Hello, everyone. New poster here.
I've been spending the past few weeks importing my Doctor Who DVD&BD collection onto external drives, but I keep running out of space too early and having to clear some other things from them to make space.
The main culprit is that any episode with optional updated effects creates two copies of the entire thing (one with the originals & one with the updated versions). Is there any way these can be combined into one file to switch using an "angle" option of some kind? (It particularly doesn't help that the full gamut of subtitle and audio options are also duplicated between the two, taking even more space for things that are literally identical!)
Thanks in advance,
DrWhoFanJ.
Combine alternative angles (original/updated effects) into one file
Re: Combine alternative angles (original/updated effects) into one file
Generally speaking it is one video stream per .mkv file.
Re: Combine alternative angles (original/updated effects) into one file
That's why I asked whether there is "any way these can be combined into one file" rather than whether MakeMKV specifically has such an option.
I have also since realised that the commentary tracks are somewhat more to blame for the issue, but there doesn't seem to be a way to tell which audio tracks are the original episodes and which are commentaries. Is that something that's plausible beforehand or is it just trial and error for each disc?
Re: Combine alternative angles (original/updated effects) into one file
If you're dealing with blu-rays or 4K UHDs, if you make a decrypted backup of a disc first (on the first screen of MakeMKV, choose the icon of a yellow folder with a green arrow), then open that backup in MakeMKV, when you highlight a title on the left the segment map line on the right will list one or more numbers. You'll find a .m2ts file with that number as its name in the /BDMV/STREAM folder inside the backup. You can play those files with VLC or something similar and figure out what that title is. That'll help you properly name & label things in MakeMKV before making .mkv files.
This technique is more time efficient than it is space efficient.
If you're dealing with DVDs, the above method won't work as the structure of DVDs are different. You can still make a decrypted backup of a DVD (it creates a .iso file) and open it in MakeMKV and make .mkv files from the backup. This method allows for only ever needing to read the optical disc once.
As for using seamless branching to put two or more video streams in a single file… while .mkv files can support this according to their specification, I'm not aware of any playback systems that can successfully navigate such a file. So even if you could build such a file, I don't think you could play it.
This technique is more time efficient than it is space efficient.
If you're dealing with DVDs, the above method won't work as the structure of DVDs are different. You can still make a decrypted backup of a DVD (it creates a .iso file) and open it in MakeMKV and make .mkv files from the backup. This method allows for only ever needing to read the optical disc once.
As for using seamless branching to put two or more video streams in a single file… while .mkv files can support this according to their specification, I'm not aware of any playback systems that can successfully navigate such a file. So even if you could build such a file, I don't think you could play it.