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Jun 02, 2018, 01:44 am
(This post was last modified: Jun 02, 2018, 19:19 pm by jerrysmatrix. Edited 1 time in total.)
My local library has a huge selection of DVDs. It's on par with the Netflix DVD library. The only problem is that they tend to come scratched to hell.
I posted for help a while back, thinking that I was doing something wrong. It turned out that my biggest problems were being caused by the discs being too scratched.
So I bought a JFJ Easy Pro, and I must say, that thing works great. It uses 600 grit sandpaper to remove deep scratches, and 1200 grit to remove lighter scratches (and the scratches that the 600 grit makes). Then it uses two different compounds to polish the discs.
At first I thought I wrecked my first couple discs, but it's pretty forgiving. Just restart the process until you get it right.
I just thought I'd share my success story, now that I have some flawless DVD rips to share with the community. Plus, I'd like to point out, that a library may be a very good resource for filling in some gaps in your media collection.
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Jun 03, 2018, 17:17 pm
(This post was last modified: Jun 03, 2018, 17:19 pm by RobertX. Edited 1 time in total.)
So not only did you rip the library DVDs, you've made it better so that future borrowers can watch/rip the DVDs.
Good plan.
EDIT: Which software do you use to rip your DVDs?
And by the way, I also use the library to rip DVDs.
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So far I've just been using HandBrake with libdvdcss-2 to rip the DVDs. Sometimes it fails, in which case I turn to MakeMKV to rip, and then back to HandBrake to transcode.
I am open to suggestions though, because HandBrake tends to crash or do incomplete rips without warning (warning gets lost in the long log), if it can't read the disc all of the way. I'd much prefer to have it let me know, because as it is, I have to go back and verify all of the videos have the right lengths.
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Jun 05, 2018, 16:57 pm
(This post was last modified: Jun 05, 2018, 17:02 pm by RobertX. Edited 1 time in total.)
Why would you transcode if MakeMKV already does it for you?
That being asked, I think Handbrake does it well when it can, but the progress in ripping is rather slow.
Personally though, I don't use MakeMKV; I'd rather use Handbrake to rip the DVD and ConvertXtoDVD to burn the DVD back to disc. Or I just download a Blu Ray rip and spare the trouble.
EDIT: I'm not very choosy about how well the video quality gets as long as I can watch the video. However, I wouldn't go for screeners or CAMs. Why would I? But my point is that since I only have a DVD player, I would use something that is appropriate on the TV screen. That being said, screeners or CAMs aren't necessary, and neither is a raw 25GB Blu Ray compilation. MKVs and MP4s are the middle path, and I walk middle paths.
That's the end of my rambling help. Hope it does what I hope I can help out with.
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Jun 05, 2018, 17:44 pm
(This post was last modified: Jun 05, 2018, 17:47 pm by jerrysmatrix. Edited 2 times in total.)
(Jun 05, 2018, 16:57 pm)RobertX Wrote: Why would you transcode if MakeMKV already does it for you?
Two reasons:
The main reason why I have been doing this, is that get the same quality at about half the file size by transcoding it in HandBrake.
The other reason is that I use Plex to stream my media to all of my Fire TV devices. For some reason, the latest Fire TV device (Pendant) doesn't support as many codecs as the older devices, and the Plex app hasn't caught up with that yet. So the viewing experience is really crappy, unless I manually transcode my media to a codec that the Fire TV supports.
The Plex app is kind of crappy in general on the Fire TV devices. It seems work a whole lot better when I use the "web optimized" setting. It crashes and disconnects a lot less that way.
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The first reason fits like a glove, but the second one seems too technical/ambiguous. That's my fault though as I don't understand TV media players; never had one.
Thanks!
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Jun 05, 2018, 17:55 pm
(This post was last modified: Jun 05, 2018, 17:56 pm by contrail. Edited 1 time in total.)
(Jun 05, 2018, 17:44 pm)jerrysmatrix Wrote: It seems work a whole lot better when I use the "web optimized" setting. It crashes and disconnects a lot less that way.
That is about right because then you do not have to transcode it for that specific device, web-optimized is direct send and straightforward.
Does anyone have a link to this amazing device?
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Using any linux distro you can copypaste the contents of any dvd to any other drive before running handbrake. That's how I used to do it. If the dvd has any errors it turns up in the copy process before I run handbrake.
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Jun 07, 2018, 00:19 am
(This post was last modified: Jun 07, 2018, 00:22 am by RobertX.)
jerrysmatrix, I hope you won't think any less of me for asking this, but for the quality side, can you give me a reason why you are using ripping DVDs for movies partly for the sake of quality? The Plex question I have problems with, but what of quality? For that, you can just use Blu Ray rips all over the Internet.
For me, it's not about quality; it's about space.
EDIT: Fuck, I didn't read your post correctly; you were using it for size as well. Sorry, think less of me then. 
Now tell me, how long does it take for the entire process of your operation to run its course?
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There's a happy medium between quality and size. Personally, I'm fine with DVD quality as a bare minimum, but I do tend to go for 720p when downloading, and I'll choose 1080p if it's already transcoded and a reasonable size. When there's a show I want that's only available in less than DVD quality, I'll look for the series at my library or Netflix DVD.
Fixing discs doesn't usually take more than about 10-20 minutes, depending on how bad it is. I'm still getting the hang of it, but I'm guessing as I get better, it shouldn't ever take more than 10 minutes on the worst disc.
As far as ripping and transcoding, that all widely varies depending on the disc, as I'm sure you know.
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