Ripping DVDs and File Formats

Stu L. · #1 03-01-2011, 11:32 AM

My wife bought me a Lenovo Q150 last week to use as a media center. I've always wanted to load my movies onto a computer, and be able to look at a pretty menu in Media Center and select any title that interests me. I know it can be done. I just don't know how. In reading various forums (yes, including AVS) I downloaded Auto Rip and Compress and MakeMKV to try. MakeMKV seems to be really popular. Using MakeMKV I was able to rip one DVD of the three that I tried. But then I didn't know what, or how, or why, to convert it over to Win 7 Media Center. In the end I just deleted the movie and intend to start over tonight, pending some TBers thoughts. I see Handbrake mentioned a lot too, but I fear the same issue of not knowing what format to use if I get it ripped. Then there's the copy protection issue. I will only consider legal ways, sorry hackers

. MKV, MPEG4, MP4, M4V it's all very confusing, and I don't know what works. Help TB, please.

Selta · #2 03-01-2011, 11:53 AM

Here is a be-all, end-all type guide. Follow it to a T and you should be pretty well off:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1250607

Stu L. · #3 03-01-2011, 12:41 PM

Thanks Ray. I've seen that. It got over my head quite a few times and I gave up. I'll try again. And I still welcome others thoughts too.

sanchezja · #4 03-01-2011, 12:49 PM

As far as ripping, buy a program called AnyDVD. It is regularly updated and can rip anything you throw at it. If you want to convert the DVD to a video file (which is easiest) then run what you get from AnyDVD through a program called Handbrake to convert to an MKV.

As far as the front-end goes, I use Windows Media Center along with a plugin called Media Browser. This gives you that nice interface.

Things can get pretty complicated. I have had a media center for a couple years now, with a collection of about 350 movies, about 2 dozen concerts and about 2 dozen TV shows. I'd be happy to help you in any way I can with your setup.

Jason

odin70 · #5 03-01-2011, 12:50 PM

I use handbrake. All movies converted to mp4. Itunes. I have all my music and movies on an extern harddisk. It works great. No more cds/dvds for me. Those formats are doomed anyway.

Selta · #6 03-01-2011, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stu L.

Thanks Ray. I've seen that. It got over my head quite a few times and I gave up. I'll try again. And I still welcome others thoughts too.

If you run into steps that you need help on, let me know. I've used that exact guide for a number of HTPC installations now for people, so I know my way around it pretty well and can help extensively.

Stu L. · #7 03-02-2011, 11:52 AM

Ray, I followed that pretty much as written, and confused myself really bad

I don't know, but I think some of those programs are redundant. One thing that I couldn't make of it is which program do I start the procedure with? I popped a DVD in, and didn't know what to do. For the time being I did have success (I think) with the initial rip with DVDfab and converting it with Handbrake to an mkv, and then finding it with Media Browser. It takes a long time for Handbrake to do it's thing, but it looks like it worked. I'm probably doing something wrong and eating a ton of HD space. Thoughts anyone?

sanchezja · #8 03-02-2011, 12:11 PM

Converting a DVD Rip to an MKV with Handbrake saves space, so you can't go wrong in that regard. Sounds to me like you are headed in the right direction.

I use a program called MetaBrowser to scrape metadata and images for my movies and TV shows. But that's something to look into after you get all your media converted and organized.

Stu L. · #9 03-02-2011, 12:19 PM

I have no idea what metadata is, lol. Nice to know on the MKV size too. What do you mean (noob question) when you say organized? Do you split organize groups like movies concerts and tv shows in different folders?

Stu L. · #10 03-02-2011, 09:03 PM

Oh goodness, I can do my Disney DVDs! I think the DVDfab then Handbrake setup is going to work well. I'm going to try this a bit more and see what happens. There is a queue system in Handbrake. I may try loading two or three files to convert and see how long that takes. I figure with the time that one takes that I could start three before work and look at the first one after 5!

I hope to have four or fives movies finished in total tonight. Once in Media Browser, will they always be available? Or will I have to load all the folders every time?

Selta · #11 03-02-2011, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stu L.

Oh goodness, I can do my Disney DVDs! I think the DVDfab then Handbrake setup is going to work well. I'm going to try this a bit more and see what happens. There is a queue system in Handbrake. I may try loading two or three files to convert and see how long that takes. I figure with the time that one takes that I could start three before work and look at the first one after 5!

I hope to have four or fives movies finished in total tonight. Once in Media Browser, will they always be available? Or will I have to load all the folders every time?

Once in Media Browser, they're always there for you. If you ever move the folder that they're in or like reinstall your operating system, you'll likely have to start over, though. If you have a LOT of DVDs, they'll take up a LOT of space, so you'll want to keep that in mind as you go too.

Stu L. · #12 04-20-2011, 12:03 PM

Well, a quick update. I've not counted, but I have number of movies loaded and I seem to be rocking along. I'm going to delete a few and re-do them as I've found the function to just copy the main movie. My computer died and I was down for a few days. Lenovo has free on site service so I'm back in business. I'm also running Hippo Remote Pro on my iPhone and my wife's iPad, and that is really cool. I'm also starting to look into adding voice control in the future.

I've also gotten a new entertainment cabinet, and things get hot in there. Any suggestions for ventilation? I was thing maybe an exhaust fan but don't really know where to start to find a quiet one. Thoughts?