x.264 File Sizing Questions

[iLOVENZB]

I've also noticed that Scene file-size standards are increasingly being ignored. At the start of the decade, it seemed that virtually all DVD rips were 700MB files, but these days the file sizes are all over the place.

It depends on the movie and how long it goes for. An animation is usually a 1CD (700mb) it also depends on the nuker.

The Watchmen 720p rip was nuked for being 9mb oversized.

[Beck38]

I've also noticed that Scene file-size standards are increasingly being ignored. At the start of the decade, it seemed that virtually all DVD rips were 700MB files, but these days the file sizes are all over the place.

It depends on the movie and how long it goes for. An animation is usually a 1CD (700mb) it also depends on the nuker.

The Watchmen 720p rip was nuked for being 9mb oversized.

From what I see, everything is just 'all over the place', and your latest example (Watchmen) is right on the mark. I see (and d/l) lots of stuff that's 'just over' the disksize limits. Doesn't make sense. The minimal amount of 'extra size' doesn't make anything 'better' that anyone could possibly see (i.e., 8GB vr. 11, like that).

I've just about come to the conclusion to built something called the 'unRAID' box, can ramp up to as much as around 25TB+ (using 1.5TB drives, more if 2TB, and can start out with as little as 2 drives and easily grow from there.

Looking at the curve of disk prices over the last 10 years, it's conceivable that 10 years from now 1TB of storage could be <$5 or even less. But that's 10 years from now. 1TB may be the base level for USB thumb drives, for all we know!

Optical Media is stable, extremely long lasting, and cheap. Like I remarked before, I guess that if one wants it done 'right', one has to do it oneself. I'm sure these folks doing x264 stuff at the 15GB sizes see no problem whatsoever, and have only a handful of movies on any drive, or so silliness like spread things across multiple discs (which I've seen them allude to).

Well, I'm working out how to shift things around a bit, get a BD computer player for ripping, and set up a Vista machine for some processing. Will probably take a good month to get going.

But I have gotten some really good stuff, that was done right at the DVD5/9 sizing. Just that it's few and far between. Just wets the appetite!

[zot]

I suspect that one possible reason why movies come in a wider variety of file sizes could be because portable hard drives and flash drives have to a large degree replaced optical CD/DVD disks as a prime method of storage.

First DVD players started coming equipped with USB ports, then they evolved into HDD and flash drive-only players like the Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player. With more people using HDD and flash-based media players, those who stick to CD/DVDs could increasingly be left out.

I agree that it's bad judgement for a movie to be sized just over 700MB or 4.7/8.5GB so it won't fit on a disk. I also thought it was a stupid mistake for flash drives to be universally sized at 4GB and 8GB - when movies made for single and double-layer DVDs are going to be slightly over the limit for flash drives. Isn't that what many (or most) people use flash drives for anyway?

[Beck38]

I agree that it's bad judgement for a movie to be sized just over 700MB or 4.7/8.5GB so it won't fit on a disk. I also thought it was a stupid mistake for flash drives to be universally sized at 4GB and 8GB - when movies made for single and double-layer DVDs are going to be slightly over the limit for flash drives. Isn't that what many (or most) people use flash drives for anyway?

I have several usb thumb drives, and have *never* used any of them to shuttle around movies... It's simply MUCH easier (and just as fast) to use gigabit LAN. But I use flash extensively for moving music (flac, etc) around all the time, exp. since I bought a new car head unit about 2 months ago (7yr old one gave up the ghost).

I kept my eye on hard drive prices for a VERY long time, I use it to 'calibrate' pricing on things. Since I 'got into' flash, keep an eye on that as well, and 64GB usb types (the largest made so far) are just a tad over $100. But I can put ALL my music (CD's encoded to AAC/MP3 320kbps) on about half of one.

Oh well, I need to get going on things HD wise, plus a couple other 'projects' I already had lined up for this summer. Gotta get cracking!

[Beck38]

With Players like the WD Media Player , Popcorn Media Hour etc , DVD's are becoming passe

Also about your HDD vs DVD cost analogy

Seagate's 1.5 TB HDD costs 119$ on newegg , that's just 0.08 $ per GB , i doubt you can go cheaper with DVD's

On the price of bulk drives, yes. But add in the cost of the enclosure, case, etc to house it... and the price jumps up, especially with any protection like RAID.

But I did trip across something called the unRAID box, that although the initial price is high (~$2K), holds some 16+ drives (potentially >20TB), that looks pretty fair.

I'm bashing the numbers on that right now. And, the larger drives (2TB) are beginning to fall now that Seagate has their model(s) out to compete against WD.