DVD ripping (Movies - commercial DVDs)

Hi there.

I'm now going to rip my old DVD's - This to me seems the best approach :

On ONE set of HDD's -- will probably need TWO -- use AnyDVD to convert the DVD to an iso identical to the original in every way except de-regionalized and de-crypted so it plays anywhere -- Windows 8 mounts HDD ISO's even if you don't have a DVD drive and VLC will play them. This HDD I'll use as Acrchive .

On another set rip the DVD via HANDBRAKE to mp4 / mkv so I can watch on my mobile / NAS / etc via streaming or even copying to local usb stick or even micro sdHC card in the phone.

Handbrake can rip to very good quality -- so I really don't need the HDD ISO's --it's just me wanting to have a copy of the original.

After I've copied / ripped all the DVD's I'm going to donate them to a charity shop as I won't ever use the old discs any more. (I've about 400 DVD's) - a 2TB drive should be enough for the ISO's - certainly 3TB will be more than enough.

Now my question is Handbrake really good enough for making decent compressed rips or should I use something else.

Cheers
jimbo

I used to use "DVDFab" to remove anything extra from disks, like languages, extra titles, menus etc. and that made the rest much smaller. I think I used DrDivx to make avi files from so shortened dvd. This one Download VidCoder - MajorGeeks promisses to make Handbrake easier to use. I shudder at Handbrake use.
Legality of it I 'm not sure of but just heard that in UK and some other EU countries they made it completely legal to make backups of MM disks as long as they are not commercially distributed.

I haven't used Handbrake enough to know much about it. MakeMKV can remux DVD iso to .mkv very quickly. It does not encode. For "episodic" DVD such as Dr Who TV Episodes, it creates an .mkv file per title. MakeMKV can rip many BluRay Discs but I believe the author stays away from standard DVD decrypting. Another tool should be used to produce your vanilla iso first.

It's a free option. The "hassle" if you want to call it that, is you can only use the current beta with the current key. With the paid version you can back off to older versions to sidestep bugs. That's the only difference(at least last time I used it. I've been away from it about a year and a half.)

Hi there

I use AnyDVD to produce my "Vanilla" ISO's ( I.e de-regionalized and decrypted but nothing else) then I start to play around with them.

I've gone back to HANDBRAKE for the encode as I've now found !!!! a decent 4 Core processor machine to run it on and the native LINUX version seems a bit quicker than Windows. I rip the DVD first to an HDD ISO with AnyDVD on a Windows VM -- that doesn't take too long to remove decryption and region codes -- NTSC / PAL video doesn't matter as computers play these without any problems --same with most modern TV's too.

(Work was chucking out an old Server PC -- all it needed was a new CPU and I was set to go with it. It's only lacking in USB3 but can't say I'm bothered for a "Desktop" type machine. 32GB RAM also was on the machine and it also had a DVD drive -- pays to nose around in a few Skips when Office Moves are being done !!!!).

The Handbrake system is the only one where I've found you can add multiple audio tracks and subtitles and converting from the ISO on HDD is mucvh quicker than from the original DVD. Multiple subtitles was a MUST - most of the ripping programs I've seen don't do this easily or at all.

Playing the HDD ISO file is simple with VLC if you want the original DVD -- that has all the menus etc without the encryption -- but what I do with the mkv / mp4 files is stream to TV or play on android device (tablet / phone etc). (In Linux BOTH KAFFEINE and VLC will play HDD ISO's -- no need to mount anything -- in your file browser just say OPen with -- and choose your videoplayer). In Windows -- W8.1 plays directly (Virtual Mounter) but W7 you will need a Virtual DVD mounter piece of software).

Seems also all the links to MAKEMKV are down too -- so another reason to stick with Handbrake -- it "Does what it says on the Tin" so by not doing decryption etc it's safe from those Hollywood lawyers etc. I'm surprised AnyDVD hasn't been hassled yet -- anyway I've got my copy safe !!!!

Cheers
jimbo

I don't think Handbrake does decrypting so you won't be able to rip the DRM encrypted DVDs.
The best and cheapest solution IMO are to rip the DVD with MakeMKV (it removes DRM too) to mkv files. A dvd mkv rip is usually 4-5 Gb. If you need to shrink the size of the files or make an mp4 copy for playback on tablets, then I suggest you use handbrake.
Both programs are very easy to use and are free.

MilesAhead said:

It's a free option. The "hassle" if you want to call it that, is you can only use the current beta with the current key. With the paid version you can back off to older versions to sidestep bugs. That's the only difference(at least last time I used it. I've been away from it about a year and a half.)

Click to expand...

They update the beta key every two months or so. I have been using it for free for more than a year now.
Here is the page that has the updated key www.makemkv.com ? View topic - MakeMKV is free while in beta

z31fanatic said:

MilesAhead said:

It's a free option. The "hassle" if you want to call it that, is you can only use the current beta with the current key. With the paid version you can back off to older versions to sidestep bugs. That's the only difference(at least last time I used it. I've been away from it about a year and a half.)

Click to expand...

They update the beta key every two months or so. I have been using it for free for more than a year now.
Here is the page that has the updated key www.makemkv.com ? View topic - MakeMKV is free while in beta

Click to expand...

I understand. I bought MakeMKV a few years ago. There have been occasions when the new beta had a serious bug and backing off to an older version I could go right on without waiting for the fix. From your previous post I take it the author is doing DVD decryption now? I seem to remember he wanted to steer clear. But perhaps there was pressure to do everything with the one tool.

The MakeMKV sites seem to be back on the air.

MilesAhead said:

From your previous post I take it the author is doing DVD decryption now? I seem to remember he wanted to steer clear. But perhaps there was pressure to do everything with the one tool.

Click to expand...

I am not sure how it was in the beginning. I only started ripping my dvd/bluray collection about a year ago. I tried Handbrake but more than half of the DVDs couldn't be ripped because of the copy protection. Then I discovered MakeMKV and it worked on ALL of my discs, copy protected or not.
Also there are many players now that support playback of mkv files.

Thanks for the info. I had a WD HDTV for USB. Too bad it wasn't the Live because MakeMKV even serves up media(I forget the name of the protocol) to set top boxes that are networked. I'm amazed it and BD Rebuilder are still "beta." They have both been ready for prime time for quite awhile imho.

I used AppGeeker to rip/compress my 400-ish disc BD collection to a hard drive for my deployments. I was very happy with the results, and they update the software relatively often to fix disc-related issues with new movie releases. It's pretty easy for the layperson to use too. I use VLC Media Player for playback.

Hi there

Thanks everybody for your replies

Did a bit more study on Handbrake and think that's the solution - especially for ripping Multi Audio and sub title tracks. For me English isn't a problem but I have a lot opf colleagues while 100% fluent in English STILL like subtitles !!!.

What I have found though is I need a FASTER machine --Video ripping at High quality is a VERY CPU intensive application.


BTW I first copy the physical DVD / Blue Ray to a vanilla ISO - de-regionalized and de-crypted with AnyDVD and then p[rocess it with Handbrake to get the MP$ etc for playing on phones / tablets / streaming to remote TV's etc.

Seems that on typical equipment you just need loads of time to do this --Handbrake can hold the stuff in a Queue and then I can let it run overnight,

Cheers
jimbo

Also it depends what you use for viewing. Many on video forums had wide flat screens on the wall. Any flaw was blown up large. They tended to be sticklers for best quality. I viewed on a Sony Wega 23" CRT type at 1080i. Most conversions looked very good using one pass.

For muxing it's tough to beat an SSD. I used a program that converted .mkv to .mp4 only encoding the audio. It was portable. I had the program, source video and destination folder all on the SSD. I could wath the progressbar just slide across.

I read the whole thread and no one mentioned the OPs intentions are strictly illegal. In order to copy a DVD to a hard drive and maintain the copy on the hard drive, you must also retain possession of the physical disc. This federal law also applies to CDs. You must keep the physical copy of the disc, even if it is locked away in a box in the garage or something.

Rocky said:

I read the whole thread and no one mentioned the OPs intentions are strictly illegal. In order to copy a DVD to a hard drive and maintain the copy on the hard drive, you must also retain possession of the physical disc. This federal law also applies to CDs. You must keep the physical copy of the disc, even if it is locked away in a box in the garage or something.

Click to expand...

Agreed, that's exactly what BACKUP means, Having original AND it's copy.