Problem: MKV files waaaaay too large...Confused

[MuviLuvr68]

First off, I admit, I'm a complete noob where ripping is concerned. Thanks to info provided by @MartyMcNuts, I was able to narrow down optical drive choices, flash/cross-flash the drive to downgrade the firmware & enable LibreDrive. That done, I decided it might be best to first rip one movie of each disc type (DVD, Blu-ray, and UHD Blu-ray), move the files to the NAS, and then test playback from my TV (which has Plex installed as of a few days ago).

I proceeded to ripping my first movie - Apocalypse Now Final Cut (Ultra 4K). The first problem I encountered was that it was not saving the files to the folder I had designated. I'm not 100% certain, but I'm guessing this might have been because, even though I clicked "Apply", and "OK", I hadn't actually closed & reopened makeMKV. After stopping the ripping, closing the software, reopening the software, and restarting the rip, it was finally saving the files to the correct folder (and, no, it is not a folder on the NAS...I was 'instructed' to first save to a local drive, and then move the files to the NAS Plex folder's "Movies & TV" sub-folder.

So, what's the problem? After the disc was ripped, I discovered that the total size of the files was 333GB. HOW is this possible? I know makeMKV doesn't have built-in file compression...but, I would have never imagined the ripped files would not only be larger than the disc's original 84.3GB size...that's just under 4x the original size. Did I do something wrong...and, if so, is there anything can I do within makeMKV's settings to 'fix' the problem? Obviously, I can use a stand-alone compression tool (such as Handbrake) to compress the files after the discs have been ripped, but I'm just wondering, before I do that, if the increased file size was due to something I accidentally did incorrectly. That said, assuming that compression via Handbrake is the only way to compress the files, can anyone provide me with the "best" settings for compressing DVD's, Blu-rays, and UHD Blu-rays (I'm assuming that the settings might be different for each disc type)? Whatever assistance anyone can provide will be GREATLY appreciated.

NOTE: If I've placed this thread in an incorrect area, if an Op/Admin could move it to the 'correct' area, that will also be appreciated.

[dcoke22]

Blu-rays and 4K UHDs have a feature called seamless branching. With seamless branching, a disc can contain multiple versions of the same movie and only require extra space for the parts that are different.

If you make a decrypted backup of a disc and look in the <backup>/BDMV/STREAM/ folder you'll find a bunch of #####.m2ts files. These files contain the audio and video that's on the disc. A title on the disc often (but not always) consists of a .mpls file which can be thought of as a playlist of .m2ts files. A player can switch playing one .m2ts file to another so fast you can't see it. So, if a disc contains the theatrical release and a director's cut of the movie, it can be chopped up into multiple .m2ts files (aka segments) and two .mpls files defined (aka titles); one that is the theatrical release and one that is the director's cut. Probably most segments are the same between the two versions.

In the simplest case, a movie consists of a single .m2ts file that contains the whole movie.

In some cases, this feature can be abused to create hundreds of incorrect versions of the movie on a single disc with only 1 correct version hidden amongst the incorrect versions.

[MuviLuvr68]

Blu-rays and 4K UHDs have a feature called seamless branching. With seamless branching, a disc can contain multiple versions of the same movie and only require extra space for the parts that are different.

If you make a decrypted backup of a disc and look in the <backup>/BDMV/STREAM/ folder you'll find a bunch of #####.m2ts files. These files contain the audio and video that's on the disc. A title on the disc often (but not always) consists of a .mpls file which can be thought of as a playlist of .m2ts files. A player can switch playing one .m2ts file to another so fast you can't see it. So, if a disc contains the theatrical release and a director's cut of the movie, it can be chopped up into multiple .m2ts files (aka segments) and two .mpls files defined (aka titles); one that is the theatrical release and one that is the director's cut. Probably most segments are the same between the two versions.

In the simplest case, a movie consists of a single .m2ts file that contains the whole movie.

In some cases, this feature can be abused to create hundreds of incorrect versions of the movie on a single disc with only 1 correct version hidden amongst the incorrect versions.

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately...as least in regards to my minimal understanding...that doesn't explain how a disc containing 68GB of data became 333GB worth of .mkv files. It would make sense if makeMKV had created a separate .mkv files for each 'version' of the movie (based on your "chopped up" explanation), and if all three 'versions' were on the same disc...but, even though there are 3 'versions' included in the box, ONLY one version is actually on Disc 1 (ie. "Final Cut", as the other two 'versions' of the movie are on Disc 2. Having made some changes to the makeMKV settings, I am currently re-ripping the disc. The settings changes have already lowered the final file count number, from 26, down to 10 (some of which are short videos). Once the disc is finished being ripped, I will check the files to determine "what" each is.

Getting to the files, themselves, with there already being 6 .mkv files, I can already see 3 files that are 83-85GB. Again, considering the total combines file size of the disc's data is only 84.3GB, this still makes no sense. Obviously, HandBrake compression is going to be required. The only thing I can think of is, in ripping the disc, makeMKV is actually removing previous compression.

[MuviLuvr68]

UPDATE Part 1:

As I've already mentioned, I'm a complete noob at the whole ripping thing...so, as I'm sure it was with everyone else at one point in time, it's a "learning process" for me. Since yesterday, I've learned two important things...and, in a manner of speaking, they are related.

First, by making some adjustments to makeMKV's settings, I was instantly able to lower the number of ripped files. I know the "title timing" default setting was 120 seconds, to which I had originally lowered it to only 2 seconds. I did this because I was still thinking of the entire process as "ripping a disc", instead of "ripping a movie", and I wanted to make certain everything was ripped. By changing it back to the default 120 seconds, the final output was reduced to only 10 files, from the original 26 files. I'm sure I can set the "title timing" minimum to an even higher amount, which will help to eliminate even more files from being created, thus lowering the combined file size. Does anyone have suggestions on a "better" minimum number of seconds?

Second, I realized I need to STOP thinking of this as "ripping a disc", and start thinking of it as "ripping a movie". I've already discovered that eliminating unneeded audio tracks (ie. foreign languages, and foreign language subtitles) makes the mkv files smaller...but, obviously, the movie, itself, is supposed to be the primary focus, and 'extras' (such as "making of" videos, blooper reels, etc) can also be eliminated, which will help to lower the number of .mkv files created, and make the combined file size even smaller. I guess, learning what to 'eliminate' from the ripping is just another part of the "learning process".

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UPDATE Part 2:

makeMKV just finished (for the second time) ripping "Apocalypse Now Final Cut", and there were 10 files. However, 4 of those files were still 83-85GB each, which I'm still not understanding "why". Is makeMKV "decompressing" the data on the disc when ripping into .mkv files? After all, that's the only reason I could see a disc originally having 84.3GB of data, and these four files having a combined xxxGB worth of data. Having checked them, while 2 of them are the complete film (they appear to be of identical length @ 3:01:58), the other 2 have the end-of-film title scrolling in separate files (1st file @ 2:55:51, and 2nd file @ 6:07). Then, there's the audio problem. I first tried playing through Windows Media Player, and the was no audio on any of the files. Next, I played them through VLC media player...and, while there is audio for the music, as well as all "background noise", there is no spoken audio. Now, I know I left all chedckboxes marked "English" checked...so, the only thing I can think of right now is that the audio codex isn't playable by VLC media player. In checking the disc, I see that the audio options are TrueHD Surround 7.1 English, DD Surround 5.1 English, and DD Stereo English. So, there are 3 different audios...but 4 different 'versions'.

If there's someone who has already ripped "Apocalypse Now Final Cut" on UHD,or if there's someone who understands the letters attached to UHD files (which I'm about to type)...and, if you can explain the letter coding to me (I'm assuming it's some sort of coding), that's be great. Up to a certain point, all files have the same title (ie. Apocalypse Now - Final Cut - UHD". from that point, they differ. for example, the first one is "Apocalypse Now - Final Cut - UHD-FPLMainFeature_t04". following "UHD", the second one is "-FPLMainFeature_B_t05. The third is "-SEG FPL_01_t00", followed by title scrolling files ending in "-SEG FPL_02A_t02" & "-SEG FPL_02B_t01". And, finally, the fourth is "_t06", followed by title scrolling files ending in "_t07" & "t08". Initially, I was thinking each file had a different audio (ex. TrueHD 7.1, DD Surround 5.1, DD Stereo)...but, according the makeMKV, each file has all three audios, so I'm back to square one of not knowing. I've randomly picked one of the two larger files, and am copying it to the NAS. After it's copied, I'll use Plex on the NAS to "add" it to the library, and test it. If it works, great...and, if not, I'll move onto the other files, one-by-one, until I find one that works.

However, getting back to the original file size matter, does makeMKV actually 'decompress' the files? Is that why the combined file size of all of the .mkv files is 4x the data size of the disc?

[dcoke22]

Do you have expert mode enabled? https://forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16405

When you highlight a title on the left, you'll see a lot of information in the 'info' box on the right. Some titles will have a source file name that is a #####.mpls file. There will be a duration, number of chapters, number of segments, and a segment map. The segment map correlates to the #####.m2ts file names.

When MakeMKV loads a disc, it reads the structure of the disc and tries find the important stuff and ignore the non-important stuff. For instance, it might find a .mpls file that is the movie and it might only have one segment. MakeMKV might also accidentally find that segment that is the movie and add it to the list as a title. In this case, the segment map of both items will be the same (they're both pointing to the same #####.m2ts file). The one with the source file name that is a .mpls file will (almost) assuredly have chapters. The one with the source file name that is a .m2ts file will have zero or 1 chapters (chapter data is stored in .mpls files). In this case, pick the one with chapters and uncheck the other one. They're the same content since they have the same segment map

[dcoke22]

However, getting back to the original file size matter, does makeMKV actually 'decompress' the files? Is that why the combined file size of all of the .mkv files is 4x the data size of the disc?

No. MakeMKV just copies the data from the disc (minus whatever you tell it to skip, like foreign languages for example) into a new container, a .mkv file.

[dcoke22]

It is worth mentioning that if you make a decrypted backup of a disc (by clicking the icon of the yellow folder with the green arrow on the first screen of MakeMKV), you can open that backup and create .mkv files from it as many times as you like at speeds way higher than you can read from the optical disc. If you do this, you can iterate faster comparing what you see in MakeMKV to the output generated. You can also play the .m2ts files directly (via VLC) and see what something is before you rip it.

Additionally, Plex has the capacity to store and show you the 'extras' from your discs. (https://support.plex.tv/articles/local-files-for-trailers-and-extras/) Not everyone is interested in that stuff and to each their own. But for some, they wish they had learned about this feature and had starting ripping the 'extras' when they started ripping their collection.

[MuviLuvr68]

Do you have expert mode enabled? https://forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16405

When you highlight a title on the left, you'll see a lot of information in the 'info' box on the right. Some titles will have a source file name that is a #####.mpls file. There will be a duration, number of chapters, number of segments, and a segment map. The segment map correlates to the #####.m2ts file names.

When MakeMKV loads a disc, it reads the structure of the disc and tries find the important stuff and ignore the non-important stuff. For instance, it might find a .mpls file that is the movie and it might only have one segment. MakeMKV might also accidentally find that segment that is the movie and add it to the list as a title. In this case, the segment map of both items will be the same (they're both pointing to the same #####.m2ts file). The one with the source file name that is a .mpls file will (almost) assuredly have chapters. The one with the source file name that is a .m2ts file will have zero or 1 chapters (chapter data is stored in .mpls files). In this case, pick the one with chapters and uncheck the other one. They're the same content since they have the same segment map

Thanks for your info...and, yes, "Expert Mode" is 'enabled'. Also, my apologies for the delay in replying. I had to wait until another CPU & GPU-intensive process (I was giving HandBrake a 'test'...can't wait to 'test' Cupscale on a ripped DVD file) had completed, plus I had to fill my stomach with some food, before going over what you said. First, regarding HandBrake...while I'm still learning its "ins & outs", I will say that, I was able to compress one of the original ripped files (81.1GB) down to 22.7GB. I plan on adjusting the HandBrake settings a little more, to produce something closer to a "lossless" file, but still less than the original ripped file. Moving over to things you said, now that that's complete...as I am typing this, I ejected the disc, re-opened makeMKV, re-inserted the disc, and am going over what you wrote item-by-item. Here is what I'm seeing:

First & foremost, even though I has previously (through a Google search) found the disc top contain 84.3GB of data, makeMKV is reporting the disc as containing 90.96GB of data...so, that's what I'll believe it to actually be. After reading the disc's data, I checked the four largest files, and this is what's reported:

1) {File t00} -- Comment: SEG FPL_01, 84.3GB, .mpls file, 1 chapter, Codec: MpegH HEVC Main10@5.1 (dvhe.07.06 BL+FEL+RPU), Segment count: 1, Segment map: 278
2) {File t04} -- Comment: FPL_MainFeature, 86.4GB,.mpls file, 19 chapters, Codec: MpegH HEVC Main10@5.1 (dvhe.07.06 BL+FEL+RPU), Segment count: 2, Segment map: 278, 280
3) {File t05} -- Comment: FPL_MainFeature_B, 86.4GB, .mpls file, 19 chapters, Codec: MpegH HEVC Main10@5.1 (dvhe.07.06 BL+FEL+RPU), Segment count: 2, Segment map: 278, 279
4) {File t06} -- 84.3GB, .m2ts file, Codec: MpegH HEVC Main10@5.1 (dvhe.07.06 BL+FEL+RPU), Segment count: 1, Segment map: 278

Notice that the last one has no "comment" (the "comment" is the final part of the file name for the first three files I listed), nor does it indicate any "Chapter" count. Also, as previously mentioned, the two larger files (#2 & 3, above) have the rolling credits within the video file, whereas the two smaller files (#1 & 4, above) have the rolling credits separated within two separate files for each - for File t00 they are Files t01 & t02 (both .mpls files), and for File t06, they are Files t07 & t08 (both .m2ts files). Contradicting what you wrote (note that makeMKV is the one 'contradicting'...not me), while the .m2ts file has 1 chapter (as you said it should), 1 of the 3 .mpls files (#1, as listed above) also has only 1 chapter (that's the "contradicting" part. As fir files having multiple chapters (19, in the case of this movie), both #2 & 3 (files t04 & t05) fit that. For the greatest part, these two files appear almost identical (both even point to Segment map 278), with the only noticeable differences being the following:

1) #2 (ie. File t04) is just slightly smaller (1.68MB) than #3 (File t05).
2) While #2 points to Segment map 278 & 280, #3 points to Segment map 278 & 279

I don't know if either of the above two points means anything, but I am understanding that Files t00 & t06 (the two with only a single chapter) are the "wrong" ones. Additionally, I've looked at all the other information makeMKV lists (audio & subtitle info), and the rest of the info appears to be identical. Hopefully, I've provided everything you might be able to use to determine, between these two files, which is the "correct" file I should be using. After all this, between Files t04 (Apocalypse Now - Final Cut - UHD-FPL_MainFeature_t04), and File t05 (Apocalypse Now - Final Cut - UHD-FPL_MainFeature_B_t05), is one of these a "wrong" file (and, if so, which one is the "correct" file to use)...or, would both files be "correct", meaning I can pick either?

[MuviLuvr68]

It is worth mentioning that if you make a decrypted backup of a disc (by clicking the icon of the yellow folder with the green arrow on the first screen of MakeMKV), you can open that backup and create .mkv files from it as many times as you like at speeds way higher than you can read from the optical disc. If you do this, you can iterate faster comparing what you see in MakeMKV to the output generated. You can also play the .m2ts files directly (via VLC) and see what something is before you rip it.

Additionally, Plex has the capacity to store and show you the 'extras' from your discs. (https://support.plex.tv/articles/local-files-for-trailers-and-extras/) Not everyone is interested in that stuff and to each their own. But for some, they wish they had learned about this feature and had starting ripping the 'extras' when they started ripping their collection.

For some discs, I'm sure I'll be ripping at least some of the extras. For the majority of my movies, I've already watched a lot of the extras.

[dcoke22]

1) {File t00} -- Comment: SEG FPL_01, 84.3GB, .mpls file, 1 chapter, Codec: MpegH HEVC Main10@5.1 (dvhe.07.06 BL+FEL+RPU), Segment count: 1, Segment map: 278

2) {File t04} -- Comment: FPL_MainFeature, 86.4GB,.mpls file, 19 chapters, Codec: MpegH HEVC Main10@5.1 (dvhe.07.06 BL+FEL+RPU), Segment count: 2, Segment map: 278, 280

3) {File t05} -- Comment: FPL_MainFeature_B, 86.4GB, .mpls file, 19 chapters, Codec: MpegH HEVC Main10@5.1 (dvhe.07.06 BL+FEL+RPU), Segment count: 2, Segment map: 278, 279

4) {File t06} -- 84.3GB, .m2ts file, Codec: MpegH HEVC Main10@5.1 (dvhe.07.06 BL+FEL+RPU), Segment count: 1, Segment map: 278

Your number 1 & number 4 are the example I was talking about. They both point to the same segment, 278, and one is defined by a .mpls file while the other is the .m2ts file directly. It is unusual that number 1 doesn't contain chapters, but as you'll find the farther you go into this, literally anything is possible.

Number 2 & 3 are more interesting since they have chapters and, I presume, credits at the end in the file. There is probably some slight difference in the credits since the segments are different between the two. Since the first part, segment 278 is the same in all 4 items, whatever is in that segment (presumably the movie itself) is the same for all of them. I don't know what's different in the credits between 2 & 3. One might be 'domestic' credits and one might be 'international' with voice dubbing credits?

In my view, 1 & 4 do not need to be ripped. 2 or 3, but not both, is the one you want.

Regarding Handbrake… I use it all the time to compress movies. In fact, I have a dedicated computer just for this purpose. However, when it comes to 4K movies that I'm going to watch on my fancy 4K TV, I choose to leave them alone. I figure I payed for all those bits so I might as well enjoy them. Yeah, the files are big, but having all that visual data is sorta the point.
I do make compressed 1080p versions of my 4K movies. And I compress the regular blu-ray movies I have (I have a lot more regular blu-ray movies than I have 4K movies). These 1080p compressed files look fine on my phone or iPad or just about anywhere. They don't look as good as a 4K movie, but they look as good as or better than stuff on the various streaming services.
As for things that come from a DVD… I leave them alone. DVD rips are so much smaller files compared to blu-rays or 4K UHDs that they're kinda inconsequential in the grand scheme. And by not compressing them they can look as a good as possible.

[MuviLuvr68]

1) {File t00} -- Comment: SEG FPL_01, 84.3GB, .mpls file, 1 chapter, Codec: MpegH HEVC Main10@5.1 (dvhe.07.06 BL+FEL+RPU), Segment count: 1, Segment map: 278

2) {File t04} -- Comment: FPL_MainFeature, 86.4GB,.mpls file, 19 chapters, Codec: MpegH HEVC Main10@5.1 (dvhe.07.06 BL+FEL+RPU), Segment count: 2, Segment map: 278, 280

3) {File t05} -- Comment: FPL_MainFeature_B, 86.4GB, .mpls file, 19 chapters, Codec: MpegH HEVC Main10@5.1 (dvhe.07.06 BL+FEL+RPU), Segment count: 2, Segment map: 278, 279

4) {File t06} -- 84.3GB, .m2ts file, Codec: MpegH HEVC Main10@5.1 (dvhe.07.06 BL+FEL+RPU), Segment count: 1, Segment map: 278

Your number 1 & number 4 are the example I was talking about. They both point to the same segment, 278, and one is defined by a .mpls file while the other is the .m2ts file directly. It is unusual that number 1 doesn't contain chapters, but as you'll find the farther you go into this, literally anything is possible.

Number 2 & 3 are more interesting since they have chapters and, I presume, credits at the end in the file. There is probably some slight difference in the credits since the segments are different between the two. Since the first part, segment 278 is the same in all 4 items, whatever is in that segment (presumably the movie itself) is the same for all of them. I don't know what's different in the credits between 2 & 3. One might be 'domestic' credits and one might be 'international' with voice dubbing credits?

In my view, 1 & 4 do not need to be ripped. 2 or 3, but not both, is the one you want.

Regarding Handbrake… I use it all the time to compress movies. In fact, I have a dedicated computer just for this purpose. However, when it comes to 4K movies that I'm going to watch on my fancy 4K TV, I choose to leave them alone. I figure I payed for all those bits so I might as well enjoy them. Yeah, the files are big, but having all that visual data is sorta the point.
I do make compressed 1080p versions of my 4K movies. And I compress the regular blu-ray movies I have (I have a lot more regular blu-ray movies than I have 4K movies). These 1080p compressed files look fine on my phone or iPad or just about anywhere. They don't look as good as a 4K movie, but they look as good as or better than stuff on the various streaming services.
As for things that come from a DVD… I leave them alone. DVD rips are so much smaller files compared to blu-rays or 4K UHDs that they're kinda inconsequential in the grand scheme. And by not compressing them they can look as a good as possible.

Understood on everything. Thank you. I'm still taking HandBrake with the 4K file. In my latest test (which I won't know the end results until morning...just about to call it a night), I "slowed down" the compression timing, and decreased the amount of compression (from 24 to 20), so as to increase overall image quality, but still somewhat compress the file size over the non-compressed. After re-ripping with TrueHD & stereo removed (leaving only 5.1), as well as all subtitles, I was able to get the non-compressed .mkv file from 86.4GB, down to approx 74GB. I'm guessing that, with the new 4K compression settings, once compressed, it'll probably be in the 30-35GB range...and, if I don't like the results, I can always do it again, further decreasing the amount of compression (maybe from 20, to something in the 16-12 range).

UPDATE: In changing the compression setting from 24 to 20, I expected the file size to increase in the same way that changing it from 30 to 24 did...but, I guess I didn't realize how much data would be removed by removing the 7.1 & stereo audio. The original .mkv (with all three soundtracks) was 86.4GB, while the previous compressed file (also with all three audio) was a little over 22GB. Ripping the movie again, with only 5.1 channel audio, produced a 74.3GB file (12.1GB smaller). As for the newly compressed version, having two less audio tracks, but also having lessened the compression, ended up creating a 25.3GB file. I could probably decrease the compression even further, as mentioned above, but I want to first watch some of both files, to compare their visual aspect...maybe, I'll run HandBrake again, this time bringing it closer to lossless.

[MuviLuvr68]

In my view, 1 & 4 do not need to be ripped. 2 or 3, but not both, is the one you want.

As for things that come from a DVD… I leave them alone. DVD rips are so much smaller files compared to blu-rays or 4K UHDs that they're kinda inconsequential in the grand scheme. And by not compressing them they can look as a good as possible.

Final update (hopefully) on this. First, thank you for your help (in this thread), and additional thanks goes to @Billycar11, for his assistance in a separate thread. Honestly, I'm not certain I could have accomplished what I've accomplished without the help from both of you.

Anyway, I'm not sure what happened last night with HandBrake. I was compressing the file (as previously mentioned), and I had set HandBrake to"Close when finished"...but, when it closed, the just-compressed file also instantly disappeared. I searched my desktop's 'Trash', as well as all drives, and it was nowhere to be found. I had the folder it was being saved to open, so that I could keep an eye on the file size, so I know it existed before HandBrake finished...I just can't explain how it disappeared (maybe you've experienced this, and can tell me what happened, and maybe even 'how' it happened. That's why I had to run it a second time...except that I changed the 'completion' setting to "Do nothing".

When I woke up, HandBrake was still open, and the compressed file was saved...so, all was good to this point. I copied the folders (one containing the 'compressed' version, the other containing the non-compressed version) to the NAS, to the correct folder...but, when I set Plex to "Scan library files", within a few milliseconds, it came back with nothing. I tried a few more times, all with the same results. Turns out, I hadn't set the locations of the "Movies" & "TV" folders correctly. Once I corrected that, Plex instantly found the movie. Notice, I said "movie", and not "movies". Considering each file had a different name (I had added "COMP" to the end of the compressed filename),I had assumed that Plex would see the files as two different movies. This way, I could watch a few time marks of the non-compressed movie, then the same time marks of the compressed movie, and see if there was any noticeable difference. Since Plex was "seeing" the two files as the same movie, and I couldn't tell 'which', I went about the testing a different way. First, I moved the compressed version to a separate folder, and watched the time marks of the non-compressed version. Then I swapped the file's locations, and watched the same time marks of the compressed version...and, I could tell no difference (I'm guessing there could be a noticeable difference when viewing movies actually filmed using 4K (or higher) cameras).

Now that (to a reasonable consideration, and through the help of others) I've figured out how to use & configure makeMKV, and HandBrake, time to move onto the next two disc types (Blu-ray & DVD). The only differences I foresee are different settings (within both applications), and the possible (probable?) use of Cupscale on DVDs (especially DVDs of older TV shows, such as M*A*S*H). Thank you, again, for all your help.

[Hittsy]

Hey, I've ripped apocalypse now a few months ago and can say with certainty that the 4k release has international and domestic credits included. This is done with seamless branching, so you've been ripping the same movie 3 or 4 times. I'd suggest you just pick one of them and call it a day - the others are functionally identical.

[MuviLuvr68]

Hey, I've ripped apocalypse now a few months ago and can say with certainty that the 4k release has international and domestic credits included. This is done with seamless branching, so you've been ripping the same movie 3 or 4 times. I'd suggest you just pick one of them and call it a day - the others are functionally identical.

If you read my most recent post, you'll see that I already did what you 'suggested'...but, thank you, nonetheless. As I mentioned in a post before that one, I came to the conclusion that, of the 4 files, the 2 largest ones had to be the 'correct' files (and dcoke22 confirmed this). As dcoke22 recommended, I "just picked one". I've already tested it on my TV, and it looks & sounds great. Now, I'm onto ripping my first (FHD) Blu-ray, 47 Ronin, after which I'll rip my first DVD, Good Morning Vietnam. Once I've ripped one of each disc type, working out the best settings (for my needs) for each, as well as possible "upscaling" settings for DVDs (especially DVDs of older TV shows), then I'll get down to ripping the entire collection (slightly less than 400 titles).