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Best way to digitise DVD/Blu-Ray collection?
- Thread starter Lagamorph
- Start date
NekoFever
Member
I have a Synology NAS with 4x4TB drives and it's got 1:1 rips of all my Blu-rays. It's been serving them up without a hitch for a couple of years now. RAID is definitely the way to go because when a drive fails, which is inevitable eventually, you can have the tolerance in there not to lose hundreds of hours of ripping time.
Plex does output at 1080p24 but I don't think it does HD audio on Apple TV or Roku or at least it didn't when I was looking into it. You basically need one of the computer clients (Windows, Mac or Linux are all capable) for that. Part of the reason why I ended up going with Kodi for actual playback.
Yeah, looking at your screenshot of the default settings from earlier you can see it's cropping 76 pixels off the top and 76 pixels off the bottom, which sounds about right for a 2.35:1 movie like Ghostbusters. Handbrake's pretty accurate with that stuff.
Cheers. Puts my mind at ease a little.
I'm sure there's a little quality loss going on somewhere in either the Audio or the Video for cutting over 3GB off the file size, but so far it doesn't seem to have been anything I can notice personally.
Just looking at Internal Blu-ray drives to start ripping my Blu-ray collection, man I expected them to have gotten cheaper by now. Cheapest I can find is a £47 LG Drive, and that's OEM with no software. I was expecting to be able to pick one up for £25-30 by now.
NekoFever
Member
If you're doing audio passthrough the audio should be identical. As for the video, there's always going to be some loss when transcoding, but most of the savings are simply from using more modern, efficient codecs. Don't forget DVD uses MPEG-2, which dates back to the mid-90s!
As for BD drives, only paid £38 for a USB one off eBay, and that was three years ago and is a BD-RE drive I'm sure read-only ones must be cheaper by now. Probably slower than an internal one but I'm ripping directly to my NAS so I figure network speeds are more of a bottleneck.
It's actually ripping a BD for me right now. Still going strong ~400 rips later!
At ~30-40GBs a disc? Good luck?
Internal ones are what I'm looking at, just BD-ROM, can't find one under £47 so far on regular shopping sites in the UK.
I'd enthusiastically agree with the recommendations to use the Auto Passthru setting for any selected audio tracks in the audio tab. DVDs already use lossy audio tracks most of the time. There's not much to gain by reencoding a Dolby Digital track. Might as well preserve what you have there.
Also, under Filters you should definitely set Detelecine to Default and Deinterlace to Decomb. You can get some really ugly artifacts from interlaced video if you don't take advantage of these and they only engage when there's a problem.
Also, for anything shot on film, like Ghostbusters, the Grain encoder tune is a nice option. I'd say it's worth it.
If you care about subtitles, make sure to configure what you want. The default isn't the first subtitle track on the disc.
Also, under Filters you should definitely set Detelecine to Default and Deinterlace to Decomb. You can get some really ugly artifacts from interlaced video if you don't take advantage of these and they only engage when there's a problem.
Also, for anything shot on film, like Ghostbusters, the Grain encoder tune is a nice option. I'd say it's worth it.
If you care about subtitles, make sure to configure what you want. The default isn't the first subtitle track on the disc.
NekoFever
Member
PSY・S;233824100 said:
Most movies are under 30GB once you dump extraneous audio tracks and anything but the movie itself. Out of my ~400 1:1 Blu-ray rips I only have about 30 over 30GB.
I have 12TB of storage and that was enough for all the aforementioned Blu-rays, about 500 DVDs (I ran those through Handbrake), and about 500GB left over. That's a lot of storage, admittedly, but not a ludicrous amount.
I can't imagine spending all that time ripping Blu-rays and not grabbing the extras. But I mostly have Criterions and the like.
Zoe
Member
Which RAID level did you go with?
That's what I do; I tag the files and use MakeMKV's FLAC preset to turn lossless audio tracks into FLACs for maximum compatibility, but otherwise I leave them alone. Then I put my videos on a big file server and share them to little repurposed Kodi machines around the house (like Intel NUC boxes, or even an old Mac Mini).
I use an Unraid system with 5x2TB drives - one drive used for parity so I get 8TB usable storage. Use it for bluray and DVD rips and also general backups of documents and photos (which also get backed up online)
You can either use an old computer you may have lying around, or look at getting something like a HP microserver which I use as they often have rebates and have space for at least 4 drives and are very compact.
MakeMKV can rup the extras as well I believe, you just need to select the relevant Titles after it scans the disc. Basically the only thing you lose is the menus.PSY・S;233837170 said:
Thanks, will keep that in mind for my Blu-Rays when I get a drive and get to ripping them.
CreepingFear
Member
I use MakeMKV for ripping and Handbrake if I want to put it on my iPad or Apple TV.
- almost no NASes will transcode well, they run on crappy CPUs.
- if you're only serving Apple TV, then if you encode using handbrake universal you won't have to transcode though.
I have a crappy celeron based unraid NAS and bought a micro computer (Lenovo something) just to use as a server/transcoder
Thought that would be the case. Ideally don't want to encode the rips as I want maximum quality I can get for the future, so transcoding would be more ideal.
Hmmm maybe I can build / but a micro pc and stuff it full of hdds and run ubuntu / freenas on it and use it to transcode?
HighAmperage
Member
MakeMKV, Handbrake, Kodi with Metropolis skin has been the holy grail for me since I started archiving everything over the past 5 years. And I always scrape everything in Ember Revisited before importing into Kodi just to have more control over the metadata. I want original poster art on older movies, not the modern crapola designs.
I have yet to find a better looking UI.
I have yet to find a better looking UI.
Marty Chinn
Member
I'm surprised at the number of people who have all the benefits of a Blu ray release, but then want to squander it by re-encoding it. An 8TB HDD can be had for $180 and you can fit roughly 300 Blu ray movies as straight rips. Storage is cheap, and it's way quicker to just rip it than rip and encode. MakeMKV is godly I'm glad to see people recommending it as the only option. There's just no reason to use something else.
I'm partial to Aeon Nox myself. There are a few things I like about Metropolis over Aeon Nox, but overall, I like how they handle some things better and I like some of the views they have that aren't found in Metropolis.
Also, there's no need to use Ember to get original poster art. While the initial scraped poster isn't always the best, I have yet to find a movie from the 50s and 60s in my collection that I couldn't go and change the poster art to the original from TheMovieDB. You just go and select it. Is there other metadata you're changing because if it's just poster artwork, there's no need for that.
I'm partial to Aeon Nox myself. There are a few things I like about Metropolis over Aeon Nox, but overall, I like how they handle some things better and I like some of the views they have that aren't found in Metropolis.
Also, there's no need to use Ember to get original poster art. While the initial scraped poster isn't always the best, I have yet to find a movie from the 50s and 60s in my collection that I couldn't go and change the poster art to the original from TheMovieDB. You just go and select it. Is there other metadata you're changing because if it's just poster artwork, there's no need for that.
I'm happy with a 15-20GB encode of a BluRay film. I think I did my Thrones eps at about 5GB each with HD audio though of course it varies.
Then again you get something like The Godfather which is 16:9 and long so you have a huge file anyway.
If you want to do a 1:1 rip, you should get an 8 terabyte external hard drive. I have several blu rays that are exact rips and I have them stored on my Seagate 8 terabyte external hard drive.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HD6ZLQ6/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Marty Chinn
Member
I dunno, if you're already doing 20GB re-encodes, I think just bite the bullet and go all the way. Half of my movies in straight rips are around 20GB and under. Most stay well under 30GB, and only a handful go above. When you break it down, you're paying like a 60 cent tax per movie to store them digitally by buying an 8TB HDD. Small price to pay to have perfect rips rather than compromised image quality. You paid for the Blu ray, you may as well use them to their fullest potential otherwise you may as well have just gone digital to begin with.
PSY・S;234103539 said:
A quick look has them pretty reliable. Backblaze put out their report and the failure rate is pretty low in the server array.
Yes. In the tab Subtitles, you can select forced only and burn in.
I've just noticed that when I re-encode with Handbrake it's removing my subtitles. I've just been leaving the subtitle settings as their default. Should I be changing anything to make sure my subtitles aren't removed?
If I open my ripped MKV file, VLC gives me the option of a subtitle track.
After I open the Handbrake encoded file, no subtitle track.
If I open my ripped MKV file, VLC gives me the option of a subtitle track.
After I open the Handbrake encoded file, no subtitle track.
The Handbrake default is usually just burn in the foreign language search, which probably isn't what you want by itself. You'll have to add them manually most likely. Generally I have to open the file in VLC to determine which subtitle track is which, and add them in Handbrake. Usually I'll want to burn-in the sign translations for the dub version, then add the dialogue translation as a soft track. Except then they stack where there's a sign translation when watching the subtitle version and it makes it harder to read since the burn-in is usually a bit larger.
I still don't know why Handbrake can't just add every audio and subtitle track it finds that matches the languages you're interested in. Even using the automatic settings you have to specify the number of tracks you want (at least for audio), which is frustrating when there's a variable number.
Hmmm, I'll have a play about with the settings.
So far my tests have just been on things like Ghostbusters DVDs and non-anime stuff and in MakeMKV I've just been ripping one audio track and one subtitle track.
Marty Chinn
Member
What were you using to play it?
If you're using plex you have to remux it as an m2ts stream and play it back direct play on a Samsung TV (2015 or older) client. Other configurations might work, but that's the only one I know does.
And the resulting file won't play on other clients. Urf.
In short, you'll likely need to look up your specific client's requirements for playback.
Was hoping to stream to either the Plex client on my PS4, or directly to the Plex app on my Sony TV.
Will take a look at the m2ts stream options.
I haven't ripped anything in years, but I've recently dusted off an old NAS and I'm moving a lot of old personal rips to a new Synology.
Problem is that I want to use Plex and apparently it won't read my Blu-ray rips, which are all M2TS format. Everything is simply decrypted and pulled straight from the disk with no loss, and I'm not really wanting to re-encode anything..
Has anyone been down this road? MakeMKV won't read a single M2TS file, apparently. It currently sits at about 400 movies plus TV content, and I'm fine throwing storage at it vs taking further loss on the quality. I will be using the Shield TV as the server, using various clients.
Problem is that I want to use Plex and apparently it won't read my Blu-ray rips, which are all M2TS format. Everything is simply decrypted and pulled straight from the disk with no loss, and I'm not really wanting to re-encode anything..
Has anyone been down this road? MakeMKV won't read a single M2TS file, apparently. It currently sits at about 400 movies plus TV content, and I'm fine throwing storage at it vs taking further loss on the quality. I will be using the Shield TV as the server, using various clients.
I use XMedia Recode, works great and is really flexible. I really only just convert HD stuff to around 4gb, I'm generally fine with ~5mb/s with movies. I usually just turn it into a H264 mp4 and throw it on an external HDD to plug into the ps3 or ps4 for ease of use. The sub and multitrack audio support sucks there, but I generally don't use those, unless it's a foreign film and in that case I'll just hardcode the subs anyway
EDIT: XMedia supports M2TS as well, and is free
EDIT: XMedia supports M2TS as well, and is free
LeroyPantwether
Member
How does the bolded work ? Do i have to scan the barcode again after the first time or can I just check out movies at the library and scan them into my vudu library. I assume it's the former but mannnnnn if it's the latter...... I must be missing something .
Dr.Horrible
Member
You literally just scan a barcode and tell it what quality of digital version you'd like. It's super easy. I bought a bunch of digital versions of my movies a month or two ago. Of course, I did this right before embarking on my project to get everything on Plex.
Also, not all movies are eligible for this.
Edit - this link has all the details you'd want on the program
https://slickdeals.net/f/9899132-vu...m-dvd-sd-2-hdx-5-blu-ray-hdx-2-w-barcode-scan
Dr.Horrible
Member
Random bump, but does anyone know why I'd get 720p from handbrake despite selecting the preset "HQ 1080p30 Surround"? I've seen multiple occassions of this now, but most specifically with Shaun of the Dead. I'm ripping the mkv from Makemkv and then select that preset with auto passthrough for sound.
I use ANYDVD...bought lifetime...then rebought when it re-emerged. One of my best purchase ever.
Removes encryption and allows anything else to work. Most typically my "work flow" is while running anydvd, use HDBRStreamextractor to pull the video and highest quality audio streams out, then use MKVmerge (GUI) to mux into an MKV. Then use media center master for metadata, folder jpegs, etc.
End result is full original quality of just the main movie video and audio, with nice metadata and folder art / etc for any streaming.
Of course with anyDVD you can also use various programs to do full disc copies or recode. I just want full quality, movie only for home theater / projector streaming.
Removes encryption and allows anything else to work. Most typically my "work flow" is while running anydvd, use HDBRStreamextractor to pull the video and highest quality audio streams out, then use MKVmerge (GUI) to mux into an MKV. Then use media center master for metadata, folder jpegs, etc.
End result is full original quality of just the main movie video and audio, with nice metadata and folder art / etc for any streaming.
Of course with anyDVD you can also use various programs to do full disc copies or recode. I just want full quality, movie only for home theater / projector streaming.
TheCochese
Banned
I didn't realize Plex could fuck with mkv files. Might make another go at digitizing the DVD portion of my collection.
jellies_two
Member
How does the vudu bar code scanning thing stop people from creating a huge collection by scanning pictures or at the store etc?
Marty Chinn
Member
After you select the profile preset, what does the resolution say in the Picture tab at the bottom? Maybe you accidentally saved over the profile?
Why wouldn't you just use MakeMKV? It's free and simplifies that flow. With MakeMKV, you just pop in the disc, select which video, which audio tracks, and which subtitles, and then hit go. It dumps out a pure rip in MKV form and the program is free.
Didn't realize it was free for Blu Ray. I use it for DVDs o ce and awhile.
Marty Chinn
Member
Yep, works on Blu Rays. I've ripped my entire collection with it.