What is Best Quality Format for Digital from BD or DVD

[AnimeJunkie]

Hi,

I haven't done this for awhile, and I need to know the best format for keeping quality for converting either BD or DVD to digital. I am not worried about file size, and this is to watch on a large screen TV not a portable device.

If anyone is still using AnyDVD I am thinking about getting another license and want to know if the new company is any good. I basically stopped when Slysoft went away.

If anyone has a particular conversion software for ISO to the format you recommend I appreciate the suggestion.

Thanks!

[crjackson]

You don’t have to convert anything. Just rip the main title to a hard drive using MakeMKV and there won’t be any loss of quality.

This will produce an .mkv file playable on nearly any device, player, or TV media organizer.

[LMotlow]

I need to know the best format for keeping quality for converting either BD or DVD to digital. I am not worried about file size, and this is to watch on a large screen TV not a portable device.

Maybe you'd better figure out what you're talking about, because your question is confusing.
"BD" and "DVD" are already digital, and they are optical disc formats. Tell us more about your sources. Are they really BluRay disc and DVD disc, or other format conversions, or flat data files on USB discs or hard drives, or just some internet downloads, or what?

[fornit]

I can confirm that AnyDVD HD is still working fine. And that the switch from SlySoft to RedFox hasn't had any impact on the quality of that software.

Do I understand you right? You are only interested in the main film and not in menus and extras?

When I backup one of my Blu Rays (or try some conversion stuff) I usually do that as follows:

• I take a look into the \BDMV\STREAM folder and search for the biggest file. That's usually the main film.
• Then I drag that m2ts file with Windows Explorer to the place on my hard disk where I want to do the conversion.
• After that I look into the m2ts file with the help of MediaInfo to see how many audio tracks are there or whether there is something special.
• I'm usually interested in the german and the english audio tracks only. I identify those with the help of VLC Player, trying the audio tracks it offers.

After that I do the conversion with the help of ffmpeg. Here is one example:

ffmpeg -i passengers.m2ts -map 0:v:0 -map 0:a:2 -map 0:a:0 -aspect 1920:816 -r 23.976 -vf crop=1920:816:0:132 -c:v libx265 -preset fast -crf 18 -ac 2 -c:a aac -b:a 192k -metadata:s:a:0 language=ger -metadata:s:a:1 language=eng -y passengers-1080p.mp4

This is an encoding with HEVC, blackbars are removed and quality is at crf 18. This means that it will become hard to see a difference between the encoding and the original.
In this example the resulting file has only had a size of 2.4 GB. In contrast to that the original m2ts was 32 GB big.

[AnimeJunkie]

I am not looking to keep structure or anything like that from the dvd or Blu-ray. I just want a single file with the movie in the same quality that I would get playing on the DVD/Blu-ray.

I played with MKV and so far not a really big fan. Definitely not what I was looking for.

Is there a creature like what I am looking for?

[AnimeJunkie]

Fornit, long explanation with lots of tools. I can give it a go, but if anyone knows of a simple stupid method that would be great.

I just have lots of disks I can't even buy in digital, and want to backup.

[Hoser Rob]

... if anyone knows of a simple stupid method that would be great.

I just have lots of disks I can't even buy in digital, and want to backup.

That was answered above by crjackson, and the software is MakeMKV. You said you aren't concerned about file size so it's perfect. It just rips ... no re encoding so zero qualty loss ... to an mkv container. You can't get any simpler than that, esp. since video encoding is a LOT more complicated than most newbies realize.

Some disks may have copy protection that MkeMKV doesn't handle so for those I'd rip them first with DVDFab HDdecrypter and then use MakeMKV on the resulting VIDEO_TS folder.

[fornit]

From what I have read MakeMKV should be quite good with the removal of copy protection. It seems to be able to handle copy protection of most UHD Blu Rays, too.

Well - it depends on what you want. The main movie of a Blu Ray usually has a size of around 30 GB. If that's not a problem, then use MakeMKV.

If you want to downsize such files you need a conversion software. I personally prefer ffmpeg because I've used it in some projects and it's very flexible. Other guys prefer e.g. Handbrake because it offers a GUI, which is easier to understand.

[lingyi]

@OP

Please stop referring to "digital" files as ALL DVDs, Blu-Rays and downloadable files (e.g. .mp4, .avi, .mkv, .mov. etc.) are digital. When you RIP or encode a DVD, Blu-Ray or downloaded file, it's ALWAYS digital unless you record the output on a VCR.

Also, explain further what your end goal is.

Is your goal an exact copy of the contents of your discs (the contents of which are already digital), i.e ripping? Then MakeMKV does that, containing the contents in an .MKV container or .ISO.

You mention playing back the files on your TV. How are playing the files on your TV? Is it through a Blu-Ray or DVD player, PC or external media player? If so, you're best saving the file as an .MKV since external media players that play Blu-Ray .ISOs are rare and playback from your PC limits your software player choice. If you're playing the files through your TV's built in media player, read the manual and post what types of files are supported. .ISOs are never supported and since .MKV is a container, the video format contained in the .MKV may not be compatible with your TV's player.

You state you're not happy with MakeMKV. What are you not satisfied with?

[lingyi]

More questions regarding what you're looking to achieve.

Are you planning to create a new DVD / Blu-Ray disc or are you planning to playback from an external drive (flash drive, hard drive, SD card)?

Are your discs older releases or new releases? If they're newer releases, you may have to wait a few months until MakeMKV updates to handle some newer protection schemes. Paid programs like AnyDVD and DVDFab update quicker (which is why you paid a subscription fee).

You state that file size is not an issue and you want to retain the quality of the original disc. Are you aware that DVDs can be up to ~8GB and Blu-Rays up to ~45GB and the only way to retain 100% of the quality is to RIP it and keep the original file size. Despite what many claim (no loss in quality), it's impossible to shrink a (already highly compressed) file without some level of quality loss.

[AnimeJunkie]

I am trying to keep them on an outside hard drive. I want to get rid of all the extras which take up so much space, and the MakeMKV seems to keep it all.

I have 8 TB available to store whatever the final product is, but at 30 gig for a Blu-ray from MakeMKV it doesn't seem like enough. At the end of the day just trying to keep the best quality for the least space and that starts with trimming the extras.

I did a good bit of ripping years ago, but haven't been keeping up with the latest and greatest techniques for quite some time. Then I was only concerned about making physical backups and mobile versions. Now I find that I never play the DVD's I have unless they are in a streamable format of some sort. So trying to make some streamable content that doesn't have easily destroyed surfaces.

[lingyi]

In MakeMKV choose the largest file(s), usually on the top, and choose your the audio and subtitles desired. Uncheck anything after so you'll have the main movie only. If you don't choose only the main movie only, the extra videos will be named <title>_02, <title>_03, etc. and be be deleted.

An 8tb drive will hold ~200-250 full Blu-Rays at a cost of ~$1.00 per disc, so I personally don't bother encoding my files to a smaller size. However, given your username, if your discs are anime, they reportedly compress well (much better than live action) and others here can give you suggestions to do that.

Also, be aware that external hard drives (unless they're in a high quality enclosure, which most are not) are prone to failure, usually the USB interface (this is the where the cost cutting is made). When unplugging the drive, do it from the far end of the cable (the rectangle connector) to minimize wear on the interface end. Also be sure to make at least one backup of the drive so you don't have to re-rip all your discs again.