Best format to rip DVD to?

tpfaff

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iso,flv,avi,etc. What do you guys rip to and why? iso is interesting because you get the actual whole disk but it becomes harder to stream over a home network.(xbox 360)
 
I've been "ripping" my retail DVDs with HandBrake over the past year or so, converting the 900+ discs I've got to MKV files using x264-encoded h.264 video streams and dropping the audio down to stereo (no home theater system and I watch 'em with headphone on 99% of the time). I have AnyDVD running which decrypts the disc in real-time so HandBrake can read it, but more often than not I'll rip many discs to the hard drive at one time then queue the encodes and let it run overnight, seems to be a more efficient way to get 'er done.

If I need a version for a portable device, I'll transcode the MKV into an MP4 container and drop the bitrate down but typically keep the resolution unless the device has a smaller display.
 
I typically do the same thing as Joe, except I pretty much keep it MKV across the board and don't have problems with it. Both MKV and MP4 containers working fine on the Transformer as well if you wanted to know for mobile reasons.

I also stay away from ISO as its a bit more convenient not to have to mount the image when you want to view it.
 
Methinks you're getting into the "format" vs "container" thing - so here's a primer:

Format = the actual encoding format of the audio and video streams, of which there are many. For audio there's wav, mp3, aac, ogg (Vorbis), raw, and many others. For video some of the more popular ones are Divx, Xvid, MPEG1 (VideoCD standard from many years past), MPEG2 (DVD standard), MPEG4 (newer updated more efficient forms), h.264, and others.

Containers are what holds the audio and video streams encoded using the formats above and include: AVI (probably the oldest still used container and the most popular by far), MKV (the "new kid on the block" but it can do most anything), MP4 (yes, it's a container, not a format), M4V (same as MP4 with some additional potentials), Ogg, and nowadays WebM by Google.

Newer containers like MP4 and MKV can hold not only the audio and video streams but also chapter markers, captions or subtitle streams, and other data including multiple audio tracks too. MKV is the "King" in that respect as it offers the most potential for the most possibilities above and beyond all the rest. The downside to using MKV is that not every device out there is capable of reading the container to get the streams inside it.

It's becoming more popular but right now the most widely supported native container format is MP4 which is workable on most any device you'll find. Now, just because the device can read the MP4 container does NOT mean it can decode the audio and video streams contained inside it - that's where you have an issue with format support if you encounter it. Like an MP4 container that has an Xvid-encoded video stream with an Ogg Vorbis audio stream but the device you're trying to play that MP4 on can't decode Xvid or Ogg Vorbis content. That's more common than you might realize but it happens.

Today's most popular "video" file would probably be an MP4 with h.264-encoded video and AAC-encoded audio. That's playable on most anything - but there's multiple levels of potential h.264 encoding (Baseline, Main, High Profile, etc) that can cause problems too...

Yeah, it's confusing at times but, best advice is stick to what works for you and your hardware - you're the one watching it, so as long as all your stuff works with the encodings you create, what else really matters?
 
I don't usually care about the menus and stuff so I simply rip the DVD as the original MPEG-2 video stream with 5.1 audio track and leave it in the VOB container. Never had a problem playing it with all the main media players.

I do combine the pieces together into one large VOB file though as on a DVD they are split into 1GB pieces.

I like this method because it provides the best video quality (original) which is important for me when starting with a SD source like a DVD.
 
Methinks you're getting into the "format" vs "container" thing - so here's a primer:

Format = the actual encoding format of the audio and video streams, of which there are many. For audio there's wav, mp3, aac, ogg (Vorbis), raw, and many others. For video some of the more popular ones are Divx, Xvid, MPEG1 (VideoCD standard from many years past), MPEG2 (DVD standard), MPEG4 (newer updated more efficient forms), h.264, and others.

Containers are what holds the audio and video streams encoded using the formats above and include: AVI (probably the oldest still used container and the most popular by far), MKV (the "new kid on the block" but it can do most anything), MP4 (yes, it's a container, not a format), M4V (same as MP4 with some additional potentials), Ogg, and nowadays WebM by Google.

Newer containers like MP4 and MKV can hold not only the audio and video streams but also chapter markers, captions or subtitle streams, and other data including multiple audio tracks too. MKV is the "King" in that respect as it offers the most potential for the most possibilities above and beyond all the rest. The downside to using MKV is that not every device out there is capable of reading the container to get the streams inside it.

It's becoming more popular but right now the most widely supported native container format is MP4 which is workable on most any device you'll find. Now, just because the device can read the MP4 container does NOT mean it can decode the audio and video streams contained inside it - that's where you have an issue with format support if you encounter it. Like an MP4 container that has an Xvid-encoded video stream with an Ogg Vorbis audio stream but the device you're trying to play that MP4 on can't decode Xvid or Ogg Vorbis content. That's more common than you might realize but it happens.

Today's most popular "video" file would probably be an MP4 with h.264-encoded video and AAC-encoded audio. That's playable on most anything - but there's multiple levels of potential h.264 encoding (Baseline, Main, High Profile, etc) that can cause problems too...

Yeah, it's confusing at times but, best advice is stick to what works for you and your hardware - you're the one watching it, so as long as all your stuff works with the encodings you create, what else really matters?

I don't usually care about the menus and stuff so I simply rip the DVD as the original MPEG-2 video stream with 5.1 audio track and leave it in the VOB container. Never had a problem playing it with all the main media players.

I do combine the pieces together into one large VOB file though as on a DVD they are split into 1GB pieces.

I like this method because it provides the best video quality (original) which is important for me when starting with a SD source like a DVD.

Very informative guys, thanks :)
 
Meh...I just leave them in ISO format/container. I rip only the movie (audio+video) and subtitles (especially forced ones). Anything I use can read ISO just fine (I mostly use XBMC on anything that is not my HTPC, where I use MC7+MediaBrowser and have Daemon Tools mount the ISO for MB).

The biggest reason I do this is so that I can take any movie that I have and burn it back to a DVD with little to no effort. If you have kids, this is invaluable, as I can just use a portable DVD player for them in the car and let them watch whatever.
 
I rip to iso and then play with XBMC.

this, i prefer .iso

however with blu rays, i do both a .iso , followed by a .mkv with h.264 , since at this time linux cannot do blu ray (as far ask i know)...
 
Like a lot of people - either .iso or an .mkv file. If I need to run it on my phone (Evo4g), I like .mp4 h.264/AAC because it plays very well (even at 720p) as it has hardware acceleration. My phone can struggle with large .mkv's doing software decoding (newer phones can do it well I hear).
 
Disk space is cheap but not that cheap.

I've got over 1000 HD films and if that was 30GB per BluRay That would be over 30TB and i need more room to continue growing and more for redundancy heh. Plus films aren't all I store.

DVDs I don't compress cause I want all the quality they have and they aren't very large. But BluRays I compress with x264.
 
x264 contained in mkv with original audio. I don't come across many DVDs anymore.
 
Meh...I just leave them in ISO format/container. I rip only the movie (audio+video) and subtitles (especially forced ones). Anything I use can read ISO just fine (I mostly use XBMC on anything that is not my HTPC, where I use MC7+MediaBrowser and have Daemon Tools mount the ISO for MB).

The biggest reason I do this is so that I can take any movie that I have and burn it back to a DVD with little to no effort. If you have kids, this is invaluable, as I can just use a portable DVD player for them in the car and let them watch whatever.

Same method, though I use DVDFab for ripping and DVDFab Virtual Drive for mounting.
 
Disk space is cheap but not that cheap.

I've got over 1000 HD films and if that was 30GB per BluRay That would be over 30TB and i need more room to continue growing and more for redundancy heh. Plus films aren't all I store.

DVDs I don't compress cause I want all the quality they have and they aren't very large. But BluRays I compress with x264.

Just have to plan your storage upgrades correctly ($70 or less for 2TB disks) and have a machine dedicated to storage that allows you to grow it to 16-20-30 drives. But that is a whole other topic.
 
h264/x264 is definitely the encoder of choice. Xvid/Divx is dead unless you are supporting some legacy gear. h264 based encoders can create video files that are both smaller and better quality.

I do not keep the .iso for DVD, I have the DVD if I want that. Adjust quality right and the video is indistinguishable. I used handbrake to rip DVD and on average they come in around 1GB with original sound (Dolby Digital/DTS) and they look just like the original.

Package choice barely matters on an actual PC which will play nearly anything. But I create .m4v packages in handbrake as I think those will work also work with Sony/Apple devices where .mkv wont.

So my final choice is Handbrake x264/AC3 sound in .m4v package. ~1GB size and essentially original quality audio/video and should play on Sony/Apple devices if I ever get one.
 
.iso full disc, simple and easy. Also want no compression on audio or video
 
MKV / MP4 Container.

Video Codec: x264 as video codec
Audio Codec: 5.1 Dolby Digital passthrough

Personally, I set my video bitrate to 1400 kbit. Use handbrake to encode.
 
Currently just ripping the DVD and repackaging the main feature and audio with MakeMKV.

My only issue is that I have to have full windows setups for my extenders, finding the "slim" designs that work well has been tough to do.
 
Like many of you I have been doing this longer than I would like to think about now and I have found pros/cons to every archiving method. I use to do .vob folders to retain 100% quality....... and that was back with MediaBrowser and WMC Vista and 7.

Today i usually rip and encode to a mkv with h264 and 5.1 audio

I now use Plex to transcode what is needed, i have a HTPC and an Fire TV plus all our mobile devices.

It works, but for the best movies that i care about detail i either load the blu-ray or rip uncompressed....

I have a 8 bay drobo with 1TB and 2TB drives that are 2-8 year old and will be going to 4TB drives soon....


I also record and archive TV for my kid (PBS shows) and use MCEBuddy to strip pre/post commercials and such.


but there are many ways to do this and none are perfect
 
Yeah your right. I didn't notice.

But I didn't go looking for it, so I wonder how/why I saw it
 
Yup, tech updates have been so incremental for the last half decade so as to be virtually at a standstill.
 
It stands to be said that now, with virtually all devices beyond DVD quality and the amounts of storage available, there's not much benefit to re-encoding DVD. Honestly, with so much streaming available, I have less need to copy. When I did, I wanted to maintain as much of the original format as I could. For BD I did do an H.264 encode in an MKV for the sake of space, but I did notice the quality difference, so I rather just use the disc.
 
Lol I was the last post in 2011.

Anyway, I'm moving on to h.265/HEVC(massive storage savings), using a Intel atom plex server direct playing to an Xbox one.
 
MKV is a container, not a format. MKV can just as easily contain MPEG-2 video as it can h.264 or HEVC. Heck, I think it can even contain multiple video streams.

Lol I was the last post in 2011.

Anyway, I'm moving on to h.265/HEVC(massive storage savings), using a Intel atom plex server direct playing to an Xbox one.

Same here, i've been using MakeMKV to rip the DVDs (really must buy a license for that.. support the author) and from there i've been doing HEVC encodes using ffmpeg at CRF23.
Blu-ray media I generally just rip the main movie and leave it alone, though I don't keep the HD audio tracks. (just DTS core) No point wasting the space as I can't hear the difference.
 
I did some testing with x265 and IMO it isn't ready for prime time.

CRF23 on x265 doesn't look as good as CRF23 on x264. You save some space for a loss in quality and compatibility.

I am sticking with x264 for now.
 
I did some testing with x265 and IMO it isn't ready for prime time.

CRF23 on x265 doesn't look as good as CRF23 on x264. You save some space for a loss in quality and compatibility.

I am sticking with x264 for now.

I agree with this. The CRF rating for x264 versus x265 is off by one. So you really need to pump CRF19 x265 to match CRF20 x264. The details are blurred out rather than blockier, but it's still very noticeable. For higher motion films you might not notice, but for everything else it's pretty ugly.

Since it's not that much smaller, and older devices have issues with h.265 playback, I've ditched any plans for the stuff. I figure I'll start using it when I actually can justify a 4k TV plus 4k HDR content, in about 5 more years when it's more mature, and the HDR market has worked out incompatibilities :D
 
You guys are using 23 for your media library?

I was happy with the file size using 18 and wondered if I was giving up any quality.

How big is average bluray (live action, modern movie....no film grain)?
 
You guys are using 23 for your media library?

I was happy with the file size using 18 and wondered if I was giving up any quality.

How big is average bluray (live action, modern movie....no film grain)?


I'm using 19. Too much detail lost otherwise.

One example The Fifth Element, ripped from my remastered BluRay, little over 2 hours, CRF 19. Size = 9GB.

Original file size on disc was 22GB. Some discs waste even more space than tat, so it's worthwhile to re-encode.

Remember, CRF is reverse what you'd expect. Lower factor = higher quality, and larger file size. So the CRF really tracks the file size.

CRF 18 supposedly is visually lossless, but I find I can't tell the difference between 18 and 19, so to me 19 is also lossless! It's only when you hit CRF 20 that I can see some loss, but it still looks good.
 
Remember, CRF is reverse what you'd expect. Lower factor = higher quality, and larger file size. So the CRF really tracks the file size.

Ya thats more what I was getting at. For archiving purposes, 23 just seemed way too aggressive. For re-coding for a portable or to fit to a certain size, it's fine. But for watching on the big TV, I wouldn't be happy with that. But then again, it depends on how much storage space you have. If you are planning on fitting an entire library on a single 4TB drive, then I could understand being aggressive with your file size.
 
Ya thats more what I was getting at. For archiving purposes, 23 just seemed way too aggressive. For re-coding for a portable or to fit to a certain size, it's fine. But for watching on the big TV, I wouldn't be happy with that. But then again, it depends on how much storage space you have. If you are planning on fitting an entire library on a single 4TB drive, then I could understand being aggressive with your file size.

I don't watch movies very often (perhaps twice a week at most), and I have a short list of movies I watch more than once every other year. That short list of favorites is going on disc, but everything else? meh. I'll dig it up when I get the urge.

I'm fine with a 2TB drive myself :D
 
265 takes forever, I'm generally fine with 264 contained in MKV for actual DVDs that haven't been released in Blu-Ray(only 18 years since Seinfeld's been taken off the air...) but if I'm sourcing my actual BD I just use MakeMKV, it's so fast and easy and it doesn't really seem worth all the time and effort to save a few GBs.
 
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