"Collateral Damage" - blocking after ReMPEG2

i ripped to hard drive using smartripper, backup mode. rempeg2 using 720 and "match source" options. remux/strip streams using ifoedit menu drop-down. resulting movie is blocky with large pixels. any help or suggestions? thanks.... chum ps...welcome back derrow...you're wisdom was sorely missed.

If you used ReMpeg did you make sure that it wasn't the old problem where there is a low bitrate vob at the beginning which throws it - I seem to remember that the Warner Brothers logo was a bit naughty like that. Easiest way to check is to load up ReMpeg again and check the bitrates it has calculated. Then just use Rempeg on one of the middle vobs (not the whole movie as before) and see what the bitrates for that are. I'm sure you are familiar with the problem but for anybody else who hasn't come across this, the bitrates that ReMpeg uses are artificially set low by this little file at the beginning, and so that when you then say re-encode at 60% you get a very poor picture but not a corresponding reduction in filesize.

Had the same problem with Swordfish... I try with 60 and 90% setting, 352x480 and 720x480 and got same pixelation. Pixels are too big. Using BitrateViewer got: Avg bitrate 4000 kbps Avg quality 9.3 And yes, it's a Warner movie with logo at begining. If I understood, I just have to exclude first vob file from cffl file and encode the other vob files with Rempeg2.

All you have to do is to remove the Vob ID that contains the Warner logo at the very beginning of the film. In "Collateral Damage", it is Vob ID 1, so when you strip the streams with IfoEdit, just check the box that says "strip Vob Ids", and the second requestor will ask you to check the Vob Ids that you want to keep. In this case, check all of them except #1, and then strip the movie. Now when you use ReMPEG on it, set it for 86%, 720x480, match source, and Gradient, and your .m2v file will be just fine. Then you remux it with IfoEdit, get VTS sectors, and you are done.

snidely do you set rempeg2 to "gradient" for all your movies? or do you use "prediction" mostly?

Yes, I use "gradient" for all of my ReMPEG'd movies, as it gives the best quality vs. the amount of time needed. "Full" just takes too long, while "prediction" doesn't always yield the best results. rmtaibo, that will probably work, but it's just too much work. If you strip out just Vob ID 1, all you lose is the very first Warner logo. You still get the second Warner logo and the secondary studio logo before the movie begins, and it is a hell of a lot less work :)

i totally forgot the Warner Bro's logo in the first cell. in fact, i demuxed vob1 into cells and deleted the first 2 cells, then remuxed back into vob1. rempeg worked perfectly. stoooopid me. sorry. thanks for the graident input...will use that from now on.

One more problem with this movie along the same line 

I have been having the same problem after remuxing this movie and now I can't figure out how to remove VOBID 1. I am using Ifoedit 0.91 and when I load VIDEO_TS.IFO and try to stip VOBIDs I get an illegal operation error and the program closes. I did see that there was no VIDEO_TS.VOB file on the DVD when I ripped it (the VIDEO_TS.IFO and VIDEO_TS.BUP files were there). Would this cause the program error and crash?