Rip DVD to play "like a DVD"?

[opsdog]

Howdy all,

Absolute beginner question here - feel free to point me to the thread where I’m sure this has been asked many times before…

Can a DVD (or Blu-Ray) be ripped/encoded in such a way that the Plex server presents it as if I was playing the actual DVD?

I.E. Gives me the opening menu and the various special features available?

So far all my rips have just given me individual chapters that Plex has no bloody idea what DVD it came from. And often assigns completely wrong information to them, especially the bonus DVDs that come with music CDs.

Am I doing something wrong? Google just points me to write-ups of ripping software.

[FordGuy61]

@opsdog

Can a DVD (or Blu-Ray) be ripped/encoded in such a way that the Plex server presents it as if I was playing the actual DVD?

I.E. Gives me the opening menu and the various special features available?

No.

However, you can still include extras, trailers, etc. They show up as “Extras” when you’re navigating info for a specific movie. See picture at bottom.

See Media Preparation documentation. Specifically, the “Local Trailers & Extras” section of Local Media Assets - Movies.

@opsdog

So far all my rips have just given me individual chapters that Plex has no bloody idea what DVD it came from. And often assigns completely wrong information to them, especially the bonus DVDs that come with music CDs.

Pay particular attention to Plex requirements for file naming & organization. If you stray too far from what is in the documentation, things will go awry.

Correct Way:

/Movies
   /Avatar (2009)
      Avatar (2009).mkv
      /Trailers
          Theatrical Trailer #1.mp4

Wrong Way:

/Movies
   Avatar.2009.1080p.dts.truehd.download.site.name.mkv

Note that Plex ignores text in brackets, so the following is OK as well:

Avatar (2009) [whatever you want here].mkv

@opsdog

Google just points me to write-ups of ripping software.

For ripping, use MakeMKV, makemkv.com. It simply copies the movie from the disc to your system, w/o modification (no transcoding, etc). You can choose which audio tracks, subtitles, etc to rip.

For file manipulation, use MKVToolNix, https://mkvtoolnix.download/. With the multiplexer section, you can add/delete audio tracks, subtitle tracks, etc. The Chapter Editor lets you edit chapter names. The Header Editor lets you add/delete/modify metadata such as audio track names, which audio track is default, etc.

MediaInfo, MediaInfo, is another useful tool. It provides a detailed view of the movie file.

[FordGuy61]

One other thing to note. Plex will download some trailers, extras, etc for you.

When setting up a Library, select “Advanced” after adding the folder. You’ll see many choices, one of which is “Find trailers and extras automatically.” It is a Plex Pass only feature, but not a problem for you.

You can do this for existing Libraries as well. Using Plex Web, mouse over the library name, left click on the three dots that appear, then click on “Edit.” You can then select Advanced and the checkbox to have Plex download things for you.

[opsdog]

Awesome - thank you very much.

I was suspecting that the answer to the first question was No, but figured I’d ask

Thanks again.

[opsdog]

Oh - I’ve been using MacX DVD Ripper Pro to make ISO copies of DVDs onto disk so I can then process them faster in whichever way I want.

I just ran across recommendations for both Handbrake and MakeMKV and snagged them both. I’ll play with both a bit and eventually settle on one over the other.

[FordGuy61]

@opsdog

Oh - I’ve been using MacX DVD Ripper Pro to make ISO copies of DVDs onto disk so I can then process them faster in whichever way I want.

I use Mac DVD Ripper Pro for same thing (very similar to MacX …)

@opsdog

I just ran across recommendations for both Handbrake and MakeMKV and snagged them both. I’ll play with both a bit and eventually settle on one over the other.

Note that Handbrake and MakeMKV are complementary, not competitive.

MakeMKV rips discs, keeping the audio & video in the same format as on the source disc (MPEG2 video & AC3 audio for most DVDs).

Handbrake is a transcoder, converting audio & video to different formats. For example, converting MPEG2 to H.264, which is compatible with more Plex clients than MPEG2.