Ripping Blu Rays for back-up

[SLIPPYFI5T]

Hi there, not sure if this is the right part of the forum to post in but here goes.

I want to start backing up all my blu ray collection onto my PC and I want to know what software is best to do this? I want to be able to retain each blu ray's 5.1 sound as well as 1080p picture quality. Anyone have any experience of doing this? And what software is best to use?

Thanks in advance

 

[meandu229]

Are you literally looking for a 1-1 copy with menus/all sound streams/extras etc. Will end up with a 40-50gb file.

Or do you want to compress it a bit and get a single MKV out of it of the movie + audio?

 

[SLIPPYFI5T]

just movie and the audio. not to bothered about all the menus and everything.

 

[welshdragon]

I used to use makemkv

Then I'd use handbrake if necessary to recode to another format

 

[MarcLister]

I used to use makemkv

Then I'd use handbrake if necessary to recode to another format

Spot on. I'm slowly converting my Blurays to MKV with MakeMKV and then using Handbrake to compress them a bit, burn in subtitles (I'm deaf) and remove the non-English soundtracks and subtitles. I regularly get MKVs of 25-30GB down to about 3-10GB depending on the visual quality of the Bluray source.

 

[SLIPPYFI5T]

So makeMKV would be the best option and then use handbrake to compress the files?

 

[nutcase]

Another makeMKV user (even paid for it!) - although I don't compress it afterwards.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

So makeMKV would be the best option and then use handbrake to compress the files?

Personally I use AnydvdHD and RipBot264 to shrink them.

Bear in mind that "compression" is actually lossy compression something is always thrown away, if you want to preserve the discs as-is make a 1:1 copy.

 

[MarcLister]

So makeMKV would be the best option and then use handbrake to compress the files?

It's what I've done. Might be other ways of doing it but I'm very happy with my MakeMKV/Handbrake system.

 

[SLIPPYFI5T]

Ok thanks everyone I'll give makemkv A go and see what it's like. Bonus is it has a 30 day trial so if I don't like it I don't have to buy it

 

[nutcase]

You don't have to buy it at all while it's in beta (which is has been forever!) - just keep updating the code from the site. I chose to buy it so it just works, and I like the program so chose to pay for it.

 

[Frozennova]

You've already decided but another happy user of MakeMKV here.

I go for straight 1:1 rips without encoding in handbrake or anything else, to me image/sound quality are worth the extra required for storage.

 

[ED209]

You've already decided but another happy user of MakeMKV here.

I go for straight 1:1 rips without encoding in handbrake or anything else, to me image/sound quality are worth the extra required for storage.

how much space do they normally take up?

 

[RJC]

Been using MakeMKV for a few years now, good bit of software

 

[RJC]

how much space do they normally take up?

Depends on the movie, something like Transformers can take up to 30gb, normally around 25gb

 

[Frozennova]

Usually around 25-30GB.

You can usually. get them down to around 20GB without sacrificing quality by removing the extra audio tracks, subtitles and any extras.

I don't bother for simplicitys sake though. I use MakeMKV from the command line on linux so by leaving it in it means I can click a shortcut on the desktop of my PC that fires up a putty session and starts ripping.

 

[SLIPPYFI5T]

I have a dvd rw in my computer as well. Would I be able to rip 2 discs at once if I have 2 instances of makeMKV Running?

 

[Frozennova]

Ive never tried but I would assume its capable of ripping from two sources at once

 

[SLIPPYFI5T]

Hmm I'll give it a go later. Be a lot easier as most of my tv series are dvd and my films blu ray. So if I can do 2 at once then excellent