Ongoing Ripping issues with black borders (1 Viewer)

[Dsjones]

Hi,

I've recently bought an HTPC to store all my DVDs but am having issues with the best format to rip to, and also with black borders around the video (left and right, not just top and bottom). I've been using DivX to now so as to save space, but once the film is ripped i'm looking at a smaller picture with borders all around. Obviously, when i view via the DVD itself it's full screen. Any thoughts on either the border issue or a better format to rip to would be most appreciated..

Thanks

 

[2BitSculptor]

Some DVDs, rather than actual Widescreen, are Standard Definition (4:3) letterbox, so the actual video stream contains top and bottom black bars. Somehow, the auto-cropping feature is not working with the ripped media. I don't know if you can set the top and bottom cropping in DivX when you rip, but I know Handbreak does auto-cropping as well as manual cropping, I sometimes remove the side graphics from recorded TV when a 4:3 frame is fit to HD widescreen.

Chuck

 

[elliottmc]

Another recommendation for HandBrake. You will get better compression (mkv, x264 codec) and more choices, and it will take care of the black borders.

Personally, I use DVD FAB for ripping (one click) and Handbrake for encoding (more or less one click, use AC3 passthru for audio so you don't lose on quality, 400 MB per hour of video seems to be enough).