RipIt backs up a Dual Layer DVD 7.6gigs in about 25mins(on my MBP 2.93) if you are not using it for much else but net surfing.