NewBie Ripper

[The Griff]

Hello Folks,

Any basic words of advice before I start ripping my DVD's and BluRays? Haven't done this before, but I am fairly computer savvy. I want to get all of our movies on our server. Just not sure if the MKV format is going to work for our movie server software. Will have to do a "test rip" on a DVD and go from there. I have to see what devices support what formats.

Thank you,

Tony

[Woodstock]

Most software for servers handle MKV files just fine.

Not all devices that play things back do so well. Apple devices, in particular, do not like the MKV format.

But, there is a lot of software out there to convert MKV files to other formats, if you need it. handbrake (from handbrake.fr) is free and works well with MKV files as a source.

I maintain two sets of files on the media server - MKV with "maximum resolution" and better audio, and MP4 for devices that can't handle the good stuff. Those files are lower-resolution, the "most compatible" audio format, and burned-in subtitles.

[TheShoe]

I pretty much do the same thing:

Rip to MKV, retaining the HD audio tracks, dumping all but english subs, and retaining 3D if applicable.

Use handbrake to re-encode for portable devices.

Note that VLC on iOS will play MKV files.

[The Griff]

Does anyone save more than just the movie? Directors comments, deleted scenes, making of....etc.?

This is more about file structure and preference.

I have a Synology server and use their DS Video software for playback on WiFi capable TV's so far. After ripping a movie, I transferred two smaller titles to my server. DS Video on the TV's asks me to select a title to play. They all come up as the movie. The DS Video does not differentiate between the titles.

My question is, if you save any of the other titles, what software (app) do you use on your TV or device that can recognize the difference between the movie, and deleted scenes? Or, do you save the other titles to a different folder?

Suggestions based on your experience?

Thank you for your time.

[The Griff]

I pretty much do the same thing:

Rip to MKV, retaining the HD audio tracks, dumping all but english subs, and retaining 3D if applicable.

Use handbrake to re-encode for portable devices.

Note that VLC on iOS will play MKV files.

Thank you TheShoe. I am able to stream at home with VLC on my android too. Haven't started converting yet with handbreak for other devices though.

Where in MakeMKV can you select audio and subtitles?
Preferences has a language tab with Interface and Preferred.

[yorgo]

Does anyone save more than just the movie? Directors comments, deleted scenes, making of....etc.?

This is more about file structure and preference.

I have a Synology server and use their DS Video software for playback on WiFi capable TV's so far. After ripping a movie, I transferred two smaller titles to my server. DS Video on the TV's asks me to select a title to play. They all come up as the movie. The DS Video does not differentiate between the titles.

My question is, if you save any of the other titles, what software (app) do you use on your TV or device that can recognize the difference between the movie, and deleted scenes? Or, do you save the other titles to a different folder?

Suggestions based on your experience?

Thank you for your time.

I'm sure everyone has their own way of doing things but this is what's worked for me. I create a main folder for each movie and name it after that movie. I place the main movie and another folder called Extras into it. Any extra features like trailers, interviews, deleted scenes, etc. go into that folder. With extras derived from blu-rays, they're compressed via handbrake. All content is stored on and streamed from an unRaid server. This has worked very well using hardware players from Mede8er, TViX, Dune that I've used in the past and seems to be working very well with Kodi now (just transitioned to Kodi so still learning the ins and outs). No issues selecting what file I want to watch.

[The Griff]

I'm sure everyone has their own way of doing things but this is what's worked for me. I create a main folder for each movie and name it after that movie. I place the main movie and another folder called Extras into it. Any extra features like trailers, interviews, deleted scenes, etc. go into that folder. With extras derived from blu-rays, they're compressed via handbrake. All content is stored on and streamed from an unRaid server. This has worked very well using hardware players from Mede8er, TViX, Dune that I've used in the past and seems to be working very well with Kodi now (just transitioned to Kodi so still learning the ins and outs). No issues selecting what file I want to watch.

Thank you for the info and think I will try something similar using an extras folder. That is a good idea.

I like the UI of the DS Video app. It displays the movie covers similar to VuDu. Also have a Sony BluRay. I don't really like it's menu because it has a folder drop down to the name of the movie. Server/Video/Movie/name of movie. I am thinking of upgrading to some more user friendly hardware.

Thank you again.

[The Griff]

Maybe a bit sooner than most software I try out, but word of mouth goes a long ways with me too. Just bought it and still ripping away!
Thank you Folks for the time to give me advice and help.

Might have other questions later.

Thanks again

[Grauhaar]

I have a Synology server and use their DS Video software for playback on WiFi capable TV's so far. After ripping a movie, I transferred two smaller titles to my server. DS Video on the TV's asks me to select a title to play. They all come up as the movie. The DS Video does not differentiate between the titles.

My question is, if you save any of the other titles, what software (app) do you use on your TV or device that can recognize the difference between the movie, and deleted scenes? Or, do you save the other titles to a different folder?

Two known limitations by DS-Video and TV Streaming:
- The DS Video Software cannot handle Blu-ray DTS Master Tracks, normal DTS Tracks (the DTS Core) are converted on the fly. Not sure if True Dolby Digital Tracks are converted.
- The DS Video Software cannot handle Blu-ray HDMV-PGS Subtitles. So you don't see any Blu-ray Subtitles over this way. The only way is to extract and convert them to SUB/IDX Subtitles which are also used on DVD.

I know the Synology DS Video Software is nice (i use it only to find movie<->actors<->relationships and so on) but it is not designed to handle Blu-ray streams at all. The better way is to use an true Media Player which can handle all of this special formats by direct playing the mkv file.

If you want to save also others titles (deleted scenes oder what ever), it's always stored in a different mkv file by mkaekmv. So the handling is the same as using the main title.

[BDubb33]

I’m also new to using this software. So far I’m beyond happy with the results. I have about 4TB of vob files I need to convert for a Plex server running on Windows. I spent an hour doing it manually and then found I could do it in batch, what a relief. I didn’t find much help with the MakeMKV batch command but I finally found something that seems to work. I can let you know what I did if you’re interested.

[The Griff]

Two known limitations by DS-Video and TV Streaming:
- The DS Video Software cannot handle Blu-ray DTS Master Tracks, normal DTS Tracks (the DTS Core) are converted on the fly. Not sure if True Dolby Digital Tracks are converted.
- The DS Video Software cannot handle Blu-ray HDMV-PGS Subtitles. So you don't see any Blu-ray Subtitles over this way. The only way is to extract and convert them to SUB/IDX Subtitles which are also used on DVD.

I know the Synology DS Video Software is nice (i use it only to find movie<->actors<->relationships and so on) but it is not designed to handle Blu-ray streams at all. The better way is to use an true Media Player which can handle all of this special formats by direct playing the mkv file.

If you want to save also others titles (deleted scenes oder what ever), it's always stored in a different mkv file by mkaekmv. So the handling is the same as using the main title.

That is good to know. I have streamed a couple of movies from the server to my TV via WiFi. The video stops and starts a lot. Is this what you mean by DS Video cannot handle the bluray movie?

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

My way of doing things on a Mac:
• Rip Blu-Ray/DVD with MakeMKV. Discard all tracks under 3 minutes, retain english subs, native subs if present, core audio track and all other tracks which could be commentaries.
• Verify with VLC that the ripped tracks are the ones I want, delete if necessary. This is usually fast, as I correlate the ripped tracks with highdefdigest.com, as they have reviewed almost all movies and have a complete list (With time) of all extras.
• Quickly check audio tracks for the main feature in VLC, to see which I want to keep.
• Extract and convert subtitles to SRT with Subler. If multiple for any track, check with Jubler and delete if necessary.
• Use Handbrake to convert main movie to M4V with h.264 and passthrough of whatever audio trackers there are, on the Very Slow preset. Convert all extra content using the Fast preset.
• Move converted files to NAS, and display movie along with extras conveniently in Plex. It is now served on our home network, and outside, with multiple audio tracks, subtitles, extras etc.

Short of the machine doing the actual conversion and ripping, I spend a total of about 2-10 minutes per disc, which I think is worth it.

[angelgraves13]

I only rip English language version for my MKVs. Make sure to double-check audio on foreign releases, so you don't end up with an English commentary instead of the main audio track.

* Enable "Show AV Sync Messages" and "Expert" mode. You want to know if there's any errors in your files and the timecode where they appear so you can double check your output.

DVDs are pretty straight forward. Rip away.
Blu-rays can be a bit tricky, especially with TV shows or movies with multiple "fake" playlists known as playlist obfuscation. Generally, I'd recommend you decrypt the disc with AnyDVD HD first and then rip with MakeMKV, so you'll know what's the correct playlist. Also, AnyDVD HD seems to decrypt some discs better and the developers fix issues with discs very quickly, often in the same day.
Some Blu-rays have Forced subtitles, which are subtitles for foreign language portions of films and TV shows. Sometimes they're just flagged subtitles and other times they're a separate track. MakeMKV will create a separate track for flagged subtitles and a duplicate track if it's a flagged separate track. If you find a subtitle in your MKV with large portions of no subtitles on screen, then you're probably on the Forced track. Double check though, especially if you've seen the blu-ray before.

Finally, I recommend you use MKVToolnix to remux the MKV again, this time renaming tracks and setting your subtitles to default track or forced if needed and rearranging them, as well as removing unneeded tracks.