This has probably been asked in the past but I can't find any decent guides on the net. In the time off between jobs I want to rip my DVD collection to put on the home server. I would like to get the best quality possible - Space is not an issue. I have a Raspberry Pi running Raspbmc which will be hooked up to a TV. I've tried MakeMKV and although it's pretty good each DVD seems to rip at a different resolution. Meaning some have black bars on top & bottom. So I'm after a solution that I can rip with the best quality to a set resolution. With there being a few media center owners on here I thought it would be the best place to seek advice in something I have absolutely no clue about
Assuming of course you've got the correct licenses to change the format the film is in & you're not breaking any encryption or circumventing protection etc (usual legal waffle) AnyDVD does this well, especially in combination with mymovies. Some (if not most) films will still have black bars as they're filmed in a different aspect ration to TV's and the black bars are on the print.
I think the different resolution thing/black bars are as a result of some filme being shot in wide(r) aspect ratios? So they are either rip at the same resolution, some with black bars, some without, or different resolutions all without black bars. I think I remember using MagicDVDripper in the past, only a trial version though, since it was just for testing. I seem to remember it was half decent.
i use a combination of DVDfab HD for the decrypting the full disc then use handbrake on my own custom settings - i do both blu-ray and dvd
Are you dead set on transcoding them? All of mine are ripped directly from the discs into folder structures which I then mount for viewing using MyMovies. It's bloody excellent and all menus/chapters/that jazz is retained.
I got fed up with the free ones and trial versions etc and stumped up the measly price of £6.99 for DVD catalyst and it's really easy to use and I haven't found anything it wouldn't work on.
I use mkv container. for DVDs i use an RF of 15 with DTS passthrough on audio. I also tweak a couple of the advanced settings to squeeze a bit more compression without losing the quality. I cant remember which ones. It does however increase the encoding time by a fair amount so if your PC isnt that quick you will be in for a really long encode time for Blur-rays i use RF 20 @1080p with the same DVD settings. I tried 720p as some said it made hardly any difference but dropped the file size considerably, however i did notice it so i stick with 1080 subs i only include English ones DVD are around 1.2-2.5 GB and look pretty good on my 42" TV BLu-rays are around 3GB-6GB and also look good.
I've settled with DVDFab and ripping to MP4. DVDFab makes use of Nvidia GPU's so helps with the speed. Then having XBMC strech to 16:9. Seems to be the same as watching from the DVD player. New parts for media pc arrive thursday so will be finishing off the DVD's today
