I have a Linux server running Plex, using a wired ethernet system and plenty of storage space.
My goal is to rip the rest of my DVD collection in a format that has high-quality video and preserves 5.1 channel audio (often AC3) in the media server.
In the past I used MakeMKV and then subsequently converted that to an MP4 container. Often times the conversion software would use H264 for video and AAC (often defaulted to stereo 128Kbps) for audio. Of course, Plex can handle the MKV containers as well, and I have some of those.
I rip DVD’s on my Windows machine, and have also used Leawo and Winx ripping software. It’s OK for video, but I’ve felt shortchanged with the audio (particularly DVD’s with 5.1 AC3). What I’d like is to standardize on a container (and technique) to capture the video in as high of quality format as possible, and also copy over the audio without change (or, if it needs to be transcoded, it would use a high quality format / high bitrate.)
The theme I’ve experienced thus far is that most software has good options for the video but things get shortchanged on the audio. Frequently my surround sound DVD’s by default end up with stereo sound AAC in the computer, and that’s what Plex subsequently serves.
My objective is to rip each of the remaining DVD’s just once, and get the most out of it. (Again, storage space, processor availability, and network speed are not much of a consideration here.) One thought is to copy each DVD to my system as an ISO, and then test various methods for extracting the information from that. At least this would help to reduce going back through the DVD’s.
I’d welcome thoughts/experiences from people who have been down this path before!
