I have successfully ripped and encoded 3 films (LOTR trilogy) using AutoGK and they're not bad but, I would love to know how I managed to download films (avi) that were smaller size and better quality?
How would I do this to improve my viewing pleasure?
I'm not familiar with AutoGK, but if the AVI files are better than the movies you ripped... then the program must not be that good. I have dvd-to-AVI, and most AVI files I create are 700-900mb and the quality sucks compared to a movie compressed to 4.35GB. I suggest trying different software. DVD Shrink and DVD Decrypter's results are so much better.
AutoGK is the first programme I have used, its not been too bad really but LOTR 1 2 & 3 came out good quality (obviously nowhere near DVD but I wasnt expecting that) considering they were 893MB.
I have just ripped 28 days later which has turned out well, good quality and excellent sound considering it is a small file....my conclusion?
I think its because the LOTR trilogy is longer than normal hence the lower quality at the same memory size :)
Are you trying to keep the files under 1GB? Make them into AVI files? If so you'll never get excellent quality since you are compressing a 7+GB movie into a 1GB or less AVI file. I have dvd-to-AVI and for a 900mb file I guess it's not too bad(like you said)
AutoGK is for newbies, if you want more control and potential quality then you should learn regular GordianKnot
http://www.doom9.org/gknot-main3.htm I have had very good results with long-ish movies (over 2 hours) using triple-pass DivX encode.
I have the (purchased) DivX 5.1.1 Pro codec and size the AVI to 700MB.
Only prob is, with longer sources you will need to really squeeze the audio (ie. 128kbs) so making it sound good is almost your biggest challenge...
LOtR I could do 700MB/DVD or 1.4GB/movie, you need quality there incl. 192kbs audio.
Triple-pass rip is sorta useless with shorter (90min) film, 99% quality achieved after two passes, but third pass will max quality if bitrates are pretty squeezed ie. longer film, 1.85:1, higher framerate, etc.
Can't wait for Return of the King: Special Extended DVD Edition!
