I'm looking at ripping all my DVDs onto my computer, but I'm wondering what format I should rip the files to so that I can just play them at will?

ISO ?
.mov ?
the DVD_TS folder(s) ?

I've got a lifetime license for AnyDVD so that's what I use to rip, though it's been a long time since I ripped one. I'm running Win7 & Ubuntu 10.04 dual-boot w/ a shared data partition. So, ideally I'd put the rips in the shared partition and play on either OS. I'd like to shoot for a format that isn't at risk of becoming obsolete or locked into one OS or the other, and I'd like it to be at DVD quality (I'm assuming that's possible).

Any suggestions?

2/3/2011 1:17:22 PM

h.264 is pretty widespread and well supported as a home library format. people who are in the "movie distribution" scene typically prefer mkv but i'm not terribly familiar with the reasons why

2/3/2011 1:35:28 PM

^
h.264 in mp4 format, most widely supported, easily transcoded to portable versions if you want later.

2/3/2011 1:38:20 PM

h.264 is much more processor intensive to encode over .mkv

.mkv also has more options in terms of what the container allows - most people use it who have a high end audio system and want to encode exotic formats (7.1 or something) or DTS

In terms of storage efficiency, though, h.264 can't be touched. Xvid comes close, but not quite.


Process::
Rip them all the .iso
Download "Fairuse Wizard" (if you have more than 2 cores buy the license, it's worth it.)
Pick profile (h.264/Full Auto will work nicely)
Mash that profile onto all of the ISO's (tell it to "add to queue")
Hit "Do all of queue"
Come back in 2.5hours X #of ISO
Delete ISO's and fairuse project files
Backup everything so you don't kill <# hours> again

2/3/2011 2:14:20 PM

You can use H.264 video in an MKV; pair that with some DTS audio and it should be amazing (bonus points if you can get the subtitles into SSA format or something similar to put in your MKV).

2/4/2011 10:46:59 PM

Can I use Handbrake to do any of this stuff?

2/5/2011 10:58:48 AM

maybe...I know you can make H.264 video with Handbrake

but to make MKVs you should probably use mkvmerge once you've encoded the video and audio

2/5/2011 3:18:26 PM

I'm having a thought here: AnyDVD gives you ISOs, can VLC player play directly from the ISOs?

That would seem to be a better way, because it avoids the encoding, right? Or am I missing something?

2/5/2011 4:13:08 PM

file size. .iso is going to generally be much larger than some other format (.mkv/.avi/etc.) One benefit of .iso files is that it preserves the menu structure and all the extras.

2/5/2011 4:45:26 PM

^^ yes, VLC can play directly from ISOs

2/5/2011 5:03:29 PM

^^This is mostly true for DVDs, VCDs, and even less-advanced media: The codecs natively used (respectively MPEG-2 and MPEG-1) are much less efficient than the H.264 commonplace on Blu-Ray.

2/5/2011 5:10:50 PM

Which app will rip from the disc straight to an ISO? I think I'm just going to leave my files in this format for now.

Edit...I dusted off a copy of DVD Shrink I've saved that seems to be doing the job just fine. Taking 4:45 to rip a full DVD to iso.



[Edited on February 5, 2011 at 9:35 PM. Reason : .]

2/5/2011 9:26:37 PM

DVD Decrypter

It's been out of production for a while, but there are a few mirrors still up because it's still the best tool for the job.

2/6/2011 2:11:24 PM