My first MKV file is much LARGER than I expected...

[SarasotaSlim]

Ok, I'm a total newbie to your product.

I think I'm gonna LIKE it...I like the concept, of being able to take any of the DVDs
from my movie collection (of about 70 titles, and counting), and
first just 'blindly' rip them into a .mkv container, without yet considering what
video or audio codecs that might yield.

Then, my plan was to use a tool (such as HandBrake, or VLC, or, whatever), to do
the next phase, of choosing exactly what video codec (H.264 is my current favorite),
to do the final transcoding of the .mkv (from step 1 using makemkv).

[For my purposes, broadcasting of a 'pre-transcoded' movie file on Veetle.com, I've
finally learned all the myriad video and audio parameter values that I want in the
final file. And, HandBrake will let me also change the final 'container' from mkv to mp4
or keep it as 'mkv'.

Hope you're with me this far.

So, I just installed your product (on Win-7 laptop) and ripped my first movie DVD 'test-case'.

It seems to have worked just fine. I got a .mkv file, and it displays fine in VLC player.

But, why is the output file so LARGE?

It appeared to say it was gonna bring over just the chapters (e.g. 28 or whatever there were).
The movie has a run-time of an hour and a half.

My experience in the past, with some other ripping/transcoding tools, typically yields files
of maybe a gigabyte or so. So, why is my first MKV 4-GB-ish in size?

Did I make a cockpit error, or is this the best I can expect?

EDIT: Hmm...maybe my expectations are just hopeful. Maybe, it's the 'magic' of H.264 video-codec that
allows the file size to drop so much? e.g. Once I did the phase-2 step, using HandBrake, using the .mkv
as input-file, then the output (.mp4 container), using a video-bitrate of 350kbps, results in a file of
(only) 310-MBytes.

TIA...

[setarip_old]

Hi!

My experience in the past, with a bunch of similar ripping/transcoding tools, typically yields files
of maybe half-a-gigabyte or so.

MakeMKV is NOT a compression tool...

Maybe, it's the 'magic' of H.264 video-codec that allows the file size to drop so much?

That is VERY likely the case ;>}

[SarasotaSlim]

Hi!

My experience in the past, with a bunch of similar ripping/transcoding tools, typically yields files
of maybe half-a-gigabyte or so.

MakeMKV is NOT a compression tool...

Maybe, it's the 'magic' of H.264 video-codec that allows the file size to drop so much?

That is VERY likely the case ;>}

Ok...that's beginning to make sense.

So, my next (naive) question is:

What are the tradeoffs (advantages and dis-advantages) between the MP4-container choice and
the MKV-container choice (that this product produces)?

[As I recall, about 8 months ago, when I first read wikipedia's writeup on 'container-formats', both MP4
and MKV containers were mentioned and shown in a table, but I don't recall any clear reason why one
was to be favored over the other.]

The one thing I recall, is that MKV is 'open-specification' (aka 'open-source'), which is why this
product seemed worth investigating. Are there other additional advantages?

[One reason I ask, is that Veetle documents 'lead one' to use MP4, because Veetle docs suggest using that,
but they give absolutely NO reasons for WHY they suggest MP4.]

[SamuriHL]

In theory, MP4 used to be supported on a wider variety of devices. MKV, IMO, is a superior container format and if your device supports it, is the obvious choice. For example, MKV supports a variety of subtitle formats, HD audio, and multiple video codecs. I don't remember the limitations of MP4, but, I've never seen one with PGS subs and HD audio.