[DGalt]

I'm in the process or re-ripping my dvd collection in an effort to get the best quality possible.


I'm ripping everything to mkv, but am not clear if there is a preferred piece of software to do this


Using handbreak, using the high profile option and just over 80% quality (in the handbreak help is says anything beyond this is a waste) I'm getting files that are around 2gb in size (although ranging up to 2.7gb). These files seem large to me since there are 5 episodes on what is only an 8gb (give or take) disk


I haven't tried makemkv yet.


Is there any benefit to using handbreak? I read one thread that said that the encoding process used by handbreak cleans up the picture some, but this idea was controversial at best (at least, that's what I gathered from that thread)

 

[dbone1026]

Well, keep in mind that Handbrake is not lossless, you will lose some quality (how much quality and whether it can be seen will be dependent on your eyes, the settings you choose, and your setup).


MakeMKV will give you lossless 1:1 audio and video. The one drawback (if you want to call it that) is that since it is lossless the file size will be much bigger then the encoded mkv created by Handbrake (once again depending on the settings you use for Handbrake and the movie content

 

[swoon!]



Quote:
Originally Posted by DGalt /forum/post/19507671


I'm in the process or re-ripping my dvd collection in an effort to get the best quality possible.


I'm ripping everything to mkv, but am not clear if there is a preferred piece of software to do this


Using handbreak, using the high profile option and just over 80% quality (in the handbreak help is says anything beyond this is a waste) I'm getting files that are around 2gb in size (although ranging up to 2.7gb). These files seem large to me since there are 5 episodes on what is only an 8gb (give or take) disk


I haven't tried makemkv yet.


Is there any benefit to using handbreak? I read one thread that said that the encoding process used by handbreak cleans up the picture some, but this idea was controversial at best (at least, that's what I gathered from that thread)

Besides the quality degradation caused by transcoding using Handbrake, you also suffer from tying up a lot of system resources in the transcode process compared to just muxing into the MKV container using makemkv.

 

[DGalt]



Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026 /forum/post/19508208


Well, keep in mind that Handbrake is not lossless, you will lose some quality (how much quality and whether it can be seen will be dependent on your eyes, the settings you choose, and your setup).


MakeMKV will give you lossless 1:1 audio and video. The one drawback (if you want to call it that) is that since it is lossless the file size will be much bigger then the encoded mkv created by Handbrake (once again depending on the settings you use for Handbrake and the movie content

That may be true if I were compressing the file, but from my understanding the settings I'm using in handbrake aren't doing that. In fact, the file sizes are larger, I think, than if I were to do a true 1:1, although I'm not entirely sure about that.

 

[dbone1026]



Quote:
Originally Posted by DGalt /forum/post/0



That may be true if I were compressing the file, but from my understanding the settings I'm using in handbrake aren't doing that. In fact, the file sizes are larger, I think, than if I were to do a true 1:1, although I'm not entirely sure about that.

Handbrake encodes (compresses), you dont get lossless video no matter what settings you choose

 

[shelbycsx]

The only real advantages of using Handbrake that I can name off hand are:


1. Smaller file size if compression is used.

2. Flexibility of what file format is output.

3. Free, makeMKV is free for 30 days (resets with each new version) or 50 bucks.

4. More customizable if you want to tweak output for specific devices or situations.


Advantages of MakeMKV vs. Handbrake are:


1. FAST, as fast as your drive can read the info vs taking HOURS like handbrake.

2. 100% lossless original quality audio (HD even) and video

3. Extremely simple to use

4. Transfers directly from DVD or Bluray disc with no need for a 3rd party app.


For almost any situation, I perfer MakeMKV unless a portable device is involved. Handbrake has it's purposes, but in the home theater environment where quality of video and audio are important, I wouldn't even consider handbrake personally.


Hope this helps.

 

[GreenEyez]

+1 for Make MKV. Untouched Video + Audio. It i possible to get a smaller compressed video stream using the x264 encoder, but it you need good knowlege of video encoding to do this. Those built in settings are useless, since each movie compresses different and you need to do 3 to 10 test encodes for each movie with different settings to get a "transparent" encode. Too much of a hassle and time consuming, and not worth it considering how cheap HDD space is today.

 

[Sauwill]

I also use MakeMKV and love it. Its great for BluRay also if you haven't tried it yet.

 

[sdg4vfx]

I only use Handbrake for things I want to play via my AppleTV (thru iTunes).


For everything I else I just use RipIt or MakeMKV.


(Hope they jailbreak the ATV3 soon!)

 

[godbucket]


I realize this is an old thread, and I applogize in advance for kicking the proverbial hornets nest, but I'm having an issue...

 

I've read all the posts and articles about MakeMKV vs. Handbrake, and I can agree, MakeMKV seems the way to go....

 

....however, given that its 'lossless' and all that jazz... why am I loosing SO much quality with my rips?

 

For instance, I ripped "The Bourne Identity", and when playing back the .mkv file, whether local on my media server or streamed onto my Roku via Plex, the quality is absolute crap. Very pixelated and digitized looking. Even my wife noticed!

 

What's strange is I ripped the same DVD using Handbrake on the "high profile" setting with the exact same results.

 

I'm totally convinced this is user-error, but can someone please tell this noob what I'm doing wrong? Are there quality settings within MakeMKV where I have to specify 'lossless' or some higher quality setting?

 

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!!!.... and sorry again for my noob-ness. I'm just a dumb musician

 

[dbone1026]

All MakeMKV is doing is taking the audio and video files out of the Blu Ray and putting into an mkv, it is not touching the quality.


Your possible issue, your Server may not be equipped to handle playback of a full bitrate Blu Ray. For example, you mention playback on your Roku via Plex. Roku does not natively support this which means your server (or wherever your Makemkv mkv is stored) is actually transcoding the file, so you are no longer lossless anyhow

 

[godbucket]


Thanks for the quick response!

 

The disks I'm ripping are DVD's, just to confirm. I dont really have many Bluray disks yet. That Bourne disk I mentioned is a DVD.

 

Regarding the Roku, I just bought it yesterday. Its the new Roku 3, and its supposed to be all badass and fast, and others in forums who are doing the exact same thing I wanna do arent having any issues with rip-quality whatsoever. (either that or they need glasses, bad)

 

My "media server" is just an HP ProBook, but its only a year old, has i7 awesome processor, 8gb ram, and an SSD hard drive. Oh, and a nice video card. So in theory, it should be able to transcode as you say quite well. Is that wrong though? (again, please excuse my ignorance with all this)

 

Maybe an easier question to answer would be this: what should I be doing to get the untouched, lossless quality that I desire?

 

Thanks again!

 

[techmattr]

You're not going to send a lossless stream to the Roku. Your server will need to transcode. The Roku isn't compatible with HD audio anyway. The ideal solution for Roku streaming playback is to re-encoded the media with Handbrake. I actually have two libraries in my Plex server. One for Plex Home Theater which contains all my rips and one for Roku which contains some movies we watch a lot and they are re-encoded to direct play on the Roku. Works great. I re-encoded them using destructo's guide: http://roku.yt1300.com/ I only have my Rokus on smaller TVs around the house and I typically downscale my Blu-ray rips to 720p and use a slightly lower setting than what destructo recommends. It still looks great on the smaller TVs (22" to 32" is what I'm using) and I make them small enough so they don't have any issues over WiFi.

 

[utee05]

Thanks for the link. Will be helpful to know settings that the roku can handle.

 

[leebo]



Quote:
Originally Posted by godbucket  /t/1291069/any-benefit-to-using-handbreak-over-makemkv-for-lossless-rip#post_23925948


For instance, I ripped "The Bourne Identity", and when playing back the .mkv file, whether local on my media server or streamed onto my Roku via Plex, the quality is absolute crap. Very pixelated and digitized looking. Even my wife noticed!

Whats happening is the Plex software is transcoding your video, and serving it to your Roku. Your Roku is simply receiving whatever file is being sent to it and displaying it on your monitor.


I use PlayOn rather than Plex. The host PC is a 4 year old HP with a dual core E5200 2.5Ghz with 6 gigs ram. Video is sent out over WiFi to the Roku, and displayed on a 47 inch Sony LCD..


PlayOn handles all the transcoding, I don't set anything (though I think there is a checkbox to not transcode any video that the receiving device (roku in this case) can play natively. Video quality is acceptable, though not as good as the original DVD.


If you're saying the MKV looks terrible even on the host PC, there is definitely something wrong with the conversion. Make sure it looks ok on the host PC before worrying about how it looks on the Roku.


Sent from my Nexus 7

 

[captain_video]



Quote:
Originally Posted by shelbycsx  /t/1291069/any-benefit-to-using-handbreak-over-makemkv-for-lossless-rip#post_19698352


3. Free, makeMKV is free for 30 days (resets with each new version) or 50 bucks.

MakeMKV is free while its still in beta and there are no signs that it will ever get an official release. While the temporary keys do expire after a month or two, the new ones are posted in the MakeMKV forum immediately upon expiration of the old ones. However, I highly recommend MakeMKV and it is well worth paying the $50 to keep it going.

 

[godbucket]


Special thanks to all who assisted me and helped me understand things, especially Leebo.

 

Yes, you all were right: my 'media center' PC that I was streaming from (my "media server") is a piece of crap and too old. It has a Core 2 Duo but its 1.86 ghz and I read somewhere online that at least 2.5 ghz is required for 'hi-def' type video conversions.

 

I tested by turning my work laptop (a 2.57 ghz i7 processor, 8gigs memory, SSD) into a media server and the conversion worked fine. The video looked great, just as good as the DVD (but it was very choppy and slow, but that's probably due to my wifi and/or interference)

 

Again, thanks for tolerating my noob-ness and I really appreciate the help. (also sorry I previously posted incorrect specs on my media server)

 

Thanks guys!

 

[Dark_Slayer]

This is an old thread, and hopefully you got your roku3/plex issues sorted out godbucket (though it looks like you still need to familiarize yourself with the Plex Server/Player settings and see what the R3 can direct play - as well as know the difference in direct play / transcode)

 

[Dark_Slayer]

Looking through this old thread, it seems like some knowledgable users either hadn't used handbrake or didn't know that handbrake can output "larger than source" encoded files . . .


Just because I know this doesn't mean I have the faintest clue as to what it's actually doing when these occur. Does anyone know what an h264->x264 lossless encode does in handbrake to increase the file size to be larger than the size of a 1:1 rip? I have never heard a good explanation of what it's doing when it "grows" your files (if your quality setting is too high)

 

[godbucket]


Oh yeah man, like I said before, I'm a total noob at this. I do cloud virtualization crap for a living but never got into video/AV stuff before. I hope to learn much more. Got a long way to go! Thanks again!