Rip DVD and keep all features, commentaries, etc.

[mpiper]

I've only ripped the main movie, or episodes. But a friend wants to digitize his collection, including all the extras, features, and the alternate audio commentaries that are on the discs.

What is the best/least steps/simplest way to do this?

He's planning to get a media server to store everything and just wifi it to the various players in his house. But he really wants to basically have an electronic version of the full DVD, menus and all if it's possible.

Thanks in advance!!

[manono]

What is the best/least steps/simplest way to do this?

You should know that best is never the least steps and simplest. But two out of three ain't bad. Tell him to try DVD Shrink.

[jman98]

I am really surprised at manono's advice. If the OP's friend lives in the USA or Canada then DVD Shrink is likely to run into problems with special copy protection it can't handle while ripping. Your friend should probably use something like DVDFab's free version or DVDFab Passkey to accomplish this task instead of risking problems by using the ancient DVD Shrink to rip.

[manono]

I am really surprised at manono's advice.

Why? About DVD Shrink, on its page here it says:

DVD Shrink is no longer updated. If you have trouble ripping use the free DVDFab Decrypter to rip and then use DVD Shrink to shrink it.

I assume people will see that and take steps accordingly. Besides, while the transcoding features of the other two programs cost money (right?), DVD Shrink is free. I can't tell if the transcoding portion of DVDFab Decrypter is free or not, but it's generally assumed Shrink's transcoding is better. Not that I'd ever use any of them myself, but the OP asked for 'simplest'.

[mpiper]

So the advice is to just rip the entire DVD and name a folder for the movie? Is there a program that can read or index the folders so he can navigate and play the folders as if they were DVDs? That's easy enough to teach him. I'll have him but AnyDVD HD and he can do DVD and BluRays also. But that doesn't solve the play-back question.

Again, he's looking for a one-shot solution. He doesn't want to take multiple steps just to watch the extras.

If there is a program that can index folders so he basically has a library on his PC/media server and then he just selects from the library and it plays as if he put the disc in physically, that would be perfect for him. I just don't know of one.

[manono]

So the advice is to just rip the entire DVD and name a folder for the movie? Is there a program that can read or index the folders so he can navigate and play the folders as if they were DVDs?

Yeah, it's called a DVD player. I don't mean to be glib, but any software DVD player can do this - a commercial program such as PowerDVD, or a free one such as MPC-HC. The entire DVD - movie, extras, menus, and all, will be found within a single folder after being decrypted properly. Unless I'm misunderstanding the question (again).

I thought the idea was that he wanted to shrink the DVD to a smaller size. If that's not the aim, then just decrypt the whole thing to the hard drive and he's done. Of course, he might want to remove logos, FBI warnings, and some other useless trash, but you didn't ask about that.

[olyteddy]

I use DVD Shrink to rip and store my DVDs in ISO files. I associated ISO files with Virtual Clone Drive. Once mounted, Windows Auto Play launches MPC-HC to play them. I use Ant Movie Catalog to keep track of them and can just click the ISO name in the catalog to start the process.