Why not just copy the VOB/IFO/BUP files?

[Matthias H]

Hi,

I am a newbie and sorry if this is a dumb question.
I have been reading the past hour or so about how to rip a DVD to hard disk for backup purposes on my NAS. They are privately recorded DVDs from family reunions and such, so no copy protection whatsoever.

Here's the thing - no matter where I look for advice, in every artivle it is described tediously how to transcode the DVD so in the end it is mkv or what not.
But, I keep asking myself, why can't I just copy the VOB, IFO, and BUP files (and all others if there are any) to my hard drive? Is there any good reason why everybody apparently wants to go through a lot of hassle just so on their hard drive they have the DVD stored in a different format? I just don't understand why this is necessary?

Thanks for clarifying and helping a confused guy out

Matt

[DB83]

Of course you can.

If it is in a different format ie not vobs,ifo's and bup's it is no longer a dvd unless it is an iso with all these files present.

I asked a similar Q. a long time ago. The answer is simple
1. To preserve the disk from other peoples' hands
2. Just to have the main film in a readily available form in a playback device other than a dvd-player.

There are probably other reasons as well.

[Cornucopia]

You CAN! (for un-encrypted/unprotected titles). You can even use Windows Explorer Copy+Paste for them, though I recommend a more thorough transfer method (one that compares CRC checksums, etc.)
This assumes you are going to retain the IFO+VOB+BUP original format.

Scott

...db83 beat me to it!

[hello_hello]

For DVDs with no copy protection there's absolutely no reason why you can't simply copy the contents to a hard drive.

Much ripping software will rip to a single ISO file (kind of like a zip file for discs) which contains the original video and audio etc, but they'll usually also output the ripped files in the original DVD format. DVDShrink will rip a whole disc to an ISO file, although it's set to output a DVD5 size worth of files by default. If you happen to be copying/ripping a larger disc (ie dual layer) you can change the output target size to something larger or disable it's compression so it doesn't try to "shrink" (transcode). Pretty much all burning software should be able to open an ISO file and re-burn it to disc so a single ISO file can be convenient for backing up, but being able to open and play them directly isn't as common so if you'll be playing the files you might want to stick to the original DVD format.

Likewise a program such as MakeMKV might be convenient as it can output a DVD as a single MKV (depending on the disc structure) containing the original video and audio (no re-encoding).

It is fairly common to re-encode, especially with the x264 encoder, as it can reduce the file size with very little, or no noticeable quality loss.

Anyway..... the short answer is yes, you can simply copy them.

Edit: It looks like two other posters beat me to it.

[Matthias H]

Thanks for your helpful replies then!
I will go on to just copy the files to hard drive and whenever I want to watch them, just play them with VLC or a similar player
Best,
Matt

[cornemuse]

Also, fwiw, as an experiment, I 'mounted' iso's to (slysoft's) 'virtual clone drive', at which point I could copy all or any of the 'dvd' files from the 'virtual dvd'.

I associated 'iso' files to virtual clone drive and then to view/check them using 'WinDVD'. I store all (movie) vids as iso's. Copy to & playback with a Dune &/or an Argosy (Arg <- prefered) media player. The Argosy plays iso/dvd folders, dont know what all 'container' schemes the Dune supports.

-c-