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So I am new to all this and I am really green so please bare with me. I was reading here in the forums that people have thousands and thousands of movies and t.v. shows saved. So I want to join the masses, but I need some guidance.
First, I have 4 computers;
Computer A - Windows 7 Pro 64-bit - back up for all computers and has movie library
Computer B + C - Windows 7 Pro 64-bit - Wife's and Mine
Computer D - Windows XP 32-bit SP2 - Family all uses
So first, I have copied like 15 DVD's right now. I use and installed the following;
Computer A - DVDFab and Media Center Master
Computers B+C - XBMC
Computer D - Not sure if XBMC will run on it, can it?
So with 15 movies compared to everyone here who have thousands I feel intimidated. But I's like to know is how are you guys copying DVD's? In what format? I keep hearing about H.264? Is DVDFab the way to go?
Then I have a slight problem with XBMC that I think is linked to my questions, but here I go. I pointed XBMC to the D:\Movies folder where I have the 15 movies. But when I go to play them I see all the individual chapters and what not. I'm thinking that this is caused by how I am copying the DVD's or is there a setting in XBMC that combines all these?
Again, I am sorry that I am not brushed up on this, I have been reading in the forums and finding tid-bits here and there. But please bear with me, I will have more questions in time, but I see that this forum is out right awesome. Love the "How-To's" and still searching in there.
Thanks and I look forward to the responses
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I'm new too, but I can help you out with the DVD backup process until one of the experts can stop by and answer your XBMC questions.
I experimented with DVDFab Free, DVD Decryptor and AnyDVD before choosing AnyDVD HD. DVD Decryptor worked for the older movies, but there were some that had problems. DVDFab Free was limited in it's ripping formats and honestly the GUI just annoyed me for some reason. I heard from a friend that the full version is much better and has a lot more options. So if you have that version, you'll probably want to stick with that.
After playing with the trial version of AnyDVD, I fell in love with the simplicity and it's ability to eat DVDs, BluRays and my HD-DVDs. The cost was a little hard to swallow, but it's done now and I don't have to worry about it anymore.
As for format, I chose the h.264 format over mkv for all my DVDs. BluRays and HD-DVDs are a different story. I also have an iTunes library along with a couple iPhones and iPads. I wanted to be able to play my movies on my mobile devices as well. iTunes won't play well with mkv files and I didn't want to keep two copies of everything. After ripping with AnyDVD HD, I used Handbrake to do the encoding to the h.264 format. It takes a little getting used to, but works perfectly.
The way I understand it, you can rip right from Handbrake when running AnyDVD, but I didn't test it out yet. My work flow had become habit after about 100 DVD's, I forgot to even try it that way.
How are you backing them up right now? What file formats are they in?
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Storage is cheap so I don't bother with re-encoding DVDs to h.264, I just store them as .iso's or video_ts. I do reauthor most discs though to strip menus, extras, irrelevant audiotracks, etc.
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Ah, is that why mine show up in Windows Explorer as MPEG-4? So that would be the container for my h.264 encodes? Sorry, I'm still learning all this stuff and I must say, there is a lot to learn!
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2011-07-05, 18:20
(This post was last modified: 2011-07-05, 18:23 by swatbat2142.)
Thanks for the quick responses. I knew this forum was kick -$%^. Okay, ummm,
S007 - I also tried the HandBrake and I agree with you, it takes time to use it. Probably why I am still in the early stages of joining the ranks. I just back all my files using SynBack. The format of the movies are in I believe is .VOB? I see some .IFO's as well. As mentioned, i am new to all this and so as of now I just used the "Copy DVD" feature in DVDFab. This is what I think is causing the issue in XBMC, I see all those .VOB's. I was under the impression you can make all the files as one.
sialivi - Interesting you mentioned .ISO. How is that done and is that done as one file? I am not sure if DVDFab can do that. I hear you on the stripping, but the wife prevails. Why? I don't know, she likes to see that stuff. But I cannot argue since she is letting spend on a QNAP storage for all this. Maybe .ISO is the way for me if it is just one file. I would still like the option to strip away something (if she let's me) and then still make just one file. Can that be done?
I hope not to make this thread go too long, but I hope I don't bother you guys too much either with more future questions. I just read and added some skins, but I tried the "install from ZIP file" and that did not work. I''ll ask later though, right now I want to get all this set up so i do not have to go back and redo everything.
Sorry, forgot to mention, DVDFab is only trial version. Once I figure out what is the easiest and best way to copy DVD's and Blu-rays in the future, then I'll plop the money down.
Thanks guys
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Thanks sialivi, I finally was able to peel away from my other stuff. I see it, I will play around with that tonight.
Got a lot done as well, got the movie thing with the .VOB's figured out. Got the skins issue figured out and how to add other things.
Thank you both for the help, I think I am going to be on my way now, just will figure what is better for our family, we just love watching movies and this great tool XBMC makes it bad-$#@. No more ejecting, possibly scratching disc, etc.
Again, thanks for the help.
