New Handbrake user - experiencing some problems

Jano · 17 Nov 2014 at 11:16

So I've just started attempting to put all my DVD and Blu-Rays on to a server so that we can watch them over the network rather than worrying about keeping all the discs on hand all the time. Servers working fine and streaming films I already had copies of to hand, but any time I attempt to use Handbrake to put the films on to the server, it won't find a single title, just scans the source and then nothing. Not a thing shows up under the title option. I've added the copy protection thing to the file, libdvdcss.dll or whatever it's called but that doesn't seem to be doing anything either.

Any ideas what's causing the problem?

Fanatic · 17 Nov 2014 at 12:40

Not really sure what you are saying. You are trying to rip DVD/Blu-ray with Handbrake? Don't think it can do that. It can encode the files ripped by another program (assuming the copy protection is removed). Then you put the encoded file onto your media server.

To be honest I'm not sure we are allowed to discuss ripping DVD/Blu-ray and removing the copy protection on this forum. Even if most the users do it

.

Jano · 17 Nov 2014 at 12:43

Well I'm totally confused then. Everything I've read and been told says that Handbrake does the ripping?

Fanatic · 17 Nov 2014 at 12:45

I had a quick look, it can rip. But libdvdcss.dll is only for DVDs, not Blu-rays.

cokecan · 17 Nov 2014 at 12:52

Try MakeMKV

It'll make a full 1:1 rip of any dvd/bluray/hddvd as an mkv file. If you're concerned about file size after then you can always batch them up in handbrake after.

Also Handbrake can rip content from disks. Not too sure if there is a limitation with dvd or bluray though?

Jano · 17 Nov 2014 at 12:59

I was trying to avoid mkv's as I think Amazon Fire TV won't play 5.1 in mkv's :s I think (it's been a very long time since I actually looked in to this, but makemkv was how I was originally going to do this) once makemkv does it's thing I can use handbrake to change it to mp4's, which does work with amazon fire tv?

Grrrrr · 17 Nov 2014 at 13:05

Fanatic said:
To be honest I'm not sure we are allowed to discuss ripping DVD/Blu-ray and removing the copy protection on this forum. Even if most the users do it .

Don't see why not...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29448058 said:
A law has come into effect that permits UK citizens to make copies of CDs, MP3s, DVDs, Blu-rays and e-books.

Consumers are allowed to keep the duplicates on local storage or in the cloud.

While it is legal to make back-ups for personal use, it remains an offence to share the data with friends or family.

kitch9 · 17 Nov 2014 at 13:17

Jano said:
Well I'm totally confused then. Everything I've read and been told says that Handbrake does the ripping?

Probably not Blu Ray as the protection is a moving target, you'll need to pay someone if you want to rip the latest disks, although there are free alternatives out there which work with older disks.

Jano · 17 Nov 2014 at 13:18

I've actually tried this with both DVD's and Blu-Rays, some are very old and as far as I'm aware have no protection, yet I'm still getting the same problem, Handbrake scans, and nothing appears in the title dropdown. Certainly looks like I'll need to use something else to do the ripping.

Orcvader · 17 Nov 2014 at 13:47

With DVDs Handbrake works for me fine, but BDs is another story. MakeMKV should work and then you can reencode it to MP4 with Handbrake, which should work with the Fire TV.

Makhaira · 18 Nov 2014 at 11:36

DVDFab works really well for ripping I find, between that and MakeMKV I've never had an issue with anything. Then I run it through Handbrake and job done!