How to convert Blu-ray to standard DVD-Video (or MKV,MP4) using free tools

[Baldrick]

Using these free software can you convert your Blu-ray movies to a standard DVD-Video or single MKV or MP4 file. Main movie only (no menus, extras).

Software:

DVDFab HD Decrypter (it might NOT work with the latest Blu-rays, then wait for a new release or try AnyDVD HD)
BD Rebuilder
Imgburn

Preperation:

1. Install the required software for BD Rebuilder,
   

   1. Download and install FFDSHOW and the Haali Matroska Splitter. They are required for BD-RB to work and are free. After the install, run "Video Decoder Configuration" for FFDSHOW from the "START/Programs" menu, and make sure MPEG2 decoding is enabled. Do the same using "Audio Decoder Configuration" to ensure "Uncompressed" is set to "All Supported".
   
   2. Download and install AVISYNTH v2.58. If you are a DVD-RB user, it is compatible, so no worry. It is required for BD Rebuilder to work. AVISYNTH v2.58 can be downloaded from http://www.jdobbs.net/freeware/Avisynth_258.exe or from http://www.avisynth.org.

   (see http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=143716 full description).
   
   
   
2. Extract BD Rebuilder.zip to a folder.
3. Rip the Blu-ray to your HDD with DVD Fab HD Decrypter, start it and choose HD Decrypter, choose your Blu-ray drive and set the target folder(you need a lot of HDD Space) and start:
   

Guide:

Start BD Rebuilder and choose YES when it asks to configure ffdshow.
Select the Blu-ray BDMV folder you ripped.
Select working path.


Select Mode->Movie Only.
Select Mode->Alternative Movie Only and choose:
Standard DVD-VIDEO choose then DVD-5 (or DVD-9 for Dual layer DVDRs).
MKV choose then MKV container 1920x1080 AC3 for best compatibility.
MP4 choose then Ipad MP4 HD 1280x720 etc.


Backup.



Done!

If you have made a DVD-Video burn the VIDEO_TS folder with imgburn, in Imgburn select Write files/folders to disc, click on the + sign and add the VIDEO_TS folder and burn:


If you have made a MKV or MP4 test play it with VLC Media Player.

Problems:

If BD Rebuilder fails then be sure to check that you have installed the requires tools in the Preperation step.

If this is too complex you could buy Blu-ray Converter Ultimate to convert the Blu-ray to a standard DVD-Video or the full DVD-Fab to convert to a single MP4 or MKV.

[Kerry56]

While this usually works when converting to dvd, I've seen problems converting DTS HD MA audio into dvd compliant AC3. Audio/video sync can be lost. I've had it happen three times in conversions. My solution was to adjust the sync in VideoRedo and reauthor. You can also use AviDemux to adjust timing if you prefer using a free tool.

Subtitle conversion can also have problems. BDRebuilder doesn't always produce a readable result (funky colors blended into the subtitle).

So this isn't as cut and dried a process as it looks.

Edit: Looks like jdobbs has addressed the sync issue in his latest version of BDRebuilder (issued today). That's good news.

[fritzi93]

I always convert the audio to AC3, since my Blu-Ray backups are to BD9 or less often, BD5.

Yes, from time to time there is a problem with the audio conversion, and that goes for DTS-MA and TrueHD as well. I'm not certain why this should be so, but perhaps the common denominator is that the main movie is split into more than one *.m2ts file.

Anyway, extracting main movie first with Clown_BD produces a single *.m2ts and has always fixed the problem for me. And invariably the log file shows errors such as sync byte discontinuity, sync byte missing, etc. Clown_BD (actually Eac3to) will produce a good in-sync output.

[miclus]

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but thanks for the nice tutorial.

Question: If you take a movie that has both a DVD and Blu-Ray version released at the same time, same company, etc., and take the Blu-Ray version and convert it to DVD with this tutorial, will it look any better than the official DVD?

[Kerry56]

Hard to say for sure, since visual quality varies somewhat in the official DVD releases, but its not likely that you will get noticeably better results. That holds especially true if you are making DVD-5 instead of DVD-9. If you want to make DVD-9 and burn to a double layer disc, your chances of making a very high quality copy go up considerably.

Jdobbs improved the process quite a lot, and I have used his program to convert at least eight Blu-rays to DVD-video using BD Rebuilder since this thread was started, and the quality has been very good, but I haven't compared the conversions directly to commercially released DVD's.