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  1. I have a zillion DVDs and would like to put them all (if possible) to my hard disk and then stream via DLNA to my TV.

    Which format would be best used to rip the DVD into which would maintain the DVD quality and sound, i.e. 5.1, DTS etc.

    Thanks muchly.
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  2. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    I don't know if dts is supported by dlna.

    I don't use it but I think dts is asking too much for dlna.

    If you transcode with playon or tversity or another transcoder than you can do it.

    Basically speaking if you were to convert to h264 in a mp4 container at level 3 you'd be perfectly ok for the vast majority of players. Level 4 should also be ok unless it's a really old or simple device that might not go that high.

    If you transcode with a server instead you should be able to just simply either rip to an iso or simply to a video_ts folder and forgo conversion alltogether.

    However I don't think you'll get menu support at all. Perhaps you can with xbmc now that I think of it. So if you have a device that can work with xbmc you should be ok for menu support. Don't know for sure though. I know if does menu support for iso on its own accord, not sure about streaming from another source.
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  3. Thank you for your reply.

    No I'm not bothered in the slightest of the menus or extras, in fact I'm happy to be without them.

    All I want is the same movie quality and the 5.1 surround since I have a 5.1 surround receiver.

    Thank you for your advice
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  4. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Sprat View Post
    Thank you for your reply.

    No I'm not bothered in the slightest of the menus or extras, in fact I'm happy to be without them.

    All I want is the same movie quality and the 5.1 surround since I have a 5.1 surround receiver.

    Thank you for your advice
    Sure thing.

    If you are new to video conversion you'll need to rip the dvds first. Makemkv I think is the only free one left. Though the newest titles might not be able to be ripped until a later update.

    Anydvd and dvdfab are the main pay software that is recommended by users of this website. They will rip the dvd and remove the protection from them.

    Then something like ripbot, megui, or handbrake can be used for converting to h264. Format factory is another.

    Probably handbrake or format factory would be best if you've never done this before. They are a bit more straightforward and have wizards to walk you through what you need. Ripbot and megui are a bit more advanced and not quite as newbie friendly.

    All these programs have guides and multiple threads with detailed information on how to use them.

    Feel free to ask more about them. Not knowing your experience level this should get you started.

    Edit - and I'd stick with dolby digital ac3 as your surround sound format.

    I would not encode to aac 5.1 even though it would save you space in the final format. Unless you have a very recent surround amplifier it probably wouldn't recognize it as a surround sound format and just play it in stereo - if it plays it at all.
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  5. Thank you - yes I'm a newbie with advanced computer knowledge.

    I have been playing around today and my TV will read an ISO of the ripped DVD (using AnyDVD HD) although it is a pain to navigate through it since it thinks the ISO is a folder and doesn't directly just play the DVD inside it!

    I'm just downloading Ripbot and MeGUI as we speak to have a look.

    Thanks again.
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  6. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
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    I've been using VidCoder for DVD>MKV conversions. It's a front end for Handbrake and is very easy to use. I have AnyDVD HD running in the background for decryption.

    I put the DVDs into my drives, select them in VidCoder and process them to MKV. Takes about 15 minutes for each with my setup. It's faster to convert them directly from the DVD drives to a MKV format instead of ripping the DVDs to the hard drive, then converting. The files end up about 2GB per video with a CQ setting of 19.5. Quality is good. If you have less than a hundred or so DVDs, or lots of HDD space you can make them a bit larger. Try a couple of test encodes with different setting and you should be able to find the quality/vs/size you want.

    My PC has 4 optical drives, so I just batched together four conversions and let them run. I use H.264 format and AC3 5.1 audio. It's compatible with most players.

    ISOs are a PITA. Not that many players can play them. You have the DVDs, you don't need the warnings, menus and previews.

    RipBot is a great program for Blu-ray to MKV conversion, but not that good for DVD>MKV. Try Vidcoder. MeGui has a bit of a learning curve.
    Last edited by redwudz; 26th Jan 2014 at 15:40.
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  7. I'm enjoying learning thanks for all advice.

    Ripbot looked rather daunting but I suspect it's easier than it looks and just needs a bit of knowledge in advance of use.

    I'll try Vidcoder today ... and Handbrake, it's best to try all until I find the one I like I guess.

    I must admit I was amazed that my TV navigated the ISO's.

    MKV does seem to be the format I need, since it will carry full HD and surround sound, plus my TV will read them, but my PS3 won't , but as long as one will I'm happy

    I have hundreds unfortunately - all legit and bought and paid for and it's a pain to find what I want anymore hence I want to do this!
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  8. MPEG Program Stream shall be sufficient, no re encoding thus no quality loss.
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  9. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    Spray _ the ps3 will do mp 4 as long as it is profile 4 with few ref frames.

    You might look into a wdtv so you can play media files easily.

    Sent from my Prism II using Tapatalk
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  10. I'm loving Vidcoder and Handbrake Redwudz, thanks for that - it's working - movies are displaying on my tv Result
    Thanks for the PS3 info Yoda, I'll have a go with MP4 too
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  11. Originally Posted by pandy View Post
    MPEG Program Stream shall be sufficient, no re encoding thus no quality loss.
    Sorry Pandy I missed this ... I've been doing them in MKV ... it doesn't appear to be re-encoding since it's rather quick, around 15 mins or so.
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  12. Originally Posted by Sprat View Post
    Originally Posted by pandy View Post
    MPEG Program Stream shall be sufficient, no re encoding thus no quality loss.
    Sorry Pandy I missed this ... I've been doing them in MKV ... it doesn't appear to be re-encoding since it's rather quick, around 15 mins or so.
    My personal impression is that MKV is not as widely accepted standard as MPEG PS. But if it works for you then fine for me.
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  13. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
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    Ripbot is easy to use once you understand it. I always rip the whole Blu-ray to a hard drive with AnyDVD HD. Much better than converting from your optical drive as that way would take several hours and that's hard on the optical drive. Ripping takes less than an hour. A rip will take up about 30 - 40GB of hard drive space, so have lot's of space.

    In RB, click 'Add', go to your stored BD file by selecting the BD folder>BDMW>Stream, then any of the .m2ts files. RB will open a 'Select Streams' screen. Select ''OK' when it's done and it will 'Demux' and read the BD file for about a half hour or so.

    Once it's done, you select your settings. I use MKV, 2 pass, Lock size of 9700, and point the output to a drive for storage. By default it usually goes to the C drive, so you change that if needed to your storage drive. You also put in the title of the file.

    You can try other settings. These settings give you a MKV with AC3 surround sound, size of about 8GB. I picked that size so I could back up the MKVs to Blu-ray or dual layer DVD discs in case the storage HDD dies. The 2 pass encode takes longer, but I like the quality. I set up several encodes and run them overnight. It can take several hours for each encode with these settings.

    VidCoder, the only settings I change are to set the container to MKV, then audio, AC3 Passthrough. Video Filters, Detelecine to Default, Decomb to Default. Those are for handling interlace video. Then when I have the settings I like, I add them as a new preset. For mine, I call it MKVAC3. Then that becomes the new default setting. I loaned a spare PC to a friend with four DVD drives and VidCoder installed and he just tossed in the DVDs and set up four encodes, let them run, then added four more. He did over 200 DVD>MKV conversions in about four days of spare time. Playback is through a WDTV box with a 2TB WD external hard drive to his TV.

    With VidCoder and RipBot, you will run into a few problem encodes. Some DVDs are set up strangely with a foreign language as the main audio. Or some are episodic and you have to select each title. RipBot can select the directors cut sometimes, or incorrect audio. And a few BDs just refuse to be converted easily or at all. Just check your encodes after you run them.
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