So I only want to do this one time. My goal to make a library for plex at the highest quality when it matters then using light to high compression when acceptable to save discspace.
What is the best first step:
rip with makemkv to mkv ( is this lossless)
rip full dvd / bluray to HDD with app like dvdfab
other
Next would be handbrake,
then loading to the plex library
can plex push DTS HD if think its worth saving over the lossy or do i need to down mix it?
Recommended. And yes, this step is lossless.
You could use these files directly with Plex, given enough storage and processing power in your server.
That way you have the full quality of the Blu-ray original.
If you have the time, recompress it further to about 20 - 35% of the original size.
What you use for this step is not really important. I use Handbrake.
If the Plex client is able to bitstream the audio to an attached AVR, you can indeed use the full quality of a DTS HD audio track. This is ependend on the type of Plex client and the device where it’s running on.
If you only have inbuilt speakers or Soundbars, HD sound is hardly worth the expense of storage space and bandwidth, IMHO.
I also do this…using DVDfab is fine. Personally, I use tsMuxer for Blu-Ray and MakeMKV for DVD and only pull the main video, main audio, and any English subs. For music, I use dbpoweramp and rip to FLAC for CD. If I want better quality, I buy in FLAC from hdtracks.com.
Video-wise, the only thing I would use Handbrake for from there is to convert the video to HEVC and put everything into an MKV container. Even then, you have to play with the settings to make sure the output is as close to the input as possible on your best and biggest displays. This save 50% disk space across my entire collection; however, some few titles do end up actually being larger than the original. This was acceptable for me when the average savings was 50% and I could have everyting in one container with the same video encoding.
You can burn in forced subs if you want, but this may have a few with bad results if the software has trouble reading which subs to display or not.
So atm my WD reds are in my HTPC, But I do plan to remove them and make a NAS or server for the files. All items of steaming importance for full HD will be hooked up with cat 6 cord.
I do have a SD projector in the bedroom with a roku (wifi), any thing I need to do so I dont have play back issues here? I think roku can send the HD to my project as it supports it, but only outputs in lower res.
Make sure your Wi-Fi signal is strong and stable or you can have buffering/studdering issues. Plex will decide whether it needs transcoding or not, but you can always adjust the Plex app settings on the Roku as well.
Thanks for all the info.
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