RipItAll V1.1 doc
by Psyche

A. What is RipItAll (RIA)

RipItAll is a DVD rip program that recompressesDVD movies to AVI (DivX+MP3 or WMA).
RIA was previously a part of DaRippak package (http://come.to/darippak) and was an alternative to Sjan404's Mixer.
For some reasons, RIA is now a standalone software that doesn't need external programs anymore (but Mpeg2avi)

B. Why should I use it ?

RIA is highly flexible, you can change almost all parameters needed for a rip session (including file path => usefull if you don't have enough HD space on a single partition).
It’s as easy as FlaskMpeg but faster (although I think FlaskMpeg is really a must !). 
RIA is one of the best choices for newbies. 

RIA has the ability to :
- rip automatically to the final DivX AVI with very few user interventions
- modify many encoding parameters + preview options
- choose different partitions for temp/final files
- modular work (see point C.)
- split final AVI in 2 parts
- create a second audio stream
- shutdown computer when the job's finished
- create 'profiles' that hold all necessary parameters to rip a movie

C. Main options overview

RIA is modular, I mean you can check/uncheck each option and let RIA execute them separately or in groups as you wish (i.e. full rip, rip video+audio but no merging, merge previously ripped audio and video, etc ...).
 
Here is a description of all fileds and buttons you find in RIA.

1. Main 
*Rip Video
	 => if you want to rip the video stream (MPEG2 to DivX AVI)
*DivX auto
	=> if you don't want to be prompted to enter DivX values 
*Rip All VOBs
	=> check to rip all VOBs / uncheck to rip only the chosen VOB
*Split AVI
	=> when you want a 2 CD AVI (high bitrate)
  ==> split equaly = split the final AVI in 2 +/ - identical parts 
  ==> split after = split the final AVI after x MB - ATTENTION : you'll only have 2 parts, the first one having a size of x MB 
          and the other : final_size-x MB
*Rip Audio
	=> if you want to rip the audio stream(s) to WAV
  ==> Internal = use the internal module to rip audio
  ==> AC3DEC = use AC3DEC to rip audio
 *Normalize Audio
	=> amplify the WAV volume (check/uncheck  ‘normalize to another file’ !) 
*Compress Audio 
	=> do I need to explain this ?
*Delete WAV File
	=> delete temporary WAV after compression (HD space saving)
*2nd Audio Stream
	=> if you want a second audio file
*Merge A/V
	=> final step, if you want to merge audio and video
*Log file
	=> RIA creates a .LOG in the \Log directory with elapsed times descriptions
* Shutdown
	=> some rest time after a long work :)
*Reset button
	=> restore default parameters
*Suggested bitrate
=> internal bitrate calculator => enter the desired final AVI size + original movie length (in minutes)  + 
movie format (4 /3 or 16/9)
2. Paths
*Choose first .VOB 
	=> select the first unencrypted VOB on the HD 
	=> following VOBs will be processed if 'ALL VOBS' option is checked
*Destination AVI (video only)
	=> choose a path and a name for the temporary AVI (without sound)
*Extracted WAV
	=> choose a path and a name for the temporary WAV(PCM) (uncompressed)
*Compressed Audio
	=> choose a path and a name for the compressed audio file
*Choose Final AVI
	=> choose a path and a name for the final AVI (=temp AVI + compressed WAV)
*Final (substream2)
	=> choose a path and a name for the final AVI (=temp AVI + 2nd compressed WAV)
*Free space 
	=> you can see the available free space on each HD and/or partition

3. DeCSS
****removed**** 
This option has been removed for 3 reasons :
•	DVD encryption gets more and more complex 
•	Multiangle problem
•	In most cases previews are necessary and can only be done AFTER decryption
All this requires the use of ‘up-to-date’ decryptors. 

4. Video
*fps
	=> the AVI fps (25 for R2 DVD and 23.976 for R1 DVD; you can try other values 
	but this could cause A/V desynch)
*PostFilter Quality
*Reference Quality
*Presets
	=> fills in the DownSize & Cropping fields with 'common' values => choose the one that fits
*Output Command
	=> don't care about the three above unless you know their meanings - leave the default
	     values
*Downsize X
	=> shrinks the X size (in pixels) from 720 (usual DVD resolution) to ....
*Downsize Y
	=> shrinks the Y size (in pixels) from 480/576 (usual DVD resolution) to ....
*Cropping
	=> if you downsize you should also crop the AVI otherwise you'll get black borders
*Lock cropping values
	=> cropping values don't change when you modify the Downsize values
*Half Res. Mode
	=> same as downsize but divides the DVD resolutions (X & Y) by 2
*StreamID
=> if the DVD has multiangles you can choose which video stream to rip (useless in most cases because rippers usually copy only the chosen angle)
*Range FROM x TO y
	=> rip the VIDEO from time x to time y
*Inverse telecine
	=> try to deinterlace NTSC movies (polarity 2 should be OK, otherwise, try different values + preview)
*FIX button
=> AVI resolutions must be multiples of  8 (if the values your entered are green it’s OK, if they’re red, click on this button to round them to the closest valid values)
*Preview Video button
	=> you can preview the AVI with the video parameters you’ve chosen ('select first .VOB' field must be filled)

5.Audio
*Primary Substream
	=> choose the first audio stream
*2nd Substream
	=> choose the second audio stream
*Flip Audio streams list
	=> only for the 'Internal' Audio rip - in sme cases the AC3 streams list is in reversed order, so, if 0x80 is not English, check this option 
	(for compatibility reasons)
*Codec
	=> choose the audio compression codec (WMA or MP3)
*Mode
	=> mono or strereo
*Bitrate
*Sample Rate
	=> for both, higher rate means better quality but more HD space and bigger AVI
*Normalize to :
	=> allow you to amplify the WAV volume (10 dB should be OK -  15+ dB could cause distortion)
=> WARNING : the normalization is applied directly to the original WAV file unless you check the ‘normalize to another file’ box ! ! ! 
*Play Audio 1 button
	=> listen to the primary audio substream selected
*Play Audio 2 button
	=> listen to the secondary audio substream selected

6. DivX Auto
*DivX Codec
*Key Frame
*Frame Rate
*Crispness
	=> I guess you know these
*VKI : key frame is set at scene change not after a given delay (be sure you installed at least DivX 3.11 VKI or DivX 3.20 ! ! ! !) => enter 9999 as 
            KeyFrame delay
7. Profile
*Movie Name :
	=> can be different from the profile FILE name
*Save As
	=> saves the current RIA parameters to the ‘Profiles’ directory
*Export
	=> saves the profile to the Export dir and removes unnecessary informations => ready to be sent !
*Auto button
	=> fills the 'description' field with a summary of the current parameters

D. Some words about profiles

RIA introduces its own kind of profile (called xxx.PFL).
RIA profiles are film specific. I mean the profiles hold all the parameters you selected to rip your movie. 
The purpose of this is to save everybody's time.
I think an example gets light on dark subjets :)
Let's say the movie 'The Mummy'. You found out the best resolutions, the best sound params, etc ...
All the parameters on the RIA windows will be in the Profile => i.e. enter 'The Mummy' as profile name and save it as 'mummy.prf'.
Now you have a working profile for 'The Mummy' you can share with other peoples.
Using your parameters will save their testing time.
Your profile name and description indicate th	at RIA will rip the movie 'The Mummy' (Region 2-PAL) on 1 CD (<=700Mb) with MP3 sound at 44Khz and a bitrate of 96, with resolution X x Y ...
This way you can also keep a trace of your parameters in case you delete the final avi by mistake and must rip it again. Having a profile saves you time ... you did it once, you can then do it as often as you want and it will produce the same result.

*I hope everybody will share his profiles. All the profiles we’ll receive will be available in the 'profiles' section on the homepage.
One last thing about shared profiles : before sending yours, click on the export button, this removes all the lines refering to paths, as other people will certainly not have the same paths as you.

*RIA default values : RIA has internal default values (just launch it and you'll see them ;) ).
But you maybe prefer other default values (i.e. WMA sound instead of MP3 or MP3 at 48Khz and bitrate of 128, ...). It's possible :) 
Just create and save a 'default.pfl' in the PROFILE directory with your prefered values (all the ones you can see in  RIA - even paths).
RIA seeks first the presence of this profile and uses these values instead of the internal ones.

E. Limitations and tips

*IMPORTANT : RIA has been tested succesfully with Mpeg2AVIPX3 V0.0.9 (included). Until now later releases (up to 0.1.5) crashed … so don’t replace Mpeg2AVIPX3 with another version unless we tell you to.

*I told you RIA is modular, I mean you can let it do things and complete the procedure later.
It is important you understand how it works to be able to build a correct procedure.
The full process (in modules words) is this :
1.	Extract AC3/MP2 sound from VOB and convert it to PCM WAV (AudioExtract or AC3Dec) 
2.	Optional : extract second audio stream and convert it
3.	Normalize WAV
4.	Optional : normalize 2nd WAV
5.	Compress WAV to WMA or MP3  (AudioComp)
6.	Optional : delete WAV
7.	Optional : compress 2nd WAV
8.	Optional : delete 2nd WAV
9.	Compress MPEG2 video stream to MPEG4 (DivX) ->only the selected VOB or all VOBs (Mpeg2AVIPX3)
10.	Merge Audio and Video (DivX Mux) and split (optional)
11.	Optional : Merge 2nd WAV + video (+ split (optional)) - extract audio and delete second AVI file(s)
12.	Optional : create a log file (time descriptions)
13.	 Optional : shutdown computer (let's save some electricity ;) )

This allows you to split the procedure : imagine you're not happy with the bitrate you choose for the MP3 soundtrack ... you won't get to redo all the rip session ... choose the avi (done at point 9., choose the wav file (still in PCM WAV format) and change your MP3 encoding parameters, check ‘Compress’ + 'Merge A/V' only and then let RIA reprocess it.
I hope this is clear... :)

*DVD size definition are 720 x ... but I found out that resolution of 512 x ... is really faster to compress and is as good (in picture quality terms) as full res.
Downsize means going from the original resolution to the desired one, lets say : 
-original : 720 x 480 => downsized to 512 x 288 (X x Y)
-enter 512 in downsize X and 288 in downsize Y
- you'll see 512 and 288 are copied to the cropping edit boxes.  Why would you say ?
Just leave the 'cropping' box unchecked and click on 'Preview AVI', you will see a small movie (in fact a 512 x 288 movie) played within a great black screen.
Downsize reduces the movie (picture) size but not the output size => your movie is now 512 x 288 but Mpeg2Avi outputs a 720 x 480 AVI.
This is why 'cropping' is usefull, it tells MPEG2AVI to cut off all black borders (keep the 512 x 288 image taken from the center) and output a 512 x 288 AVI instead of a 720 x 480.
Last thing : 512 x ... is my prefered resolution but you can still want to use full res.
In this case the X size (720) is correct but if your movie is 16:9 you'll have black borders above and bellow. Then use the 'Copping' option but only for Y (height) => something like : cropping 720 x 288 (should remove black borders).
If you're not sure, click on Preview AVI and correct the downsize and/or cropping values.
I suggest you play with these options and use 'Preview AVI' to fully understand this point.
Mpeg2Avi let's you modify (with arrows) the downsize sizes while the avi is playing so you can look for the best resolution => warning : this is not copied to RIA, so you must change these values yourself afterwards.

*The 'presets' are common 'downsize' and 'cropping' values, so, try them before getting mad ;)

*If you checked 2nd audio streams AND split, RIA will make 2 movies (AVI), each one with a different language, to be sure to cut it at the right place. It means you need twice the size of one AVI although only audio will remain after the final step. 

MicroDVDPlayer allows you to choose and switch to a second language 

*In some cases (reported by others, because it never happened to me...) the 'Internal' audio rip can produce A/V desynchronization. Thus, if you encounter this problem, try the AC3DEC option and all should be OK.

*The 'Flip Audio streams list' has been introduced for compatibility reasons. I use the 'GraphEdit' (or DirectShow) method for audio ripping and in some cases (+/- 30 %) the AC3 streams list RIA gives doesn't correspond to the DVD streams order and it's then often upsidedown. Checking this option should restore the correct order, but sometimes streams are completely mismatched ... so ALWAYS listen to the chosen AC3 stream first !
I have no control over this order, so I really can't fix this :(

*When compressing audio, the down/upsampling is not 100% accurate and could lead to A/V desynch. So I do suggest to use the same 'samplerate' for both original and compressed sound files (44.1 or 48 kHz). If you use RIA for the whole process you shouldn't experience any problem as RIA rips audio at the same samplerate as the 'future' compressed file.
This is only important if your WAV comes from somewhere else.

*The 'Split after (MB)' option splits your final AVI in two (2). The first part has a size of  x MB and the second, a size of final_size-x MB (the remaining size). 
i.e. : final AVI = 700 MB - Split after 650 MB => gives AVI1 = +/- 650 MB and AVI2 = +/- 50 MB 
i.e. : final AVI = 700 MB - Split after 10 MB => gives AVI1 = +/- 10 MB and AVI2 = +/- 690 MB !!!
So, it doesn't cut in PART OF x MB but only in 2
        
*WMA (DivX audio) gives me gray hairs ... although the original WAV and the compressed file durations match *exactly* I have the impression a 100-150 msec. delay happens after +/- 1h20 ... I have absolutely no idea on how to fix this ...

F. Final notes

*You know all the legal stuff about copyrights so I won't bother you. You may not use this software to make illegal copies of DVD movies. If you don't care about this warning, I won't care either, take your responsabilities...... ;)

fred_psyche@hotmail.com
http://www.RipItAll.be.tf