Automated DVD ripping script using DVDFab


jmos1277

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I have a very large library of DVDs that I recently started to rip and wanted to automate the process to make it go a bit faster.  I decided to put together a batch file to help automate the process.  I set up one of my machines as a headless rip server ... anytime I drop a DVD in the drive, the rip server automagically rips the disc and spits it back out again.  I am currently ripping between 15-20 DVDs per night using this batch file.

 

My batch file is currently configured to:

  -  rip the main feature only (no compression or transcoding)

  -  include all English audio tracks (5.1 and stereo if both are available), director commentaries, etc.

  -  remove all other extras, menus, warnings, etc.

  -  write the resulting rip to a .iso file

Note that these settings can be modified in the .bat file

 

 

===========================================

What is required:

---------------------

1) A copy of DVDFab.  I'm using version 7.0.9.3 on Windows Vista.

    http://www.dvdfab.com/

 

2) A copy of MakeMKV.  I'm using version 1.5.8.  I'm not currently using MakeMKV to output .mkv files.  I am only using MakeMKV to get the volume name of the DVD.  However, is one was so inclined, they could add a conversion from .iso to .mkv at the end of this batch file pretty easily.

    http://www.makemkv.com/

 

3) A program called 'Default Programs Editor'.  This program will allow you to specify any program/batch file you want as an AutoRun action.  Windows Vista and Windows 7 won't allow 'untrusted' programs to be selected as AutoRun targets.  The Default Programs Editor will allow you to make the batch file a 'trusted' program.

    http://defaultprogramseditor.com/

 

4) My batch file, which is attached to this post.  Remove the .txt extension and just keep the .bat extension.

 

5) Instructions on how to set everything up.  They are included in the .bat file that is attached to this post.

===========================================

 

 

Things to look out for:

  - Some older DVDs may have the same volume name, DVD_VIDEO.  If you try to rip 2 discs with the same volume name to the same destination, DVDFab will prompt you to see if you want to overwrite the older DVD_VIDEO.iso file.  If you're running headless, like me, I recommend setting up VNC on the rip-server so you can check in on things if a disc has been in there too long.

  - For some reason, there are a few disks here and there that hang during the .iso creation process.  I never could figure out what the problem was for those discs.  Instead, I do those manually.  First, ripping to a VIDEO_TS folder using DVDFab and then creating the .iso file using a different program.  I use AquaISO to generate my .iso files when creating them manually.

  - Some DVDs may have two versions of a film (i.e. theatrical and unrated versions).  DVDFab tends to take the longer of the two when selecting the 'main feature'.  In some cases you may need to manually rip these DVDs if DVDFab doesn't pick the right version of the film.

 

 

I test each .iso file after the rip is complete.  There are a few movies that I had to fix because the author of the disc didn't know what he/she was doing (yes, these were commercial DVDs).  To test, I use VLC, start playing each disc, jump to various locations to in the movie, and jump the end to verify that the credits roll.  I make sure that the correct sound is playing and that the subtitles are in place.  Testing each .iso only takes about 10 seconds.  After a .iso passes my tests, I rename it using a format suitable for scrapers (i.e. Black Hawk Down (2001) ).

 

 

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Examples of some of the DVDs I had problems with:

-------------------------------------------------------------

1) El Mariachi - The only English audio track on my version of the DVD was the director's commentary.  The audio for the movie is in Spanish.  Therefore, when I tested the disc, instead of getting Spanish audio with English subtitles, I heard the director.  This disc required manual intervention.

 

2) The Firm - The author of this DVD didn't know what he was doing.  The .IFO file correctly specified that the movie was in 16x9 format.  However, all of the .VOB files were incorrectly specified as being 4x3.  I guess component DVD players only look at the .IFO file for the aspect ratio so it display correctly when played on those.  However, VLC seems to pull this info directly from each .VOB file.  The result was a vertically stretched frame.  I fixed this using some other programs which I will reserve for another post if anyone is interested.

 

3) One of my James Bond flicks had an issue similar to The Firm.  However, only one of the .VOB files was incorrectly specified as being 4x3.  The result was a movie that played properly through the first .VOB file and then became stretched when streaming from the second .VOB file (weird).  I fixed this video by rewriting the headers in the broken .VOB file.

 

 

Wife just made brownies ... will answer questions and post more later.

DVDFabBatch.bat.txt

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Last time I tried to automate files not with yours, but with another it would always attach subtitles in English or it wouldnt just extract just the 5.1 channel it always added the 2Ch as well.

 

Have you ever had that issue?

 

kizer, I actually wanted 5.1, 2Ch, and English subtitles, so my script is written to keep them.  However, those options are all configurable in my script.  The following is an extract from my script with the changes you would need to make for your ripping preferences.

 

=======================

set mode="mainmovie"

set titlemode="auto"

set audio="English"

set audiotype="AC-3/5.1&AC-3/2"    <-- change to "AC-3/5.1" for 5.1 only

set removedts="yes"

set removemenu="yes"

set removepgc="yes"

set subtitle="English"    <-- change to "none" to remove all subtitles

set displayforcedsub="yes"

set outdisc="dvd9"

=======================

 

 

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DVD Fab is not free correct? So I will have to purchase this program after the free trial to continue to use your script?

The most recent updates are not free. However, not so uptodate releases of DVD Fab are available for free. You should be able to backup all but the latest DVDs with the free version.

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DVD Fab is not free correct? So I will have to purchase this program after the free trial to continue to use your script?

 

DVDFab is not free, but when you have hundreds of DVDs to rip ... it's worth the price!

On the other hand, there is a 30 day trial ... you can easily rip several hundred DVDs in less than 30 days (I did).

 

I wasn't aware of the free version mentioned above, but as long as it includes command line access to DVDFab it should work fine.

 

 

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jmos1277

 

Thanks for the script - looks like it will be very useful.

 

One question though - is there an easy modification to your script to rip the dvd to folder structure instead of iso?

 

thanks

 

Bill

 

 

Hey Bill, with a VERY small change DVDFab should rip to a folder instead of an ISO.

Towards the very bottom of the script you'll see the line:

set dest_file="%dest_file%\%volume_name%.iso"

 

Just delete the .iso at the end like so:

set dest_file="%dest_file%\%volume_name%.iso"

 

to get the following:

set dest_file="%dest_file%\%volume_name%"

 

This original modification would have an unnecessary extra level of directory structure.

This should work, though I haven't tested it.  I can test it later this evening when I get home from work.

I'll post back to let you know how it went.

 

UPDATED:

 

Delete the %volume_name%.iso at the end like so:

set dest_file="%dest_file%\%volume_name%.iso"

 

to get the following:

set dest_file="%dest_file%\"

 

I have tested this and it works great.  Actually, if you don't want the output in .iso form, the script can be much simpler.  There is no longer the need for MakeMKV.  I'll upload a simpler version shortly.

 

 

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jmos1277

 

Thanks for the script - looks like it will be very useful.

 

One question though - is there an easy modification to your script to rip the dvd to folder structure instead of iso?

 

thanks

 

Bill

 

 

Bill ... I made a second version of my script that rips to VIDEO_TS folders instead of an ISO.

I decided to make this a separate script since it is much simple and no longer requires MakeMKV.

I've attached the new script to this post.  (remove the .txt extension and leave only the .bat extension).

 

 

 

DVDFabBatch_FolderStructure.bat.txt

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Can this rip multiple DVD's at a time ? and how would I keep all subtitles ?

 

My script was only written to work with a single DVD drive (since I only have one).  There are some things that would probably need to be done to make this work with multiple drives.  For one, the batch file would need to identify which DVD drive started up the script.  I'm sure this is possible, but I haven't tried it out.  Sorry, I only have a single drive so I can't really do any experiments to add this feature.

 

If you want to keep more than just the English subtitles, change the following line:

set subtitle="English"

 

Insert and languages you want into the command using an ampersand (&) as a separator.  So, for example, if you wanted to keep English, French, and Spanish subtitles change the line to the following:

set subtitle="English&French&Spanish"

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 years later...
pull this info directly from each .VOB file.  The result was a vertically stretched frame.  I fixed this using some other programs which I will reserve for another post if anyone is interested.

 

What programs do you use? I'm interested. I have a few home videos that do this. ifo 16:9,  vertically stretched frame. I don't want to encode over again. Plays Okay in the DVD player, in VLC it doesn't.

 

 

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