Best Practices for Archiving DVDs -- Keeping Mult. Audio Tracks, Subtitles

[GrayStrickland]

I'm ready to start a big archiving project for my extensive dvd collection, but I'm not sure whether using Divx (4, 5 or 6), MKV, mp4, h.264 or some another format would be most desirable. Here are my considerations:

1. I want to keep multiple audio tracks (main, director's comments, foreign languages) where they exist.

2. I want to keep multiple subtitle tracks (main, foreign languages) where they exist without permanently burning any subtitles into the resulting film (i.e. I want to be able to turn subtitles on and off and cycle among them at will).

3. Maintaining original menus is not a consideration.

4. I want a format which will look good when delivered by XBMC to my hdtv. Note: Xbmc (running on an original xbox) will upscale content to 1080i, which is the max my tv will support.

5. I want a format which I can also produce at a lower resolution (same container and codecs) for display on Sony PSP or iPod. NOTE: supposedly the next version of the PSP firmware will include native ability to play divx files. I assume that it would support up to Divx 6.

My thought is that I'll rip my dvds once to the desired new container format (Divx, MKV, MP4, h.264, etc...) without any loss of resolution. Later I'll make a lower resolution copy from the ripped copy made from the original dvd for playing on the PSP and/or iPod.[/i]

What container and combination of codecs would be best given the above considerations?

FYI, I own copies of Divx Pro 6, AnyDVD, CloneDVD2, CloneDVDMobile and Nero Suite 7.

[Baldrick]

I would choose mp4 with h264. MP4 is a standard container format and will probably work best in most devices(PSP, Ipod, XBMC) and also in the future. But you will get problem with the switchable audio and subtitles in the mp4 on some devices like psp,ipod. Hopefully will they add support for it in the future.

[GrayStrickland]

Baldrick,

Thank you for pointing me to mp4.

What tools (free or purchased) do you know of which will preserve multiple audio tracks and subtitles when going DVD to mp4? So far I've tried:

** DVDClone2 (doesn't support mp4s),
** DVDCloneMobile (creates mp4s, but doesn't support creation of multiple audio and subtitle tracks),
** Handbrake (same as above -- at least as far as I can tell).

[yevgyeni]

It's a shame that this thread seems to have died. This is EXACTLY my problem as well, except that I'm on a Mac. If there have been any updates to this process, please let me know. Currently, as far as I can tell, the best hope is that the next version of Handbrake will come out soon which will support soft encoding of subtitles.

[facesnorth]

This is precisely what I am researching as well, with the following alterations to the OP's requirements:


1. I want to keep multiple audio tracks (main, director's comments, foreign languages) where they exist.
I want to choose which audio tracks to keep (I may not want all of the foreign language tracks).

1b. In case this is not clear from 1. above, I want it clarified that I want to preserve the full audio quality for the music/sound effects for all channels. I want to preserve DTS and Dolby Digital encodes (including 6.1 when applicable).

2. I want to keep multiple subtitle tracks (main, foreign languages) where they exist without permanently burning any subtitles into the resulting film (i.e. I want to be able to turn subtitles on and off and cycle among them at will).
I want to choose which subtitle tracks to keep (I may not need all of them).

3. Maintaining original menus is not a consideration.
I would prefer to keep these intact, if it's possible. Not a priority, though.

4. I want a format which will look good when delivered by XBMC to my hdtv. Note: Xbmc (running on an original xbox) will upscale content to 1080i, which is the max my tv will support.
When streaming via XBMC, PS3, a squeezebox, or any future network media player, I would want the exact original quality of the DVD preserved, including OAR/anamorphic. I will use a device that can upscale to 1080p, which my TV will display.

5. I want a format which I can also produce at a lower resolution (same container and codecs) for display on Sony PSP or iPod. NOTE: supposedly the next version of the PSP firmware will include native ability to play divx files. I assume that it would support up to Divx 6.

My thought is that I'll rip my dvds once to the desired new container format (Divx, MKV, MP4, h.264, etc...) without any loss of resolution. Later I'll make a lower resolution copy from the ripped copy made from the original dvd for playing on the PSP and/or iPod.[/i]
(same)

What container and combination of codecs would be best given the above considerations?

FYI, I own copies of Divx Pro 6, AnyDVD, CloneDVD2, CloneDVDMobile and Nero Suite 7.
I own all of the SlySoft software. I would prefer free software solutions for any additional needs, although would consider a strong case if it was made for another purchase option.

[yevgyeni]

From my experimentations, the best codec for the Xbox is to use Xvid. It will sometimes stutter or mis-sync audio when using the mp4 codec, because it requires such heavy cpu utilization to decode. After all, the original xbox only had about 45 MB of RAM. Handbrake is the best I've seen so far for ripping dvds. You can rip out selected audio tracks, and using the pass-thru option lets you keep the original audio at un-modified quality. The only thing it does NOT do is subtitles. It hard-code burns them into the video track. They're working on getting a soft-encoded subtitle function, but it's not out yet.

So far, I have the storage space for my needs, and what i've been doing is using CloneDVD to strip out any unnecessary titles from a dvd (bonus footage, unnecessary audio tracks, etc.), and then creating an .iso file of the subsequent dvd. This way, I get a single video file that the Xbox can play easily, with full resolution, full audio, in sync, as well as give me all the audio, video and subtitle tracks... it's basically a DVD, just trimmed down. This is the container I'm keeping it in until Handbrake or programs like DVDFab can do the kind of rip and processing I want. Should I need an iPod version, I re-rip the .iso file I created down to a suitable format.

As near as I can tell, without jumping through some crazy hoops, there is no 1 single software solution to do this properly and easily.