Ripping DVD To Avi

Here is a generic 2-pass dvd ripping invocation for Linux/BSD using mencoder (part of the mplayer distribution:

 mencoder -oac copy \
 -ovc lavc \
 -vf scale \
 -zoom \
 -xy 640 \
 -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:mbd=2:nr=200:v4mv:autoaspect:trell:vpass=1:vbitrate=3000 \
 -alang jp \
 -sid 0 \
 -o /dev/null dvd://1

 mencoder -oac mp3lame \
 -lameopts preset=standard \
 -ovc lavc \
 -vf scale \
 -zoom \
 -xy 640 \
 -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:mbd=2:nr=200:v4mv:autoaspect:trell:vpass=2:vbitrate=3000 \
 -alang jp \
 -sid 0 \
 -o $file.avi dvd://1

Note that the seemingly high bitrate will not actually be adhered to, the lavc encoder will refuse to encode "empty bits", so the large value just guarantees full quality. The actual average bitrate will be about 1800 kbits.

A '-vf pullup,softskip' option may be required if the main title of the dvd really is 30 fps hard-telecine. It will also be necessary to add '-ofps 24000/1001' to tell the pullup filter the target framerate. Most dvd's main titles are actually 24 fps, with pulldown automatically being done by the dvd player when playing on an analog TV in interlaced mode.

Possible other options:

 cbp:precmp=2:cmp=2:subcmp=2:predia=2:dia=2:preme=2:vme=5