Best Video Format

Hi,

I have a lot of dvds that I plan to rip to my computer
and eventually put them all on an external hard-drive
so I can access them whenever I want.

My question is what do you think is the best overall
video format?

And, which video format will give me the smallest file?

I would also like to know which program I should use to
rip the dvds to this format.

Thanks

 

well about programs i would use 120% alco
and u can also compress

 

Well best is purely subjective. I would suggest AVC video in an mkv container. This way you can keep the original DVD audio (not much space to be saved by converting). Could also keep the menus, although I don't know how the playback situation is these days.

 

but which format will give me the smallest file in the end?

 

Well mkv has quite low overheads. File size is mainly determined by the average bitrate of your video and audio though. If you want small files, use a low bitrate. AVC handles low bitrates about as good or better than anything else.

 

any programs you recommend for getting a video to AVC in a .mkv container?

also, I heard that .rmvb files have a low bitrate.
Is .rmvb a good format?

 

rm as a container or RV9EHQ as a video codec? Similar to AVC in that it uses inloop deblocking, but AVC is better. I would suggest x264 for AVC encoding. You might want to use some kind of GUI for encoding though.

 

thanks

sorry im such a n00b:

but do you have any tutorials or help you can give
for setting up x264 with a GUI and then encoding and
playing the files?

thanks