best DVD storage format

[simonk1969]

I've had a search for the answer to this question but cannot find any recent answers.

What format do people save there DVD's onto the HD ? I currently have them in the standard DVD format, is there a better way to store them using less space but retain quality ?

Thanks
Simon

[trini0]

Originally Posted by simonk1969

is there a better way to store them using less space but retain quality

From my limited experience, I would say no.
Once you start converting it to another file format to save space, you lose quality. How much quality is a subjective matter. I'm sure someone will chime in on what you can do.

[[JiF]Mike]

I use a program called Fair Use Wizard to RIP my DVD's to my HDD. As for quality I cannot tell any difference on my 57" HDTV. I typically rip action movies preserving the AC3 5.1 surround sound and make those files about 1400MB. I have a lot of Disney movies and I do most of those with stereo MP3 audio and they end up around 700MB each. I could go smaller, but I like the quality to be a non issue and this is still significantly smaller. There are 2 major drawbacks to this as I see it; there are no 'extras' as I only convert the main movie, and it takes a long time. One movie can take up to 3 hours to process depending on your system speed and program settings. Still it's been totally worth it IMO...I have nearly 150 movies available through SageTV. The Disney movies are the most watched when you have little kids like I do, and it's great not constantly looking for the DVD's which were ending up all over the house!

[sandor]

i rip DVDs to MPEG files (.mpg). This retains MPEG-2 encoding, and AC3 audio, has basically no space saving abilities, but makes a single file for each movie rather than a folder. That way, if need be, i can open the mpg file in Quicktime or MPEGStreamclip and encode it to anything i want.

[AtariJeff]

I ripped my entire collection (400+) of DVD's to DivX using AutoGK. Kept the AC3 sound and aimed for about 1Gb/hr. Looks fine on my Sammy 61" DLP. A few movies refused to convert due to audio sync issues but I just kept them as a folder or merged them into a single mpeg.

[garyellis]

I ripped my DVD's to VOB files, which I believe are the same as MPEG files. I keep the AC3 and mine are typically about 1GB per hour. The quality is great and it takes about 10 minutes to rip the DVD.

For audio sync errors...I ran into a few of those and a few timeline errors....I load the VOB file into videoredo and run the quickstream fix. Everyone I have tried is fine after that and I save them as a VOB file.

Gary Ellis

[dvd_maniac]

I have a little over 1500 Movies. A few of them are recordings but most are DVD's... I encode them to X264(H.264)/AAC using Nero Recode or Staxrip. I encode movie only, cut out the credits, crop and adjust the bitrate to whatever the movie needs.
IE: If the movie is a favorite, action or Sci-Fi I have the bitrate higher. Drama, low motion, crappy movies and Cartoons I keep smaller.
The movies take up a little over 650GB
I have people over all the time and watch it on my 57" Hitachi HDTV using the HD Extender and I have never had anybody tell the difference between it and a DVD...

[btrcp2000]

do any of these options allow the use of the menus, or are they all just the movie? I would love to be able to preserve the scene selection ability, or have soime kind of chapter skipping function, but get rid of previews, commentary, etc.

I will be re-ripping mine as I reinstalled windows without disconnecting my storage drive, and inadvertently wiped out my partition. Woohoo!

[dvd_maniac]

If you want to maintain most of the DVD structure but want to lower the filesize then I would recommend DVDShrink or Nero Recode. You can cut out all or part of a Title Set and use less bitrate on extras or wipe them out completely. But it will still take up alot of space!

You could also do what I do on certain movies... If I want to keep extras of a particular movie then I just rip the extras seperately and encode each of them along with the movie into seperate files and then place them all in a Imported Videos folder.
Ex. Star Wars IV: A New Hope
\Movies\Sci-Fi\Star Wars IV A New Hope\Star Wars IV A New Hope.mp4
\Movies\Sci-Fi\Star Wars IV A New Hope\Extra 1.mp4
\Movies\Sci-Fi\Star Wars IV A New Hope\Extra 2.mp4
\Movies\Sci-Fi\Star Wars IV A New Hope\Extra 3.mp4
etc...

[stanger89]

If you rip the whole DVD and leave it in a "complete" state in a folder, it is fully functional (even on extenders).