Because it can not be posted here, please go elsewhere or to the forums to learn how to rip the DVD movie to your HDD. When you have succesfully ripped it into .vob and with AC3 audio, please return to the guide.
To rip your subtitles (if you want any) use this great guide available here: Ripping Subtitles
Opening up AutoGK for the first time
Open up AutoGK and check out the GUI. It is very simple and straightforward. Also, it is conviniently divided into 4 Steps which are in order from Step 1 through 4 which need to be followed in that order.
Let's go to Step 1 in AutoGK.
For Input File, provide the path to the Video_TS folder that you ripped previously.
For the Output File, select a place you will remember, such as the Desktop.
Step 2: Audio
In Step 2, the main audio track should be chosen by default but you have the option to select other tracks such as a Director's Commentary track or a second or third language.
We will be fixing the settings in a later step so for now you are finished with the audio part of Step 2.
Step 2: Subtitles
If you ripped subtitles along with your movie before here is the option to use them.
Add the subtitle track or tracks from where you saved them when ripping. As of now the default is set to make the subtitles hardcoded (you cannot turn them on or off) but we will fix that in a later step as well.
Step 3: Select output size
In this step we are selecting the output size of your .avi. The Odefault is 2 CD's which is equivalent to 1400 MB or 1.36 GB.
Here is where personal preference comes into play but I will give you the rules of thumb I follow when using this method.
If the movie is under 2 hours and has nothing spectacular (ie. a short comedy film) in terms of the audio then select 1 CDs (700MB) as the output.
If the movie is over 2 hours OR has a spectacular audio track or both (ie. Lord of the Rings Trilogy) then select 2 CDs (1400 MB) as the output.
If the movie is over 3 hours AND includes a spectacular audio track (ie. King Kong) then select 3 CDs (2100 MB) as the output.
Whichever you choose from the predefined CD outputs will be split into 700 MB pieces, so a 3 CD film will be split into 3 700 MB pieces.
If you do not want your movie split then there is an option for Custom Size (MB). If you do not want your movie split, then select this option.
For a 2 CDs movie, make the custom size 1399.
For a 3 CDs movie, make the custom size 2099.
Doing this will give you the same quality but will not split your movie into pieces.
Step 4: Advanced Settings
Now we come to the most important of all the steps, Step 4: Advanced Settings.
The first part of the Advanced Settings is the Output Resolution Settings. It allows to set the horizontal resolution of the movie you are using. There are a few options for this.
Auto width is the default and sets the resolution at automatic for what you inputed. I recommend leaving this option selected but will explain the other options.
Minimum width simply means that the movie will not be encoded at a horizontal resolution lower than you set.
Fixed width simply means the movie will encode at the horizontal resolution you set manually.
Maximum width means that AutoGK will try lower resolutions and then stop when it reaches your manually added max even if compressibility would allow the resolution to go higher. Using this method often gives undersized final outputs and I would not recommend.
I recommend using Auto Width but the choice is up to you now that you have the options.
Output audio settings
Output Audio Type is the next part of the Advanced Settings menu.
This is one of the most, if not the most important part of the whole encoding process so be careful during this section.
I will go through the options and then explain which one you should select.
Auto Audio gives you MP3 audio at 128 kbps VBR (variable bit rate) for a 1 CD output and AC3 audio for 2 CD or 3 CD outputs.
Original (AC3/DTS/MPA only) is the selection if you want high quality AC3/DTS/MPA audio with your movie.
VBR, MP3, kbps is the selection if you want to manually select the variable bit rate for your encode.
CBR, MP3, kbps is the selection if you want to select a constant bitrate for your encode. Constant Bitrate encoding is not ideal because it makes the whole audio track the same bitrate thus taking away quality from certain sections and taking up space in other sections that dont need it.
Now that you know the options, you can take the simple route and select Auto and be done with it. However, I would not recommend this. I recommend the following:
For 1 CD movies, select VBR MP3 and 144 kbps.
For 2 CD and 3 CD movies select Original (recommended) or VBR, MP3 and 320 if the movie is very long and needs additional bit rate for the video portion.
Codec selection
The next section of Advanced Settings is the Codec selection part.
For this you want to select XviD and you are done.
Subtitle options
Next we come to the Subtitle options part. If you selected to add a subtitle track earlier in the guide then you want to check both boxes, Display on forced subtitles and Use external subtitles. If you did not select a track earlier, do not check either box.
Checking the external subtitles option gives you the choice to turn subtitles on or off when viewing the movie and checking the forced only subtitles option forces necessary subtitles to be played during the course of a movie (ie. translation from language different than the main movie language).
Previewing
You can now choose to see a preview by selecting the Preview button. Be warned that a preview takes about 5-10 minutes to load before you can view it.
Hidden options
There are quite a few hidden options in AutoGK and they can be accessed by hitting Ctrl+F9.
When the hidden options menu pops up, you have alot of selections to choose from if you wish. I will go through these options and give some recommendations.
.mono is an option made for classic film fans. All classic films originally had mono audio but when moved to DVD they came with dual mono AC3 audio. By using the mono option of AutoGK you can free up space for video bit rate and improve quality. DO NOT select this option unless you are encoding a classic film.
.cartoon as quoted by the creator of XviD, "enables some mechanism in the motion estimation which drops (instead of encoding them) more macro blocks. The result is a more stable, a little less detailed image. Exactly what you need for cartoons like Futurama or the Simpsons." In short, if you are encoding American style cartoons, use this, if you are encoding anything else (including japanese anime such as Dragonball Z) do not use this option.
Leave the .ivtc and .deint options unchecked unless you are an expert, in which case you would not be reading this guide.
.credits can be a very useful feature. It allows you to compress the credits to free up space for better bitrate for main movie. Inside the Frame Calculator type in the starting time for the credits and set the Quality to 40. Set the Framerate to whatever your movie is. (NTSC is 29.97 and PAL is 25.00).
.autocrop simply defines how sensitive the auto cropping will be. The higher you set the value the more cropping will be done. To disable cropping, set the value to 0
.aspect allows you to manually set the aspect ratio if you do not like a predefined 16:9 or 4:3.
.fps is mainly for HDTV 50/60 fps sources. Quoted from the AutoGK website "option is only useful for HDTV 50/60fps sources. By default AutoGK tries to restore 24fps FILM material from 60fps sources and if that is impossible then it leaves fps at 60 (50 fps sources are always left at that fps at the moment). So user can explicitly try and set lower fps. (Note: if you have a pure progressive material you may end up with shuttering video in the end when reducing fps. Use it only if you know what you're doing)"
.sharpmatrix forces AutoGK to use sharp mpeg matrix no matter what. Use this if you are making a 1 CD encode.
The next three options are for experts only and should be left off.
.adjustsubs is a another useful option. If you have subs, check this box so AutoGK can put the subs exactly in the same position where they were in the original DVD.
.colorcorrection allows you to brighten up the picture of your encode if it is too dark. Most movies do not need this option and selecting it will slow done your encoding process by 20 percent.
.detect43 allows you the option to check if the aspect ratio is between 1.25 and 1.4 then AutoGk will crop the video to a perfect 4:3 so there are no black bars on your TV when viewing.
Starting the encoding process and finishing up
You are now done, and are ready to start the encoding process. Press Add Job and then Start. Do not hit Abort at all during this process or you will lose your encode and have to start over.
Once this is done, in 2-3 hours depending on your PC specs, you will have a nice .avi sitting in your HDD waiting to be played on a bunch of different players, such as Media Player Classic and VLC.
Enjoy.
Version History
v1.0 -- 19th March, 2007, First version online (Dvdback23)
Open up AutoGK and check out the GUI. It is very simple and straightforward. Also, it is conviniently divided into 4 Steps which are in order from Step 1 through 4 which need to be followed in that order.
In Step 2, the main audio track should be chosen by default but you have the option to select other tracks such as a Director's Commentary track or a second or third language.
If you ripped subtitles along with your movie before here is the option to use them.
In this step we are selecting the output size of your .avi. The Odefault is 2 CD's which is equivalent to 1400 MB or 1.36 GB.
Now we come to the most important of all the steps, Step 4: Advanced Settings.
Output Audio Type is the next part of the Advanced Settings menu.
The next section of Advanced Settings is the Codec selection part.
Next we come to the Subtitle options part. If you selected to add a subtitle track earlier in the guide then you want to check both boxes, Display on forced subtitles and Use external subtitles. If you did not select a track earlier, do not check either box.
You can now choose to see a preview by selecting the Preview button. Be warned that a preview takes about 5-10 minutes to load before you can view it.
There are quite a few hidden options in AutoGK and they can be accessed by hitting Ctrl+F9.
You are now done, and are ready to start the encoding process. Press Add Job and then Start. Do not hit Abort at all during this process or you will lose your encode and have to start over.
