Convert DVD to Xbox

[Kojak]

Hi,

I have my own DVD's of birthdays etc, which were all made on Pinnacle - so are in VOB format.
I would like to make these work on the xbox - via the NAS (Duo V2).

I have tried several ways, using Handbrake or Videora. but they all seem fairly naff, slow and poor quality.

Is there a pucker piece of software to use that will do the job with minimal quality losses ??

[sphardy]

Xbox video format support is pretty much the following: Windows Media, Mpeg4 (including H.264) and DIVX, so you need to re-encode to one of those; probably H.264 is the best as it is supported by most media systems.

In general Handbrake is one of the best converters around for MP4/H.264. So if you are not getting good results, I'd suggest you review the conversion settings. And yes - good quality re-encodes can take time.

[Kojak]

Hi,

Cheers for that. I will persue with Handbrake for the moment then.
The thing I was unsure of using that program was how to end up with the video is HD screen resolution and good quality - instead of stretching the picture. If that makes sense.

[sphardy]

I wouldn't try upscaling DVD material to HD resolution - you'll find your TV and/or Xbox will do a reasonable job without any effort on your part. If you really want true HD resolution, then you need to start with a HD source

[Kojak]

Hi,
Yeah sorry I probably didnt explain it properly.
I meant more the picture size.

The first one I did was okay'ish quality but less than the original DVD - but I guess I need to adjust the 'constant quality' scale.

With this first 'test' video, it worked okay on xbox, but on my TV (samsung) it would only play in the resolution it was made in, which is 720x576 and wouldnt make it full screen.

To be honest, I am a tad confused by it.! I have only ever used Pinnacle Video Editing in the past, which is simple.!!

The DVD I did earlier went from around 4gb to under 1gb - so it obviously reduced quality quite a bit.
I just want them like for like.

[sphardy]

When re-encoding, make sure that the cropping settings are appropriate to remove any 'black bars'

The said, the TV issue is most likely caused by the TV itself given the Xbox played it OK (The source is identical so the difference in playback must be due to differences in the client, Xbox vs TV)

Most modern TVs give options to scale video so be sure your TV settings are appropriate

[Kojak]

Cheers - will look into settings on TV more.

Do you know how to literally do a like for like copy of quality ??

Just done another DVD, just copied a 4.25gb dvd of camcorder videos, and its ended up being 800mb, with resolution of 704x574.

Sorry to seem dumb.!

[sphardy]

You'll never get an exactly like for like copy - the fact that you are re-encoding means that there will always be a difference.

H.264 is more efficient that Mpeg2 (as used in VOB) and so your file sizes will tend to be smaller. Plus your resolution suggests some minimal cropping has been performed, but that is quite normal too. Try increasing the constant quality a little and try again. Remember you don't need to re-encode the whole DVD, just a small section (5-10mins?) to test and so you can speed up your turn around time

Personally I only use Handbrake to re-encode for iOS devices and the default settings work great. I can't really comment on DVD rips as I don't do them that way.

You may be better off researching on the Handbrake forum to find some more optimal settings. And I do mean "research" - have a good search around first as asking basic questions over there that have been asked multiple times before can meet with a pretty terse response. If you've done your homework then the forum can be very helpful.

[Kojak]

Cheers for your help.

I did have a good look on here too - but everyones situations seem to vary so much.!

Its confusing - to me anyway.

Thanks once again.

[Kojak]

Hiya,

I found that Pinnacle can indeed recode the video, which I did last night.
But the xbox says unsupported format.

It even says that with the Handbrake version - if I have changed screen size.

Cant quite believe it is so limiting.!!

[StephenB]

Hiya,

I found that Pinnacle can indeed recode the video, which I did last night.
But the xbox says unsupported format.

It even says that with the Handbrake version - if I have changed screen size.

Cant quite believe it is so limiting.!!

I suspect this is a codec issue, not a screen size problem.

-is the file extension .mp4 or .avi
-what audio and video codecs did you choose?

From what I have read, the xbox only handles
x264 + AAC audio inside mp4
xvid + AAC audio inside mp4

xvid + AC-3 audio inside avi

[Kojak]

Hiya,
Gee this is like hard work to just watch video on an xbox/TV.!! but appreciate your help.

Studio doesnt give too many settings.
But it was as MP4, Full size res (854x480), Frame Rate says 'standard 4000 kbits/sec'
Audio - Stereo, 48 hHz, 128 Kbits/sec.

With Handbrake, it only works if I leave it as default.
But that delivers video in less quality than before - which is a pain.

To be honest, I should've researched BEFORE buying the NAS.
My intention was to have it as a backup of photos/files, and to serve as a mini media player for old DVD's, and films my son watches 100 times a day - like Peppa Pig.!!

Wish xbox played AVI.

[sphardy]

To be honest, I should've researched BEFORE buying the NAS.
My intention was to have it as a backup of photos/files, and to serve as a mini media player for old DVD's, and films my son watches 100 times a day - like Peppa Pig.!!

To be honest, you should have researched the Xbox more - it is very limited in terms of formats supported, particularly when not using Windows Media Center as the source. There are many other Media clients out there that offer far more comprehensive media support.

Also, Xbox does play AVI - the issue is AVI is a container, not a video format. It is probably the video format within the AVI file which is causing the issue

http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360/ ... vds-movies

[Kojak]

Blimey this is complicated huh.!?

The xbox is something we've had for a few years, and it was mentioned on the Netgear site as being compliant with the NAS. To be honest, being naive, I just assumed that was it in B&W, but clearly there is more to it.!! - what would be better than the xbox ???

So basically, I can make the films AVI, but they need to match exactly to the link you just sent me ??

[sphardy]

Blimey this is complicated huh.!?

I would probably say more "misunderstood". Like the information you have read, streaming is documented as "supported", or devices are claimed to be "compatible". In reality there are a lot of different ways to encode media and each software provider has it's own preferred method/options that is/are supported. Commercial companies like Microsoft, Sony, Apple etc tend to restrict the formats they support - to get better support you need to look at open source solutions, but those of course you cannot run on your Xbox as Microsoft don't allow you.

The xbox is something we've had for a few years, and it was mentioned on the Netgear site as being compliant with the NAS.

Absolutely, it is compliant with your NAS - but which media can be accessed is a limitation of the Xbox wrt the formats supported. If the Xbox can play it, the NAS can stream it.

what would be better than the xbox ???

I will defer that to others - I run an exclusively Mac & Linux setup so my advice probably wouldn't help

So basically, I can make the films AVI, but they need to match exactly to the link you just sent me ??

If you want to use your xbox as the client - then yes.