Full-disc DVD rips: .iso vs. .dvdmedia

[Makosuke]

This is a completely separate question from my other thread, so I figured it'd make more sense on its own.

I'm getting ready to do a bunch of full-disc (not recompressed) DVD rips, and I'm debating on whether .iso images or .dvdmedia packages are better.

So far as I can tell there's not much difference--they're the same size and the same content--but is there anything I'm missing? I kinda like .iso just for the fact that it's "compact" and a monolithic file from the OS's standpoint, but .dvdmedia does have the double-click-to-play advantage without the added mounting step.

Opinions/suggestions/thoughts?

 

[McGiord]

Hi there. Unfortunately I don't know the answer to your question but I am interested in doing something similar too.
How are you planning to watch them? Your Mac? AppleTV?

I have an old AppleTV and also a PS3 and I am not sure what would be the best way to get those videos so they playback like the DVDs.

 

[ECUpirate44]

I use ripit to convert my dvd's to .dvdmedia files. I find that its easy to do and easy to modify when trying to burn them using toast.

 

[Makosuke]

Hi there. Unfortunately I don't know the answer to your question but I am interested in doing something similar too.
How are you planning to watch them? Your Mac? AppleTV?

I expect to be playing them through a mini server/media center. If I wanted to use an AppleTV I'm pretty sure a direct DVD rip wouldn't work--you need to transcode to a more compressed format to play through ATV.

Same goes for your PS3 (which I also have, but have had crap luck using to play anything other than physical DVDs and BDs, plus it has a ridiculously loud fan)--you're going to need to transcode, not direct-disc rip, to play with it.

I'd say 95% of people would be better served by transcodes anyway--the files are much smaller, the quality is about the same, they can be played on a much wider range of devices (ATV, PS3, other media boxes, iPod, etc), and they bypass the menus and copyright crap. The only big disadvantage is that they take a long time to rip, due to the format transcode, and the special features on some discs might get awkward/not be accessible.

In my case, I very specifically want the DVDs exactly as-pressed, since it's for review reference purposes, which is why I'm going for raw disc rips rather than transcoding.

 

[spacepower7]

Frontrow will play .dvdmedia but I'm not sure about Plex, Boxee, or XBMC.

 

[ehurdler]

On my Original ATV I play full DVD rips. I am running 3.0.2 on my ATV with NitoTV installed and all my DVD rips or avi files on an external 1TB usb hard drive connected directly to ATV's usb port. Now when I have ripped the DVD's I leave them in a folder with the name of the DVD. Inside the folder it has the standard VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders. NitoTV plays these perfectly. When I browse to the folder name of the DVD on my hard drive NitoTV will automatically start the DVD from the normal menu as a Mac or PC dvd player would.