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Best format to rip DVDs to for basic HTPC

Charlie98

Charlie98

Diamond Member
I'm gathering parts for my future HTPC build, to that end I've been ripping my DVDs to HDD(s.) My plan is to rip all my DVDs, sell most of them, and live happily ever after. (I'm actually doing the same thing with my CDs, but that is another question...)

I'm using AnyDVD HD and Handbrake to decode and rip my DVDs, basically on stock settings.

What I don't want to do is spend all this time and energy to rip my DVDs, sell them off... only to find I should have encoded them in a different format. D: My question is... What is the best reasonable format to encode DVDs to, for a basic HTPC setup. I don't ever expect to have a super high-end home theatre, don't have the money or room for it, let alone the time to sit and actually enjoy a movie; but I'm looking for good playback over a 1080p HD 120Hz system fed by HDMI.

HDD space isn't a problem, I'm willing to accomodate a larger file size if it's reasonable for my purposes. I'm using 500GB HDD's right now, but will probably move them to 2TB HDD's when I put everything together.

My current computer monitor is only 1024x768, so playback now is fine, but I don't want to finally hook it up to my big TV and be disappointed.

Also, I'm not a super techy... please explain your thoughts in DAE (Dumb-Ass English... :$ )
 
Be careful how you compose your posts. You admitted that your ripping the discs in order to then sell them while keeping the copy.

I'll assume your backing up for backup purposes and are merely storing the discs. Handbrake X.264 is a really good format for this purpose, and the quality is very good. A CQ of 20 is considered decent for DVD backups, but a CQ of 14-15 will get you near perfect. For Bluray use a CQ of 18-20.
 
I'd just leave them as .ISOs to preserve the exact quality (you can remove the menus and stuff if you don't want those and just want the movie itself to save space).
 
Anteaus said:
Be careful how you compose your posts. You admitted that your ripping the discs in order to then sell them while keeping the copy.

I'll assume your backing up for backup purposes and are merely storing the discs. Handbrake X.264 is a really good format for this purpose, and the quality is very good. A CQ of 20 is considered decent for DVD backups, but a CQ of 14-15 will get you near perfect. For Bluray use a CQ of 18-20.
Click to expand...

I'm not a lawyer, either. As the DVD owner, am I not entitled to view my own DVD? ...or does that go out the window if I sell the actual DVD? I guess that would make sense. :hmm: Or is it the 'reproduction' thing? Then it would be best to keep the hard copy... 🙂

I'm currently ripping at 20. Much of my source material is older movies, does it even make sense to bring the encoding quality up?

...and I don't know what 'iso' is. The menu isn't any big deal, but I'd like to save the subtitles. 'Red Dawn,' for example, I lost the automatic subtitles on that, even.

I wouldn't bother doing that, I would just torrent the bluray rip.
Click to expand...

The jury is still out on BR, I don't know if I'm going to rip those or not; and I don't know anything about torrent except I don't think I want to try it.
 
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First off yes copying then selling your dvd colleciton and retaining the digital copy is illegal. You no longer own the movie.

As for ripping...seriously why bother encoding? Rip to iso (basically just an exact copy of the disk in digital format) and just enjoy the whole disk. Or if you just want the movie use makemkv and rip the video/audio without converting/compressing it. A dvd is what..9GB at the most?


As for the htpc thing...300-400 (or less depending on exactly what you get) will get you a htpc that can play everything perfectly. Just need the HDD to store it all on.
 
Charlie98 said:
I'm currently ripping at 20. Much of my source material is older movies, does it even make sense to bring the encoding quality up?

The jury is still out on BR, I don't know if I'm going to rip those or not; and I don't know anything about torrent except I don't think I want to try it.
Click to expand...

A CQ of 20 works great at native resolution where you won't notice the differences between it and the source. The problems come when you start watching these movies scaled up at 1920X1080. Perhaps you won't notice the differences but I do, especially in regards to shadows. A CQ of 20 with many movies will have fringing which will mostly go away with (16-14), at the cost of an extra GB or 2. This is my experience though, and all of this is completely subjective. The source has to be clean also, otherwise the file size will balloon so some movies might take a couple tries to get it the way you want it. I personally use a CQ of 15 for all DVD sources unless the file size exceeds 4GB whereas I'll back off .5 CQ at a time until it fits, because I want to make sure they all stay compatible with my mobile devices. My HD sources get a CQ of 18 with "Large File Size" switched on.

It took much trial and error before I settled on these settings so take it for what its worth.

I rip my blu-rays and actually encode both a HD versions and a DVD resolution version for use with mobile devices.
 
Itchrelief said:
This thread is seriously in risk of lockage. 😀
Click to expand...

Not really... I understand now about the licensing part, and it makes sense, both from a legal standpoint and from a practical standpoint. Besides, if my HTPC drive(s) goes belly-up, I'll still have the source material.

As for ripping...seriously why bother encoding? Rip to iso (basically just an exact copy of the disk in digital format) and just enjoy the whole disk. Or if you just want the movie use makemkv and rip the video/audio without converting/compressing it. A dvd is what..9GB at the most?
Click to expand...

Well, you see the purpose of my question now, don't you? Put it another way... what do I gain by encoding vs iso (and I'll have to research iso... I don't know what that is.) My knowledge... or lack therof... is nearly complete.
 
Charlie98 said:
Not really... I understand now about the licensing part, and it makes sense, both from a legal standpoint and from a practical standpoint. Besides, if my HTPC drive(s) goes belly-up, I'll still have the source material.



Well, you see the purpose of my question now, don't you? Put it another way... what do I gain by encoding vs iso (and I'll have to research iso... I don't know what that is.) My knowledge... or lack therof... is nearly complete.
Click to expand...

The only point of encoding is to reduce filesize, but since a DVD isn't all that big to begin with, there isn't a lot of point. You'd wind up with a slightly smaller filesize and, at best, an ALMOST exact copy. Leaving it as an ISO (.ISO is just an actual image of the DVD disc itself. Essentially, it still is a DVD just residing on your hard drive) preserves the exact quality.
 
Slick5150 said:
The only point of encoding is to reduce filesize, but since a DVD isn't all that big to begin with, there isn't a lot of point. You'd wind up with a slightly smaller filesize and, at best, an ALMOST exact copy. Leaving it as an ISO (.ISO is just an actual image of the DVD disc itself. Essentially, it still is a DVD just residing on your hard drive) preserves the exact quality.
Click to expand...


Okey dokey... how do I go about that? I'm assuming I'll still need AnyDVD to allow me to decode the source?

Or if someone can point me to a reliable source for handling .ISO, I'd be grateful... 😀
 
Windows Media Center + properly configured Shark007 codecs + MP3tag + Virtual Clone Drive + Mikinho Mount Image = playback of 99.9% of anything I throw at it including .iso, x264, DTS Master, flac, and DVD rips.

All free software.
 
blackangst1 said:
Windows Media Center + properly configured Shark007 codecs + MP3tag + Virtual Clone Drive + Mikinho Mount Image = playback of 99.9% of anything I throw at it including .iso, x264, DTS Master, flac, and DVD rips.

All free software.
Click to expand...

Wow, what a massive pain in the ass and really hard to keep up-to-date. All I do is install XBMC and everything works right out of the box. No need to install a bunch of other crap and have an updating nightmare.
 
LikeLinus said:
Wow, what a massive pain in the ass and really hard to keep up-to-date. All I do is install XBMC and everything works right out of the box. No need to install a bunch of other crap and have an updating nightmare.
Click to expand...

Huh? I havent updated anything in 11 months...

XBMC isnt without its own issues, this thread is not the place to get into it.
 
blackangst1 said:
Huh? I havent updated anything in 11 months...

XBMC isnt without its own issues, this thread is not the place to get into it.
Click to expand...

Maybe, but when you are offering all of that as a way to play vs. installing XBMC and being ready to go play DVD ISO files without having a bunch of other junk, it is in the realm of discussion. For something as simple as playing DVD iso files, I'd certainly recommend XBMC over WMC with all of those plugins/software.

I run WMC as well with my Ceton card.
 
LikeLinus said:
Maybe, but when you are offering all of that as a way to play vs. installing XBMC and being ready to go play DVD ISO files without having a bunch of other junk, it is in the realm of discussion. For something as simple as playing DVD iso files, I'd certainly recommend XBMC over WMC with all of those plugins/software.

I run WMC as well with my Ceton card.
Click to expand...

It is, and I'm interested, but probably beyond the purposes of the OP. The HTPC it's going into will probably just run off W7... because my wife is using it. It has to be simple/stupid: Click and Play.
 
not worth the effort, you lose features and it still takes a lot of time for you to nerf the dvd which already has no resolution to lose....

iso at most.

click and play is a 50 dollar bluray player, it can play dvds, you pop the disc in, and click play😉
 
Rip them as ISO or a VOB file if you've got plenty of disk space. No compression. 1TB+ hard drives are back to being reasonably priced again.

I rip them as a single VOB file myself. Strip out the extra audio tracks and special features I'll never watch.
 
mmntech said:
Rip them as ISO or a VOB file if you've got plenty of disk space. No compression. 1TB+ hard drives are back to being reasonably priced again.

I rip them as a single VOB file myself. Strip out the extra audio tracks and special features I'll never watch.
Click to expand...

Lulz dvd
 
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