All right, curious I fired up Timefreeze [to prevent changes to the system] & ran a quick couple tests...
Now my workflow is set up to do 1080 ->1080, 1080 -> DVD, & DVD -> 848X480-364 [the latter is square pixel for the Galaxy Tab 2 Android tablet -- it doesn't handle anamorphic (stretched) video that well, & the larger 720p *really* pushes the VLC mobile beta, often past its limits (I use VLC because it handles subs included in the video file). Height varies with the amount of letterboxing, which is cropped.]. I rarely do all 3 conversions -- it's most often just a matter of which one of the 3 I want/need. 4Videosoft Blu-ray Ripper 5.0.22 is a video convertor that can also read DVD & Blu-Ray files/discs -- it doesn't work as a disc copier, putting the original audio/video on your hdd -- & I wondered frankly how it would do, how it would compare transcoding HD to something sized more for the tablet.
For source video I used 5 minutes of the original stream from an NBC HD [1080 60i] digital broadcast I recorded/saved, converted without encoding to mpg2, with the original 5.1 AC3 intact. For output I used the 4Videosoft Blu-ray Ripper built-in Android profile for a Samsung tablet, with 1024x600 AVC video at 29.976 fps, & AAC stereo audio. To match that I used the Mainconcept AVC iPhone/iPad template, set to the same size in Sony Vegas -- I ran 2 tests in Vegas, 1 with the project matching the source, one with it matching the output. I ran a test using Roxio's video converter, set to the closest iPad match, 720p. And I ran 2 tests in Nero Recode, which is what I normally use, one with the Intel OpenCL video acceleration off, & one with it enabled.
Encoding Times... 4Videosoft Blu-ray Ripper was a disaster with ATI acceleration enabled, taking 5 min.+ -- with that turned off it took 1 min, 59 sec [this is what I've always seen with ffmpeg apps claiming ATI accel]. The Vegas MC encoder took 2 min, 45 sec, & did use the ATI OpenCL assist to advantage [It won't work with the Intel OpenCL enabled]. Roxio 2011 is setup for & uses ATI OpenCL, taking just 1 min, 40 sec. Nero took 1 min, 50 sec. both times. I don't have any encoders installed at the moment taking advantage of Intel Quick Sync, which would likely cut that encoding time in half or better -- I just don't like the apps I've tried so far that can use it.
Quality... The Nero encoded files came in 1st, with the test with Intel OCL disabled having *Very* slightly better quality IMO. The source included a lot of challenging scenes, but Nero was the only one to master late evening shadows on the grass during an overhead shot. The file size came in at 111 MB. 4Videosoft Blu-ray Ripper was in last place, far & away, but in fairness I used their video template as-is, only changing the fps to 29.976, which created an output file of only 34 MB, the smallest by far. Upping the bit rate helps, but their template should be at least usable -- it's not. Roxio also gave poor results, but with the largest file size of the bunch, 213 MB -- part [not all] of that increase is the larger frame size I was stuck with. Vegas did great both tries, but it couldn't master the shadows I mentioned. Note 1: the Vegas Sony AVC encoder is setup for HD, where it's the fastest Blu-Ray compliant AVC encoder I've tried -- it's horrible OTOH for something like 1024x600, where it takes 5 min+. Note 2: with the Vegas project set to the smaller, output dimensions, file size dropped from 96 MB to 78 MB -- the video editing app cut more data than the MC encoder... that should make encoding both faster & lower quality. Note 3: versions of Vegas & Nero are sometimes avail. for $0 after MIR.
Conclusion... I do a bit extra with the audio end of things -- I use one or more Older methods to for example reduce the dynamic range, which I feel gives more *listening* quality. Since I'm already working with individual files, splitting the audio & video apart & so on, 4Videosoft Blu-ray Ripper being able to read a DVD or Blu-Ray disc means little to nothing for me -- to really interest me it'd have to be faster/better at transcoding than it is. I could easily enough increase the bit rate, tweaking the profile or template to increase quality, but it's no faster than Nero is now, & with Nero I can embed *switchable* subs right in the file that VLC will read. If Nero wasn't an option, If embedded, switchable subs were irrelevant, If I was running Nvidia rather than ATI, &/or If I wasn't already dealing with files on hdd, than 4Videosoft Blu-ray Ripper might well be worth playing with. BY all means see what it can do for you if you're in the market & don't mind playing with the included profiles. Do beware of the following caution...
In XP [I didn't try installing to win7 -- just ran copied files] 4Videosoft Blu-ray Ripper adds a IMO poor Blu-Ray driver. Normally this sort of app is smart enough not to try adding that in anything later than XP. If you get into trouble Google on thdudf.sys .
