Ripping vobs to convert to mkv in future

[nick1977]

Hi all

I have had a discussion going on the dvd ripping group regarding copying my DVDs to mkv to use on my networked blu-ray player. Due to various issues I have decided that I do not want to go down this route at the moment, but may well consider it in the future. In the meantime, I am going to stick with the vob format.

I was using HDConvertToX to create my mkv's as this appeared to be one of the only programs that supported multiple audio and subtitle tracks. I managed to create mkv's from vob rips that played 95% successfully and contained all of the streams I desired.

Now that I have decided to stick with the vob format, I have played around with what files I need to rip from the DVD to future proof. What I don't want is to build up a library of a few hundred vobs, to later on have to rip them again in order to convert to mkv (or any other format for that matter).

Things I have managed to do successfully so far using dvdshrink:

rip all streams to single vob file and convert to mkv retaining desired streams
rip all streams to single vob, delete all files other than vob and ifo, rename vob and ifo, and convert to mkv retaining desired streams.
rip all streams of part of a vob, and successfully convert to mkv retaining desired streams.

However the one thing I want to do doesn't seem to work...

I want to rip to vob and discard sub tracks and audio tracks I don't want. For example, there is no point in me ripping the DD5.1 track of a film if I am keeping the DTS5.1 track.

If I do this using dvdshrink, and then analyse using HDConvertToX, it lists the ifo file correctly (i.e. it doesn't list the streams that have been removed). But when I run the program it gets past the x264 conversion and then stops having not created an mkv. All other aspects of the process appear to work as normal.

Is it something simple I am doing wrong?
Should I rip using a different program?
Does something need to be done to the ifo to "repair" it?

Ultimately what I want is vob files (and ifo files if necessary) on my PC with selected audio/sub streams from the DVD that can later be converted to mkv if desired. Is this possible?

Sorry for the long post!
Nick

[nick1977]

Actually looking back at this, maybe it should be in the dvd ripping forum! Mods please move if appropriate.

[Baldrick]

I have already moved you. .

[nick1977]

Anyone who can help me?
Please!

Nick

[Baldrick]

You will probably get problem in many converters when you remove tracks using dvd shrink. I would just rip to an iso...even if it would be bigger it would be easier to convert later.

Or other methods/tools you can try is VOB2MPG or MakeMKV.

[nick1977]

Thanks Baldrick, although unfortunately my standalone player can't play ISO images - only vobs or mpgs.
What I want is a temporary solution for now, with the ability to easily convert to mkv in the future if desired. Although storage capacity prices are getting cheaper all the time, I have about 500 DVDs, a great many of which are TV series and I dread to think how many TBs I'd need to keep them as VOBs and have a backup lol
Tried Vob2mpg a while back for other things and I don't think it let you keep multiple audio and sub streams but I could be mistaken. MakeMKV - isn't that just the older version of HDConvertToX?

Would something like ifoedit be able to help? I know it's a relatively advanced tool, but I'm happy to spend time learning it if I can "fix" the ifo files.

Thanks
Nick