When switching from ripped dvds to blurays, it made me wonder if 'm doing it wrong. Let me post a couple things and I’m curious to see other peoples suggestions and how they do it.
I rip using makemkv and use handbrake to convert to mp4. I’ve found that by moving to mp4, I lose 7.1 audio. I’m also pretty sure I also lose subtitles.
Couple things I’m wondering… I’m going to be building a new server with a new raid and a ton more space so should I just leave them at mkv files? Also is there a way to have like 2.0 5.1 and 7.1 audio? It seems like when i rip with only 5.1 and 7.1, when not using a tv with surround sound its audio is hard to hear. Am I just doing something wrong to lose 2.0 audio too?
thanks for any replies with tips, tricks, or links to other how to pages.
This is nothing to do with Plex so I’m not really sure why you’re posting here but…
You aren’t checking Handbrake’s options very well if you are losing the 7.1.
You can add the same audio track and downmix it to AAC 2.0 and a separate 7.1 track but you won’t get DTS-HD MA in a mp4 file, it’s not possible. MKV you could.
Subtitles on BluRays are image-based. For inclusion in mp4 files, you need text-based subtitles (SRT). You either need to convert the Bluray subtitles or get yourself already converted SRT versions.
And yes, mp4 doesn’t support DTS at all. Any higher-quality surround sound needs to get converted if you are aiming for the mp4 container.
If you rather have the high-quality surround sound and all the subtitles, you maybe need to think about using MKV instead. Which supports a whole shedload of different audio codecs and subtitle types.
If you only have a weak cpu in your Plex server, MKV is not optimal though.
It has to do with plex because I’m using plex as my media server. And plex supports certain things so the best place to post this would be a plex forum. Plex doesn’t post how to get the media in to plex just what to do with it once its in there.
But as Otto stated, that takes a toll on the CPU. Depending on which clients you serve and what CPU you have, you might be “shooting yourself in the foot” - if you pardon my harsh words.
If you for instance only have a <4k passmark CPU and need to serve up 2-3 remote transcodes to iOS devices this will not be a successful transition for you.
Wthout knowing you server or your usage case we can’t help you much more than above posts.
(An alternative, albeit more time consuming and storage demanding is to keep one mkv copy with “everything” and one mp4 copy with “barely anything” - to cover all bases)
@Peter_W said:
(An alternative, albeit more time consuming and storage demanding is to keep one mkv copy with “everything” and one mp4 copy with “barely anything” - to cover all bases)
Exactly what I do. Takes about 50% of the length of the film to rip to mkv then about 110% of the movie length to convert to a 5Mbps mp4. I use the MKV version for playing on the big screen on a hard wired mac mini and then the mp4 version for the other tv’s/remote viewing which use wifi and a variety of clients which can’t direct play the mkv.
As you can see, as handbrake takes around 110% of the time to re-encode on a 2.3ghz mac mini, it wouldn’t keep up with plex trying to transcode ‘on the fly’.
Out of interest, what benchmark cpu would be needed to do a full bit-rate mkv (I guess a 30-40Mbit mkv)?
@roadzy said:
It has to do with plex because I’m using plex as my media server. And plex supports certain things so the best place to post this would be a plex forum. Plex doesn’t post how to get the media in to plex just what to do with it once its in there.
Doesn’t make it anything to do with Plex. My point was there are better places to post it.
@danjames92
Doesn’t make it anything to do with Plex. My point was there are better places to post it.>
Extremely unhelpful comment. I agree with the OP that it would be useful to get thoughts from other Plex users as to what they’ve found the most useful way of doing things.
If you think there are better places to post the question, you could at least suggest what some of those places might be rather than coming across as argumentative.
@danjames92
Doesn’t make it anything to do with Plex. My point was there are better places to post it.>
Extremely unhelpful comment. I agree with the OP that it would be useful to get thoughts from other Plex users as to what they’ve found the most useful way of doing things.
If you think there are better places to post the question, you could at least suggest what some of those places might be rather than coming across as argumentative.
That wasn’t my intention. Handbrake forums and the makemkv forums for example. Probably hadn’t had my coffee yet, sorry op!
My movies is another media management software that integrates with several media player clients. It will even create meta data files.
It has a disc copier and video converter feature. I had to reload a bunch of content a few years ago. That software made it a breeze. It also helps that depending on which install of it you do you can use multiple drives at the same time. I had 5 drives (2 bluray and 3DVD) pulling content to disk then the server was set to automatically convert once the rip was complete. Pulled everything in about a week, then 2 months latter the server finished converting it all.
Best way to rip a bluray?
I usually do it by holding it firmly at the top between thumb and first finger with both hands close together at the top. Then I kind of push with my left hand while pulling with my right and bending then slightly. I find they are quite tough and often shatter but I “can” “rip” them sometimes and I only have a few cuts on my hands and one deep gouge on my face (where my attempt to rip “Avatar” was closer to an explosion) from my attempts.
Oh. I see you wanted serious answers. Sorry, not today, my granddaughters are visiting and they are too entertaining to get too serious for very long.
Thank you for the great discussion. This is what I was hoping for. I know there are many different ways to do this and again not really about plex but if you don’t do it a specific way, it may not work that way in plex.
@Peter_W said:
If you for instance only have a <4k passmark CPU and need to serve up 2-3 remote transcodes to iOS devices this will not be a successful transition for you.
Also good input about the passmark. I need to actually build a new server here soon. Running out of space and the computer is on the old side. Takes forever to rip a bluray.
