What are you using to rip your Blurays?

[phareous]

I am wanting to rip my blurays and put them on the harddrive to play on the HD200 extenders and my main client. I don't really care if its mkv, m2ts, etc. but I would like to do main movie only to save space.

I tried using DVDFab to rip to MKV... this worked OK but it did skip a lot on my main client (not as much on the extenders). However, DVDFab is just way too expensive for me ($60 for just 1 year, or $105 lifetime...I'm only ripping 11 blurays at the moment). It says the trial is fully functional for 30 days, but it seems to throw a DVDFab logo all over the video randomly (something it never did for the DVD ripping)

I tried MakeMKV but it seemed a bit too complicated (for instance, trying to figure out what the main movie title is). Plus I need it to transcode DTS to AC3 so it will play on the extender

I thought about maybe using AnyDVD (I'd have to upgrade my copy to HD for $67)..but I would still need to use something on top of that, like ClownBD?

Any suggestions?

[simonen]

I use anydvdhd and handbrake so that I can insert another audio track that is playable on the HD200 and HD100 in case the main track is DTS or something. It works for me, but I am sure others may have better suggestions.

[Rob]

I use Anydvdhd to copy the entire disk and then bdinfo to identify the main playlist and the m2ts files in that playlist. Then I delete all the other playlists and m2ts files, leaving me with only the main movie.

[reggie14]

I use MakeMKV. I think its about as easy to use as any alternative- the movie title is pretty much always the longest title- but it doesn't do anything to help you with your DTS audio track problem.

I suspect the easiest solution would be to use MakeMKV or AnyDVD HD with Handbrake. I think you can re-encode the audio to AC-3. But, I have to warn you, I was never very satisfied with how any re-encoded blu-rays coming out of Handbrake. I played with it a while ago, because I was trying to burn in the PGS subtitles into an Avatar rip back before the HD extenders could display PGS subtitles. I could never get smooth video. I never solved the problem, and once Sage got PGS subtitles working I lost my primary motive for trying.

[HelenWeathers]

Here is a link to a thread where BD Ripping is covered.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42325

[wayner]

That thread ends over 2.5 years ago - anything new out in the meantime?

[Skirge01]

Mainly, just new versions of the same software. This is another option I've used, but it also won't help with your transcoding issue. It also hasn't been updated in some time.

While we're on the topic, can SageTV (not an extender) read and display PGS subtitles? I've searched on this subject and haven't really found an answer.

[Pirin]

I have been using DVDFab for over 2 years now, and have never had to pay for it. If all you want to do is copy the entire Blu-Ray, or just the main movie, then their license is free and there is no logo on any of my rips. However, if you want to do anything else to it, like package it up into an MKV, or convert it for mobile, then you will need to pay after the 30 days.

Could you just rip it without packaging it into an MKV? Since MKV doesn't shrink the size of the movie at all, the only benefit I see is containing the entire movie in one file instead of one directory. If you can live with a movie per directory, you should be able to stay with the free version of DVDFab. I have been ripping just the main movie to my hard drive, keeping the Blu-Ray folder structure, and have never had any issues with playback on the HD-300. The HD-200 doesn't support DTS audio, but otherwise I have had no playback issues.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

While we're on the topic, can SageTV (not an extender) read and display PGS subtitles? I've searched on this subject and haven't really found an answer.

I can't say I've tried, but I didn't think SageTV software clients could read BD structures. I'm not sure what happens if you try to play back an MKV file with embedded PGS subtitles, but I'm guessing you'll run into problem. In theory Sage might be able to display PGS subtitles if you're using the right video decoders and filters, but PGS subtitles are not very well supported anywhere.

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by reggie14

I use MakeMKV. I think its about as easy to use as any alternative- the movie title is pretty much always the longest title- but it doesn't do anything to help you with your DTS audio track problem.

I rip the disk to HD with AnyDVD, then use MakeDVD (faster).

Then I use a program someone made here (Forgot the name and it's not a SageTV plugin, but in the addon area) that adds an AC3 track to ANY .MKV video files missing one. (sorry, not at home to look)

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

Then I use a program someone made here (Forgot the name and it's not a SageTV plugin, but in the addon area) that adds an AC3 track to ANY .MKV video files missing one. (sorry, not at home to look)

Good call! I forgot about that utility. I've never used it, but it might be exactly what the OP needs.

I'm not really sure I understand why you use AnyDVD in combination with MakeMKV (I assume you meant that instead of MakeDVD). Early versions of MakeMKV were kind of slow at ripping discs, but that only lasted a couple versions for me. MakeMKV seems to be almost as fast as AnyDVD, and its certainly not slow enough on my system that its faster to rip it twice (first to hard drive using AnyDVD, then from hard drive to MKV using MakeMKV).

I'll sometimes first rip TV DVD sets to a folder structure, since some shows do really weird things with how they number titles. DVDs of "The Office" pretty much all have around 20 titles, and each episode on a disc seems to be randomly assigned two or three title numbers. Its a pain to rip those to MKVs. I end up ripping to HDD, then I play the DVD back in PowerDVD to identify the title numbers of each episode. Then I rip those title numbers in MakeMKV.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by reggie14

I can't say I've tried, but I didn't think SageTV software clients could read BD structures. I'm not sure what happens if you try to play back an MKV file with embedded PGS subtitles, but I'm guessing you'll run into problem. In theory Sage might be able to display PGS subtitles if you're using the right video decoders and filters, but PGS subtitles are not very well supported anywhere.

What do people use to get subtitles then? At the very least, I'm sure people would want the forced subs from movies like Avatar. I'm somewhat surprised that PGS isn't supported well, though, considering it's the default format for Blu-ray.

[aflat]

Before PGS was read by the HD200, I used to download the subtitles, as a .srt file, and name it the same name as the filename, in the same dir as the movie file. Sage can read those just fine.

[Bartok]

Does anyone still have a copy they could share of the SAGEAudioConvert utility? I just went looking for it, and the download link heads off to MegaUpload which was just shutdown yesterday.

Thanks

[bj_nc]

I use anydvd to rip the entire disc, then clownbd to extract the main feature and convert the audio track to ac3. You can even have it preserve the DTS track and add a transcoded ac3 track. It also has options to preserve regular and forced subtitles. I generally leave it in BD format, as sage handles that well, but I assume mkv would be equivalent.

The clownbd UI is not very intuitive, and it leaves temp files all over the place, but it does work well for me.

-Brian

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by reggie14

I'm not really sure I understand why you use AnyDVD in combination with MakeMKV (I assume you meant that instead of MakeDVD). Early versions of MakeMKV were kind of slow at ripping discs, but that only lasted a couple versions for me. MakeMKV seems to be almost as fast as AnyDVD, and its certainly not slow enough on my system that its faster to rip it twice (first to hard drive using AnyDVD, then from hard drive to MKV using MakeMKV).

Oops, missmelled (lol) that. I've been ripping for a long time. Got use to the rip/convert from the early days. Plus, if you make a mistake (wrong sound track or subtitle) it's MUCH faster to redo.

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

What do people use to get subtitles then? At the very least, I'm sure people would want the forced subs from movies like Avatar. I'm somewhat surprised that PGS isn't supported well, though, considering it's the default format for Blu-ray.

MakeMKV gives you a choice of every stream on the Blu-Ray. Been too long since I did it, I think it gives you a choice to force subs to always ones on???

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by bj_nc

I use anydvd to rip the entire disc, then clownbd to extract the main feature and convert the audio track to ac3. You can even have it preserve the DTS track and add a transcoded ac3 track. It also has options to preserve regular and forced subtitles. I generally leave it in BD format, as sage handles that well, but I assume mkv would be equivalent.

The clownbd UI is not very intuitive, and it leaves temp files all over the place, but it does work well for me.

-Brian

I tried that in the early days, but couldn't keep the sound in sync, but that was years ago!

[phareous]

Originally Posted by bj_nc

I use anydvd to rip the entire disc, then clownbd to extract the main feature and convert the audio track to ac3. You can even have it preserve the DTS track and add a transcoded ac3 track. It also has options to preserve regular and forced subtitles. I generally leave it in BD format, as sage handles that well, but I assume mkv would be equivalent.

The clownbd UI is not very intuitive, and it leaves temp files all over the place, but it does work well for me.

-Brian

How do you get clownbd to preserve the tracks? When I try it, it converts DTS to AC3...but if I do bdinfo, I see that it actually removed the DTS track in the process. It would be nice to have both in there

[bj_nc]

Originally Posted by phareous

How do you get clownbd to preserve the tracks? When I try it, it converts DTS to AC3...but if I do bdinfo, I see that it actually removed the DTS track in the process. It would be nice to have both in there

The trick is to select "Network Media Tank Audio Options" on the first page. Then you can select both "Unconverted" and "AC3". You can only select one or the other without the Tank option. Oddly you can't select the AC3 bitrate anymore, but one I ripped with these options shows 640kbps/48kHz for the AC3 track.

When I play these on my HD200 using analog outputs, I need to hit the audio button on the remote to select track 2 every time I play it, otherwise I get no sound. It is a minor inconvenience.

-Brian