Prefered Video Compression/Resolution (divx, 480p, 720p, 1080p)

[Bao]

I believe the Xbox Live 720P movie rentals are usually 7.5 GB so you can use that for a reference. If I were making 720P back ups of my BR library, I'd aim a little higher, 4.5GB per hour of footage. (DTS 5.1 or AC3). And a 720P rip using 4.5GB per hour will almost always look nicer than a 1080P with the same restrictions.

1080P isn't generally worth it, most people sit too far away for 1080P to be discernible for movie watching anyway.

[lcdguy]

Originally Posted by OCZbao

I believe the Xbox Live 720P movie rentals are usually 7.5 GB so you can use that for a reference. If I were making 720P back ups of my BR library, I'd aim a little higher, 4.5GB per hour of footage. (DTS 5.1 or AC3). And a 720P rip using 4.5GB per hour will almost always look nicer than a 1080P with the same restrictions.

1080P isn't generally worth it, most people sit too far away for 1080P to be discernible for movie watching anyway.

unless of course you have a 1080p projector throwing a 100+ inch screen

[Bao]

Originally Posted by lcdguy

unless of course you have a 1080p projector throwing a 100+ inch screen

OMG SHOW OFF!

:)

[Arinoth]

You do know AC3 is lower then x264 and h264 in quality. Its essentially an xvid at 720p.

[lcdguy]

Originally Posted by OCZbao

OMG SHOW OFF!

:)

begin your drooling

Originally Posted by Arinoth

You do know AC3 is lower then x264 and h264 in quality. Its essentially an xvid at 720p.

Yup which is why i prefer either DTS or PCM.

[Bao]

Originally Posted by Arinoth

You do know AC3 is lower then x264 and h264 in quality. Its essentially an xvid at 720p.

I thought AC-3 was just another way of saying Dolby Digital 5.1.

I have quite a few MKV's using AC3 audio, and they are definitely decent quality >_<

[Arinoth]

They still aren't as good quality as i've in my searches seen that ac3 720p content is quite the bit smaller in GB then .264 content.

[lcdguy]

Originally Posted by OCZbao

I thought AC-3 was just another way of saying Dolby Digital 5.1.

I have quite a few MKV's using AC3 audio, and they are definitely decent quality >_<

the issue isn't a quality it's just that dts or pcm is better sound quality. For an analogy. dts/pcm is like Wav where as ac-3(dolby) is a mp3.

DTS Bitrates normally sit around the 1.5 mbps range while ac3 sits around 443 kbps. which is why dts stream are generally 1/3 large in size 500MB vs 800MB. There is just more sound data there. But for most people there is no audible difference as sound is very subjective and reliant on the quality of the speakers.

[Bao]

Oh of course I know that DTS sounds better than the top tier 640kb/s DD 5.1 stuff, but sometimes you don't have a 'choice' HEHE.

With regards to file sizes and such; video quality wise, all else being equal, then the 448kb/s DD 5.1 version would look nicer than a DTS 1.5mbs/s version. Of course if the video quality is acceptable, then I will agree that the DTS version is preferable on the whole.

The majority of my files are DTS 1.5 or DTS MA anyway. I don't have the greatest sound system (SVS 5.1 set).

SBS-01 System Complete Home Theatre System [SBS-01 Theatre System Black] - $1,249.00 : SVS Subwoofers Canada : sonicboomaudio.com

But it's good enough to allow me to discern the difference between AC3 640 vs DTS 1.5, vs DTS MA / PCM / True HD etc.

So yes of course, better audio is preferred, but sometimes, you are stuck with AC3, I just disagree that the overall quality suffers much, in fact it's technically possible for the video portion to be better as I've mentioned before. It's not a worthy trade off in my opinion, but rips using AC3 aren't automatically "bad".

[Andy]

I look at quality based on the show or movie. For TV I won't touch anything less than 720p, assuming it is available for the show. For Blueray, I'll encode to 1080p if it's one of my favorite films, or the film deserves to be seen in high quality. Otherwise it's 720p. I'm at the point now where I need to look into building a proper server for all my content. My HP media vault with four 1.5tb drives is pretty much full, and my secondary D-Link NAS (2x1.5tb) is more than half full. Yikes!