[MarchHare]

Hi all,

I'm in the process of copying my movies to my san and was wondering what program(s) are recommended.

I'm using DVDshrink, Handbrake and Makemkv, depending on which one works for the title I'm copying.

Are there better programs out there without paying an arm and a leg or ordering through what seem like questionable sites?

Suggestions on ways to make the process easier are always welcome.

Thanks!

-MH

[whysoserious]

Everyone has their favorites, it's like "which is better, vanilla or chocolate?"

For me, MakeMKV does what I need: rip unaltered video and audio from DVD's and Blu Ray's. I've got about 10 TB of space on my NAS, and will expand if needed.

For files from "other" sources, I use MKVToolnix to re-package the files, removing unwanted audio streams and subtitles, images, etc. without additional compression or transcoding.

Edit: BTW, chocolate is better...

[MarchHare]

I agree with you on chocolate!

I'm leaning more and more toward MakeMKV, it seems to be able to handle more of the titles I throw at it.

Thanks for the input!

I love your comment about Bacon, too.

-MH

[Prof Yaffle]

DVDShrink will rip DVDs, but not BluRay discs, unless it's been updated since last I looked. It will rip and shrink using MPEG-2, or resizing - not ideal.

Makemkv will rip pretty much anything, but does not manipulate the content beyond de/selecting individual tracks. However, you can then drop the resulting file through Handbrake if you want to resize it (e.g. to 720p) or re-encode (e.g. running through RF20 H264, transcoding audio, etc.). That's one of the easiest workflows if you want to squash the 25Gb video files down, or throw away the HD audio tracks.

Exact Audio Copy is good for FLAC/CD rips. It'll also call in LAME and other encoders for e.g. MP3.

Mkvtoolnix (and variations - Makemkv GUI) is excellent for remuxing stuff into/within mkv files - dropping out audio tracks, changing aspect ratio flags, setting default audio, and similar. More useful for OTA recordings in my experience, as some of these get eaten in translation.

And I don't like bacon

[Idokfire]

Although I'm not the OP, thank you all for the excellent post. I've been ranging to redo my DVD collection for quite awhile now. This has given me great idea to start. I'll add, I still use the old dvddecryptor. Still works great on many DVD and is quick.

[MarchHare]

Wow, thank you all for this great information, it will make moving my library from physical to digital much easier!

This is what makes this community great; the willingness to help others and share information.

Off to rip some more movies!

-MH