Rip DVDs and Blu Rays to DVD Quality Files

[imthewalrus79]

Hi. I hope I'm putting this thread in the right category. Please forgive me if I didn't.

I'm looking for suggestions for a program or programs that will allow me to rip/convert files from DVD's and Blu Rays to my hard drive in DVD quality. I'm also looking for a program that would allow me the option to convert those files and split them into different files by chapter.

What I'm trying to do is this: I have a collection of Disney shorts (things like the Walt Disney Treasures sets). What I want to do is take those shorts and make my own personal compilation DVD's out of them, hence why I want the DVD quality conversion. And since each chapter in the program is another short on some of these discs, that's why I'd like to be able to spilt each chapter into a different file.

If you have any suggestions on programs that would work for me, I'd love to hear them. Thank you in advance for any help you may offer.

[yoda313]

Rip with anydvdhd and then reauthor with avstodvd.

Anydvdhd is payware avstodvd is freeware.

If you have a bunch that are strictly dvd you could make it easier on yourself and use something like dvdshrink to fiddle with reauthoring.

Though of course you wont' have the original menus when you compile your new dvd. You could take still screenshots of the original menus but you might have a tough time lining up the chapter buttons and stuff overtop of the still to make it look right.

And fyi adding motion menus to a self made dvd will increase the processing time compared to still menus. If you have a dual core or faster computer it shouldn't be too noticeable but just an fyi there.

So you could use dvdshrink to edit out just the shorts you want and copy them to a new video_ts folder. You could then load that into avstodvd and create your new one.

Reauthoring blurays is a bit more of a challenge. You'll still rip with anydvdhd however.

The trick will be visually previewing the segments you want. SO far as I know there isn't a 1:1 equivalent of dvdshrink for blurays. At least not freeware that I've run into. I definitely could be wrong as I really haven't attempted what you are looking to do bluray side. I've just done whole movie conversions not bits and pieces.


YOu can try bdrebuilder or multiavchd. Fyi multiavchd is no longer supported or hasn't been for a long time (might have been updated recently, haven't checked). In otherwords you might run into problems that haven't been addressed if you use a recent bluray from the last few years.

If bdrebuilder has a no-reencoding option than you should be able to use that like dvdshrink to get the parts you want.

tsmuxer can also take bits out of a bluray but you have to know which chapters and titles they are in the bluray.

Good luck.

The dvd part will be simpler than the bluray part just because dvd was well developed for end user software. Bluray has caught up but I can't recommend the exact tools for every part of it. Unless you use something like bdinfo if memory serves, that will identify segments in the bluray than you can use something like tsmuxer for extracting just the bits you want.

Than you can use the xtracted bluray bits and load them into avstodvd for dvd creation.

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Of course you do realize you'll have quality loss on the bluray-to-dvd front since you're going from hd-sd correct?

Just use any dvd authoring that will take dvd compliant video and NOT reencode it to keep the quality intact. Most do, avstodvd does.

Just remember to not overcrowd a disc or you'll need to transcode it with dvdshrink to fit or use a dual layer recordable dvd for more space.

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As an aside why are you using dvd?

You could convert all your segments into h264. The two main advantages are you keep the hd from the bluray rips and you get smaller file sizes while maintaining quality.

Just a thought there. Plus you'd be able to play them on a wide range of players like a wdtv, bluray player, or tablet. And if you use a basic profile like 4.0 and use a mp4 container you'll even be able to play them on a ps3 or xbox 360. Just make sure they aren't over 4gbs so they can play on a fat32 usb drive (or you'll have to burn to a dual layer dvd or stream them to the consoles with a computer). Fyi I can't verify a 6gb h264 will play on both consoles if burnt to a dual layer dvd. I have both consoles and I do have such large video files, I just haven't tested that option - in theory it should work just fine since they'll read it as data on a disc - so long as it sticks to the main profile levels that the consoles can play and don't do anything funny to the settings and leave the reference frames very low).

Good luck.

Edit - stick to the mp4 container if you want to play the h264 files on a game console - neither will play mkv files even if the h264 is perfectly compliant to both. Please note I don't know what the ps4 and xbox one are capable of. They may be much more like a wdtv these days. But I think read that even the ps4 can't read video files off a usb drive at launch - I could be mistaken though as so much is in flux at the launch of a console and every system update makes tweaks.

[OllieTSB]

For DVDs...

I use the free DVDFabDecrypter to copy DVDs to my hard-drive. Then, the free DVDShrink can be used on the resulting File-Set to 're-author' and select Titles (one title per cartoon) to fill a DVD-blank to capacity, or create a DVD-File-Set for streaming to a TV or watching on the computer.

For BluRay, the free DVDFabDecrypter is also my choice, but there are other tools that can extract Titles ("cartoon/episode"0.

[usually_quiet]

To add to what yoda313 wrote, if you are looking for a free alternative to AnyDVD HD for DVD and Blu-Ray decryption and copying, you might try the free version of DVDFab HD Decrypter. It isn't updated as often as the paid version and so won't work for new releases, but doesn't sound like you are working with new releases. Although I have not used it, BDSup2Sub is supposed to be able to convert Blu-Ray subtitles to DVD subtitles, if you want to keep the subtitles.

Too late! OllieTSB beat me on a recommendation for DVDFab HD Decrypter

[OllieTSB]

One note I didn't make clear enough about DVD Shrink...

Once I've copied several DVDs to my hard-drive (as DVD-File-Sets), I can start up DVD-SHRINK and go immediately into the Re-Author mode (which is a toolbar button).

From there, I can 'browse' out to each file-set and "checkbox' whichever Titles I want, adding one by one. I can hop from DVD-File-Set #1 to #3 to #8 back to #2 and back to #1 again, if I want. I can select any number of titles - and I'll see a 'progress capacity' bar, indicating how close I am to the 4.3Gb DVD file-size limit for a burned DVD.

It's amazingly simple, and I have preserved as many audio and subtitle tracks as I want, too (these are checkbox options, too).

[imthewalrus79]

Thanks for the help everyone. I've been looking into your suggestions. I do have one more question: If I wanted author a DVD with simple static menus and just play all or choose a short option, what's a good free or non-expensive program that would allow me to do that. And thanks again for the help.

[videobruger]

Besides AVStoDVD? DVDStyler. Both allow you to keep DVD compliant files, ie the output size equals the sum of the input or re-encode to a specific target size.