"Best" Way to Rip Blurays

[mfranzel 0]

Hi all,

I wanted o get everyones input on what the "best" way to import bluray disks is.

 

Like most of you, every movie I buy, I rip to the computer to put in my collection. I mean, isn't that one of the points of MB? Anyways, I have been using AnyDVD and have been making folder rips of blurays, but I am starting to see that MKV files without all the other crap are better.

 

I wanted to know what program or programs you guys use to rip your movies to your collections?

 

Also, what about 3D movies? AnyDVD always makes me import them as ISOs, which I hate. Can 3D movies be in any other form?

 

Thanks in advance!

Edited December 6, 2013 by mfranzel

[steelman1991 19]

MakeMKV for me. Quick and easy.

[blublub 10]

Alway depends on whether you want it fast or god quality :-)

 

Fast:

MakeMKV
DVDFab passthrough

 

Quality:

DVDFab for Ripping

XMediaRecode, MeGUI, Handbrake etc. for Encoding. Preset slow or slower for x264, CRF between 22-18(depending on your desired picture quality) and the tune according to your material

Edited December 6, 2013 by blublub

[gcw07 347]

MakeMKV for me. It gives you the perfect quality from the disc and gives you just the movie if that is all your interested in. The only downside is sometimes you have to do a little searching for finding the correct movie on the disc.

[Deathsquirrel 741]

It really depends on your goal.

 

If you want to just copy the main movie files with the audio and subtitle streams exactly as they are on the disc then use MakeMKV.  The result will eat up a big amount of disc space but if you've been using whole disc rips it'll be much less than what you have now.

 

I wanted files that look good, sound good, and are compatible with more or less every device on the planet without downloading players or codecs.  Different goal.  As a result I rip using DVDFab or MakeMKV because sometimes one just works better, and then convert all the video streams using Handbrake.  The video is a custom profile based on the default High Profile settings with a CRF of 20.  I convert the best sound on the disc to AAC of the same format at max bit rate.  I burn in the forced subtitle track, if any, to the image.

[mfranzel 0]

Thanks for all the replies!

 

So, basically, DVDFab or MakeMKV? All I want to do is extract the main movie in full quality. So it there any main difference between DVDFab and MakeMKV? It seems as if DVDFab has a bit more conversion features?

[gthrift 57]

Since you already have anydvd hd and you want the full, uncompressed movie use MakeMKV.

 

DVDFab has a lot of stuff you don't need.

[mfranzel 0]

DVDFab also seems VERY expensive! Also, what about 3D support? Can MakeMKV simply rip these?

Edited December 6, 2013 by mfranzel

[foghat 65]

Alway depends on whether you want it fast or god quality :-)

 

Fast:

MakeMKV

DVDFab passthrough

 

Quality:

DVDFab for Ripping

XMediaRecode, MeGUI, Handbrake etc. for Encoding. Preset slow or slower for x264, CRF between 22-18(depending on your desired picture quality) and the tune according to your material

??

 

Usig makemkv will be fast and best quality as it is 1:1 rip.

[foghat 65]

DVDFab also seems VERY expensive! Also, what about 3D support? Can MakeMKV simply rip these?

 

I haven't done 3d, but I don't see why makemkv would not work.  It just basically makes a copy of the movie in an mkv container.

[Pelon 160]

I general I like DVDFAB as it compresses the movie, but I don't notice a significant degradation in the picture quality. It also gives me the option of transcoding so that I can create an MP4 if I need it to load it into any device when I don't have on-line connectivity to my server. I know it won't be needed soon, but after I have the MKV movie, I run it past MKVMERGE to add the chapter titles, specially if they are available in the CHAPTERDB.

 

Also DVDFAB rips 3D movies. I select the SBS format and that is perfect for my needs.

[mfranzel 0]

Pelon,

I have used the trial of DVDFab to see how it works and I like that you can queue things. However, how can DVDFab possibly take a 35GB file and turn it into a 3GB file without loss of quality? I imported one of my bluray rip folders that is huge and the output it only about 2.5GB in size.

[gcw07 347]

Pelon,

I have used the trial of DVDFab to see how it works and I like that you can queue things. However, how can DVDFab possibly take a 35GB file and turn it into a 3GB file without loss of quality? I imported one of my bluray rip folders that is huge and the output it only about 2.5GB in size.

Short answer is it can't. There is going to be a loss of quality. Now that doesn't mean it might not be a little less noticeable, but you can't go from a 35 GB file to 3GB without some type of loss.

[mfranzel 0]

Short answer is it can't. There is going to be a loss of quality. Now that doesn't mean it might not be a little less noticeable, but you can't go from a 35 GB file to 3GB without some type of loss.

I understand that, obviously there is some loss, but is it so small you really don't notice? I can't imagine everyone ripping every DVD and BD as 35GB files.

[gcw07 347]

I understand that, obviously there is some loss, but is it so small you really don't notice? I can't imagine everyone ripping every DVD and BD as 35GB files.

I rip them as full. Most come out around 20-30GB for blu-rays. A DVD is nothing at like 3-4GB. With how cheap storage has become, it really isn't that bad anymore.

[pagali 62]

A great many of us find a middle ground. A usual bluray can be reduced to 8 or 10 GB and very few people could tell the difference from the original. You can control the degree of compression, you know. Taking it down to 2 or 3 GB is too extreme, and won't give you satisfactory results (in my opinion). It still saves a whole lot of storage space!

[mfranzel 0]

A great many of us find a middle ground. A usual bluray can be reduced to 8 or 10 GB and very few people could tell the difference from the original. You can control the degree of compression, you know. Taking it down to 2 or 3 GB is too extreme, and won't give you satisfactory results (in my opinion). It still saves a whole lot of storage space!

 

That is what I would like to do. What settings do you use to achieve this?

[foghat 65]

I personally make a 1:1 mkv.  Then I use handbrake with constant quality with rf=19 and I exclude the audio track (handbrake can't do Hi Def audio as far as I know).  I leave all the other settings at default.  Once transcoded, I then remux using mkvmerge and pull in the HD audio from the mkv file.

 

I used to just keep the 1:1 mkv.  Yes disk space is cheap, but still it just takes too much space once you get up to a significant amount of movies.  I sit about 7 feet away from a 92 inch screen and the files I put through handbrake look great.

 

Plus now I can back up my files with the space I've saved by transcoding.

Edited December 7, 2013 by foghat

[Pelon 160]

I keep only one audio track, only the highest quality. So right there it reduces the size of the file a little bit, but not all the way to 3GB.

The files I have are between 7 and 11 GB. By definition if you take a larger file and get a smaller file there is going to be some compression. It all depends on what is acceptable to you.

 

One more consideration is that I do let the hard drives stop spinning when idle. So I do notice some lag when I open a collection that is in a hard drive that I haven't used in a while. So in my case the less compression, the more hard drives that I would need, and the more I have to wait when I open a collection. I notice this more when I use the web client away from home. The page will load quickly, but the covers for the pictures will take a bit longer.

 

To me it is a fine balance between picture quality, and space in the hard drives that ends up translating into some idle time.

 

I don't use any pull storage like a NAS or Flexraid.

[jasonmcroy 315]

I use Makemkv then Handbrake to compress it a little to save space. 

 

 

I personally make a 1:1 mkv.  Then I use handbrake with constant quality with rf=19 and I exclude the audio track (handbrake can't do Hi Def audio as far as I know).  I leave all the other settings at default.  Once transcoded, I then remux using mkvmerge and pull in the HD audio from the mkv file.

 

I used to just keep the 1:1 mkv.  Yes disk space is cheap, but still it just takes too much space once you get up to a significant amount of movies.  I sit about 7 feet away from a 92 inch screen and the files I put through handbrake look great.

 

Plus now I can back up my files with the space I've saved by transcoding.

 

In my experience Handbrake gives you option to passthru all types of audio except TrueHD. It is done via the audio tab. 

[foghat 65]

I use Makemkv then Handbrake to compress it a little to save space. 

 

 

 

In my experience Handbrake gives you option to passthru all types of audio except TrueHD. It is done via the audio tab. 

 

You are right. I wasn't clear in my statement above.  

 

Most of my 1:1 rips had the hd audio ripped to flac (which handbrake cannot passthru) - as bitstreaming was quite hit and miss at the time I started ripping and it has just become habit now.  This said will probably stick with bitstreaming now since it does work with no issues.

Edited December 7, 2013 by foghat

[mfranzel 0]

So I have been copying my folder rips into MKV files and I have come across an issue where when I play the file through VLC, all I get is background noise so I change the audio track to 2. How do you guys work with this when using MB?

[gcw07 347]

Not sure what you mean mfranzel. If audio isn't playing check to make sure it was the correct track. I haven't used VLC in years, but I thought it would play pretty much any type of audio track.

[mfranzel 0]

In VLC, you can select the audio track... English, Spanish, French etc. Well, the default when played in VLC is just the ambient noise in the movies... plates clinking, water running etc.

[gcw07 347]

Have you tried another player? See what MPC-HC plays?