Importing advice for newbie

[meulemaster]

Ola fellow A/V freaks like myself

Ok, so I have a pretty decent collection of MP4 & Avi's which are working fine for me playing through (can't believe I am about to say this) my Xbox 360 :S

In this stage of my quest for the ultimate home theater setup it is working fine.

What I want to do next is import my DVD collection for backup reasons and for future playback. And when I say future i mean I am in no rush right now to play these dvds through my xbox. In the future I want to have a device that will be able to play any format... (I am sure there is one already but I am kinda hoping Apple will come out with one).

So what is the best way to import these dvds?

I want to keep as much of the quality and of the functionality of the dvd's as possible.

PS Storage is not an issue since I am working on a NAS and currently have over 1TB of space left till NAS is finished.

Thanks!

PSS Get well soon Steve!!!!!

 

[TheCheapGeek]

Handbrake is the program you need. Its the best mac ripping software. You area also going to need to install VLC player so handbreak can get past the copy protection of the DVD's.

 

[ftaok]

What I want to do next is import my DVD collection for backup reasons and for future playback. And when I say future i mean I am in no rush right now to play these dvds through my xbox. In the future I want to have a device that will be able to play any format... (I am sure there is one already but I am kinda hoping Apple will come out with one).

So what is the best way to import these dvds?

I want to keep as much of the quality and of the functionality of the dvd's as possible.

PS Storage is not an issue since I am working on a NAS and currently have over 1TB of space left till NAS is finished.

In my opinion, the best way to back up the DVDs would be to rip them as VIDEO_TS and not convert them at all. Most DVDs clock in around 6 to 7.5 GB, so you can calculate how many DVDs you can store.

By doing it this way, you retain the full quality of the DVD as well as all of the special features and such.

If you don't care about the special features and other stuff (like director's commentary, foreign language tracks, etc), you can choose to rip the "Title Only" and save a few GBs.

For Macs, try using Mac The Ripper or Fairmount.

For Windows, try DVDFab5 (there's a free version that's somewhat limited).

ft

 

[tom1971]

Handbrake is the program you need. Its the best mac ripping software. You area also going to need to install VLC player so handbreak can get past the copy protection of the DVD's.

I agree, Handbrake is the way to go. I love it !

 

[Mr Kram]

handbrake is not the solution if you want to retain functionality. as the other poster stated, you want to copy the ts folders via MTR or Fairmount.

 

[TheCheapGeek]

Your right, but for me the part of the movie i care about is the movie. DVD menus have always annoyed me and extra features are not really my cup of tea. I think mac the ripper is a good solution to get full dvd rips. I use this in conjunction with handbrake to line up several dvd's to encode while im at work.

 

[ftaok]

Your right, but for me the part of the movie i care about is the movie. DVD menus have always annoyed me and extra features are not really my cup of tea. I think mac the ripper is a good solution to get full dvd rips. I use this in conjunction with handbrake to line up several dvd's to encode while im at work.

I respect that Handbrake is the best option for you, but the OP asked a specific question ... and Handbrake is a potential answer, but I respectfully disagree.

The OP has a lot of storage space, wants to retain the quality as high as reasonable, wants the full functionality of the DVD, and is in no hurry to stream it to his XBox360.

To me, the answer is to rip it as a VIDEO_TS folder. He'll have an exact copy of the DVD with full functionality, plus, when the time comes and he decides on a media streamer, he can encode his VIDEO_TS folders to whatever is the flavor of the moment.

If he rips with Handbrake now, he'll actually be wasting his time because when he's ready to use it, he'll likely want something of better quality.

To me, the kicker is that he has a lot of HDD space. If he didn't have the 1TB of storage available, I would have suggested ripping with HB at a reasonably high bit-rate.

ft

 

[SFStateStudent]

Did someone already say "HandBrake" lol Try MPEG Streamclip as well, it's done the trick with .avi movies as well...