Using MakeMKV to rip DVDs, I have a few questions

[CursedLemon]

So I've gone on the adventure of digitizing all of my DVDs in the timely year of 2020. I don't have any Blu-rays containing episodic content, only movies, so this solely concerns DVDs with multiple episodes on them.

1. Some of my DVDs have been kind enough to automatically rip themselves into individual episodes, for example my Daria DVD set. Others, like my Rock The Dragon DBZ DVD set, have collected themselves into one singular file. Is there a reason for this?

2. Is there no way to automatically split singular DVD rips by chapter? I know that I can split them manually by inserting timestamps into MKVtoolnix, but that seems like an awfully tedious solution for the current year, and I have a lot of DVDs to sort through.

3. EDIT: Nevermind on this one

[orsetto]

You're mixing together what are usually two separate types of disc>file "ripping" methods.

When using MakeMKV to rip from disc into MKV format, you're actually "converting" from the disc structure to MKV file structure. MakeMKV does not alter the quality in any way but it does strip away the disc-specific formatting, which usually includes menu navigation and may include separation of episodes in a TV series depending how the original disc itself is authored. Most TV discs have the individual episodes loaded as separate pieces: Make MKV will recognize this and create individual MKV files for each. But some discs employ a more peculiar format of having all the episodes as one big chunk, like a VHS tape, relying on the disc menu navigation structure to select an episode. MakeMKV usually cannot parse this properly because it ignores menu data: all it sees is the one huge video file, so it dutifully creates one big MKV containing all the episodes. Generally you would need to use another utility to divide this into individual eps.

The other type of "ripping" used to be far more common than the MakeMKV method: you copy the entire disc structure, including all formatting, to your hard drive. This results in one big file, either as a folder or whole-disc image. These are played by software like VLC as if they were actual physical discs, retaining all the menu navigation and options that are normally lost when you "rip to MKV".

This has been my experience with DVDs anyway: I have not used MakeMKV with any BluRays, so your claim of it carrying the BD menu structure over into the MKV file is quite surprising to me. When ripping a DVD, you typically must choose between the versatility of plain MKV files or the full feature set of a complete disc rip: its one or the other. Menu navigation and option management is a separate framework from the actual video content on a disc: conversion to MP4 or MKV strips away everything but the bare-bones video/audio/subtitles.

[october262]

So I've gone on the adventure of digitizing all of my DVDs in the timely year of 2020. I don't have any Blu-rays containing episodic content, only movies, so this solely concerns DVDs with multiple episodes on them.

1. Some of my DVDs have been kind enough to automatically rip themselves into individual episodes, for example my Daria DVD set. Others, like my Rock The Dragon DBZ DVD set, have collected themselves into one singular file. Is there a reason for this?

2. Is there no way to automatically split singular DVD rips by chapter? I know that I can split them manually by inserting timestamps into MKVtoolnix, but that seems like an awfully tedious solution for the current year, and I have a lot of DVDs to sort through.

3. When I rip a Blu-ray, I can conceivably leave the file as is, as loading the singular file brings up the disc menu for me to navigate through. So far, I haven't had that luxury when ripping DVDs. Is there no way to tell a DVD rip to similarly load the navigation menu when selected? Then I wouldn't even have to split the rips into individual files.

for the automatically split singular DVD rips by chapter, see the last post in this post - https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=690&start=15

[CursedLemon]

Just for clarification, I've been using MakeMKV to both rip directly from discs as well as convert DVD structure rips that were already made with DVD Decrypter.

I retract that statement about the Blu-ray rips giving a navigation menu, I must've gotten my wires crossed on that during the conversion process (I was doing this at like 2:00 a.m. lol), so nevermind.

Regarding splitting the combined episodes, am I pretty much doomed to do it manually?

for the automatically split singular DVD rips by chapter, see the last post in this post - https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=690&start=15

Thanks, I'll have a look.

[lingyi]

MakeMKV can rip a Blu-Ray (not DVD) structure to your hard drive, retaining everything including menus. I think it's the Full Disc option in the menu. You can then create an .ISO from the rip.