Hands on with ratDVD !
This wonderful piece of software was discovered by Nitnay in this thread here so all the credit (reps
) should go to him for posting and reps can be directed to me for the hands-on. :ashamed:
Features of the software:
ratDVD takes a full featured DVD-9 movie and puts it into a highly compressed .ratDVD container format file of about 1.x GB in size - while preserving all the features of the original DVD such as:
• Full anamorphic picture, seamless branching, multiple video angles, multiple audio channels, subpictures, etc.
• Keep movie versions (Directors Cut, Theatrical version, etc.), Alternate story endings, making of, video commentary, cut scenes, etc...
• Keep complete menus, navigation and features
• Reliable high quality, valid check-summed container.
The tools used for the hand-on were as follows:
1) ratDVD Download
2) DVD Decrypter Download
3) Windows XP, DirectX9, Windows Media Player 10 and a DVD plaback software like Powerdvd or Windvd
Ok once you have all of the stuff installed we can get started.
For the experiment I am going to use Disc 1 of the Matrix Reloaded DVD set. The original size of the DVD was around 6.22GB which would require two single layered dvds or an expensive dual layer DVD to make a back-up on. This is where ratDVD comes in, ratDVD is able to compress a DVD-9 to a target size of around 1.xGB. IN this hands-on we are going to examine the same claim made by ratDVD.
DVD Decrypter is the favorite VOB ripping software and the first step is to rip all the files from the DVD to your Hdd.
The next step is to select the location where the files need to be saved and then start the ripping process.
After the ripping process is done we need to fire up ratDVD. On the main interface click on File and then Open and point to the main .ifo file of the movie. Once you select it the content section on the main interface will be loaded and you can select all the elements that need to be included in the final DVD. You can remove unwanted languages and subtitles options. The keep option keeps the content for the end result, the remove option does the opposite while the convert options is available for Dolby and DTS streams which can be compressed.
The quality slider can be used to achieve better quality but I haven’t played around with it. Once you have configured all the options it’s time to click on the start conversion button.
The conversion and transcoding was done on a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 with 512 Megs ram. Since it was kept overnight I have no idea how much time it took but my estimate would be anywhere between 4-6 hours depending on the length of the movie.
In the morning I found that the conversion process was complete and to my surprise the file size was 1.45 GB. The output in .ratDVD format was playable on Windows Media player however it did not work with either VLC or PowerDVD.
Conclusion: ratDVD looks the next big thing in file compression. Also since the end file is encoded in a single file the validity is ensured by a checksum; a perfect candidate for torrent and other p2p network. The ratDVD can be converted back to a regular DVD which can be played on a standalone player without much significant loss in quality. I am sure this format will be getting popular in the days ahead and more so within the p2p circle.
Samples from the converted ratDVD. Pardon the resolution and ar since Fraps screwed it up.
Disclaimer: The purpose of this tutorial is only educational and should be used for backing up legally owned DVD’s only.
This wonderful piece of software was discovered by Nitnay in this thread here so all the credit (reps
) should go to him for posting and reps can be directed to me for the hands-on. :ashamed: Features of the software:
ratDVD takes a full featured DVD-9 movie and puts it into a highly compressed .ratDVD container format file of about 1.x GB in size - while preserving all the features of the original DVD such as:
• Full anamorphic picture, seamless branching, multiple video angles, multiple audio channels, subpictures, etc.
• Keep movie versions (Directors Cut, Theatrical version, etc.), Alternate story endings, making of, video commentary, cut scenes, etc...
• Keep complete menus, navigation and features
• Reliable high quality, valid check-summed container.
The tools used for the hand-on were as follows:
1) ratDVD Download
2) DVD Decrypter Download
3) Windows XP, DirectX9, Windows Media Player 10 and a DVD plaback software like Powerdvd or Windvd
Ok once you have all of the stuff installed we can get started.
For the experiment I am going to use Disc 1 of the Matrix Reloaded DVD set. The original size of the DVD was around 6.22GB which would require two single layered dvds or an expensive dual layer DVD to make a back-up on. This is where ratDVD comes in, ratDVD is able to compress a DVD-9 to a target size of around 1.xGB. IN this hands-on we are going to examine the same claim made by ratDVD.
DVD Decrypter is the favorite VOB ripping software and the first step is to rip all the files from the DVD to your Hdd.
The next step is to select the location where the files need to be saved and then start the ripping process.
After the ripping process is done we need to fire up ratDVD. On the main interface click on File and then Open and point to the main .ifo file of the movie. Once you select it the content section on the main interface will be loaded and you can select all the elements that need to be included in the final DVD. You can remove unwanted languages and subtitles options. The keep option keeps the content for the end result, the remove option does the opposite while the convert options is available for Dolby and DTS streams which can be compressed.
The quality slider can be used to achieve better quality but I haven’t played around with it. Once you have configured all the options it’s time to click on the start conversion button.
The conversion and transcoding was done on a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 with 512 Megs ram. Since it was kept overnight I have no idea how much time it took but my estimate would be anywhere between 4-6 hours depending on the length of the movie.
In the morning I found that the conversion process was complete and to my surprise the file size was 1.45 GB. The output in .ratDVD format was playable on Windows Media player however it did not work with either VLC or PowerDVD.
Conclusion: ratDVD looks the next big thing in file compression. Also since the end file is encoded in a single file the validity is ensured by a checksum; a perfect candidate for torrent and other p2p network. The ratDVD can be converted back to a regular DVD which can be played on a standalone player without much significant loss in quality. I am sure this format will be getting popular in the days ahead and more so within the p2p circle.
Samples from the converted ratDVD. Pardon the resolution and ar since Fraps screwed it up.
Disclaimer: The purpose of this tutorial is only educational and should be used for backing up legally owned DVD’s only.
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