Hi guys, Firstly I'm sure if this is a taboo topic on Bit-tech so apologies if it is. Apparently backing up DVDs is actually legit...so I'm going with that! Basically, I've got about 100 DVDs all taking up space and I want to put them all into storage and store it all on a hard drive. What's the simplest and most efficient way to do this? I've Googled and there seem to be a million methods to do the same thing and just as many programes that claim to do the same thing. I want something really easy and straightforward to do that's also efficient on disk space. Thanks!
Buy anydvd and download handbrake This link is old but relevant. http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/rip_your_movie_dvds_and_watch_them_anywhere
To backup a DVD, and by-pass the great majority of copy right protection, I suggest DVDShrink. But please note, DVDShrink backups your DVD's, so you end up with an ISO. If you have Windows 8, then it's no problem. Double click on an iso file, and Windows will load it. If you are using Windows 7 or older, you need to use a virtual drive software like Daemon Tools Free edition, It won't give you a nice avi or mkv. DVDShrink can also shrink your DVD movies (remove menu, remove trailers, remove languages you don't care about, etc.). It's also 100% free. You have 2 compression modes: no compression (max quality, but won't fit on a single layer DVD (remembers that writable DVD's are smaller in size than non-writable ones), and compress the video to fit a standard writable DVD. My advice: for anything 2D animated, don't compress it, else you'll get a lot of pixelated lines on drawings, like playing a game at low resolution and 0 AA set. Remember that backup mean, no distribution rights. It's for you and only for you. MakeMKV if a paying software, but makes you a nice video file. But you have no options for video quality. Handbreak doesn't work on any disk with copy write protections.. at least on my side.
I would (having used DVDShrink for a long time) recommend against it. It no longer decrypts newer style copy protection. It doesn't just back up to ISO though just as a point. I would recommend DVDFab. I use it for all my ripping needs (DVD and Blu-Ray). Choose a format, choose a bitrate or a target size (in conversion settings once you open a disc) and off you go.
I use the beta version of MAKEMKV to rip the file into an .mkv file format. Then use FREEMAKE or Handbrake to shrink file size. You can also use these to convert into a different file format for whatever playback device you want. Also the the above are free to use. Only MAKEMKV has a time limit of 30 days. But that only seems to kick in when you rip blu ray disks. Try using FREEMAKE rather than Handbrake as I find its easier to get the 'forced subtitles' to work (when an alien speaks or foreign language used for small part of a film).
MakeMKV + some sort of program with a red fox as logo to decrypt them. Can't remember the name here at work. Rips all of my Blu-Rays, DVDs and other media formats.
Thx, I'll try it. DVDshrink is an absolute breeze to use though, but as it doesn't do Blurays I'll need something else soon anyway. DVDShrink is very good at reducing to the main film (who cares about menus and extras), but not at resampling. It does have problems with some of the newer SONY DVD's which will require "ripitforme" or the likes.
For DVDs, I use a combination of AnyDVD HD + DVDShrink. For those DVDs that DVDShrink has a problem with, rip it to the HD using AnyDVD then point DVDShrink at the ripped files. For BluRays, I use AnyDVD + ClownBD to rip the main movie. I'm not overly concerned with space, so I don't use MakeMKV or Handbrake or anything else. I don't know why, but I've never really liked DVDFab. I think it's a combination of their pricing & GUI look.
DvdFab pricing = free. What's not to like? I use DVDFab + Handbrake Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Dvdshrink is good, in fact I used to use it all then time; but I started to find more and more DVDs wouldn't rip, which is why I switched to makemkv
I use dvd catalyst 4 to rip my dvd's onto my psp go and my daughters ps3. I got fed up with the free trial ones and some of the others which just seemed complicated. Catalyst has a long list of devices and files types to convert to. Think it cost me about £6, it's on half price offer at the moment for $9.99
Hmmm, i seem to be the only one that has problems using handbrake...(it simply has too many options for me)