video_ts or MKV

[squirrellydw]

I currently use ripit to rip my DVDs into video_ts files and that has worked fine.  My question is what is the better format/option for ripping DVDs, video_ts or MKV format?  I plan on using PLEX 9 when it is released.  What are the advantages/disadvantage to MKV over video_ts?  What program should I use to rip my DVDs into MKV I'm using a Mac?

 

Thanks

[chanders]

I dont use a mac but I sure do us a lot of mkvs. I would go with mkvs as it seems to be the standard when ripping movies. The container format allows multi-channel audio etc. It also embeds the subtitles in the file itself. That way its a "one file carries all" kinda thing..

 

If you choose to, in the process of converting to .mkv you can also transcode the video to a different format, which can lead to additional space savings as the compression of newer formats (e.g x.264) is much higher than MPEG-2. However, that comes at the expense of significant processing time and some loss in quality, although you may not notice it.

 

Simply repackaging into .mkv without transcoding (this means you get exactly the same quality in the mkv as from the original DVD) can be done in a few minutes. Repackaging and transcoding will take much longer, maybe hours.

 

MKV is a container, the same that AVI, but there the differences finish.

 

MKV can contain video in different formats: H264, MP4, etc

MKV can contain several audios in addition to different types: AC3, MP4, MP3, OGG, etc

MKV can contain several subtitles in different formats: SRT, ASS. IDX/SUB, etc.

MKV supports chapters

 

If you use the codec H264 for the video you be able to reduce the size of the movie to the half without valuable loss of quality, using bitrates between 2500 and 3500.

[kizer]

HandBrake for Mac I'd use MKV over the other format personally simply because I wouldn't want multiple files for one movie.

 

I use windows and I use DvdFab and create .ISO files with everything and no compression, which speeds up my process tons and what I don't want stripped out and XBMC to play my videos.

[mbryanr]

I use makemkv for my ripping.  I just want the core video and audio files.  One advantage for ISO is full menu (if your media player supports it) and extras.

 

Makemkv does not compress the resulting files. I use Handbrake if I require encoding.

[squirrellydw]

I will look at makemkv, what is iso?

[BRiT]

An ISO image is an archive file (also known as a disc image) of an optical disc in a format defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). This format is supported by many software vendors. ISO image files typically have a file extension of .iso. The name ISO is taken from the ISO 9660 file system used with CD-ROM media, but an ISO image can also contain a UDF file system since UDF is backward-compatible with ISO 9660. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_image ]

 

It's basically a 1:1 copy of a disc.

[squirrellydw]

So how do I make a mkv into an iso?

[kizer]

No I think you might be getting confused. One is a container, which os a group of files and the other "iso" is kinda the same, but can be burned to a disc later. Basically we are giving you options.

[EdgarWallace]

@squirrellydw: here is an excellent link to all available H.264 options included in Handbrake: https://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/x264Options#high

 

I was using the High Profile options which was taking a looong time. This is how I did it:

 

I was ripping my discs with AnyDVD (in a VMWare WinXP box) into an ISO file. This took approx. 30min per disc. Then I picked the respective ISO files and loaded them into the Handbrake queue (each transcoding took between 2-3h). That's pretty much it.

 

I ripped off all the stuff but the movie itself plus the German and the English language track (including AAC and AC3 Pass-Through) and have now 2GB-4GB files and don't see any difference to the DVD. Maybe to MKV is even better.

 

But let me ask the audience here about the MakeMKV.  Can I use the same way as described above using this application instead of AnyDVD? And I guess I need my VMWare with XP as well as MacOS X isn't supporting Blue-Ray?

[mbryanr]

 

I was using the High Profile options which was taking a looong time. This is how I did it:

 

I was ripping my discs with AnyDVD (in a VMWare WinXP box) into an ISO file. This took approx. 30min per disc. Then I picked the respective ISO files and loaded them into the Handbrake queue (each transcoding took between 2-3h). That's pretty much it.

 

I ripped off all the stuff but the movie itself plus the German and the English language track (including AAC and AC3 Pass-Through) and have now 2GB-4GB files and don't see any difference to the DVD. Maybe to MKV is even better.

 

But let me ask the audience here about the MakeMKV.  Can I use the same way as described above using this application instead of AnyDVD? And I guess I need my VMWare with XP as well as MacOS X isn't supporting Blue-Ray?

Short answer - yes.

 

Here is my process (XP)

Insert disc

Run MakeMkv

select the appropriate audio and video tracks

Save to server.

 

This leaves me with the "movie only" and the selected subtitles and audio tracks.  I do not want or need the extras or menus.

The subtitles are included in the mkv container.

 

I don't use Handbrake to compress the file. (Storage is cheap right? )

 

I don't believe you need the VMWare, as makemkv has a OSX version, but requires a drive that can write media.

http://www.makemkv.com/osxmmc/

http://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewforum.php?f=4

 

You can also create a decrypted iso image of the disc if you want a complete decrypted backup.

http://www.makemkv.com/faq/item/4

 

@squirellydw - The resulting mkv file will not include menus.  Some media players support full menus if using the video_ts file structure.

 

 

 

[squirrellydw]

Thanks, I don't care about menus, just the movie

[chanders]

Then MKVs are for you 

[squirrellydw]

One other question, I just ripped a tv show with multiple episodes. What do you guys use to tag them?  Right now it just satsuma title0, title1, etc.

[mbryanr]

Here are a couple of good resources for naming conventions:

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=TV_Shows_(Video_Library)

 

http://code.google.com/p/moviejukebox/wiki/TVSeriesNaming

[chanders]

^^ /thread 

[squirrellydw]

I will try out movie jukebox, thanks

[poofyhairguy]

I MUCH prefer Mkv.

 

My way of doing it (in OSX) is to use MactheRipper's "chapter extraction" mode to rip out the main feature. Then I add that plus a downloaded srt file to mkvtoolnix. I get one mkv that is a perfect copy!

[bubbaQ]

I use Handbrake (cli) ... it runs natively on unRAID.  Maybe I'll get around to an unRAID 5.0 plugin as a frontend to it

[squirrellydw]

I'm looking for something that will do it automatically, I don't  think handbrake will do this

[squirrellydw]

OK, I have no idea how to use movie jukebox

[Loch]

My two cents: It depends on the movie. I like mkv but I still don't trust it completely for high action scenes. For those movies I still use plain DVD rips, but otherwise mkv is great.

 

For windows users, one of the users over in the SageTV forums created a terrific script for automating the handbrake process : http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48009  In fact you can just drag and drop or set it up with in a directory monitor so it will do it automatically (although I have had problems running over 4 movies at a time using drag-n-drop but that may be me)

[BRiT]

MKV is only a container. It has nothing to do with the video codecs or audio codecs used. It has nothing to do with high action or low action scenes. There is nothing not to trust about it.

 

[bubbaQ]

MKV is only a container.

 

Exactly.  In fact, the mkv container is one of the most versatile, supporting multiple streams of video, audio, and subtitles. 

 

The only issue I sometimes see is as MKV is under active development, there are sometimes new features that an older player might not yet support.

[Rajahal]

One thing I've noticed is that .mkv tends to be a bit choppy when scrubbing through the video.  Otherwise, it is perfectly fine.  For this reason I prefer .mp4, even though it is a proprietary format.  When I first noticed this problem I tested it for myself:  I made two handbrake encodes of the same movie, once using .mp4 and the other using .mkv.  All the codes, bitrate, etc were the same for both encodes.  The .mp4 came out slightly smaller, and it scrubbed smoothly.  The .mkv was slightly larger and scrubbing was choppy.  Both looked to be the same quality when just watching the movie normally.

 

This test was performed on a Mac using VLC as a media player.  So perhaps the difference is in VLC's handling of the two containers, I'm not sure.  Either way, it was enough to convince me to rip all my own stuff into .mp4.

[Loch]

MKV is only a container.

 

Exactly.  In fact, the mkv container is one of the most versatile, supporting multiple streams of video, audio, and subtitles. 

 

The only issue I sometimes see is as MKV is under active development, there are sometimes new features that an older player might not yet support.

 

You are correct. I apologize. I should have stated h.264 within an mkv container.

 

Generally the questions are compression vs not and then if compressing, h.264 vs xvid. Would there be any benefit to putting uncompressed audio/video in an mkv vs a ISO or VIDEO_TS  (other than having 1 file)?