New to MKV and Ripping

[CJT80]

Hi There,

Just registered as I am interested in ripping my DVD/Blu-ray collection, as I find I never seem to watch them and there are some I'd like to watch whenever/wherever I want to. I have Plex installed onto a NAS Drive and I know it plays movies, so my next stage is to rip my DVD's/Blu-ray's and transfer them all onto the NAS.

I currently have a Win 11 PC but it does not have any optical drive or any space for one, so I will need to purchase an external one. I have looked on the forum and found a UK seller who is a member of this forum asmcom who sells pre-flashed drives.

Just wanted to reach out for any advice before I make the plunge.

Thanks in advance.

[NoDVDness3587]

Nearly the same question here. Deciding on what to buy, in EU, and am just hesitant with the new pioneer FW update that prevents this from working.

But want to run the docker app so my Unraid NAS can automatically backup my stuff to Plex.

[dcoke22]

Asmcom is one of the sellers on this forum and seems to be well regarded.

Even 'internal' models of optical drives can be used externally via USB. I have 3 drives in external enclosures connected to my computer. The Flashing Guide has a section in it with some enclosures that'll work.

One possible drive is the Verbatim 43888. I don't have any firsthand experience with it since I'm in the USA as the drive is only sold in Europe. But it is seemingly well liked by people who can get one: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=30533

[CJT80]

Asmcom is one of the sellers on this forum and seems to be well regarded.

Even 'internal' models of optical drives can be used externally via USB. I have 3 drives in external enclosures connected to my computer. The Flashing Guide has a section in it with some enclosures that'll work.

One possible drive is the Verbatim 43888. I don't have any firsthand experience with it since I'm in the USA as the drive is only sold in Europe. But it is seemingly well liked by people who can get one: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=30533

dcoke22 thanks for replying. I have looked at the Flashing Guide which was very helpful. I will probably message Asmcom, as I am in the UK, regarding buying a drive from them. Pioneer looks like one of the better manufacturers around. Just need to decide on a budget and go from there.

[CJT80]

I did have a question, if I buy a Licence for MakeMKV can I use it with both the Windows and MacOS versions?

I now have both a Windows PC and a MacBook Pro.

[Woodstock]

if I buy a Licence for MakeMKV can I use it with both the Windows and MacOS versions?

Not JUST the Windows and Mac version, but the Linux version, as well.

[CJT80]

Not JUST the Windows and Mac version, but the Linux version, as well.

Ah fantastic!

Thanks for confirming that for me.

[Martin F]

Is there a duffers guide for complete novices like myself?
I want to learn how to do this but to be honest it is very daunting.
Any help would be welcome, cheers.
Martin.

[dcoke22]

Is there a duffers guide for complete novices like myself?
I want to learn how to do this but to be honest it is very daunting.
Any help would be welcome, cheers.
Martin.

A guide for which part? For buying and flashing an optical drive, there's the first post in the Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide thread.

For actually ripping something, it should be pretty straight forward. Some discs are a bit more convoluted than others, but probably almost every question you'll have has been answered on this forum, maybe even more than once. You can start with the MakeMKV FAQ.

[Martin F]

I have looked but I am looking for the absolute basics such as minimum specs for a laptop to use almost exclusively for this purpose.
Also I want to be able to rip dvds and blu rays from the UK and USA, will I need to buy 2 drives because of the drives maximum number of region changes? Is that still a thing??
I haven't found the answers to these questions and really need answers to these things before I can move on to the actual fun part.
Martin.

[RocketFromTheTombs]

Also I want to be able to rip dvds and blu rays from the UK and USA, will I need to buy 2 drives because of the drives maximum number of region changes? Is that still a thing??
I haven't found the answers to these questions and really need answers to these things before I can move on to the actual fun part.
Martin.

I have been using makemkv to rip dvds and blu-rays for about 5 years now with the same drive, and have had no issues switching between regions multiple times (I have dozens of region 2 and 4 discs in addition to the hundreds of region 1)

[dcoke22]

I have looked but I am looking for the absolute basics such as minimum specs for a laptop to use almost exclusively for this purpose.
Also I want to be able to rip dvds and blu rays from the UK and USA, will I need to buy 2 drives because of the drives maximum number of region changes? Is that still a thing??
I haven't found the answers to these questions and really need answers to these things before I can move on to the actual fun part.
Martin.

Probably almost any computer from the last 10 years will be able to rip. Running MakeMKV doesn't require much in the way of resources. As for optical drives, buy one from the list of LibreDrive compatible UHD drives (basically, any drive that MakeMKV can use to rip 4K UHDs) and MakeMKV will be able to consistently ignore region coding.

If you want to use Handbrake or ffmpeg or something to transcode your rips afterwards, then you'll want a more powerful computer.

[pneumatic]

I am interested in ripping my DVD/Blu-ray collection

The biggest limitation with doing this imo is the read speed. For a typical DVD drive you're looking at an average speed of anywhere from 6-12MB/sec which amounts to 10-25 minutes per dual layer DVD. If you are just doing single disc movies it's not so bad, but if you have say 100 discs of TV series you're looking at 40 hours of ripping time at max speed all the while babysitting the process. Blurays are many times slower due to the larger file size.

Then you have to manually name the files with episode numbering and titles. Many shows don't hardsub the episode name in the opening gambit so you have to load up the DVD menu to match the opening scene to the menu text, and the DVD publishers often get the ordering wrong, or use the broadcast order instead of creation order.

Another annoyance is that DVDs are low resolution and interlaced, so you need good deinterlacing and upscaling to get them looking decent. Most video processors just have the basic "motion compensated" deinterlacing where anything that moves drops to half vertical resolution (around 240p).

For the average punter I'd say you're better off just using a high quality player like the Panasonic UB9000 or UB420. For the power user a HTPC with Avisynth & Madvr.

[Nucleus]

I currently have a Win 11 PC but it does not have any optical drive or any space for one, so I will need to purchase an external one. I have looked on the forum and found a UK seller who is a member of this forum asmcom who sells pre-flashed drives.

Just wanted to reach out for any advice before I make the plunge.

Just recently got one from them. My feedback/review. The list of successful UHD rips you see mentioned in my review is ongoing, now at 15.

[CJT80]

I am interested in ripping my DVD/Blu-ray collection

The biggest limitation with doing this imo is the read speed. For a typical DVD drive you're looking at an average speed of anywhere from 6-12MB/sec which amounts to 10-25 minutes per dual layer DVD. If you are just doing single disc movies it's not so bad, but if you have say 100 discs of TV series you're looking at 40 hours of ripping time at max speed all the while babysitting the process. Blurays are many times slower due to the larger file size.

Then you have to manually name the files with episode numbering and titles. Many shows don't hardsub the episode name in the opening gambit so you have to load up the DVD menu to match the opening scene to the menu text, and the DVD publishers often get the ordering wrong, or use the broadcast order instead of creation order.

Another annoyance is that DVDs are low resolution and interlaced, so you need good deinterlacing and upscaling to get them looking decent. Most video processors just have the basic "motion compensated" deinterlacing where anything that moves drops to half vertical resolution (around 240p).

For the average punter I'd say you're better off just using a high quality player like the Panasonic UB9000 or UB420. For the power user a HTPC with Avisynth & Madvr.

Hi pneumatic for your response. It’s certainly something to consider. The reason for wanting to rip the DVD/BD discs as opposed to just watching them via a player is the convenience of watching them back on a Tablet or Laptop without needing a drive to play them on (for the Laptop). Do you know the playback capabilities of Plex at all?

Much as I appreciate the idea of buying a high quality such as either of the models suggested the UB9000 is £999 which is not an amount of money I would want to go splashing on a BD Player.

At that price I may as well get an OPPO