So I started searching the internet and quickly found the VideoHelp.com forum. There are a bunch of questions and answers on this topic (I especially liked the guide to backing up a DVD to your harddisk and the DVDFab or AnyDVD thread.
I decided to do this in 2 steps:
1. Copy the DVD to my harddisk
Most (or should I say all?) DVD's are encrypted so you need to decrypt them before you can copy them to your harddisk. There are several programs out there but I decided to use AnyDVD. I'm very happy with the result so far. Make sure you get the lifetime upgrades version. Decryption changes all the time so you really need to stay up to date.
2. Copy it from my harddisk to another format
I haven't decided which program I'm going to use yet but it's definitely going to be BD Rebuilder or MakeMKV. I will post the results here asap.
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Fyi you don't need bd rebuilder if you are not using blurays at all. So far as I know it has nothing to do with dvds.
Makemkv should be ok to either make an h264 mkv or to simply leave it untouched and packed into a mkv.
There are countless guides out there.
IF you can be more specific about what codec you want to use and rough estimate of file size requirements we can get you going in the right direction. Of course remember generally speaking the smaller the file size the lower the quality will be regardless of the codec you use. Some codecs will be better than others at a given file size but all will break down if you try to make a 2 hour movie into something ridicously small. Just bare that in mind with whatever hard drive space you have allocated for this project of yours.
Edit - also will you just be playing back on a computer or are you going to do streaming to a game console or networked bluray player? Are you going to use a streaming settop unit like the roku devices? Are you going to use a wdtv media player?
Reason for asking is each has certain limitations and requirements in order for smooth playback. Somethings aren't universal and won't work on EVERY device you play it on. Its getting better these days with wider playback support and features but any standalone is not as versatile as a desktop computer would be (or laptop naturally). The wdtv media player and its close competitors (close in terms of features offered) are the closest you can get to a mini computer that will play virtually anything you throw at it - of course there are still some odd ball files you can get that even they won't like that would require reencoding.Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw? -
yoda313 - Dragonchaser is NOT asking for help. He's telling us what he's already decided to do.
Dragonchaser - we're glad the site is useful to you and if you do have questions feel free to ask, but we really don't need a blow by blow account of your personal ripping experience. We already know what it's like and you've told us nothing so far that anybody but a newbie doesn't already know.
Have you considered what you're going to do when your hard drive dies that you are ripping to? The reason I mention this is that we're getting a LOT of posts where the newbie follows the following sequence of events.
1) Newbies rips all his media to a hard drive.
2) Original discs are sold, given away or thrown in the trash.
3) Hard drives dies a few years later with most or all of the data being lost.
4) Tears and anguish follow.
Might want to think about backing up that hard drive there chief if you're going down that path of getting rid of your discs. Maybe you aren't getting rid of your discs at all, but lots of people do and those who do seem to generally believe that hard drives live forever and there's no need for backups of them. -
BD Rebuilder can be used with decrypted dvds now if you only want the main movie. I'm not sure it is the best choice for re-encoding to mkv or mp4 with X264, but it will work for this purpose. Though I'm a big fan of the program, easily accessed, fine control over the X264 encoder is not its strong suit. I'd use Handbrake or Vidcoder for this conversion.
MakeMKV can put the main movie into an mkv file without changing the codecs used in the movie, but it will not compress to smaller sized files if that is what you are intending to do. -
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Yes, you're right, I missed that one, sorry.
Just play back on the computer using a media player.
I have an old file server which is not being used anymore. I'll just throw a couple of big disks in there and then make backups or mirror so hard rives crashing aren't really on top of my worry list for now. -
Dragonchaser: I would recommend using Vidcoder as your converter. Once you have everything configured to your liking, save your preset. I think .mkv is a good format to convert to. It is good you are making backups. Be sure to report back at how this all works out for you. If you have any problems, that you can't easily find an answer to, I am sure you will find some helpful advice from your fellow members here at VideoHelp.
If you have the room, keep your DVDs, because there is always the possibility of some new, better format coming down the pike. If the DVD's are taking up a lot of room you could get a disc wallet or DVD cases that hold ten disks at a time. Please don't fall into the trap of going for a 700mb size target for everything. The CFR of 20 is pretty good that you chose in Vidcoder. If you have some extra cash, snap of an LG 3D Blu Ray player, as I did and it is terrific to be able to watch stuff of the hard drive on the TV. -
No.
Your thread has no point except to say "I'm going to rip a bunch of stuff, isn't that cool?" I admire your enthusiasm, but really, we don't need to know that you're going to rip a bunch of stuff.
MOVIEGEEK and I seem to be the only people who understand that you have yet to ask even one question, despite the many assumptions that you are looking for help. I've made my point and I wish you no evil, so others who wish to chase dragons, so to speak, can "help" you with your unasked questions if they wish to do so. -
We're not attempting to answer questions. The rest of us are simply pointing out that the tools he has chosen may not be optimal, depending on the ultimate use of his movie collection. If he has quite a lot of room, he can save time and effort by not converting anything at all and still play them from the computer.
And the funny thing is, no one except you jman98 is being an asshat about it.Last edited by Kerry56; 27th Jan 2013 at 18:24. Reason: fixed grammar
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He didn't ask for any advice, but was just announcing to the world his intentions. It's fine if you want to politely point out that he doesn't know the first thing about what he's saying or doing, but never did he ask for any input about his chosen methods.
And the funny thing is, no one except you jman98 is being an asshat about it. -
I had to stop because I'm running out of disk space. At an average of about 6 GB per movie my free disk space is shrinking rapidly. I think I'll buy some kind of Network Attached Storage device (cheapest I was able to find was a 4 bay Mediasonic on Amazon).
I was going to play back on the computer using a media player but I bought a networked Blu-ray player instead.
I think I'll use Vidcoder instead of MakeMKV but I haven't gotten to that yet...
I will always keep my DVDs. I want to keep my collection.
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I fail to understand why some people are so intolerant about this thread. I just wanted to share something that's completely new to me...
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Dragonchaser: Don't be ashamed about your enthusiasm about archiving your DVD Collection. It is clear to me that you are studying the website and learning about options to organize your collection. I am glad you are keeping your DVDs. I sympathize that your hard drive space is being eaten up so quickly. You mentioned Vidcoder, as at some point your going to be encoding to the h.264 format with the goal of achieving a smaller file size while having pretty close to same quality you began with.
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When you begin to realize how complex doing quality encodes/compression, and how long it takes to do all that encoding, I suspect spending the money on more drive space will start looking a lot better.
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Dragonchaser, there is a platform for your thread: it's called a blog. Go forth and opine.
Flying around and ready to bite. -
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