What file format for DVD's?

Disclaimer: I tried posting this in off topic but apparently I don't have permission to post there.

I want to start making making digital copies of my DVDs, but its extremely confusing. I only want the movie/episode, not any of the extras. Storage space is not a concern and I would like both audio and video quality the same as though I stuck the disk in. I also don't want to go through a 12423987243... step walk through to get it as I will be doing this on each disk.
Does anyone have any recommendations of software/procedures to use?

MakeMKV is what you want, rips out the main movie or TV episodes to a .mkv container with the original video/audio untouched.

yup,
Mkv is the way to go...I rip using dvd ripping software then use handbrake to make the MKV.

Absolutely - Make MKV. It strips out the data streams from the disc without recoding it, so it's fast and you don't lose any quality. Any space savings you gain are from dropping soundtracks and subtitles you don't want, and you can pick which titles you want from the disc.

MakeMKV is also free for DVDs. It'll do BluRay as well, but that will be chargeable as soon as it's out of Beta. If you're downloading it today, be aware that the activation key on their forum (for the beta version) doesn't work. They need to update it. This won't affect you if you're using DVDs though.

It'll also strip off most/all of the copy protection. Well that was worth putting on the discs then, eh?

Agreed, I use MakeMKV for all my 500 DVD/Blu-Ray rips. Works like a charm.

IMHO ISO is for dvd's a alternate solution.

i use ISOs for my dvd content however i want that "Just put the DVD in" Feel with all the features commentaries and whatnot. I'm not sure about Bluray haven't gotten that far yet.

Drazzilb Wrote:i use ISOs for my dvd content however i want that "Just put the DVD in" Feel with all the features commentaries and whatnot. I'm not sure about Bluray haven't gotten that far yet.

Granted, you can't do that with MKV. If the commentary is just another soundtrack, though, you can keep that in and just switch soundtracks as you play.

I use an AppleTV with XBMC, so it's a little underpowered. Opening the DVD/BD structure seems to take more effort than the MKV file, so that's another reason for me to go that way, but if you have a beefier HTPC that won't make any difference.

defiler Wrote:Granted, you can't do that with MKV. If the commentary is just another soundtrack, though, you can keep that in and just switch soundtracks as you play.

I use an AppleTV with XBMC, so it's a little underpowered. Opening the DVD/BD structure seems to take more effort than the MKV file, so that's another reason for me to go that way, but if you have a beefier HTPC that won't make any difference.

Very true i do realize that the Commentaries are just another soundtrack. I like all the extra features included as well. Hence for my movies i go ISOs.

I do however have a question about TV Shows. If size really inst the issue with DVD rips of a TV show should i compress IE change the container/codac or just leave its in its original VOB container/codac

Drazzilb Wrote:Very true i do realize that the Commentaries are just another soundtrack. I like all the extra features included as well. Hence for my movies i go ISOs.

I do however have a question about TV Shows. If size really inst the issue with DVD rips of a TV show should i compress IE change the container/codac or just leave its in its original VOB container/codac

I generally don't have time to go through all the "special features". Some of them are quite interesting, but now I have kids I just sit down and watch a movie these days. Ah - the good old days!

Again, with TV shows, I shove them into MKV files and title them per episode. XBMC then keeps track of which files I've been through so I can just pick up at the next one when I have time.

Of course, if ISOs work for you, or the decrypted DVD file structure (and more importantly if the other users of your XBMC understand how to use it this way) I can't really give you a better reason to extract all the titles than being able to handle individual files per movie / episode.