After Opening The DVD What Do I Select?

[artmanphoto]

I am trying to convert a DVD movie so I can play it on my iPad2. I am using MakeMKV and then HandBrake.

I purchased a DVD of a television series. The DVD has 4 shows. When I open MakeMKV and click "Open DVD Disc" in the middle of the screen, the DVD is scanned and the results are displayed on the screen - please see the attached screenshot.

There are 5 Titles with video, audio and Subtitles underneath each Title. I only want to convert the 4 television shows and I don't know which items to check in MakeMKV.

Do I use all of the mkv files that MakeMKV outputs in HandBrake?

Can someone tell me or explain what I should do. I have never done this before.

Thanks very much. Bill

[Smithcraft]

The first title is the equivalent of the DVDs Play All function, and is all four episodes.

Select whatever audio and subtitle streams that you want, and near the output folder box there should be a button to tell MakeMKV to do it's thing.

Before you eject the disc use VLC or whatever media play you prefer to play the DVD and compare what file is what episode, and name your files either in the regular manner(showname - sxxeyy.mkv where showname is the name of the show, sxx is the season, and eyy is the episode number ie - Rizzoli Isles - s01e01.mkv for the first episode of the first season), or however you want.

When you have all the episodes ripped, and they are all in a folder together, use Handbrake and scan the folder. Select the preset that appears to be closest the iPad2. Click through the different tabs and check that it is set up the way you want. If you need the subtitles, they will have to be burned in/hardcoded. When you have it set up the way you want, then use the add to queue button. Select the Title drop down, and pick the next one. Repeat the steps to make sure everything is good, until you get to the final title.
Or, if everything was the way you wanted it with the first title, then instead of adding it to the queue, you can add all of the scanned items to the queue with the current preset applied.

When you are ready, open the queue window, and click the start button.

SC

[artmanphoto]

SmithCraft, thanks very much for your reply and your great information.

In your reply you say the first title which is the largest is equivalent to the DVD's All Play function and includes all four episodes. If I just choose one title (the largest) MakeMKV will only create one .mkv file I think. If this is correct why do you say to play the DVD disc in VLC and compare what file is what episode then name the .mkv files according?

After I open HandBrake you say "if you need the subtitles" they will have to be burned in/hardcoded. I guess I don't know exactly what a subtitle is or what it's purpose is. If I just want to copy the movie only I think I would only have to select in MakeMKV the Audio English. Do I need to also check the Subtitles English.

Thanks again for all of your help. I really appreciate it.

Bill

[Smithcraft]

If you only want the four episodes as one file, you can eject the disc. If you want the episodes to be separate files, you need to keep the disc in and figure out what's what. Some discs might have the episodes in order(1, 2, 3, 4), and some discs will be completely random(2, 1, 4, 3). Some might be even worse than random, with some files being snippets of episodes.

Subtitles are the graphics streams that appear as text usually at the bottom of the screen. If you don't need them, as you have selected them in the attached image, then don't select them.

SC

[artmanphoto]

Thanks very much!

[Woodstock]

Additionally, whether Handbrake has to "burn in" subtitles depends upon the subtitles themselves AND what output format you chose. If you are ripping a DVD and outputting an MP4 file, the subtitles can be left selectable at play time. If you're doing a Bluray disk to an MKV file, the subs can be output directly to the MKV file.

Doing a BD to an MP4, though.... you need a "Nightly Build" version of Handbrake, and you get to chose ONE subtitle track to be burned into the video. That's a limitation of the MP4 format. The same applies to some non-graphic subtitles.

A lot of times, you will encounter disks that ONLY have the "all episodes in one title" track. Handbrake is handy for that, too - you rip the big track, use either hints provided by MakeMKV (the "segment map" on the right side, which you click on the title in question) or by playing the file in VLC, to locate which chapters make up each episode. Then, with Handbrake, you select the file, and create multiple output files, telling it which chapters to include in each.

Guess what - you can PLAY with this. Try different things. This isn't a job, so you don't have to have explicit instructions on what to do for every disk, as long as you're willing to "fail" sometimes. "Oh, that didn't work. Let's try ..."

That's the beauty of free or low-cost tools. Opportunity to have fun!

[artmanphoto]

Thanks for the info!