I have used most of the popular Transcoding tools.(ie Shrink, DVD2ONE, Pinnacle Instantcopy.
I was just wondering if anyone had tried progressivly transcoding a DVD rather than just 1 big transcode. IE going from say (and it's only an example) 7gb - 6gb - 5gb - 4.3gb. It would be interesting to see if this process "improves" picture quality.
If no one has tried this I will try it myself and post the results.
Might I suggest that you use a film that has lots of fast action, explosions, fast movements in well lit (sunlight?) scene shots - that kind of film will tend to emphasise the artifacts to a greater extent, making it easier to see differences.
You could also run the same test once through the steps using "constant rate", and once through the steps using "variable rate" (DVD2One).
Question: how are you going to measure the results?
At each stage?
Or just overall?
Once a format is agreed, I shall give it a go, and post some results for you.
To measure the results, I will try and use some "zoomed" screen shots & also my old peepers.
I think the overall results should be checked only. IE 1 large transcode & the final Progressive transcode.
You know, the more I think about this, I feel the Progressive transcode will be better. It's effectively tripling or quadroupling the process time. I know some people will say "don't bother, why not use CCE" but, hey, I can't afford CCE.
I will do this over the weekend when I have a bit more time to spare.
I will do a full backup of my Aliens special edition DVD. This one artefacts very badly.