www.makemkv.com

This year I resolved to upgrade my home media server to include all my beloved DVDs I acquired in my younger years. One of the key motivations is to capture some of the deleted scenes or other bonus content, and make it accessible to my media player (Plex). But for the life of me, I can't seem to decipher the naming convention MakeMKV employs.

For example, on Season 1 of the office (one disc, 6 episodes), the following are output:

B1_t06.mkv (Alliance + Basketball combined)

C1_t01.mkv (Healthcare)

D1_t02.mkv (Hot girl)

E1_t07.mkv (Pilot deleted scenes)

E2_t08.mkv (Diversity Day deleted scenes)

E3_t09.mkv (healthcare deleted scenes)

E4_t10.mkv (Alliance deleted scenes)

E5_t11.mkv (Basketball deleted scenes)

E6_t12.mkv (Hot girl deleted scenes)

E7_t13.mkv (All deleted scenes combined)

F1_t00.mkv (Pilot)

F3_t03.mkv (Diversity Day)

G1_t04.mkv (Alliance)

G2_t05.mkv (Basketball)

When I convert these files in Handbrake, the result contains some files combining multiple episodes or deleted scenes, like a PLAY ALL type of menu item, but since I'm planning to move to Plex, is there any easy way to identify which files relate to which episodes and avoid the combined files being ripped so I don't waste time converting those files unnecessarily?

I usually see if there's a review on blu-ray.com since their reviews often include details about extras.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Offi ... 22/#Review

My workflow is to first make a decrypted backup of the disc. Then I open the decrypted backup (an .iso in the case of a DVD) in MakeMKV and make .mkv files from there. Since I'm not working from the optical disc, ripping is much faster. Therefore the cost of ripping something unnecessarily or a second time is low.

Lots of players, including VLC, MPV, or IINA, can play .mkv files so you can check them without having to transcode them in Handbrake first.

Is it reasonable to just rip to a disc image (iso) or VIDEO_TS folder? Some players will read the DVD structure; my WDTV Live Plus is good that way. It's a lot easier than trying to identify the episodes and extras.

clenchdwarf wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 11, 2023 1:07 am

Is it reasonable to just rip to a disc image (iso) or VIDEO_TS folder? Some players will read the DVD structure; my WDTV Live Plus is good that way. It's a lot easier than trying to identify the episodes and extras.

MakeMKV doesn't make ISOs for blu-rays or UHDs, but making a backup does produce a folder structure for those kinds of discs.

The upside to identifying episodes & extras and making individual .mkv files for them is it allows something like Plex to remember which episode you're on, show you details are each episode, and it frees you from things like forced previews, the FBI warning, and ridiculous and slow menus. It will take a little more time though.