Advice for ripping unbootlegged Beatleg DVDs to digital

Get help or discuss anything relating to audio/video software & hardware
User avatar
Egg_Crisis
Posts: 131
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2021 3:24 pm
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 21 times

Re: Advice for ripping unbootlegged Beatleg DVDs to digital

Post by Egg_Crisis »

chrisp wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 2:04 pmThank you Egg_Crisis for that suggestion about using folders. It worked, I don't know why I hadn't thought of it. It will make it much easier to organise my videos.
Ah, glad it worked. Now you can have fun sorting the videos be year, by tour, a folder for promotional videos perhaps, or whatever you want.
User avatar
onemojofilter
Posts: 202
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2021 2:44 pm
Has thanked: 6 times
Been thanked: 18 times

Re: Advice for ripping unbootlegged Beatleg DVDs to digital

Post by onemojofilter »

Lord Reith wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 2:11 am
onemojofilter wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 9:35 pm Forgive a newbie asking an obvious question, but is it possible to have multiple VOB files converted into one mkv file rather than multiple mkv files?
A lot of people make that mistake. Don't use "open file", use "open disk", even if it's a disk ripped to your hard drive.
...
It will open the titles on the dvd instead of the vob files.
Thanks so much, LR!
My opinions are my own, but, my dog tends to agree with everything I say.
User avatar
onemojofilter
Posts: 202
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2021 2:44 pm
Has thanked: 6 times
Been thanked: 18 times

Re: Advice for ripping unbootlegged Beatleg DVDs to digital

Post by onemojofilter »

Suzy Parlourphone wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 12:49 am
onemojofilter wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 9:35 pm
Forgive a newbie asking an obvious question, but is it possible to have multiple VOB files converted into one mkv file rather than multiple mkv files?
I use MakeMKV for ripping DVDs/DVD files (https://www.makemkv.com). You can turn a title and its chapters into a single mkv file, but I think if there are multiple titles they would be different mkv files. For example, if you wanted to do a DVD movie with special features, the movie would be a file and the features would be separate individual files. You can also do individual chapters, specify the audio, etc. It works for Blu-Ray too.
Also appreciate your reply as well :)
My opinions are my own, but, my dog tends to agree with everything I say.
User avatar
DonHo
Posts: 182
Joined: Thu Jul 01, 2021 6:30 am

Re: Advice for ripping unbootlegged Beatleg DVDs to digital

Post by DonHo »

Excellent LR!!!
User avatar
Lord Reith
Posts: 4598
Joined: Thu Feb 18, 2021 8:22 am
Location: BBC House
Has thanked: 139 times
Been thanked: 3937 times

Re: Advice for ripping unbootlegged Beatleg DVDs to digital

Post by Lord Reith »

Yeah let me say again XMediaRecode is a fantastic free programme. You can create many formats or switch between containers losslessly, like having lossless audio in an m4a container which I've seen people use. It can also re-encode if you want to h264 or h265, with a choice of filters. I used to use Handbrake but this one is quite a bit better.
Women there don't treat you mean, in Abilene
chrisp
Posts: 63
Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2021 5:18 pm
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Advice for ripping unbootlegged Beatleg DVDs to digital

Post by chrisp »

Thanks to LR's recommendation I successfully used XMediaRecode and it worked really well. I haven't managed to preserve chapters when rippng to MP though.
User avatar
KitsuHitsuyy
Posts: 365
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2021 3:41 pm
Location: Brazil
Has thanked: 103 times
Been thanked: 167 times
Contact:

Re: Advice for ripping unbootlegged Beatleg DVDs to digital

Post by KitsuHitsuyy »

Always to correctly deinterlace DVD footage!

If it's PAL, do 50 fps; NTSC, 59.94 fps.
My YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KitsuBeatles/
My Discord server: https://discord.gg/qaCPu9VrsY

Saw Paul on November 30th, 2023 at the Mané Garrincha Stadium, Brasília, Brazil!
User avatar
Lord Reith
Posts: 4598
Joined: Thu Feb 18, 2021 8:22 am
Location: BBC House
Has thanked: 139 times
Been thanked: 3937 times

Re: Advice for ripping unbootlegged Beatleg DVDs to digital

Post by Lord Reith »

KitsuHitsuyy wrote: Mon Aug 09, 2021 6:04 pm Always to correctly deinterlace DVD footage!

If it's PAL, do 50 fps; NTSC, 59.94 fps.
Yeah, in Xmediarecode you have to choose "yadif' and "bob" in the deinterlace filter section, but you also have to set the framerate manually to either 50 (for 25fps source material) or 59.94 (for 29.97fps source material).

This is only for encoding from scratch btw. In the "copy" mode there are no deinterlace options because you are not re-encoding the video. For successful playback of any video in VLC Player, you should go into Preferences > Video and permanently set "deinterlace" to ON and the "mode" to "Yadif 2x".

Re the chapters they should be carried over from the dvd whether in copy or encode mode. Make sure you are opening the actual VIDEO_TS and not the VOB files.
Women there don't treat you mean, in Abilene
journeyman
Posts: 63
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:40 am
Has thanked: 8 times

Re: Advice for ripping unbootlegged Beatleg DVDs to digital

Post by journeyman »

Lord Reith wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:58 am
beatlesondvd wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 8:06 am Hello everyone.

I want to start ripping my Beatles (uncompressed) DVDs to digital.

With all the expert knowledge around here, I was wondering if someone has any advice as to what software/file extension/setting I should use for the optimal quality/size ratio.

Is x265 the best codec around?
Should I rip to .mp4 or .mkv?
What about deinterlacing?

Thank you!
You don't need to convert to mp4 anymore because storage is now so cheap. It's not worth spending hours converting a dvd to mp4 just to reduce the size, especially if you have a lot of them.

You can rip your dvds losslessly to an mkv container, and it will not be re-encoded so you lose no quality and it only takes as long as it takes to copy a file. So you can convert a dvdr in 5 mins or less.

The software I use is called XMediaRecode. Handbrake can't rip losslessly to mkv.

https://www.xmedia-recode.de/download.php

Once you've opened it:

- set FORMAT to "matroska"
- click OPEN DISK and either select a physical dvd or a VIDEO_TS folder you've already ripped. Note that if you're ripping a commercial dvd (that you own of course!) then it will have to be ripped as a VIDEO_TS folder first with something like DVDFab because they are encrypted. Dvdrs aren't encrypted. I always find it is best to rip discs first as VIDEO_TS folders, regardless of whether they are encrypted. You don't need software to rip dvdrs. Just open the disk in explorer and copy the VIDEO_TS file as you would any other folder.
xmediamini.jpg
- under OUTPUT select a destination that suits you. This has to be done first!
- you can load more VIDEO_TS folders if you want using OPEN DISK, as many as you want. The video contents of all of them will appear in the rectangular window at the top.
- select the dvd title you want, or select all of them. Some dvds contain one long file, others contain many titles
- in the VIDEO tab, set MODE to COPY
- in the AUDIO tab, set MODE to COPY. If there are foreign language streams you can ignore them or highlight them and add them to the output as well with the triangle button. They are not added by default.
- click ADD TO QUEUE
- check the queue and make sure you have everything you want and that all video and audio streams are indicated as "copy"
- click ENCODE

This probably sounds horribly complicated, but what I described only takes about 30 seconds. The encoding will be very fast and if you convert a bunch of VIDEO_TS folders at once you can go off and do something else. You'll be left with mkv files with the original chapters embedded. Of course, you'll have to manually title them.
Thank you for this info and the 'walk through' instructions Lord Reith this is much appreciated. I am definitely a techno newbie, so this all helps greatly. My understanding of this is "In COPY MODE" - you basically get no reduction in picture or audio quality so the file is exactly the same size, just in a different format, MKV in this case? So this wouldn't reduce storage space on your pc?
Secondly, I notice there is a crop function, which would enable tidying up the edges of an old film or vhs tape, but this doesn't work in "COPY" mode only in "CONVERT" mode?
Is there a way to utilise the "crop" tool or editing functions without losing any quality? Or would I need to tweak the settings somehow.
Hope this all makes sense and not too vague? :-) Thank you
User avatar
Lord Reith
Posts: 4598
Joined: Thu Feb 18, 2021 8:22 am
Location: BBC House
Has thanked: 139 times
Been thanked: 3937 times

Re: Advice for ripping unbootlegged Beatleg DVDs to digital

Post by Lord Reith »

journeyman wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 10:00 am Thank you for this info and the 'walk through' instructions Lord Reith this is much appreciated. I am definitely a techno newbie, so this all helps greatly. My understanding of this is "In COPY MODE" - you basically get no reduction in picture or audio quality so the file is exactly the same size, just in a different format, MKV in this case? So this wouldn't reduce storage space on your pc?
Secondly, I notice there is a crop function, which would enable tidying up the edges of an old film or vhs tape, but this doesn't work in "COPY" mode only in "CONVERT" mode?
Is there a way to utilise the "crop" tool or editing functions without losing any quality? Or would I need to tweak the settings somehow.
Hope this all makes sense and not too vague? :-) Thank you
Hi yes COPY mode is lossless and only the container is changed. To use any of the filters you need to switch to CONVERT mode, which will re-encode the whole file. While this is useful for adding effects and tweaks I do not recommend it as a means of simply saving storage space. It takes far far longer to convert than copy, plus you lose some quality, and there is no need to save space these days because hard drives are so cheap. Even a common or garden 1TB portable drive will store 200 dvdrs worth of video.

The only thing you can change when copying to mkv is the display size or an audio synch error. So if you have an annoying video that should be widescreen but displays in 4:3 then you can fix that without re-encoding by changing the display size. Or if the audio lags or preceeds then you can add a +/- value to compensate. I had a bunch of videos that should have been 14:9 but showed as 16:9 (ie: too stretched). It was a simple matter to change the display size and my tv displays them with the right aspect ratio now.
Post Reply