DVD/Media Format

[Outlaw]

My formats are AVI for space and Original DVD Files for quality.

For the people that like to store their media on the pc vs tons of shelving for dvd/cd's.

This question is more towards the DVD side of things. I just have CD's as MP3 files on the pc.

The reason I ask is because I am hoping to build an HTPC or at least store most if not all of my DVD collection on my pc. If I rip to an AVI file I can definitely save space but lose most of the quality. It is good for a flash drive though when you just want to take a few movies. If I rip as a backup, it takes up 3-8GB of space for the movie only (no features or menus) but I get the DVD quality and the surround sound it supports. Lately I have just been ripping a backup and AVI to have the best of both. Right now, the movies are played from the PC on a 54" rear projection (several yrs old but supports 720P and 1080P IF sent from PC ONLY) so if it is not a good quality AVI rip or dvd, the picture looks really bad.

[Drum Thumper]

I rip straight backups for losslessness. I'd also consider looking into FLAC as opposed to MP3, as it is lossless as well.

[mtekk]

For DVDs I rip them to lossless ISOs (minus certain anti-consumer aspects of course ), I have plenty of disk space (and not many DVDs). For audio, typically I go with MP3 VBR that complies with the Uber Standard. Occasionally, for video I'll venture out and transcode the DVD to Xvid (AVI or MP4 container) the results are not too bad. For the best size to quality ratio, you can't really beat H.264, though it takes some power to encode and decode.

[Bopher]

Since most of my movies are viewed on the 360 or computer I back them up as *.wmv. But my 360 only runs through Red, White and Yellow RCA so I'm not to concerned about audio and the picture seems to be good, but I'm viewing on a 20" RCA tv. I probably will move to straight DVD backup when I get my HTPC built someday but that won't happen until I get a new tv and that's not going till the car is paid off. Then what ever I watch a lot will be converted over to avi to watch on the 360.

[Outlaw]

Seems people prefer the quality of quantity.

Has anybody ripped a Bluray yet? lol

I tried and think I need to try again because I didn't have the player working correctly before. Would my best bet be to rip to the H.264? or do a backup? When I tried it the first time it ripped to 40GB, lol

Bopher- I could see where the quality isn't a huge deal for you and it makes sense. Quality video isn't going to mean much if they repo your car!

[mtekk]

I have to really tiptoe around the subject here due to site policies (since breaking copy protection is a violation of the DMCA, even for fair use purposes ). All I'm going to say is that ripping Bluray disks is very difficult, and honestly, I have never done it (I do not have the hardware or software necessary to do it). Unfortunately, Google will probably be more helpful.

[Outlaw]

Isn't it the same then with regular DVD's? They all have a "copy right protection" and some level of encryption? Or is it that Bluray is more strict?

[nevermind1534]

Isn't it the same then with regular DVD's? They all have a "copy right protection" and some level of encryption? Or is it that Bluray is more strict?

Yes, it is more strict. You have to have a video card and monitor that support hdcp to even watch the movies in HD.

[Outlaw]

well... There is a program you can buy. I was just talking about ripping it though because you would be ripping it to another format like AVI, H.264 or whatever. Most people that I know aren't going to buy a Bluray then go buy the DVD so they can rip it.

[mtekk]

Isn't it the same then with regular DVD's? They all have a "copy right protection" and some level of encryption? Or is it that Bluray is more strict?

DVD's used a weak 40bit encryption named CSS that happened to have some fundamental flaws, allowing people to crack it faster than what brute force required. That was 10 years ago, with modern equipment it can be brute force cracked quite quickly (~18min on a 1Ghz CPU, assuming 1 attempt per clock cycle). Bluray uses AACS which is a 128bit AES encryption, which would take the same computer (would take the same 1Ghz CPU many decades to crack via brute force). There is supposed to be a Mandatory Managed Copy feature that should allow you to do what you want, store on a media server. However, I have no clue how it works.