DVD to SVCD for television episodes

[michaelb]

I am new at ripping DVD-ROM content and would like some specific advice not really covered by the tutorials.
I have the computer hardware and software but had never had any desire to rip DVD-ROM content until this week.
I do not have a standalone DVD player but may buy one eventually.
I live in the U.S.A. so everything I watch is NTSC, although I may eventually buy a few region 4 PAL DVD-ROM sets which have material not yet available in the U.S.A. and convert to NTSC.
DVD movies that I want to watch I just rent the movie from a local movie rental shop once and have no desire to own.
Since they are not available to rent from any movie rental shops I have bought boxed DVD-ROM sets of several year-long television series which have hour-long episodes (approximately 45 minutes run time), four episodes per DVD-ROM.
I read the excellent tutorials by chicken man in the cdrsoft forum and it appears that SVCD is better than VCD and 45 minutes of video will fit on one CD-R so I plan to copy one television episode per CD-R.
The tutorials are oriented to ripping off DVD-ROMs that have one movie each on them, but it appears that I can make a pass with SmartRipper for each of the four episode streams on each DVD-ROM and otherwise follow the DVD to SVCD tutorial.
Is there a better and/or simpler way to get my desired results?
Do all new standalone DVD players play SVCDs or should I record to VCD to ensure future compatibility when I eventually buy a standalone DVD player?

 

[daveml]

Firstly, SVCD is not supported by all standalone dvd players.
Even some that say it is supported dont play them very well.
If u take a svcd along to the shop to try before u buy then thats the only sure way.
The compatability reports on W*W.vcdhelp.com are misleading and should not be trusted.
If u use the vcd tutorial by chickenman you only lose about 10% quality compared to svcd but you dont save a disc if u can get an episode on 1 cdr.

 

[Armagan1]

it's as if you've already answered all your questions m8... Additionally i would say not all dvd players can play svcds, just do a little net search before you decide to buy your stuff. /www.vcdhelp.com might be useful but never trust it by your heart.. you've got a friend in Pennsylvania..
Cheers

 

[ChickenMan]

I just ripped the Star Trek The Next Generation Series 1 set of 7 DVD's to 26 SVCD CD's, 1 ep per CD. Fortunately each set of VOB files on a DVD were easily recognised and as separate files. But I just made folders with numbers 1 to 26 and ripped each to its own folder, that way I knew what episode was what. Some have all episodes on the DVD joined into the one set of VOBs. Again, rip each Angle (episode) to its own folder as most will share VOB file names and would screw up the conversion. Not a good idea to convert the 4 episodes at once if they all share the one set of VOB files and them try cutting the final MPG file, there can be surprises there and some dont cut well. You will also need your HD partitians formated as NTFS to handle the very large files.

If you have a fast computer go for SVCD, the extra quality over VCD is worth it IMHO. And as everyone has suggested, do try your SVCD on a DVD player before you buy, particularly test a high bitrate one.

VCD's as CDR copies play on most DVD Players except the top end expensive units, in particular Sony. All the Made in China units support VCD and SVCD playback on CDR's.

Also, no need to convert a PAL to NTSC. All new DVD Players will playback both formats onto a NTSC TV or PAL TV, you just tell the unit what TV you have and it converts while playing and 1000% better than you trying to convert it when ripping. Converting one format to anothe will ALWAYS result in a jerky picture.

One final thing, welcome to the forum.