How do you store your Blu Ray rips?

I rip my Blu-rays to 15Mbps mp4 in a m4v container (with AAC audio) via handbrake. This way I don't have to worry about PGS subtitles playing back or not for forced subs (when they speak a foreign language in an English film), it saves me HDD space and cost (I'm at like 12TB now, I'd need 24TB about if not encoding - and my entire collection is duplicated on HDDs in both my HTPC and main rig - so that 24TB now spread across both machines would need to be 48TB), and it gives me basically universal device playback without transcoding required.
 
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Handbrake Quality of 17 with AAC 320kb/s stereo soundtrack 1 and Dolby Digital AC3 640kb/s for soundtrack 2 (if source has surround sound). AAC stereo on track 1 gives optimal compatibility with all devices, Apple TV will automatically pick track 2.
--> I also tell handbrake to raise the volume 6db and tighten the sound levels a bit. I don't have to jack with the volume NEARLY as much as I do with a real disc.

I haven't gotten into ripping 4K yet, because as of yet there isn't a good way to store HD audio. And since 4K is all about the utmost in technology right now, I figure why not just watch the actual disc. I only buy 4K discs of movies I expect to be visually or audibly exciting.

Consider the fundamental difference in Dolby Digital versus Atmos. Dolby Digital has the sound hard coded to each channel. It's like listening to a song. Certain sounds, go to certain channels. Atmos however is object orientated. It tells the receiver to play a sound behind the listener to the left. It doesn't care how the receiver does that. So it can be 5.1, 7.1, 9.1...doesn't matter. It's the receivers job to understand how the speakers are laid out and best make that sound happen. So translating Atmos to traditional set channels kind of defeats the purpose and adds complications. So I just watch the disc for right now.
 
Man, those are some hardcore video settings. Why even re-encode at that point :D

Now that Marvel has stepped-up their game with slower-paced movies with better cinematography (Antman, Black Panther), I've started encoding more videos at 1080p and 900p (900p is halfway between 720 and 1080). But for the rest of my movie library, my first post still applies.
 
westrock2000 said:
Handbrake Quality of 17 with AAC 320kb/s stereo soundtrack 1 and Dolby Digital AC3 640kb/s for soundtrack 2 (if source has surround sound). AAC stereo on track 1 gives optimal compatibility with all devices, Apple TV will automatically pick track 2.
--> I also tell handbrake to raise the volume 6db and tighten the sound levels a bit. I don't have to jack with the volume NEARLY as much as I do with a real disc.

I haven't gotten into ripping 4K yet, because as of yet there isn't a good way to store HD audio. And since 4K is all about the utmost in technology right now, I figure why not just watch the actual disc. I only buy 4K discs of movies I expect to be visually or audibly exciting.

Consider the fundamental difference in Dolby Digital versus Atmos. Dolby Digital has the sound hard coded to each channel. It's like listening to a song. Certain sounds, go to certain channels. Atmos however is object orientated. It tells the receiver to play a sound behind the listener to the left. It doesn't care how the receiver does that. So it can be 5.1, 7.1, 9.1...doesn't matter. It's the receivers job to understand how the speakers are laid out and best make that sound happen. So translating Atmos to traditional set channels kind of defeats the purpose and adds complications. So I just watch the disc for right now.
Click to expand...

I don't follow your Atmos comment. Wouldn't that be included in the TrueHD track?
 
nilepez said:
I don't follow your Atmos comment. Wouldn't that be included in the TrueHD track?
Click to expand...

If the device playing the audio track is able to properly send that to the reciever, than yes, it's fine. But not many <popular> devices understand or expect these newer audio tracks...yet. Eventually this will all get worked out, but it will take time. It doesn't mean it *cant* be done right now, it's just more complicated than a lot of people are willing to take on.

For me, I am still waiting for Handbrake to support Dolby Digital Plus, and then implementing it on Apple TV. Apple TV still doesn't (and may never) support DTS. I would however be very satisfied if they would allow multi-channel AAC. There is no licensing issue and software such as Handbrake already supports encoding it, and the specs are great. Just no one supports playback with it.
 
staknhalo said:
This way I don't have to worry about PGS subtitles playing back or not for forced subs (when they speak a foreign language in an English film),
Click to expand...

Subtitles have been the biggest frustration for me. I wish these things were more standardized. Generally I will always burn in subtitles if forced on an English movie or all subtitles or a foreign film. I'm going to want them regardless.

But the problem comes in detecting forced subtitles and implementation of the subtitles.
Some movies have multiple english subtitle tracks, which means I have to tell Handbrake to just scan them all for forced. It's click and forget, but it takes time.
Some movies trigger Handbrake incorrectly so you end up with random subtitles popping up on screen, and sometimes staying there for long stretches of time.
Some movies burn the subtitles in so that they can use their own font, or so they can position the words in certain places or do certain effects.
I rip on Windows, but find Subler on Mac to be a good soft subtitle program. I have both Mac and Windows, so that's ok, but it disrupts the workflow. And then you have to go hunt around for subtitles on the web, which I do not like.

I wish soft subtitles was easier to implement, across mediums.
 
westrock2000 said:
Subtitles have been the biggest frustration for me. I wish these things were more standardized. Generally I will always burn in subtitles if forced on an English movie or all subtitles or a foreign film. I'm going to want them regardless.

But the problem comes in detecting forced subtitles and implementation of the subtitles.
Some movies have multiple english subtitle tracks, which means I have to tell Handbrake to just scan them all for forced. It's click and forget, but it takes time.
Some movies trigger Handbrake incorrectly so you end up with random subtitles popping up on screen, and sometimes staying there for long stretches of time.
Some movies burn the subtitles in so that they can use their own font, or so they can position the words in certain places or do certain effects.
I rip on Windows, but find Subler on Mac to be a good soft subtitle program. I have both Mac and Windows, so that's ok, but it disrupts the workflow. And then you have to go hunt around for subtitles on the web, which I do not like.

I wish soft subtitles was easier to implement, across mediums.
Click to expand...

I only rip/keep movies I've already seen (and obviously want to keep to watch again); so I already know if the movie has/needs subs. I'll play the disc first on PC using Cyberlink PowerDVD at a part I know there are subtitles for. I can then look in PowerDVD at what sub track is selected and displayed (or if none is, and thus the subs are burned in), and that tells me what track I need to add when making the mkv to run through Handbrake.
 
Never really had a problem with BluRay subs...

I use EAC3TO with AnyDVDHD to demux the chapters, video, audio (into AC3 since everything of mine is DD5.1) and English Subs (in PGS). Then I use BDSUP2SUB to check what the sub tracks are (such as full description, spoken only, director's commentary).If the film is 2.35 or 2.4 Aspect Ratio, I move the subs outside of bounds so that they appear in the black border area at the bottom - this is pretty much a 2-click process. And if there are any Forced subs, I save them into a separate IDX/SUB file, also a 2-click process.

After the video is crunched, I use MKVTOOLNIX to stitch the separate tracks back together, marking the regular subs as Default: Yes and Forced: No and Forced tracks as Default No: and Forced: Yes. Kodi is smart enough to play the Forced track by default, and there is an easy toggle to the full subs there as well.

Note that I do the same thing for foreign films and anime, so that I can watch them as either Native+English Subs, or Dubbed with No subs as I see fit.

BluRay subs are super easy. DVD subs, on the other hand.... ugggghhhhhhh. That crap is a real mixed bag.
 
Here are the audio settings I use in Handbrake. I have found this to be really enjoyable and can tell the difference when watching a real disc (I usually have to keep the volume remote in hand when watching a disc).

Gain raises the overall volume
DRC is range compression and tightens the volume range between high and low parts. So don't have to jack up the volume during quiet parts just to turn down again when the action starts up.

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I need handrake to support 10bit pass through (currently it converts 10bit to 8bit and then outputs again at 10bit iirc) so I can start collecting/converting 4k BR.:cry:
 
I rarely use Handbrake - only for encodes that I can't get right without it (like A Tale of Two Sisters - there is something very wrong with the video encoding on that DVD; it has interlacing and weird frame duplication that doesn't seem to fit any patterns I've run into before, but Handbrake encoded it OK)/


MeGUI (x264) gives me a lot more control and for interlaced sources, I can use QTGMC with it, which makes them come back incredible looking. You absolutely need the MT-modded AVISynth to use that, though.
 
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