Easiest way to rip DVDs and browse them in SageTV?

[null_pointer_us]

We have 1 SageTV server and 4 clients -- only PCs, not extenders -- and I'd like to setup some sort of DVD ripping program.

The goal here is that any member of the family could go up to the server, insert a DVD, and run a simple program to copy the DVD (w/ its menus, subtitles, etc.) to a hard drive, where it will be viewable from any SageTV client.

How can I setup this ripping/browsing process to make it as simple and intuitive as possible?


I'd also like to avoid this issue entirely...
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...480#post305480
...even when the person ripping DVDs is mostly computer-illiterate.


(I can worry about individual clients' decoding issues later.)

[Olias]

AnyDVD is about as simple as it gets. Insert DVD, rightclick on the AnyDVD icon, choose rip. Click "Copy DVD", wait a bit and you're done.

The first time you do this you must choose the folder holding your rips, but after that it automatically goes there. You might want to change the name of the folder after the fact, cause AnyDVD can give it a cryptic name.

Because you are ripping the entire structure, you won't run into the problem mentioned in the other post.

Of course, this is only for DVDs you personally own.

[BFisher]

With anydvd installed on your server, you don't even need to rip it. For our netflix discs, we just put them in the server and watch them on the HD Extenders without issue. No need to rip it.

[null_pointer_us]

Thanks for the replies!

AnyDVD sounds nice, but it's upwards of $50. If I put any money into this project, it would probably be spent on a new hard drive.

I tried a freeware program named DVDFab HD Decrypter, which worked well on a Pirates of the Caribbean DVD I had lying around. The software copied the DVD as a set of video and audio files to a folder on my hard drive. Then I added a media import path to SageTV and the DVD showed up in my library. Everything worked, including the menus.

Some minor issues:

1. SageTV doesn't automatically download and display the cover art. Is there a setting or a plugin that can provide this feature?

2. These DVDs take up a lot of space (8 GB for Pirates 1). Is there a way to recompress the video without ruining the menus etc.?

[null_pointer_us]

Originally Posted by BFisher

With anydvd installed on your server, you don't even need to rip it. For our netflix discs, we just put them in the server and watch them on the HD Extenders without issue. No need to rip it.

Interesting!

However, my goal here is to store the household DVDs in a digital library, which SageTV could then serve to any PC in the house. See, we have a family member who (chronically) swaps discs out of the DVD changer and into unrelated cases, so sometimes I have to track down 3-4 DVD cases before I find the case containing the movie I want to watch.

[smak]

Originally Posted by null_pointer_us

2. These DVDs take up a lot of space (8 GB for Pirates 1). Is there a way to recompress the video without ruining the menus etc.?

For movies that you own... What you are looking for is DVD Shrink. I do not believe it is maintain any longer but you should be able to find downloads on the net. You can compress DVDs as much as you want while maintain the integrity of the menus, extras, etc. Some folks have even written some scripts to make this a one-click process.

Since it is no longer updated you may run into encryption issues with some DVDs. That is where AnyDVD comes in handy.

-smak

[SWKerr]

I have had DVDFab for quite a while and it is great for ripping. If you get the full version there are options for converting the main movie to something that will play well with SageTV. That file will be a lot smaller but just how small depends on how much quality you want to give up. A nice looking full length movie should be about 2-3gb but you can go down to 700GB and still not get to bad a picture.

You can probably save some space by just ripping the main movie and excluding the alternate audio files. By just ripping the move you will no longer have to deal with the previews and FBI warning. I think you can do that in the free version.

Even though I have the full version, I personally use DVDFab to rip the disk to the hard drive and then convert it to a h.264 file in a MKV container using MeGui. A typical movie is about 2.5GB for me and I think looks better than the original in some cases. There is an option in MeGui that makes the blacks look better and for some things like Star Wars it really seems to improve the quility of the picture. MeGui is somewhat complicated to use compared to the built-in DVDFab compression.

AnyDVD is good as well but really on rips DVDs. If you do not plan on ripping BluRays it is probably not worth it unless you want to play DVDs directly across the network or on a extender.

I use SageMC and there is an option once installed to lookup the description and icon on the web based on the file name.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by null_pointer_us

2. These DVDs take up a lot of space (8 GB for Pirates 1). Is there a way to recompress the video without ruining the menus etc.?

If you want menus, you can't shrink them significantly. Ripping the movie only will generally save you around 30-40% with zero quality loss.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

There is an option in MeGui that makes the blacks look better and for some things like Star Wars it really seems to improve the quility of the picture.

Sounds like you don't have your display calibrated right for DVDs.

AnyDVD is good as well but really on rips DVDs. If you do not plan on ripping BluRays it is probably not worth it unless you want to play DVDs directly across the network or on a extender.

Huh? AnyDVD HD is really the only way to rip a Blu-ray.

[mskitty666]

I recently tried several bits of software including AnyDVD and DVDFab. I'd say that DVDFab is the winner! It has a very friendly user interface that anyone could use without needing instruction. If you just want to rip the entire DVD the software is totally free. If you want more options you can buy one of the two options offered. I really like that you get to try the platinum version for 30 days and when you're done either buy a license or it reverts to the free version.

[michaeldjcox]

I'd second this one.

DVDFab has never let me down and I have my whole DVD collection of 100 DVDs on hard drive now (main movie only).

[valnar]

AnyDVD, or AnyDVD + DVD Decrypter (configured to turn off it's built-in decrypting capabilities) is a sure-fire way to decrypt any current and future DVD. With DVD Decrypter, you can specify a default folder to put them all as well so they only have to press a button. The only gotcha is if a DVD has the same name as another - which is possible when the author doesn't name the DVD.

[null_pointer_us]

Thanks everyone!

For now I'll stick with the free version of DVDFab and look at HDD/software upgrades when storage space becomes an issue.

No one seems to have addressed the issue of DVD cover art. Is there any way to automate DVD cover art downloads for display in SageTV?

I recently ripped 1525 songs from our household CD collection and will be using info. from this thread for adding CD cover art:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36740

[gplasky]

I use DVD Profiler with SageMC. SageMC also lets you get the metadata and covers from IMDB. SageMC is an optional STV that you can use with the default install of SageTV.

Gerry

[queequeg99]

Originally Posted by gplasky

I use DVD Profiler with SageMC. SageMC also lets you get the metadata and covers from IMDB. SageMC is an optional STV that you can use with the default install of SageTV.

Gerry

I also use DVD Profiler. If all you are interested in is the covers, getting them through IMDB is adequate (and free, whereas DVD Profiler costs money). I like to have the movie summaries available as well and IMHO the summaries provided through DVD Profiler are better (in some instances, the IMDB summary is blank).

[John@TunerUK]

I use DVD Fab HD to rip my dvd's. I've never had any issues since I've started using it. And it's free too, so long as you don't want it's more advanced features.

[mike1961]

DVDFab is great for ripping then consider Nero Recode to get really good compression in mp4 format. If you encode with Nero in AVC with two pass encoding, then it can take anywhere from 4-10 hours (just do it overnight and you are done). But, the compression is great. I don't need all that extra dolby that comes on DVD as stereo is fine for me but I do keep the subtitles as an option to turn on. My DVD's average around 600 megs for 2 hours or about a 10 to 1 compression from a 6 gig DVD. You can actually get very good quality even at 4 megs/minute but I prefer slightly higher with hard disks so cheap nowadays. In other words, 2000 movies takes 1.2 terabytes and you can find 1.5 terabyte drives these days. Anyways, the other thing I like is DVDFab removes the forced copyright stuff when you stick a dvd in that you have to watch and can't fast forward. It's nice to just store everything on one hard drive. It will also compress mpg files if you record from sage but I use StaxRip which has a slightly better compression algorithm but stax does not do dvds. I'm not sure if Nero has come out with their high compressed AVC or if it is still normal AVC but Nero Recode really does the job after ripping the DVD.

Mike

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by mike1961

DVDFab is great for ripping then consider Nero Recode to get really good compression in mp4 format.

I think Nero Recode is great for backing up DVDs to single-layer DVD-/+Rs, but I don't think there's anything particularly special about it for H.264 encoding. Handbrake has more (and better) functionality, and is just about as easy to use. There are some things that I need when I rip and encode DVDs that Recode doesn't seem to support. For example, I have some TV show DVDs where individual episodes go back and forth between 24 and 30 frames per second. So, I need to be able to do Variable Frame Rate encoding to make sure the encoded files come out OK. Movies don't have that problem, but Handbrake has other features, like a Constant Quality setting that you can use as an alternative to setting a specific bitrate or file size when you're more concerned about what the encoded file will look like than how big it will be.