Hello
I would like to start saving some of my Blu Rays for private copy and watch them directly with Plex.
The viewing will then be on a 1080p screen (Plex being installed on a NUC)
I started using MakeMKV but I ended up with about 25GB file.
Then I guess that if I make 4 BR it will be 100GB and therefore 40BR will be 1TB anyway …
I like to have a your opinion between:
keep the copies of 25GB (for the future) or 2) reduce them with other software like Handbrake to make smaller files for example? For those who have done it what do you choose?
I really would see the difference in viewing or listening?
What settings do you recommend, I did a test with MP4 and H.264 and AC3 audio
In the case of Handbrake, conversion seems very long (18 hours ??) is this normal?
Do you advise me other software to reduce the size?
Use MakeMKV just as you do now to create an MKV file from the BR disc.
Run this raw MKV file through the scripts listed in my SIG. The scripts will replace Handbrake and are a bit more intelligent. It can decide to remux vs transcode, will create a 2 channel audio channel in addition to DD or DTS tracks. Will create SRT subtitle files and only keep audio languages of your choosing, etc.
It will still take a while to transcode so there is no magic bullet there. But you will end up with MP4 files that are direct playable on almost all clients and the quality will be top notch and basically undistinguishable from the original.
Use MakeMKV just as you do now to create an MKV file from the BR disc.
Run this raw MKV file through the scripts listed in my SIG. The scripts will replace Handbrake and are a bit more intelligent. It can decide to remux vs transcode, will create a 2 channel audio channel in addition to DD or DTS tracks. Will create SRT subtitle files and only keep audio languages of your choosing, etc.
It will still take a while to transcode so there is no magic bullet there. But you will end up with MP4 files that are direct playable on almost all clients and the quality will be top notch and basically distinguishable from the original.
Carlo
I have just done this myself, and can confirm that this is the best way to setup your plex system, my plan is to convert all my files this way, and then i can reduce my system down to a very low powered system, without the need to trancode anything.
Yes can recommend MakeMKV - its what I use. I look around the supermarkets and amazon etc for cheap DVD’s or blu rays, or even look in second hand game /trade in stores for cheap media, then rip them into my media server and fling the media in a huge box in my garage. Cheap way to build up a large media selection. Cheaper then using google movies or being subjected to the woeful selection on netflix.
I tend to try and keep audio to AC35.1 and I use handbrake - it works for me, and I end up with MKV files of around 10GB for blu ray, around 3 - 4 GB for a DVD and the files play fine. If I need the file to be smaller I’ve just discovered optimize from Plex - only just learnt of this yesterday and tried it last night and it really did cut the file size down for mobile phone viewing…
I do still have some movies around 30GB in size, plex doesn’t always play those direct, I sometimes get buffering via opera on a Sony TV - maybe cache size issues? but if I cap to 20mbps its perfect, so RAW MKV can be a bit overkill IMO.
@iv-tecman said:
I look around the supermarkets and amazon etc for cheap DVD’s or blu rays, or even look in second hand game /trade in stores for cheap media
If quality matters to you, be careful about this. A blu-ray release doesn’t necessarily mean “best”, and there have been many instances of a blu-ray being worse quality than the DVD release. Often there is a later blu-ray release where the transfer team actually put some effort into things and cleaning up the picture/artifacts… and then as a result,the older blu-ray gets highly-discounted and then offloaded at supermarkets, drugstores, box store discount bins, even Amazon, and of course eBay and the secondhand market.
If you’re really interested in curating your collection, always check releases to make sure you’re not investing in the early, crappy “beta” release which has since been superseded by a much-better release. This was a huge problem with DVDs (there sometimes being 4+ versions of a single movie, including a later “remastered” edition, and maybe a Superbit edition and/or a Criterion edition) but still persists with blu-rays, often simply do to an initial rush to release a “blu-ray edition”, quality be damned, to trick people into “upgrading” and buying it.
@zorglub2000 said:
Hello
I would like to start saving some of my Blu Rays for private copy and watch them directly with Plex.
The viewing will then be on a 1080p screen (Plex being installed on a NUC)
I started using MakeMKV but I ended up with about 25GB file.
Then I guess that if I make 4 BR it will be 100GB and therefore 40BR will be 1TB anyway …
I like to have a your opinion between:
keep the copies of 25GB (for the future) or 2) reduce them with other software like Handbrake to make smaller files for example? For those who have done it what do you choose?
I really would see the difference in viewing or listening?
What settings do you recommend, I did a test with MP4 and H.264 and AC3 audio
In the case of Handbrake, conversion seems very long (18 hours ??) is this normal?
Do you advise me other software to reduce the size?
@iv-tecman said:
I look around the supermarkets and amazon etc for cheap DVD’s or blu rays, or even look in second hand game /trade in stores for cheap media
If quality matters to you, be careful about this. A blu-ray release doesn’t necessarily mean “best”, and there have been many instances of a blu-ray being worse quality than the DVD release. Often there is a later blu-ray release where the transfer team actually put some effort into things and cleaning up the picture/artifacts… and then as a result,the older blu-ray gets highly-discounted and then offloaded at supermarkets, drugstores, box store discount bins, even Amazon, and of course eBay and the secondhand market.
If you’re really interested in curating your collection, always check releases to make sure you’re not investing in the early, crappy “beta” release which has since been superseded by a much-better release. This was a huge problem with DVDs (there sometimes being 4+ versions of a single movie, including a later “remastered” edition, and maybe a Superbit edition and/or a Criterion edition) but still persists with blu-rays, often simply do to an initial rush to release a “blu-ray edition”, quality be damned, to trick people into “upgrading” and buying it.
Yeah I do sometimes forget to check if the blu ray is just going to be a DVD slapped on a blu ray. But then a lot of my collection is me trying to transfer from VHS tape to DVD /Blu Ray to which I can rip. I will confess, i’ve had a few blu ray discs that have resulted in quite poor quality or haven’t ripped at all, so off to erm other means to get them in H264 formats…
Its been a long road for me to build my collection. Still loads to do, been at it since 2008 , started with XMBC and then Plex and eventually I hope to have all the VHS tapes of older movies I have owned, and DVD /Blu Rays in MKV format being served by a media server…
Will be worth it in the end, so to the OP stick with it. I once read that the guy that started IMDB has something like 11000 movies all served by Plex Media Server.
Hello everyone and thanks very much for your answers.
For now I am doing a few with makemkv and that takes a long time.
I am hesitating on doing the extras or not … will I ever find time to watch them ? ah ah
Now for the rest I have tried @cayars script without success yet, don’t know why really…
And I am trying a few settings on Handbrake but also did not do something that satisfy me yet.
The last one I tried I put mp4 settings and endend up with a m4v file, not sur if that’s normal.
I would like to have English Audio 5.1 if available + subs in English + French kept in the file or put on SRT seperate, but not sure if I can really automate this process without double checking the srt file for mistakes.
If any hints please don’t hesitate to post here, will be happy to read from you guys…
@sremick you are right, but not always easy to know which one is the best edition @iv-tecman congrats on your dedication to make all your movies available !
This can be a decent site to check but its very US focused. Sometimes UK /EU and US releases differ. Its not so much a problem as it was back in the days of VHS, but its worth sometimes checking.
One recent blu ray I had trouble tracking down, ended up buying the DVD and then obtaining the enhanced version later was Batman Return of the Joker - movie I loved back in the early twenties. Predator was another one that got slapped on a blu ray but was in fact a DVD less then 10mbits rush job. Another version was released not long after. Wizard of Oz one blu ray I got for my kids was in fact an excellent example of how to remaster an older movie. Many blu rays now clean up noise etc… but wizard of oz had the grain left, but just had better clarity in the image. Just how it was meant to be, I prefer the noise for older movies, they weren’t meant to look super clean back then, and I don’t remember older movies being like that, its like a black n white being remaster into colour (ok won’t happen) but it would actually look all wrong IMO
Anyhow Digital movie libraries take time. I do sometimes wish you could buy a DRM free MKV from Amazon, but I can’t see that happening anytime soon. Google play have movies on offer all the time, but I tend not to buy then simply as I don;t know of any way to get them into plex, I have to use the google play movies app.
I’m not an expert. I’m just someone who is also involved in ripping my DVD and Blu-ray discs to MKV files so that I can conveniently store, access, and view them using Plex Media Server.
I’ve had great success with, and highly recommend the use of Don Melton’s tools. The setup takes a bit of time and work, but the results are excellent.
You can learn more about him, and of his other activities on his personal website.
Once done the file can be between 25Go to 45Go though…
If I try and import this file in PLEX, sometimes Plex can’t handle it very well, I wonder if it is because the file is too big or my NUK not enough powerful
Do you think I should really go into compressing my files now and use software like Handbrake, that I would not use to much data ?? Not sure what is the next step to compression. For the subtitles for example not easy to sync well and exerpt an srt files, this can take for ages to do
When I look at some Mkv they are different some at 25Mbs other 34 Mbs…
The files are located on a NAS, so even with VLC or MPC if I try to read them directly it is too much to handle…
Hello I continue this thread again because I finally decided to convert via Handbrake some of my films.
I downloaded Handbrake “nightly build” as was advised on another thread.
For the container I was not sure to continue with mkv or mp4.
My original file is an mkv created with makemkv from an original disc.
I wondered if exists a preset for Plex to import somewhere?
Reading on different forums I realized that it is recommended to use different configurations depending on whether it is a Blu Ray or a DVD.
Some forums seem to say that it is useless to rip a DVD beyond 480p, is this true?
At the beginning I had selected the preset right HQ 720p 30 Surround and then I looked on the net if I found an interesting config and I came across this page:
Can you tell me what you think about these settings and if they look okay to you?
Here is an excerpt:
Set the output format to MKV File
Click the button that says “Video”. Make sure the video codec is H.264 (x264)
The frame rate should be “Same as Source” and Constant Framerate should be selected.
Check Constant Quality and adjust the slider until the RF number goes to 20
For the encoder options, slide the preset slider to Very Slow. Trust me, it takes a while, but the quality is far superior, and usually yields a smaller file size. Unfortunately it is a trade off for speed vs quality. Like I said, run it while you are sleeping.
Leave “Fast Decode” unchecked.
Set Tune to Film
Set Profile to High
Set Level to 3.1
It is not easy to embark on this long process without being sure of the settings (not to have to redo everything again afterwards like I did before when using DVDFab software :/)
So thanks to you all in advance for your advices and feedback as always,
hello everyone, going through this path again. Difficult to find the right presets for Blu Ray storage with handbrake.
I downloaded latest nightly build and since I was not sure what to change then used:
Presets: Matroska -> H.264 1080p 30 (does that seem the correct way to do this ?)
The file will be stored on a Synology NAS and the Plex Server is on a INTEL NUC to then be played on a videoprojector 1920 x 1080 pixels…
Thanks in advance,
Z.
PS: I recently saw there is also an “optimize” feature in Plex, would that be a good idea too ?
Definitely not a handbrake expert, but if the “30” in your preset changes the framerate to 30FPS, i wouldn’t think that’s a good idea. You’ll end up with duplicated frames since the original is probably 24 or 23.976. Even worse, it might blend frames. I would use constant bitrate and the original framerate, since that’s how the original bluray was encoded. Use variable frame rate only when encoding DVD, and then only if you absolutely think it’s necessary on older DVD’s that have a lot of interlaced content.
Why not make your own preset similar to the suggestion you used a couple of post back. I don’t use handbrake often, but I do convert stuff using ffmpeg with settings almost identical to the once suggested there. You will have to decide if that’s good enough, no one else can. A lower RF number might improve quality with a bigger file size, higher numbers will lose some quality, but give a smaller file size.
@leelynds said:
Definitely not a handbrake expert, but if the “30” in your preset changes the framerate to 30FPS, i wouldn’t think that’s a good idea.
Not necessarily. Tick ‘Peak Framerate’ below and you’re golden. Then the setting only prevents framerates above 30 fps (which might be incompatible with certain devices).
I have encoded quite a few BR rips that way and they all end up with perfect BR-compatible frame rate in the file.
Here is my latest encode, using variable bitrate and RF16 (it is computer animation, so the source is free of noise)
Of course, there are still massive spikes in the bitrate in there, so I’d only use this file on a server that is capable of transcoding. But I like this movie and I want reasonably excellent picture when watching on the big screen.
That’s just for the video stream: requiredBandwidths="24404,23499,20819,16401,12736,11990,11565,11565"
Unless you have a specific need to cap your bitrate then I would not use constant bitrate. Use Variable so that the encode can use bits where it needs it and not use bits when it doesn’t.
