using DVD2AVI to extract a non compressed WAV file, and create a DIVX compressed cropped avi file at 640 x ***, then combining them with virtuadub compressing the audio i manage to get a fantastic quality avi movie at near 700mb, even a 2hour plus length movie.
Subtitles i just cant seem to get right.
I was pleased to find a great guide in a reply by dRD describing how to to it using a virtuadub frame server and TMPGenc - but i found it impossible to select divx to compress the video, and keep the cropping i carefully selected within dvd2avi..
is there no simple way to simply 'import' a subtitles file onto an allready created avi? or have virtuadub to use the vobsub plugin without having to go full processing mode on video, and rather use the dvd2avi's divx compressed avi output?
Best way to use subtitles when you're not going to use it with other than PC (== keep it in DivX), is to make the subtitles in separate file. This has lots of advantages:
-you can turn the subtitles on and off
-you can edit the video without having the subtitles "burned" permanently to the video
-if you *a-hem* have this illegal hobby of sharing videos through P2P networks, people who live in other countries don't get pissed because your video has Hungarian/etc subtitles permanently burned on it
...to make separate subtitle files, use VobSub or SubRip -- if you prefer VobSub, install it, launch VirtualDub, go to filters, select VobSub, select "make subtitles" (or something alogn those lines), select the place where you ripped your DVD files to and simply save the selected subtitle. You can then watch AVIs with subtitles by simply installing some subtitle filter, like DirectVobSub (found inside VobSub package).
aah but thats just the point, i do want to make it a permament part of the file.
I just play my movies through win xp media player and don't care about vcd formats and menu's or anything. Just that a movie like 'crouching tiger hidden dragon' is a bit pointless ripping without titles 8)
Why, WHY do you want to make them permanent part of the file? They take up bitrates that can be otherwise used to encode the video more accurately, so by having permanent subs, your overall video quality will drop. Really, installing something like DirectVobSub and you don't have to even think about the subs ever.
One option is that you use SubMux which comes bundled with VobSub and multiplex the subtitles into AVI -- this way they act exactly like they would by having separate subtitle file (==you can turn them on and off and they're not permanent part of the video), but you don't have to have separate file for subs. Of course you still need to have DirectVobSub on your computer to watch the subs, but this eliminates the hassle of having multiple files.
