Software Advice Wanted

[CthulhuSaves]

Hiya,


I've been doing a lot of media editing lately, and now have need of a good DVD ripping package before I can go any further. However, I'm looking for a specific sort of output, so am hoping someone might know of something suitable and worth recommending (and if it's freeware, that would be great --big fan of the open source movement).

Anywho, what I need is something that will rip everything from a given DVD, but spit out the various elements as separate files. For example, I'd prefer to rip the video into an AVI (h.264/divx/whatever), the main audio track to either an MP3 or WAV, also any secondary or tertiary audio tracks (commentaries), too, and even subtitles as its own file (srt/sub) if that's even possible.

If I've got the audio tracks as separate MP3s, I can name them properly (which will then be visible in the media player) as well as put them in a preferred order when I mux them back in with the AVI.

If all else fails, I can live with finding something that's just an all-in-one ripper that embeds the audio (I can always extract it manually later), but I'd at least need to be sure of which track I'm ripping (or heck, it's be fine if it could rip and include them all as separate streams). I've looked around, and the ripping packages I've seen so far (the ones claiming to be free and easy) severely limit the usefulness of the free version.

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Edit: Just for the record, I'm actually quite partial to using unique software for different jobs. I'd be just as pleased with recommendations for multiple tools that handle the respective aspects I desire, ie. one that rips the video as needed, another that rips selective DVD audio tracks well, another for extracting subs into usable files, etc. I should also mention that, for the projects I'm working on right now, a simple, clear AVI is just fine for my purposes. I'm not worried at this time about producing ultra-high-def results or anything. (Basically, if I can rip a DVD to a small, 700-800MB AVI that's as good as any of Axxo's movie rips --just a reference, I'm not ripping that sort of material-- then I'd be pleased as punch.)

[guns1inger]

None of those formats are DVD formats, so you cannot just rip a DVD and get, for example, H.264 video and mp3 audio. Each components will have to be re-encoded into the specific format you require, unless you are happy to work with the formats DVD actually uses (mpeg-2 for video, AC3/MP2/LPCM or perhaps DTS for audio, Bitmap images for subtitles). The closest I can think of would be something like Handbrake to create an MKV files with video, audio and subs in your required formats, then mkvextractGUI to extract all of these to their respective elementary streams. If your computer specs are correct then expect it take several hours per disc if you want any level of quality.

The biggest issue you will have trying to do this in one or two tasks is the fact that few if any of the encoders will handle more than 1 or 2 audio tracks, so if you have more than two tracks, you are basically SOOL and will have to do the rest manually.

[Nelson37]

What you are missing is that "RIP" means to extract From The DVD, as it exists on the DVD. This is Source Material for a re-encode.

Re-encoding is a completely seperate process from "ripping" and is handled by seperate softwares, and that step often uses different software depending on the desired end product. One prog to re-encode to H.264, a completely different one for Xvid, and so forth. Then there are dedicted audio encoders, and yet more subtitle conversion programs.

[CthulhuSaves]

Yep, I'm quite familiar with the differences between ripping and re-encoding, thank you. I had thought it was evident that I was referencing on-the-fly encoding tools. My apologies for not being more clear.

Perhaps it would help if I gave examples of programs I've found that appear to meet my needs, but that I would much prefer to discover what the preferred software is, for similar results, for individuals with more experience than I.

I've yet to delve into the world of subtitles, so I'll just skip that one and leave it as "unknown" for now. (I don't even know if it's possible to rip/extract them into the common srt/sub formats, or if that's something that has to be done by hand.)

I ran across a program called "DVD Audio Ripper" recently, and it appears to be ideal for the task, but I'd like to know if there's another tool that's generally preferred (this one has an unexpected "Go Pro!" button, so I imagine there's a freeware tool that's more commonly used).

For DVD-to-AVI "ripping" I'll offer this one as an example. I've no experience with it, it's merely one of many that claim to do the job quickly and easily. Not sure if it's an on-the-fly converter or if the re-encoding is done post-rip, but I do get the impression it's designed to give the illusion of being a one-step process. Is there something of this nature that's preferred or often used by the community?

(Again, I can look into more advanced software such as Handbrake when I want to do HQ/HD rips, although I'm partial to simply doing ISOs of discs in that case, but for this project a simple, clear AVI is all that's required, so I'm hoping an easier, more user-friendly tool like the one mentioned above would do the trick, assuming any of them are legit and not gimmicks.)

And if it helps to paint a better picture of what I'm trying to do, here's the basic overview. I'm putting together a collection of old, public domain films (from DVD) that have been restored and re-released on DVD, side-by-side with Colorized versions of each. I'm taking the video (both versions) of each, converting and syncing multiple commentary tracks from different sources (not on the DVDs), then adding them all into the final AVIs, hopefully also with embedded subs (although for these old films, subs seem to be few and far between, so that might end up being a moot point). The end result, for each film, is a pair of AVIs, one B&W, one Colorized, each with three or four audio tracks, and the finalized files being about a gig, sometimes a little less. By editing the audio tracks and re-inserting them with AVIMux_GUI, they're neatly labeled and visible by name within the media player, which I think is just great (I'd never known how to do that before until getting turned-on to AVIMux_GUI). So far I've been using materials already available online, and even then it takes half a dozen different tools to get through the various stages, but now I've run into a wall where I simply have to rip some of the video and audio tracks (mainly the original, non-commentary audio) myself before I can continue.

It's a pretty neat project if you're an old movie buff, but otherwise would probably bore someone out of their skulls. (Chuckle)