Converting my DVD's to... ?

[roelofjan]

Hi guys,

I want to convert DVDs to .... well i don't know actually.

I've already ripped my DVDs so i've got a ton of VIDEO_TS folders waiting on my hard drive.

Now i want to convert them into video files.

I'm browing the guides, i see a lot of options, but i don't know what to choose: avi/mp4/mkv, which codec, h.264?

What is important to me is that i can still play my files in let's say 10 years.

I know it's impossible to predict the future, but i don't want to make the mistake of converting all my DVDs into some exotic format which is hardly popular nowadays, let alone in 10 years...


So i want to convert to something which is free, widely supported by all kinds of devices, etc.

With that I mind, what should i convert to?

Which option is most likely to stand the test of time, and what should i definitely not convert to?

[Kerry56]

Is there a specific reason why you want to convert them from dvd-video? Ten years from now, dvd-video will still be a supported format, though playing from physical discs might be a bit uncommon by then. Think about LP records...introduced in 1948. They are not a mainstream format for music anymore and haven't been for decades, but they are still available for those who prefer vinyl, and the turntables and new recordings are readily available.

Converting will mean you lose menus and extras. That might not be important to you personally. And any conversion will degrade picture quality to some degree. Done well, you might not notice it at all in playback. But it is something to be aware of.

The most common codec used these days when converting from dvds is H264. The container should be either mp4 or mkv. The mkv container is gaining acceptance rapidly, and is supported by more and more hardware players. I think this trend will continue for the foreseeable future.

Handbrake is a program that makes this conversion easy for most anyone. Ripbot264 is another program you might consider. Both are free to download and use.

[roelofjan]

Well i've bought a media player today, one that supports playing DVD menu's. I've been playing with it most of the day...

I've found that part of my collection i want to keep as DVD video, but there is is also a big part that i want to convert, because it's easier to navigate. Mostly i have music. If i want to switch from song to song it's annoying to enter the DVD menu, find the song, and 5 minutes later when i want to play another song i have to enter another DVD menu... etc.... i'd rather organise every song into a single video file.

For movies and full concerts i'm just going to keep the DVD.

I've been playing around with handbrake, testing quality and such.

Handbrake offers why 2 container options (mkv and mp4) en 3 video codec options (h.264, mpeg-4 and mpeg-2), was unsure what to really choose.

[Kerry56]

You could keep the individual music videos in dvd format, or in mpeg2 format without losing quality.

It is possible to do this with DVDShrink (set to use no compression) in ReAuthor mode using the Set Start/End Frames tool. You put the start mark at the beginning of each music clip and then set the end mark . DVDShrink will save each clip as a small dvd-video.

There might be a better way of doing this if each song is organized in the original dvd-video as a separate chapter. Wait for others here to offer some advice.

[yoda313]

en years from now, dvd-video will still be a supported format, though playing from physical discs might be a bit uncommon by then. Think about LP records...introduced in 1948. They are not a mainstream format for music anymore and haven't been for decades, but they are still available for those who prefer vinyl, and the turntables and new recordings are readily available.

I'm not so sure about this.

Dvd is sort of the new vhs. Vhs lasted forever until dvd supplanted it. Now dvd is here for a long time to come. True bluray is here but it can play dvd. And as far as hardware it should not be hard at all to get dvd players in 10 years. More likely you would be getting a bluray player then.

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Personally unless you are doing this just to do it there really isn't a reason to do it.

However if you want a jukebox for all your stuff so you don't have to fish out the particular disc you want to watch than that can be an advantage.

The most common codec used these days when converting from dvds is H264. The container should be either mp4 or mkv.

Yep I agree with this. Probably mp4 is better as this would work with "older" h264 equipment. mkv is relatively new to being adopted by the mainstream hardware makers so it might be better to do mp4 for now and in a little while mkv should be just as common - might already be if all new file playing bluray players are mkv ready. Although lots of off brand tablets might have problems with mkv files hence better to do h264 in mp4. But a simple remux would solve it but not so easy if you are talking hundreds of files (but you could always batch convert if you run into a problem like this).

I'm not saying you can't convert the dvds and use your drive its just that you shouldn't feel you have to in order to future proof yourself. You'd only have to do this if they were to stop making bluray players some day then you wouldn't be able to have new hardware to playback the discs - you'd be stuck with old equipment only then you'd need an alternate method.