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I am thinking of starting to back my DVDs up to my home PC. Would love to be able to watch them easily using something like PLEX. My issue is that I'm not sure of the best format / product for this. I could figure a conversion product out using this site (would welcome recommendations), but what format to watch on a large screen TV?
Assuming HD space is not an issue, is .avi the right choice?
Assuming HD is a slight issue, what's the best combination of compressed without losing too much quality?
Not sure these questions are valid or the right ones but hopefully they make a little sense.
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I'm a MEGA Super Moderator
- Aug 2000
- Sweden
Capturing? Nope. I'm moving you to our dvd backup section.
I would rip to a single DVD ISO image with for example anydvd. I think Plex supports that. No quality loss and you will keep everything.Assuming HD space is not an issue, is .avi the right choice?
mkv or mp4 with h264 video. Rip with anydvd, dvdfab passkey and convert with VidCoder, Handbrake.Assuming HD is a slight issue, what's the best combination of compressed without losing too much quality? -
Originally Posted by Baldrick
Thanks! I thought I was "capturing" from one source to another. I don't know much so thanks for not blasting me. -
When HD space is a slight issue it is time to buy another HD!Originally Posted by 123fish123
DVD is SD video, pretty low quality for 2015, and on top of that MPEG-2 does not particularly do great things to that quality either so why degrade it even more?
A 3TB Western Digital Green drive costs $100, that means that storing a DVD on a HD sets you back a whopping $0.20 to $0.30.
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Green-Desktop/dp/B004RORMF6/ref=sr_1_1?ie...s=wd+green+3tb
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PLEX is actually fairly terrible for this purpose. It may work fine. Or it may have so many problems that you will regret ever trying it. I've used an old free version of PLEX for years now. It's not perfect. Far from it. It doesn't like some file names and you will simply find out when you try to play a file that it refuses to play the file unless you rename it. I've never cared enough to dig into what exactly you have to rename such a file to. I have an old Western Digital media player and in such situations, it's just easier to put the "problem" file on a USB flash drive and play it that way than to try to figure out what would make PLEX happy.
We've had reports that now FLEX has moved to a fully paid model only and, if you can believe this, actually gotten worse, not better, with time. I'll never update my old free version if the paid one might actually be worse. PLEX mostly works for me but it has just enough problems that I would consider it completely unacceptable if I paid for it. I can live with it for a free version. -
You sound like those commercials "for only $.50 a day you could..." Hey, that's $175/year!!!
Seriously though, I hear what you're saying. Just not in the market to spend $100 right now (nor do I need to, I was just trying to learn). Yes I have a ton of SD DVD stuff. Have not even gotten the blu-ray for the PC yet.
I'll tell you what though (off topic) I DID get a flash drive for my last build and WOW! -
I have not had an issue with PLEX yet other than it doesn't like certain file types (mkv seems to be an issue). Other than that I used it for music a lot and video sometimes. I'll be honest, for me the fun is just in trying new things. For example, I've only historically converted DVDs to backup DVDs....only wanted to do it digitally and stream it just to try it. It's fun learning and trying some of the tools mentioned in this thread among others.
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As Baldrick wrote, put them on the HD as ISO files.Originally Posted by 123fish123
The "no messing around" best option!
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