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So, once again, I'd like to start on a project where I can rip our DVD catalog to storage so that I can create my own, homegrown Netflix catalog and share it on my home network. I'm figuring I'll probably wind up needing to get NAS storage, but I was wondering which DVD ripping software have you found to be the most effective, quality, fast, and of course, budget friendly?
Folks, I just realized I posted this in the Consumer electronics forum, so I apologize for that. Having said that, I did try out MakeMKV last night, and it works rather well. I did try it on a regular DVD, not Bluray yet. I also downloaded Handbrake to convert the MKV file to MP4. Just messing around with it. I'm still not up on the video compression standards as much as I am the audio, so I'm not sure if the MP4 is equivalent to your MP3 and your MKV is like FLAC. All I know is, I want to be able to compress the files in a standard format that doesn't lose a lot of quality, but are smaller files so that I'm not having to go out and buy about 50TB of storage, lol! I'm sure I'll need to buy more storage, since we do have quite a library of DVDs and Blurays, but since this looks to be a rather lengthy and tedious process, I'm in no hurry.
What spurred this idea on, is the fact that Netflix doesn't have everything we like to watch, and we might have it on DVD or Bluray. For instance, Netflix no longer carries the TV show Chuck, which is one of my favorite TV shows of all time. We have it on Blurary, but having a two year old running around the house, he's already just about destroyed one of the DVD cases, and I'm afraid he'll wind up tearing up one of the discs, so if I can get that converted over, then I can store the Blurays and simply bring up an episode at the touch of a button.
The next step in the process will be getting whatever I want to store our videos on, either a computer with a massive amount of storage, or just investing in a NAS. I'll want to get that on a wired connection in my house, and then I'll want to be able to use an interface, maybe either Kodi or Plex, that will help to provide the Netflix-like interface.
Finally, this is not an attempt for me to illegally share my movies and shows across the internet. This is just for my family's on private use.
I've used DVD Decrypter for years. I assume it's still available. No need to transcode if you have the right playback software. You will probably have better quality by not transcoding if your playback software allows the TV to upscale the signal.
AnyDVD HD works very well for ripping. It does not compress at all and is kept up to date with the latest protection schemes and removes region restrictions. It is not free BUT you can try it free for 21 days.
I'll check out DVD Decrypter too and see if it's still available. I'm not opposed to using AnyDVD HD, even if there is a cost, but certainly if the free apps can do the job, I'll just use those. Right now, I'm just testing with two titles. One on a regular DVD, and the other on BluRay. I would love a way for the DVDs to look upconverted like they do when I play them back in my Playstation, but they didn't quite look so upconverted when I tried this in the past using Plex.
These days broadcast TV shows are in 1080 and 720, which can be legally recorded. I have recorded hundreds of TV shows in HD including many movies. Bluray discs are frequently on sales for as little as $3. There are few reasons, if any, to be stuck with watching SD. Frankly I would consider it cruel to make my family watch anything in SD.
So, I've had some issues with MakeMKV. I got an error message trying to rip one of my Bluray movies. I'm going to try another Bluray movie and see if that one succeeds. I tried another DVD and it worked just fine. So, there's still some issues with ripping the Bluray. And yes, I do have a BD drive on my computer.
I setup Plex on my computer over the weekend and was testing things out with one of the movies I had ripped. Even with my computer being on wireless, I was still able to stream the movie through my Roku stick which is attached to the TV in our living room. I didn't have any buffer issues, and the picture quality was just fine. Again, it was your standard definition DVD movie, so I wasn't expecting it to look HD, but it was enjoyable enough. The DVD does look more "upconverted" when I play it through the PS4 directly, so I'll need to figure out if there is a way to upconvert through Plex or if what I got in quality is just what I'll get. I do want to get the computer wired on our network to ensure that I'll be able to stream some of the higher quality content without buffer issues.
One thing I thought Plex would be able to do was to go out on the internet and find the artwork for the DVD covers, but it wasn't able to. I simply Googled images of the DVD artwork and downloaded them, as well as a proper background for when the movies loads. Anyway, I was showing my wife how it all works and she very impressed. She's already used to using the Roku almost exclusively, so being able to get on the Roku, go to the Plex app, and click on a movie is pretty easy and straight forward to do. We have a lot TV shows on DVD and Bluray that we talk about wanting to go back through and binge on, and these shows are no longer on Netflix. So, being able to bring any episode from any season up with a touch of a button, without having to go and change out the DVD, is a great idea.
These days broadcast TV shows are in 1080 and 720, which can be legally recorded. I have recorded hundreds of TV shows in HD including many movies. Bluray discs are frequently on sales for as little as $3. There are few reasons, if any, to be stuck with watching SD. Frankly I would consider it cruel to make my family watch anything in SD.
Not sure what this has to do with ripping DVDs and Blu-Rays?
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