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OK, so I've avoided ripping my DVDs forever cuz I just didn't have the space and putting in the disks just wasn't that big of a deal to me. Well now that space is getting cheaper, I'm probably gonna grab a 2tb drive and give it a go. Anyway, I wanted to know what would be the easiest (least steps), cheapest and most future proof (in case I want to rip blu-ray in the future) way of doing things. I'd also like the resulting file to be playable on my extender with fast forward and rewind capabilities, or at least be something that Win7 can easily automatically transcode to the extender. I'd like to keep the menus and extras, and don't want to compress things unless absolutely necessary. Suggestions?
Easiest way to rip DVDs for use on an extender
Sat, 04/03/2010 - 2:08pm
#1
Easiest way to rip DVDs for use on an extender
Sun, 04/04/2010 - 10:17am
#3
Media Center Extenders can not natively play VIDEO_TS. There are some workarounds (I wrote one of them and a new and improved version is about done) that use a transcoding option to make DVDs visible and playable on extenders. There are some limitations though:
1- Rewind\Fastword is limited to skipping.
2- No native DVD menu
3- No extras
I've got a new version of my Extender Dvd "Transcode" that addresses most of these issues. Well I'm not using the native DVD menu yet but instead show a MCML menu that lets you choose the title, video, ...
For extenders, a better overall experience is to convert to dvr-ms\wtv. With the lack of information on the lifespan of extenders my personal preference is to leave all archived media in their native structure but you'll have to determine what is more important for you.
Sun, 04/04/2010 - 10:28am
#4
I use a program called Magic DVD Ripper and rip just the main move to MPEG2. Works great. I thought I'd miss the menus (especially for the kids DVD's where you may not want them to watch the whole thing every time) but it turns out I don't miss it at all.
The program can also rip to iPod/Zune formats as well.
Sun, 04/04/2010 - 11:03am
#5
Yeah I'm a broke unemployed college student so that $100+ software won't fly. It's bad enough I bought the V10 already haha.
I tried DVDshrink since it was free but it gives me errors on the two disks I tried, and I didn't know what to do with all the resulting files once it was finished.
Sun, 04/04/2010 - 11:09am
#6
I'd go with DVDFab HD Decrypter then. It is free and does a very good job. It offers most of the features of AnyDVD HD aside from real-time decrypting.
Like AnyDVD it also does Blu-ray movies as well.
Sun, 04/04/2010 - 2:36pm
#7
Auto Rip N Compress: http://autorip.blogspot.com/
in conjunction with MakeMVK (http://www.makemkv.com), and Handbrake (http://www.handbrake.fr) and Andy Van Til's ToDVRMS
with a one stop shop it'll rip a dvd to mkv, then convert the mkv to .WTV so that it is natively supported for extenders, you just looks dvd menu, extras and chapters but you DO get 5.1 Surround sound, you DO NOT loose quality (IE it doesn't get re-compressed), and you DO get FF/RR/SKIP/ect...
I am going to be doing a how to write up and posting it on here soon.
EDIT: Again what this setup does, is a ONE STOP shop for ripping dvd, and auto converting it to .WTV extension. This process is basically put the disk in, click start and then walk away until it is completed.
Also again, this WILL NOT get you dvd menus, extras, ect... I know you want extender support, and extenders DO NOT support ripped dvd's so they will not get you menus anyways, so give up the menus and extra features and go with what supports an extender which is .WTV, so giving up menus and extras this gets you 5.1 surround sound, gets you native extender support, FF/RR/SKIP/ect...
There is nothing out there that will get you the DVD menus and or extras and support it on a media center extender. If you want that you'll need to go to MythTV or SageTV.
- Josh
Sun, 04/04/2010 - 8:04pm
#8
Mikinho wrote:
I'd go with DVDFab HD Decrypter then. It is free and does a very good job. It offers most of the features of AnyDVD HD aside from real-time decrypting.
Like AnyDVD it also does Blu-ray movies as well.
Agreed for a situation like Jennyfur's.
Mon, 04/05/2010 - 12:42am
#9
I'll be sure to check it out, thanks guys.
Mon, 04/05/2010 - 9:19am
#10
So how does DVDFab HD decrypter make the movies accessible on an extender. Does it convert bluray and DVD titles to WTV, AVI or someother wrapper?
I thoguht I tried it before and it was hokey trying to figure out which streams for audio and video needed to be selected. But these things change weekly it seems. I'll have to try it again.
I've been ripping to iso but all the other crap on a disc takes up some serious space. I'd like to just get the movie, 5.1 audio and subtitles. And it seems like sub titles can be a problem for most wrappers.
Mon, 04/05/2010 - 9:32am
#11
Meester.Rip wrote:
So how does DVDFab HD decrypter make the movies accessible on an extender. Does it convert bluray and DVD titles to WTV, AVI or someother wrapper?
They don't, sorry I should have been more clear. I was just recommending DVDFab as a free alternative to AnyDVD HD. DVDFab HD decrypter I believe will only do VIDEO_TS, BDMV or ISO. DVDFab has other commercial products for 1-step ripping.
If you goal is to rip the movie to a single file then MakeMKV is the probably the easiest solution and then using Andy's tools to do a container swap to WTV. That or a Convert VOB to WTV profile with DVRMSToolbox. As umdivx mentioned, Auto Rip N Compress automates the different steps from within Media Center's interface.
Meester.Rip wrote:
I've been ripping to iso but all the other crap on a disc takes up some serious space. I'd like to just get the movie, 5.1 audio and subtitles. And it seems like sub titles can be a problem for most wrappers.
You can play ISOs indirectly on extenders by using a combination of my Mount Image and Extender Dvd "Transcode". It will make ISOs visible in the native Movie Library and playable on extenders.
The issue with subtitles isn't getting them in the wrapper, it is making them usable on extenders. For instance, extenders support closed captioning but not subtitles. Even though DVR-MS\WTV supports closed captioning the format isn't documented at this time so no tools are able to embed CC.
Mon, 04/05/2010 - 9:37am
#12
A little off topic but are subtitle different than the text that appears when say James Bond might say something in spanish to a waiter and it shows up as english on the screen as opposed to going into options and selecting a subtitle. The first one is a actually embedded in the video and the second is a separate file that gets superimposed on the fly, correct?
Thx.
Mon, 04/05/2010 - 9:50am
#13
Meester.Rip wrote:
A little off topic but are subtitle different than the text that appears when say James Bond might say something in spanish to a waiter and it shows up as english on the screen as opposed to going into options and selecting a subtitle. The first one is a actually embedded in the video and the second is a separate file that gets superimposed on the fly, correct?
Thx.
They are both subtitles, or in the case of DVDs prerendered subtitles. Well they both should be subtitles, some copies will have them in the video (hardsubs or open subtitles) but generally that is frowned upon. This type of subtitles is called forced subtitles. Forced subtitles I believe are stored in the same prerendered format but has a control sequence of 0x00 so you don't have to turn them on.
Tue, 04/13/2010 - 10:45am
#14
Well I have been looking to do this for quite some time and decided to try a few of the things posted and see how it all works.
-Both Handbrake and MakeMKV posted by umdivx:
MakeMKV is the faster of the 2, but both are a bit spotty. Sometimes they can't read the DVD properly and simply won't work. So this really isn't an option for me. I have several hundred movies I need to convert and it has to work for all. Another issue is the FW/RW don't work on the final video.
-Magic DVD Ripper posted by Bigee:
Simple enough program and had no problem opening the DVD's that Handbrake and MakeMKV couldn't. Decent speed and several output options. the MPEG-2 files have the same nonexistent FW/RW as the above. Converting to WMV takes about 2 hrs/movie, so that isn't an option for me either. I tried the AVI output and that seemed pretty decent actually. Took about 25mins for a movie and the quality/sound seemed in tact as well. I tried FW/RW and they worked, just not well. They really only go 1x fast no matter how many times you push the FW/RW buttons. So still not a perfect option.
Any thoughts? I am trying to avoid converting to WTV since that pretty much limits playback to an MCE machine. What happens if MS does away with this and in 5 years I have a huge amount of unusable files? I looked into changing the skip forward intervals but that would apply to TV as well. It doesn't seem there is a good options here.
Ideally I would have the following:
-Quick encoding time
-No loss in Video/Audio quality
-Can be used on extenders and be a pretty universal format
-Since chapters are remove there will need to be a good FW/RW capability.
Feedback would be great if anyone has ideas. Thanks!
Tue, 04/13/2010 - 11:31am
#15
tigerstyl wrote:
Well I have been looking to do this for quite some time and decided to try a few of the things posted and see how it all works.
-Both Handbrake and MakeMKV posted by umdivx:
MakeMKV is the faster of the 2, but both are a bit spotty. Sometimes they can't read the DVD properly and simply won't work. So this really isn't an option for me. I have several hundred movies I need to convert and it has to work for all. Another issue is the FW/RW don't work on the final video.
if MakeMKV doesn't work either the disc is severely scratched, or you need to get AnyDVD HD to get beyond the additional copy protection.
Also again I said to use Auto Rip N Compress, which takes advantage of MakeMKV and Handbrake, the difference is that Auto Rip N Compress added in ToDVRMS http://babgvant.com/blogs/andyvt/archive/2008/05/03/todvrms.aspx
ToDVRMS converts the MKV to .WTV which is natively supported by media center and more specifically extenders, that is then where you get FF and RR support.
so Auto Rip N Compress, rips the dvd to mkv and then runs ToDVRMS to convert it into a .WTV with little or no involvement. Easy to use, and works perfectly.
Quote:
Any thoughts? I am trying to avoid converting to WTV since that pretty much limits playback to an MCE machine. What happens if MS does away with this and in 5 years I have a huge amount of unusable files? I looked into changing the skip forward intervals but that would apply to TV as well. It doesn't seem there is a good options here.
well its give and take, if you want FF and RR your only option is to convert them to .wtv or .dvr-ms as especially with media center or more specifically extenders that is your only option to retain FF and RR.
one thing you "could" try is the Divx Tech Preview. http://labs.divx.com/mkvwin7preview this adds native mkv support that utilizes media foundation.
What you would need to do is uninstall any and all codecs you have on your pc, reboot, install the Divx tech preview and then play back an MKV and see how that goes for you. Only issue is it doesn't support mkv's with DTS audio, and no subtitle support.
Quote:
Ideally I would have the following:
-Quick encoding time
-No loss in Video/Audio quality
-Can be used on extenders and be a pretty universal format
-Since chapters are remove there will need to be a good FW/RW capability.
Again I've been here, done that for years now. Trust me when I say that ONLY .wtv is the the only option that will give you quick ripping quick converting and full extender support with surround sound and FF and RR.
the other option is to try the Divx Tech Preview and leave the movies in MKV.
Tue, 04/13/2010 - 1:26pm
#16
Hey umdivx! Thank you for the quick response.
The DVD's I was trying to convert are already on my system in a VIDEO_TS folder. All movies have been 100% tested as well, so unless there is some odd-ball structure issue that these programs don't do well with it should work.
I guess I might have to breakdown and convert to WTV... man that blows. Too bad extenders just can't support DVD's.
So basically I run Auto Rip N Compress and as long as I have ToDVRMS installed the files will be converted seamlessly?
Tue, 04/13/2010 - 1:39pm
#17
Auto Rip N compress, the latest download has the todvrms files already in it. You just need to have installed MakeMKV and/or handbrake.
If you already have the movies ripped to Video_TS on your hard drive, and makemkv doesn't work then it sounds like the movie wasn't ripped in a way that makemvk likes is all.
- Josh
Tue, 04/13/2010 - 1:47pm
#18
Argh.. looks like Auto Rip N Compress only works with DVDs in the drive, not VIDEO_TS folders.
Tue, 04/13/2010 - 1:50pm
#19
doh... well then it is the manual process for you.
- Josh
Tue, 04/13/2010 - 1:51pm
#20
Man, if only I knew this 6 months ago when I started transfering everything.
Thanks anyway. I will be sure to try ARNC on any new DVD disks I have.
Tue, 04/13/2010 - 2:34pm
#21
I think I've seen software that can mount Video_TS folders just like an ISO. Maybe that would solve your problem.
Wed, 04/14/2010 - 6:40am
#22
tigerstyl wrote:
Argh.. looks like Auto Rip N Compress only works with DVDs in the drive, not VIDEO_TS folders.
Try VideoRedo to convert to dvr-ms. I keep both the VOBs and a copy in dvr-ms on my server. This gives me the full extender compatibility, but retains all the original functionality of the DVD. Have to store twice as much data, but I plan on deleting the dvr-ms files later when I replace the extenders.
Wed, 04/14/2010 - 6:51pm
#23
Well, I ended up using MakeMKV to join the VOBs and then VideoRedo to produce the DVR-MS files. Takes about 6-10 mins per DVD. Would be nice to have a batch option to do a whole bunch at one time, but it looks like it will just be something I do over time.
Thank you for all the help everyone! Any better options out there (maybe a single program or batch option) let me know.
Wed, 04/14/2010 - 6:54pm
#24
I'll write a batch for you if interested. Are you running x86 or x64?
Thu, 04/15/2010 - 8:25am
#25
I can tell you DVDFab is crap. Atleast for BD to the 360 profile. But it is in beta so maybe they'll get it worked out. After about 5 or 6 attempts I got one movie to actually finish the process and createa file. But when I played it I got these shaded bands that flickered to different shades and on different areas of the screen. IT was a little worse than a movie recorded via a video cam in the back row. Come one SlySoft.
Thu, 04/15/2010 - 8:51am
#26
I never tried the pay version of DVDFab, but I had a similar experience with it. I simply could not get it to work properly. In fact, I don't think I managed to rip a single disc. I quickly ran to Slysoft and paid for their product. I couldn't be happier, either! AnyDVD is a fantastic product.
Thu, 04/15/2010 - 9:02am
#27
I agree. I won't mess with DVDFab again until I see people actually getting results. I'll keep ripping to image until SlySoft comes out with there software.
Thu, 04/15/2010 - 10:59am
#28
Mikinho wrote:
I'll write a batch for you if interested. Are you running x86 or x64?
That would be awesome! I'm running x64. The 2 programs I'm using right now is DVD Ripper to combine the VOBS and then VideoRedo to go from mpeg2 to dvr-ms. I did a few movies remotely yesterday from work and tried them on my XBOX when I got home. DVR-MS is definitely the way to go.
Not sure how the script will work but essentially I want to take an entire folder and another entire drive and convert the movies to dvr-ms files in their own separate folders with the movie name. My current setup is pretty standard where the VIDEO_TS file is inside another folder with the movie name.
Hey, are you the same Mikinho that made the yamm program? That thing worked fantastic!
Thu, 04/15/2010 - 11:21am
#29
The same, glad it is still helpful. I've had a lot of delays but a new version is still coming.
I'll send the script sometime after lunch, it will process all corresponding VIDEO_TS and name the dvr-ms to match the parent folder name.
Thu, 04/15/2010 - 1:31pm
#30
Try this script for VideoRedo:
http://www.mymovies.dk/forum.aspx?g=posts&t=4544
Get the updated version "rip_many.zip" near the end of page 3.
This script will do it for you, but if you are converting by hand, you don't need to combine the VOB's externally. Just use the "combine" feature in VideoRedo when opening multiple VOBs.
I disagree with you guys about DVDFab HD Decrypter. I haven't evolved to BD yet, but it works great for ripping DVD.
Thu, 04/15/2010 - 2:46pm
#31
Nice tip on the joining files richln. Cut the completion time for a movie down to 4 minutes.
The script for VideoRedo looks a bit iffy. I see several posters with problems. Have you used the script and how does it work?
Fri, 04/16/2010 - 6:53am
#32
tigerstyl wrote:
Nice tip on the joining files richln. Cut the completion time for a movie down to 4 minutes.
The script for VideoRedo looks a bit iffy. I see several posters with problems. Have you used the script and how does it work?
Script works well for me... it does what it is supposed to do, but VideoRedo itself is still pretty buggy. Most of the problem posts were related to a new beta of VideoRedo that came out after the script and broke the script. If I remember correctly, there were only a couple of older betas affected by this.
Tue, 04/20/2010 - 9:56am
#33
Well, I still can't get that script to work. Would have been pretty nice too. I could set up my tasks to automatically run it everday to check for new movies that need converting.
Any luck Mikinho?
Tue, 04/20/2010 - 10:07am
#34
Sorry, I had thought you were using that script and didn't need one anymore. I apologize I should have asked.
The script I wrote uses MakeMKV and optionally ToDvrms (Thanks Andy) to do a container swap.
If you own VideoReDo I can alter to use that instead. Just let me know. And if I don't respond quickly, I apologize I'm out of town but checking regularly.
Tue, 04/20/2010 - 10:58am
#35
Forgot to update this thread, I gave in and went the auto rip and compress route. Seems the least painless, the only thing I miss out on is the menus/extras.
Wed, 04/21/2010 - 11:53am
#36
I seem to be having an issue with AutoRip. I mount a BD iso image to my virtual drive and after I press start in autorip it gets as far as creating the folder before failing. My drive (virtual Clone Drive) un mounts the disc also.
Wed, 04/21/2010 - 12:03pm
#37
Disable AnyDVD HD for the virtual drive (unless you created the ISO with DRM intact). The unmount is normal as ARnC will optionally (on by default) eject the disc when complete. VCD translates ejects into un-mounts.
If the that doesn't help let me know and I can ask Mark to take a look at this thread.
Wed, 04/21/2010 - 3:02pm
#38
I disabled AnyHD and it still unmounts the image seconds after pressing start. I see the following error in the event viewer:
An error was detected on device \Device\CdRom2 during a paging operation.
In the MCE GUI I get a compression failed error.
From looking at the app I guess it passes command arguments to MakeMKV and Handbrake. So I thought I could do the process manually but I only see a MP4 container option in Handbrake.
Wed, 04/21/2010 - 10:11pm
#39
Mikinho wrote:
Sorry, I had thought you were using that script and didn't need one anymore. I apologize I should have asked.
The script I wrote uses MakeMKV and optionally ToDvrms (Thanks Andy) to do a container swap.
If you own VideoReDo I can alter to use that instead. Just let me know. And if I don't respond quickly, I apologize I'm out of town but checking regularly.
No apologies Mikinho. You are helping me big time by doing this.
I'm traveling as well so there is no huge rush. But basically I am now using VideoRedo to combine and convert to DVR-MS. Process takes about 5 minutes/movie. Let me know if any other info is needed to make the script and I would be happy to help.
Thanks!
Thu, 04/22/2010 - 9:37am
#40
I got a rip to go and the Brothers.mp4 file played fine on an extender. The problem is I can only get these to rip at a compressed bit rate and I haveto mount the iso with and rip to mkv with one program ( 4-6 hours there ) and then rerip to mp4 with Handbrake (4 -6 hours). I have to do this because AutoRip unmounts my ISO and then fails with the compression failed message. Also when it is ripped into mp4 I lose chapters so I can only skip 30 seconds. I can live with that though.
I went the route of buying a lifetime key for AnyDVD HD for $118, and then use DVDshink keeping the video in Video_TS/VOB. I don't compress the movie or anything. I just use DVDshrink to pull the main movie and AC3 5.1 track. Takes about 10 min per movie on my system. As far as the steps:
Install AnyDVD HD and that part is done
Pop in a Disc
Start DVDshrink (set up the properties once)
Open Disc>it analyzes
click full backup (for you since you want the menus and everything)
Browse for your target
Let it rip
I see you have an xbox. You would know better than I do if those play VOB files or not. If not then disregard