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  1. We are downsizing soon to a joint about half the size of our current place. Needless to say that will make it a titch difficult to keep my 600 disc DVD collection. (Most of the content is from before the 1980s.) Since getting my first DVD I've disliked all the bovine excrement that is crammed onto the discs. I can easily use MakeMKV to strip out the main title but on several disks there is other content that is actually worth keeping. Think Shark Tale or Shrek2. Some will break the main movie into two titles instead of just a single title.
    Anyway, I want to convert this collection to MKV containered files and possibly keep the menu and selected sub-titles intact. I want to store them on my NAS (16TB should be just enuff, you think?) and watch on our telly Is there any software or procedure to achieve this?
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  2. Member steptoe's Avatar
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    Only ones I can think of that allow editing of menus and removing unwanted titlesets, while keeping the DVD structure, are

    DVDStyler
    DVDShrink - yes,its ancient but still does what is was designed for
    DVD-RB - this is no longer updated but great for compressing an entire DVD to a DVD-5 using HCEnc and strip unwanted menus or extras
    BD-RB - Designed for blu-ray to video, but can handle DVDs. Same author as DVD-RB

    https://www.dvdstyler.org/en/
    http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/dvd-copy/2984-burn-imgburn-dvdshrink.html
    https://www.videohelp.com/software/DVD-Rebuilder
    https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=143716

    All 100% free, not trialware or malware



    Personally, I converted all mine to MP4. Much more compatible than MKV. I used MKV for years but changed to MP4 recently when transferring all my stuff to an Emby server on my NAS I built
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    It has been a while since I investigated this topic but I don't think the specification for and development of MKV's menu feature was ever completed. The same is true for menus in MP4 files. Also, as far as I know, there isn't anything that rips DVDs to either an MKV or MP4 keeping the menus intact. I can't recall seeing any hardware or software players that can use the menus for either type of file.

    I would recommend that you store your DVDs as ISOs instead. I have tried playing DVD ISOs using Kodi installed on a Chromecast with GoogleTV where the DVD ISOs were stored on a shared HDD in one of my Windows PCs. It worked fine. ISOs stored on a NAS should play just like a DVD using Kodi on an Android media player.

    First, rip the DVDs to your HDD as files and folders with DVD Decrypter. (If DVD Decrypter fails, try DVD Fab) Next, use DVDRemake to remove unwanted features. Test the result with VLC media player to make sure it works as you want and then use ImgBurn to create an ISO.
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  4. Member steptoe's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by LilBro3 View Post
    We are downsizing soon to a joint about half the size of our current place. Needless to say that will make it a titch difficult to keep my 600 disc DVD collection. (Most of the content is from before the 1980s.) Since getting my first DVD I've disliked all the bovine excrement that is crammed onto the discs. I can easily use MakeMKV to strip out the main title but on several disks there is other content that is actually worth keeping. Think Shark Tale or Shrek2. Some will break the main movie into two titles instead of just a single title.
    Anyway, I want to convert this collection to MKV containered files and possibly keep the menu and selected sub-titles intact. I want to store them on my NAS (16TB should be just enuff, you think?) and watch on our telly Is there any software or procedure to achieve this?

    How are you watching media from your NAS

    We have an LG SmartTV, that fully supports Emby and Plex

    I started off with Plex and had it all set-up, but started finding it just didn't meet what I was looking for and getting a pain for media updating so I tried Emby and found much easier than Plex and also auto-updates media via internet when adding new media

    I also bought a subscription to TinyMediaManager. Massive improvement but took a few days trawling my media correcting and adding the meta data. Its now set-up fully using Emby as the interface and takes about 5 minutes to add new media and update the new content using TinyMediaManagera nd then copy to the NAS

    Doing a bit more reading is suggesting that ripping the main movie and using that on your NAS may be the best option. Emby does support playing ISO but not really as its being slowly removed. Plex doesn't support ISO at all

    I ripped my media, then used VidCoder to convert it to x265 and used the GPU for faster processing
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  5. @Steptoe - On my telly I can select me NAS as a source. I use either the native media server in my Western Digital EX4100 or PLEX. Once I've selected the NAS I navigate to the appropriate folder and scroll thru to find the flick I want. I do have KODI on one computer but haven't really played with it.

    By the way...I installed DVD Shrink and it gets the job down. On some discs Handbrake will convert direct from disc to mp4. And I discovered Handbrake will let me "ignore" a lot of the BS the studios insist on cramming onto the discs.
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    I can recommend the Zidoo UHD3000 media player or most of their more recent players less high end than the 3000. They play ISO, MKV, MP4 etc etc etc. Lots of features and their equivalent of KODI etc is called HT (Home Theatre) and gets all the art work etc.
    SONY 75" Full array 200Hz LED TV, Yamaha A1070 amp, Zidoo UHD3000, BeyonWiz PVR V2 (Enigma2 clone), Chromecast, Windows 11 Professional, QNAP NAS TS851
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    Originally Posted by usually_quiet View Post
    It has been a while since I investigated this topic but I don't think the specification for and development of MKV's menu feature was ever completed. The same is true for menus in MP4 files. Also, as far as I know, there isn't anything that rips DVDs to either an MKV or MP4 keeping the menus intact. I can't recall seeing any hardware or software players that can use the menus for either type of file.

    I would recommend that you store your DVDs as ISOs instead. I have tried playing DVD ISOs using Kodi installed on a Chromecast with GoogleTV where the DVD ISOs were stored on a shared HDD in one of my Windows PCs. It worked fine. ISOs stored on a NAS should play just like a DVD using Kodi on an Android media player.

    First, rip the DVDs to your HDD as files and folders with DVD Decrypter. (If DVD Decrypter fails, try DVD Fab) Next, use DVDRemake to remove unwanted features. Test the result with VLC media player to make sure it works as you want and then use ImgBurn to create an ISO.
    Yes: MKVs support chapters but not menus. I also go the ISO route when I want to retain the "DVD experience", i.e. Menus, integral Extras, and so on. The one thing I really haven't explored along these lines is if BR ISOs are a thing, or a good option. Some are not fond of ISOs, but as with MKV there can be advantages to dealing with a single file that does it all, vs. a messy structure of many individual files. I'm not using a NAS thus far, and so am not conversant with where that does or does not support ISO playback, depending on your choice of software manager.
    When in Las Vegas, don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ -- with over 150 tables from 6+ decades of this quintessentially American art form.
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    Originally Posted by netmask56 View Post
    I can recommend the Zidoo UHD3000 media player or most of their more recent players less high end than the 3000. They play ISO, MKV, MP4 etc etc etc. Lots of features and their equivalent of KODI etc is called HT (Home Theatre) and gets all the art work etc.
    I'd like to find out a lot more about the Zidoo models, of which there appear to be several. So far, I'm mainly seeing them sold from a U.K. firm in Manchester, or direct from Taiwan. Are there no U.S. dealers ? What is the warranty support, as some of these models are pricey ? Do they work as is in the U.S.: that is to say, for NTSC as well as PAL material, N. American voltage, standard N. American connectors rather than SCART ? Product reliability / longevity ? These details will affect the extent to which Zidoo could be a viable option here.
    When in Las Vegas, don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ -- with over 150 tables from 6+ decades of this quintessentially American art form.
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    I'm in Sydney and I bought my UHD3000 from a local HiFi shop. I doubt if any of the models have SCART - I doubt if anyone uses that anymore.
    Mine has HDMI out but look on their website it gives all the technical details.
    I don't know what are "standard N American" connectors mean?

    https://www.zidoo.tv/

    Zidoo like most upmarket gear uses International standards. Voltage can be set or are self detecting like most gear these days. The UHD3000 has 2 internal power supplies as do the NEO series. Most of the others use power bricks.

    They support pretty well all formats and have excellent sound handling. Dolby Vision and Atmos and there are regular OTA firmware updates of via USB. With mine it take 2 x hdd and I have 2 x 10TB in each. I think the limit is 14TB although a few people on their forum have installed 18TB drives successfully. I have a mix of USA titles, UK, local etc and no problems. Finally they are a quality machine that makes a lot of 4K players look like toys in comparison. Although no where as expensive as say Kaleidoscope, for local playback from a NAS or USB devices they are superb. They are not a streaming device, so no Netflix of Amazon etc.
    SONY 75" Full array 200Hz LED TV, Yamaha A1070 amp, Zidoo UHD3000, BeyonWiz PVR V2 (Enigma2 clone), Chromecast, Windows 11 Professional, QNAP NAS TS851
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    Originally Posted by netmask56 View Post
    I'm in Sydney and I bought my UHD3000 from a local HiFi shop. I doubt if any of the models have SCART - I doubt if anyone uses that anymore.
    Mine has HDMI out but look on their website it gives all the technical details.
    I don't know what are "standard N American" connectors mean?

    https://www.zidoo.tv/

    Zidoo like most upmarket gear uses International standards. Voltage can be set or are self detecting like most gear these days. The UHD3000 has 2 internal power supplies as do the NEO series. Most of the others use power bricks.

    They support pretty well all formats and have excellent sound handling. Dolby Vision and Atmos and there are regular OTA firmware updates of via USB. With mine it take 2 x hdd and I have 2 x 10TB in each. I think the limit is 14TB although a few people on their forum have installed 18TB drives successfully. I have a mix of USA titles, UK, local etc and no problems. Finally they are a quality machine that makes a lot of 4K players look like toys in comparison. Although no where as expensive as say Kaleidoscope, for local playback from a NAS or USB devices they are superb. They are not a streaming device, so no Netflix of Amazon etc.
    Thanks for your reply. One thing that might concern me -- at anything approaching these price points -- would be reports I've been seeing (both for Dune and for Zidoo models) of alleged "buggyness", reliability issues, service issues, longstanding problems that haven't been addressed in updates. Always taking into account how much one can rely upon some user reviews . . . . The "no streaming" thing seems a bit odd, in view of how they prominently mention Kodi in their specs and literature that I've seen thus far. Or perhaps this varies according to the particular model ? And some models do have Wi-Fi, which sounds like it would apply to more that communication with one's internal network ? Do some of these models accept installation of Android apps ?

    I'm seeing that Zidoo is being sold not just on eBay, but also on Amazon. Have to see if that encompasses any local dealers who might support the brand.
    When in Las Vegas, don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ -- with over 150 tables from 6+ decades of this quintessentially American art form.
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    Some of the older models may support KODI as an alternative to the Zidoo but it is a bit of a fiddle same applies to Plex, there have been some success but for the bulk of users who would be for the more recent models the on board HT (Home Theatre) app simply works with a few hiccups on some rare titles. But you can always "rematch". The only title I had to fiddle with was "Tales Of The City" but it had non consistent episode naming on the original DVD's.

    HT is better than KODI in many respects far easier to set up and it finds new material added to any of your sources very quickly adding artwork and synopsis etc. Once again on my UHD3000 no "bugginess" it worked straight out of the box.

    To get some definitive information join their forum
    and ask questions of the many people there and you can look at the specs for yourself regarding various models, I think from memory they all have WiFi. The Zidoo like the Zappiti is designed for local playback either attached hdd or from a central server or NAS.

    Re Android, the firmware is available in 2 forms, standard OTA without Google or the G series that does have access to Google Store. This is the version I have. Firmware updates are regular and effective.

    On their forum there is a suggestion for improvements sub forum in new firmware.

    re dealers well that is a local country by country issue and I really can't comment apart from the Australian position. I guess because we are relatively closer to China so we can get imports fairly quickly?
    SONY 75" Full array 200Hz LED TV, Yamaha A1070 amp, Zidoo UHD3000, BeyonWiz PVR V2 (Enigma2 clone), Chromecast, Windows 11 Professional, QNAP NAS TS851
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    Originally Posted by Seeker47 View Post
    Yes: MKVs support chapters but not menus. I also go the ISO route when I want to retain the "DVD experience", i.e. Menus, integral Extras, and so on. The one thing I really haven't explored along these lines is if BR ISOs are a thing, or a good option. Some are not fond of ISOs, but as with MKV there can be advantages to dealing with a single file that does it all, vs. a messy structure of many individual files. I'm not using a NAS thus far, and so am not conversant with where that does or does not support ISO playback, depending on your choice of software manager.
    The problem with keeping ISO files of DVDs is they are large as you cannot compress them much unless you use something like DVDShrink and software support for playing them is dropping.

    If you plan to keep a lot of media, like I do, it is much more efficient to rip to MKV compress to something like h.264 or h.265 and only keep the extras you want an use something like emby. I use emby to access all my media and when I have DVDs with extras I add them in the same directory as the main film named according to emby convention and they all show up in emby. It is not a menu but you essentially have the same thing except you don't have to keep all the extras.....and you can compress them.

    The one thing I noticed when I first started compressing my DVDs in MKV format is they usually a quarter the size or smaller yet when played back through emby on my TV they looked better than just playing the disc in my DVD player. Something to do with the compression combined with the upscaling of my SONY TVs ends up making them look better. Plus with emby you can stream your content to any TV in you house wirelessly or share them with yourself or others you allow to connect over the internet. I watch my movies on my phone when I am on a trip.

    So, smaller size, better quality, and easier to play and share on multiple devices makes ripping to MKV and compressing is a no brainer for me. Granted, it takes a little more effort up front to determine which extras on a DVD are which and name them correctly but they are far more convenient to play after that.....compressed or not.
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  13. If you can access your NAS's SMB or NSF shares via WiFi look into the Walmart Onn media player:

    https://www.walmart.com/ip/onn-Android-TV-UHD-Streaming-Device/636597403

    On might think it's trash for US$20. That's what I thought before I bought one just to see how bad it was. I was quite impressed by the device. It supports UHD and HDR. It's almost as good as the Google Chromecast with Google TV but less than half the price:

    https://www.walmart.com/ip/Chromecast-with-Google-TV/403830906?athbdg=L1600

    If seen the Chromecast for as little as US40 at times.

    Store your files with some sensible folder organization and descriptive filenames and you'll have a built-in menuing system. Run Kodi on the media player and let it scrape for metadata. You'll be able to search by movie name, actors names, release date, etc.

    The biggest shortcoming of these devices is the limited amount of storage. I have a fairly large collection (about 8000 movies and 9000 series episodes) and the the full metadata for all those files exceeds the storage of the devices.

    There have been rumors of a new Chromecast coming this spring. Maybe it will have more storage. A new Onn player may be coming soon too -- the price dropped from US$30 to US$20 during the holidays and has stayed there (clearing out stock?).
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    Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    If you can access your NAS's SMB or NSF shares via WiFi look into the Walmart Onn media player:

    https://www.walmart.com/ip/onn-Android-TV-UHD-Streaming-Device/636597403

    On might think it's trash for US$20. That's what I thought before I bought one just to see how bad it was. I was quite impressed by the device. It supports UHD and HDR. It's almost as good as the Google Chromecast with Google TV but less than half the price:

    https://www.walmart.com/ip/Chromecast-with-Google-TV/403830906?athbdg=L1600

    If seen the Chromecast for as little as US40 at times.

    Store your files with some sensible folder organization and descriptive filenames and you'll have a built-in menuing system. Run Kodi on the media player and let it scrape for metadata. You'll be able to search by movie name, actors names, release date, etc.

    The biggest shortcoming of these devices is the limited amount of storage. I have a fairly large collection (about 8000 movies and 9000 series episodes) and the the full metadata for all those files exceeds the storage of the devices.

    There have been rumors of a new Chromecast coming this spring. Maybe it will have more storage. A new Onn player may be coming soon too -- the price dropped from US$30 to US$20 during the holidays and has stayed there (clearing out stock?).
    Wow, I thought I had a huge collection -- and I do, probably way more than I'll ever possibly manage to watch, and steadily growing -- but it doesn't reach your collection's level. (If they have any merit to speak of, I just can't resist collecting rarities and formerly "lost" films that eventually, suddenly, unexpectedly turn up now "un-lost". Someone has managed to resurrect the title, at least temporarily, and I don't want to chance the window closing again.) I have even occasionally ripped an out-of-print VHS, never-on-DVD-or-BR title myself, though I did not find the results from the gear on hand to be good enough. I store it all on a plethora of what jwillis84 likes to refer to as "spinning rust", due to be obsolete much sooner than later he tells us . . . because I just don't see any better options out there. Whether you happen to do the NAS thing, or not. The user reviews I'm seeing for any 100GB BR blank media do not look encouraging. (Unless someone here knows differently.) I do also make some use of flash drives for storage, but I don't know that they bend the longevity & durability curve any better than mechanical HDDs. SSDs are an unknown that I don't trust, having zapped a couple of them.

    Some other comments here: be it with older hardware, but I think I'll be able to continue playing ISOs for quite some time. MKVs are good too, though as previously noted more work is involved in keeping Extras. And what of possible commentary tracks ? Menus may provide more complex navigation or control features options than you think. My recollection is that the largest internal storage we've seen on any player / streamer box model would be with Nvidia Shield, at 16GB ? Still wouldn't be all that much, these days. My older model Shields have much less but will accept an SD card though, of at least 128 GB or perhaps 256 (have to check on that), which helps, and also has an available port for attached USB stick or HDD. It does get close to being maxxed out for apps storage or other files that can't be "outsourced" to the card or stick.
    When in Las Vegas, don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ -- with over 150 tables from 6+ decades of this quintessentially American art form.
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  15. Member netmask56's Avatar
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    On MKV files you can have several languages including commentary tracks. Just select the track you want in your media player. Same goes with subtitles, virtually any number.
    SONY 75" Full array 200Hz LED TV, Yamaha A1070 amp, Zidoo UHD3000, BeyonWiz PVR V2 (Enigma2 clone), Chromecast, Windows 11 Professional, QNAP NAS TS851
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  16. I really like using Handbrake but it default to M4V which my WD NAS does not like. Nor does VideoLAN. The best thing about Handbrake is it pretty grabs all that I want. It says it outputs as MP4 then in parentheses "M4V."
    So, should I...
    1) Convert M4V to MP4, or
    2) Convert to MKV, or
    3) Just not worry and use PLEX or KODI to view the files on our telly?
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    Originally Posted by LilBro3 View Post
    I really like using Handbrake but it default to M4V which my WD NAS does not like. Nor does VideoLAN. The best thing about Handbrake is it pretty grabs all that I want. It says it outputs as MP4 then in parentheses "M4V."
    So, should I...
    1) Convert M4V to MP4, or
    2) Convert to MKV, or
    3) Just not worry and use PLEX or KODI to view the files on our telly?
    Just rename the file in Windows Explorer, and/or look in the Handbrake settings to see if there is a switch for this
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    Originally Posted by lilbro3
    I really like using Handbrake but it default to M4V which my WD NAS does not like
    In Handbrake:

    Tools>Preferences>Output files. Change default to MP4.

    Why on earth would any software developer default an output to m4v?
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    I find file format conversion tools to be a regularly essential part of one's software toolkit. I like the ones from Digiarty / Win-X, although there are some other good ones as well. As with having multiple browsers, different software video players, and for other categories, it is good to have a selection of them on hand. There will always be cases where one tool can't handle a given job, but then another one can.
    When in Las Vegas, don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ -- with over 150 tables from 6+ decades of this quintessentially American art form.
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