How To Make Backup of My DVD's and Blu-ray movies

[golfnut]

Hi Guys,

I know you gurus can help me here. I used to do this a lot years ago then I kind of lost interest in the last few years. What I am referring to is backing up personal copies of my store bought DVD and Blu-ray movies mainly to keep the little ones from getting their hands on them. As I said, it has been years since I have done this. I used to use dvd decrypter to rip to hard drive, DVD Shrink to make them fit the disc, and Imgburn to burn the shrunk file to disc.

These software programs are either gone completely or outdated now and I was wondering if someone would tell me the best freeware, quality wise, to use to backup my movies? Thank you so much to take your time to help me with this.

[Kerry56]

If you want to keep the DVD's in DVD-video format, you can use TDMore Free DVD Copy or DVDFab HD Decrypter to rip to the hard drive. The DVDFab program should be free for decryption and ripping purposes, but anything else is first a trial, then a paid function.

For compression of DVD-video to smaller sizes, I'd recommend DVD Rebuilder, though DVDShrink will still work for this. Make sure to download DVDShrink from here at Videohelp.com, if you don't still have it. The free version of DVD Rebuilder should provide higher quality output.

For decryption of Blu-ray, the only recommended free program is MakeMKV. Normally it outputs as an MKV file, but you can backup Blu-ray to the hard drive using the Backup function. Put your disc in the drive, start MakeMKV, click on File-->Backup to use this section of MakeMKV. MakeMKV is free to use while in beta, though you will need to update the beta key each month or so. You can find the beta keys here: http://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1053

To compress Blu-ray, use BD Rebuilder. You can make complete copies, or movie-only versions if you prefer.

ImgBurn is still the best option for burning.

[Kerry56]

By the way, most of us have moved on to other formats, making movie only backups. Some people have home theater computers, a home NAS, or play from streaming media boxes with USB flash drives or hard drives. Or some simply play directly from a "smart" TV.

If you want to make movie only backups in MP4 or MKV format we can give some advice for that too. I'd start by ripping as MKV files using MakeMKV. It can rip both Blu-ray and DVD's in this manner (the Backup function for a full disc only works for Blu-ray). The MKV files from MakeMKV are not compressed, and have the original quality preserved. If you want smaller files, you can use other programs like VidCoder, Handbrake or Ripbot264 to do this.

[golfnut]

By the way, most of us have moved on to other formats, making movie only backups. Some people have home theater computers, a home NAS, or play from streaming media boxes with USB flash drives or hard drives. Or some simply play directly from a "smart" TV.

If you want to make movie only backups in MP4 or MKV format we can give some advice for that too. I'd start by ripping as MKV files using MakeMKV. It can rip both Blu-ray and DVD's in this manner (the Backup function for a full disc only works for Blu-ray). The MKV files from MakeMKV are not compressed, and have the original quality preserved. If you want smaller files, you can use other programs like VidCoder, Handbrake or Ripbot264 to do this.

Thanks so much Kerryy56. I too am only interested in backing up movie only and the best audio version. I do have a dedicated 7.2 home theater so I am interested in the latest, greatest software to accomplish what we are talking about. Any further advice is greatly appreciated.

[Krispy Kritter]

Just my 2 cents: But it's cheaper to simply keep track of the discs and limit what they have access to in addition to teaching them how to treat discs. Yes, I understand accidents happen. But the cost of making a backup disc for your entire collection will likely far outweigh the actual replacement cost of any disc(s) that may become damaged beyond use. For every 10-15 discs that you backup, you've spent the replacement cost of a new disc.

Having said that, for DVD, I use DVDFab (referenced above) to RIP discs and then ImgBurn for burning. DVDShrink will still work after the disc is ripped, if you want to make any changes (ie: movie only or compress to a SL disc).

[LMotlow]

By the way, most of us have moved on to other formats

Most of whom, did you say? Define "us".

[Kerry56]

By the way, most of us have moved on to other formats

Most of whom, did you say? Define "us".

By us, I mean video enthusiasts around the net, not necessarily the members of this particular forum. The people here are hard to predict, with some pushing for maximum quality over anything and everything else, and others who use virtually all types of formats/compression.

The use of optical discs is dying very quickly, so compressing movies to fit the size necessary for blank DVD's or Blu-ray is just not as common as it has been in the past. And that was the subject of the OP's first post.

[LMotlow]

The use of optical discs is dying very quickly,

Not to prolong the debate, and no offense intended, but the "rest of us" don't share your experience at all, in any way. But you could be right in the long term. It's a sizable niche group, whose population will increase if obsessive downstreaming concerns and texting don't limit certain possibilities. Maybe in two generations to come, three tops. By then, no one will ever come into personal contact with anybody, much less share any optical discs. Progress ain't always progressive.

Just a thought.

[cornemuse]

I, on occasion, go through my collection of dvds & select (3 or 4, to a dozen or more) & rip them to iso's on usb drive to watch with Argosy or Dune media player. I can pause & watch news etc on TV & come back later. (the usb drives spin down after 7 or 8 seconds power draw is negligable). I rarely want to see the extras, just the movies, & delete after viewing. I just prefer it this way, never have to change disks when viewing. This is not backing up as such.

-c-