This software appears to be made for non-professional users.
The classification of file formats into SD and HD appears to be arbitrary and confusing.
Pretty much all formats on the HD category can also be used to store SD material.
Many of the formats on the SD category are also used for HD material.
Ah yes, I’ve seen apps like this. Yeah, it lists a boat-load of formats like this, because there are a lot of small products that require a video in a very specific format to play them. Usually, these devices were not intended to be able to run user-provided media (mp3 players, iPhones, xbox, etc, or had such a tiny screen that you would not need full 1080P HD size). So when you use this program, you’d pick the specific device, and the program would take care of the extension, codec, and size.
Most of the time, however, in the background the files are all identical, just the extension at the end changes. Plex ought to be able to play nearly any file listed there, but the best “general format” to pick will be MP4, M4V, or MKV (my favorite). Functionally, they will all work the same in Plex. The only point to picking one in particular is for future non-Plex use, but there’s no way to predict the future.
As for the filename, yeah, Plex will read the filename to try to determine what movie it is. It compares that filename to online sources (IMDB, TMDB, TVDB), so make sure your filename is as close to the real title as possible to help Plex find it. If you do, then it will load all the metadata (title, poster, description, actors) to the entry automatically.
if you are ripping non-HD format media (DVDs) then you don’t need to select an HD format either, might just take up unnecessary space. The formats in the App you are using are probably just pre-filling out advanced changes such as audio types or bit rates etc etc.
There’s not all that many devices which support multi-channel AAC audio. Preferably stay with the original AC3 or DTS 5.1 audio or transcode to stereo AAC.
Also… you should tag the audio track language to allow Plex to automatically select the correct track based on your language preferences (so it’s not showing up as „unknown“).
It’s an older but widely supported surround audio format that’s quite common in DVD based media (but also found on some Blu-Rays (though it’s more rare on those)
Consider your video file like an envelope (technically it’s called a container). That envelope contains the different video, audio and subtitle tracks as well as some descriptive and technical metadata. Similarly there‘s technical information/metadata for each track, describing them for players… e.g. information about the codec/format… but also their language.
You can edit all that metadata with certain apps.
For MKV, you can edit some of the technical details using MKVToolNix.
On macOS you can use Subler to edit both the informational and technical metadata for mp4/m4v/mov containers.
IIRC, mp3tag will do the same on Windows for lots of different containers (despite the name)
Thanks for all the information but its starting to overwhelm.
All I really wanted was software with one button that “did it”.
I think I’ve been able to setup a custom type that has MKV with a HS264 video encoder and AC3 with 5.1 surround.
I’ll see if that works on the TV (it does on the PC using the Plex player).
I don’t really want a vast arrange of settings or I’ll just put the DVD into the player and use it the old fashioned way (no intention to stream to iPhones or whatever).
That software seems to somewhat basic yet overly complicated for what you’re actually trying to do.
Really you only need to worry about h.264, h.265 and mkv or mp4. All that extra crap is just bloat, some of which hasn’t been relevant for 20 years
Mkv or mp4 doesn’t really matter much. For your needs they are indistinguishable and easily converted at any time very quickly if you ever change your mind
h.264 for SD, 720p or 1080p is fine
h.265 will give you smaller file sizes but takes significantly longer to encode
I would consider looking into some other software that has better instructions and a more basic layout
The audio is fine. I had told the TV to play audio through the Audio system (not the TV’s speakers).
The Audio system was hooked up to the DVD player, Apple TV and set top box, but Plex was coming into the TV via Ethernet. Turning the TV speakers back on restored sound.
I plugged a optic fibre cable from the TV to the Audio system and the Plex DVDs and other streamed films run fine now.
Subtitles from the internet are pointless - one DVD, 20+ possible subtitle files, none of which seem to align with my DVD audio track.
Is there one product (I accept it may not be cheap) that simply converts a given DVD (and its subtitles) in one step?
i.e. press big red button and its “done”?
I do not need a product with a plethora of options, nor do I have the time / interest to use 3 different products to achieve the components of the one outcome.
This may work well for you. It does no conversion, so the file will be as big as the DVD itself (generally 4.7 GB).
One thing I do to get subs to line up with my files, is to verify them in VLC. VLC allows you to simply drop in a subtitle file into the player while watching a file to be able to run it right there. If the subs are off by a few seconds, you can use the “Track Synchronization” menu to hasten or delay the subtitle track to figure out the offset. Then, I remux (a quick no-options combiner) the file and the track into a single file using mkvtoolnix, setting a “delay” on the sub track of plus or minus the number of milliseconds that the track is off by. This will permanently fix the subtitle track with the audio.
