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  1. Hey guys, thanks to lurking on this site for a long time, 10 years ago, I was able to capture my family's old VHS and 8mm home movies and burn them to DVD-Rs. I am worried about longetivity, overall usability, and want to make extra copies so what I would like to do is convert the 40 or so DVDRs onto a few 50GB BDR discs.

    I know compression tech has greatly improved so I don't think it would be best to just copy the MPEG2 streams and that they should be reencoded for efficiency (its just home movies so loss in quality is no big deal)

    While I'm at it, I think I'll end up chopping all the videos into 15 minute segments so I can upload them to google + to have a cloud backup for sharing.

    do you guys have any suggestions on how this could be most easily done with the great freeware available here? Or if a reasonably priced commercial product could do this very easily?'

    Thanks in advance
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    You might want to reconsider using DL Blu-ray media. Unless you go to the trouble (and expense) of finding Panasonic brand DL media, there aren't any other brands that I would recommend for this type of disc. Taiyo Yuden/JVC are now using Panasonic made DL BD, so you might find them under that brand.

    Single layer BD media on the other hand has several reliable brands, including Panasonic, which may be the best, FTI/Falcon which can be found in the US under the SmartBlu brand, and Verbatim. Don't use the LTH Verbatim single layer discs, only the regular HTL discs using inorganic dye. Some people recommend the Infome-R30 or Infome-R40 mid codes found under the Melody brand, but I have not tried them, and there is less long term data from users.

    For conversion of DVD-video to H264 mp4 or mkv, you can use VidCoder or Handbrake. This is easy enough to do.

    Cutting the DVD's into sections can be done with DVDShrink in ReAuthor mode (use no compression), or commercial tools like VideoRedo or Womble Mpeg Video Wizard DVD. I'd probably use VideoRedo, since I own a copy already. There is fully functional trial of VideoRedo available, and good for 30 days I think.
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    I agree that you would be better off with BD-R 25. It still holds 5 times as much data as DVD-R. Dual-layer discs of any kind are less archival than single layer discs and good quality BD-R DL discs are 4-6 times the cost of good single layer media.

    DVD media has been around long enough to have a proven track record under real world conditions. It is necessary to rely on artificial aging tests for BD-R. Panasonic BD-R media fared the best in such tests. From the least expensive source I have found on Amazon it costs about $1.50 per disc.

    Since you don't mind the loss of quality that comes from further compression, I also agree that H.264/AVC is a good choice. Encoders are mature and the format is widely used.
    Last edited by usually_quiet; 4th Jul 2014 at 11:43.
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  4. I would be unhappy losing any more quality. They have already been converted once.
    I would take each DVD-R and convert it to an ISO and and fill data BDs with them.
    You can probably fit all those DVD on on 4 BD discs. Not that expensive and you can burn the ISO back to
    a DVD without any quality loss.

    If you have only files and not DVD authored discs just make folders and copy the files across as folders.
    For cutting sections look to VideotoVideo Converter (Tools tab for Cut and Join options).
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  5. Thanks for the advice on avoiding DL disks,

    Since my parents will want copies, the discs should be playable in a standalone BR player. Can the average player play a disc with a bunch of mp4 or VOB files on it (if encoded properly), without complex authoring? What about playstation/xbox one? Authoring lots of discs is probably a painful process with freeware that I'd like to avoid if possible
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    Originally Posted by ajamer View Post
    Thanks for the advice on avoiding DL disks,

    Since my parents will want copies, the discs should be playable in a standalone BR player. Can the average player play a disc with a bunch of mp4 or VOB files on it (if encoded properly), without complex authoring? What about playstation/xbox one? Authoring lots of discs is probably a painful process with freeware that I'd like to avoid if possible
    It depends on the Blu-Ray player, but most players made in the past 2 years will play at least some kinds of media files on a BD-R. You would have to check the player's manual to find out what is and is not supported.

    DVD-compatible video and audio will be playable by virtually any Blu-Ray player that allows media file playback. mpg files are probably better to use than VOB files. VOBtoMPG can convert VOBs to .mpg with no re-encoding or quality loss.

    .mp4 is widely supported too, but Blu-Ray players vary in what kinds of video and audio formats are allowed in an .mp4 container. Once again, the manual needs to be consulted for the details.

    I don't know what A/V formats and containers the game consoles will accept.
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    Most modern players should be able to handle mp4 files on a disc. No guarantees, but this is becoming more common.

    Vob files probably won't play, nor ISO files of DVD-video.

    It is possible to input several DVD-videos and produce a Blu-ray video with a simple menu using BD Rebuilder. The videos will not be re-encoded doing this. You will need all the DVD-videos in their own individual folder, then gathered together in one larger folder. So I would suggest cutting your videos into the sections you want with DVDShrink in ReAuthor mode, since it will output in a small DVD-video. Then organize the videos into this larger folder. At that point, start BD Rebuilder and click on File-->Import-->DVD's Quick Authored and navigate to this larger folder.
    Here is a guide for the program: http://club.myce.com/f32/bd-rebuilder-guide-313227/

    Since the DVD's would not be re-encoded, you wouldn't be able to compress and fit more per disc, but this is one way of making the DVD's into Blu-ray video.
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