What format? Ripping DVDs to get rid of discs

[netdog]

I want to get rid of my DVDs as I did with my CDs a few years ago. The only dilemma is deciding what format to rip to.

I had started by doing rips of the DVDs with all the extras, etc., using Mac The Ripper, but as I see how much space they take up, I am thinking of ripping everything to an iTunes format, forgoing the extras, and saving a lot of space.

Now with my music collection, I ripped everything in lossless (ALAC) and I fear that I might regret further compressing the video, eliminating extras (which I never watch) and getting married to a format that only Apple seems to support.

So for those of you who have already done this, what has your experience been? What format did you rip to and how do you feel about the choice that you made now? And for those who say I should keep the discs, I really want to get rid of the clutter and don't want to take up closet space storing them all. Getting rid of my CD collection was wonderfully liberating, and now I want to get rid of these discs.

 

[Liquinn]

I want to get rid of my DVDs as I did with my CDs a few years ago. The only dilemma is deciding what format to rip to.

I had started by doing rips of the DVDs with all the extras, etc., using Mac The Ripper, but as I see how much space they take up, I am thinking of ripping everything to an iTunes format, forgoing the extras, and saving a lot of space.

Now with my music collection, I ripped everything in lossless (ALAC) and I fear that I might regret further compressing the video, eliminating extras (which I never watch) and getting married to a format that only Apple seems to support.

So for those of you who have already done this, what has your experience been? What format did you rip to and how do you feel about the choice that you made now? And for those who say I should keep the discs, I really want to get rid of the clutter and don't want to take up closet space storing them all. Getting rid of my CD collection was wonderfully liberating, and now I want to get rid of these discs.

I normally rip DVDs to .avis, but the problem is, with downloading from iTunes, you have nothing to physically show for it if you know what I mean.

I ripped my music CDs into .mp3s and then placed them on my iPhone.

And the problem with physical media, it takes up too much space but you do have something to show for it ;P

Hope this helps ;D

 

[blueroom]

I rip videos to Handbrakes ATV2 setting. Excellent format for all iOS devices and looks great on a 52" TV

 

[laurim]

Since it would only be legal to rip that content if you still own the discs and also in case of drive failure, it's to your advantage to find a good way to store the discs as compactly as possible. You can buy tall cake boxes (the spindles blank discs are sold on) and store 100s of disks in very little space. Take them out of their jewel/dvd cases and stack them all in one or more cake boxes. It's all the cases that take up space, not the discs and artwork inserts.

 

[technologylive]

Handbrake with the universal-setting is fine imo.
(m4v with h264 video and 2 audio streams: ac3 passtru and dolby plII)
Your movies work on iStuff, Apple TV and iTunes.
It also possible to add soft subtitles, movie information from imdb, chapter tracks!

 

[netdog]

I guess my question is more to do with what kind of future .m4v has.

With ALAC audio, I knew when I ripped that that I could always convert to another lossless format if I needed to. iTunes may not last forever after all, or may not remain appropriate. With ALAC, I knew that I'd always be able to enjoy the music one way or another.

Is the same true for .m4v or is there a better format to go with?

 

[cosmichobo]

Good question, which I'm also curious about.

I started using Handbrake, but after doing a few DVDs, noticed during playback on the ATV that the brightness level would fluctuate... (IE suddenly change mid scene)

Not sure exactly what settings I was using... so may follow the above comments to see if that helps... but didn't impress at first go.

 

[slothrob]

I guess my question is more to do with what kind of future .m4v has...

Is the same true for .m4v or is there a better format to go with?

.m4v/.mp4 is pretty universal these days. In the future, depending on the device, you may need to change the extension to .mp4, or put it in an .mkv container to get full functionality of things like subtitles, but most decent devices will play the format.

 

[Username02]

I want to get rid of my DVDs as I did with my CDs a few years ago. The only dilemma is deciding what format to rip to.

I had started by doing rips of the DVDs with all the extras, etc., using Mac The Ripper, but as I see how much space they take up, I am thinking of ripping everything to an iTunes format, forgoing the extras, and saving a lot of space.

Now with my music collection, I ripped everything in lossless (ALAC) and I fear that I might regret further compressing the video, eliminating extras (which I never watch) and getting married to a format that only Apple seems to support.

So for those of you who have already done this, what has your experience been? What format did you rip to and how do you feel about the choice that you made now? And for those who say I should keep the discs, I really want to get rid of the clutter and don't want to take up closet space storing them all. Getting rid of my CD collection was wonderfully liberating, and now I want to get rid of these discs.

I have been going through the same process as you. For CDs, I am using ALAC as well. Even if the format goes out of style, I should be able to convert them to another lossless codec which is nice.

But as you mentioned the movies are tougher because of extras etc. Like you I opted for just ripping the main movie (and also some interesting extras here and there but definitely not all of them) on the Universal setting in Handbrake.

I don't know if this is better or worse than other settings like the TV2 one, but they look fine on my TV and devices.

Out of curiosity and for some inspiration, what have you done with all the physical media once you have ripped it?

I have been trying to give it away and sell what others don't want, but I have a LOT of physical media that I just want to be gone real fast.

 

[treestar]

I have been trying to give it away and sell what others don't want, but I have a LOT of physical media that I just want to be gone real fast.

Donate it to a charity. Sell it as an entire lot on craigslist for cheap. Recycle it.

 

[emaja]

Out of curiosity and for some inspiration, what have you done with all the physical media once you have ripped it?

I have been trying to give it away and sell what others don't want, but I have a LOT of physical media that I just want to be gone real fast.[/QUOTE]

Store them since if you rip and then get rid of the disks you no longer have the right of fair use. In effect, you have paid for a pirated collection.

I have my 1800+ CDs ripped in ALAC and stored in moving boxes. Out of sight and out of mind.

 

[netdog]

I recycled my CDs. I couldn't care less what the law is. I bought the CDs. I didn't sell them on and so morally I am okay that I have kept my license. I had 1500+ CDs and just had no interest in keeping them anymore so I separated them into plastic and paper, and out onto the curb they went for the recycling man. It was a great day!

NB: I am backed up in triplicate, including a drive stored off-site.

 

[potatis]

I rip everything in AppleTV preset. It works also on the WDTV and should be no problem on other devices. If mp4 has no future it is easy to convert to mkv without having to reencode it all.

 

[AdrianK]

I guess my question is more to do with what kind of future .m4v has.

With ALAC audio, I knew when I ripped that that I could always convert to another lossless format if I needed to. iTunes may not last forever after all, or may not remain appropriate. With ALAC, I knew that I'd always be able to enjoy the music one way or another.

Is the same true for .m4v or is there a better format to go with?

m4v is just the container, you can losslessly move the contents in to another container, such as mp4, should you wish though there may be restrictions on anything other than h264 and AAC streams.

 

[emaja]

I recycled my CDs. I couldn't care less what the law is. I bought the CDs. I didn't sell them on and so morally I am okay that I have kept my license.

Unfortunately, your conscience is not a valid legal defense, but that is up to you.

I was just offering my opinion and you can do with that as you see fit.

Back OT, use ALAC for music and M4V for video. If hard drive space is not an issue, make full disc images of the DVD/BD and then convert them as needed, keeping the original images around just in case.

 

[netdog]

Unfortunately, your conscience is not a valid legal defense, but that is up to you.

I was just offering my opinion and you can do with that as you see fit.

Back OT, use ALAC for music and M4V for video. If hard drive space is not an issue, make full disc images of the DVD/BD and then convert them as needed, keeping the original images around just in case.

Right. I understand that's the law. I just don't care. And FWIW, I've never pirated anything other than tapes my friend with an Advent cassette deck used to make me when I was a kid. The only music I download is from iTunes or eTree (and the occasional free promo track). Like I said, I'm fine with how I handle music, and I'll never have to explain to a judge why I got rid of CDs. It's all good.

 

[sandyjmacdonald]

Like I said, I'm fine with how I handle music, and I'll never have to explain to a judge why I got rid of CDs. It's all good.

There was a freak localised fire that destroyed only the CDs and nothing else.

That's what happened with my DVDs anyway...

 

[netdog]

I was planning on saying that I was sunning them out in front of my building when the recycling man (a government employee) made off with them.

Now again back OT, if I do full images, wouldn't I only be able to put 60 or 70 movies on a 3tb drive? That would require a number of drives before I even got around to dealing with backups.

 

[AdrianK]

Now again back OT, if I do full images, wouldn't I only be able to put 60 or 70 movies on a 3tb drive? That would require a number of drives before I even got around to dealing with backups.

What? Lets say DVDs are on average 6.5GB, you're looking at (3*1024)/6.5 = 472 movies.

EDIT: Oh I see, 3TB/65 = 47GB per movie, think you missed a zero somewhere?

 

[emaja]

I was planning on saying that I was sunning them out in front of my building when the recycling man (a government employee) made off with them.

That won't work. There's no sun in London.

Now again back OT, if I do full images, wouldn't I only be able to put 60 or 70 movies on a 3tb drive? That would require a number of drives before I even got around to dealing with backups.

If we are talking SD DVDs, then as mentioned, they are not as big as you think - only about 6-7 GBs. Blurays are a different story as those will be 40-50 GB each. Since you didn't mention BD, I was referring to DVDs only.