Ripping DVD Collection to Hard Disk?
Discussion
Over the years we've built up a considerable collection of DVD's. Something like 300+ films, and various box sets, probably 1000 disks in all. A few years ago we numbered all the disks and put them into 4 large binders to save space, with a list of everything on an app.
However, these days we're so used to having everything on demand through Amazon/Netflix/Sky that it's a pain digging out the DVD if what we want to watch isn't available (I know, 1st world problems). Even worse is sometimes we forget (or Mrs ZS pretends to forget) that we own something, so end up renting it.
Therefore I was considering ripping our entire collection to an external hard drive which we could then somehow plug in to the (smart) TV, via USB?. Not after anything fancy, just want to rip the main film and subtitles so we can have easy access via the TV (ideally with a search function). How easy is this to do? Any recommendations for Hard Drive and software to use? My laptop has a DVD drive so if I'm gonna do it then now is the time, as I imagine when I replace my laptop it probably won't have one.
I'd still keep the disks in storage just in case the drive failed. Ideally don't want to spend too much money, something like a 4TB drive under £100, then I guess the software won't be free?
Anyone else done this on the cheap? Worth it?
TIA
However, these days we're so used to having everything on demand through Amazon/Netflix/Sky that it's a pain digging out the DVD if what we want to watch isn't available (I know, 1st world problems). Even worse is sometimes we forget (or Mrs ZS pretends to forget) that we own something, so end up renting it.
Therefore I was considering ripping our entire collection to an external hard drive which we could then somehow plug in to the (smart) TV, via USB?. Not after anything fancy, just want to rip the main film and subtitles so we can have easy access via the TV (ideally with a search function). How easy is this to do? Any recommendations for Hard Drive and software to use? My laptop has a DVD drive so if I'm gonna do it then now is the time, as I imagine when I replace my laptop it probably won't have one.
I'd still keep the disks in storage just in case the drive failed. Ideally don't want to spend too much money, something like a 4TB drive under £100, then I guess the software won't be free?
Anyone else done this on the cheap? Worth it?
TIA
Total nightmare time consuming ball ache.
But if you have lots of time to spare, and a powerful computer..
You will need at least two hard disks kept synchronised as much as possible or if your disc dies you lose the lot in a millisecond.
Just sort your DVD cataloguing/storage out and use them as intended.
Or sell the lot and use the money to rent the odd ones you watch when required.
But if you have lots of time to spare, and a powerful computer..
You will need at least two hard disks kept synchronised as much as possible or if your disc dies you lose the lot in a millisecond.
Just sort your DVD cataloguing/storage out and use them as intended.
Or sell the lot and use the money to rent the odd ones you watch when required.
Use a NAS (Network Attached Storage) in mirror or RAID5 mode to avoid losing everything. Use Handbrake to rip everything to disk. https://handbrake.fr/
Ideally your NAS will have a DLNA media server built-in, or use Plex to do that. https://www.plex.tv/
Personally I wouldn't bother as it's an awful lot of work. You'd have to watch each movie 20 times to make it even close to worthwhile.
Ideally your NAS will have a DLNA media server built-in, or use Plex to do that. https://www.plex.tv/
Personally I wouldn't bother as it's an awful lot of work. You'd have to watch each movie 20 times to make it even close to worthwhile.
Tried, gave up.
Ripping DVDs is a slightly imprecise art - most work, some don't. This was 2 years ago, it may be better now.
They generate a shed load of data - the best you can do for backup is duplicating hard drives. This is clunky when you've only added a few 5 GB films to a 3.5 TB drive.
Indexing them is an utter ballache - tried various "server" products, they're all flawed in some way.
IMO, don't bother. How often do you watch them anyway....
Ripping DVDs is a slightly imprecise art - most work, some don't. This was 2 years ago, it may be better now.
They generate a shed load of data - the best you can do for backup is duplicating hard drives. This is clunky when you've only added a few 5 GB films to a 3.5 TB drive.
Indexing them is an utter ballache - tried various "server" products, they're all flawed in some way.
IMO, don't bother. How often do you watch them anyway....
peterperkins said:
Or sell the lot and use the money to rent the odd ones you watch when required.
In a similar position, I mostly went for this. Even though old DVDs & CDs go for pennies these days and it hurts to see such a bad return on the initial purchase. Video tapes were just thrown away by the boxload.It's rare that I'll watch a film more than once, very rare that I'll watch it more than twice.
Clutter-free subscriptions are the way forward, I've even deleted all music on the computer now in favour of a Tidal subscription. Netflix, iPlayer, Amazon and occasional subscription to NowTV Movies takes care of the films.
I've struggled with this too. Never quite works as it should.
I've got some movies which don't seem to be widely offered on streaming services*.
I might make the effort for these, and use streaming services for more mainstream stuff.
I've got some movies which don't seem to be widely offered on streaming services*.
I might make the effort for these, and use streaming services for more mainstream stuff.
- One thing that does irritate me about Amazon Prime is that some movies are available for only some periods of time. So I've seen something is avialable, then go back some time later to enjoy it and, just like Barry Scot doesn't say - 'bang and movie is gone'.
I rip DVDs and transfer onto my Android tablet for travel.
I use "DVD Catalyst". As others have said, it's very hit and miss. Successful about 80% of the time.
As I view on tablet, my output is compressed. I've not even attempted to rip any of my Blurays.
I purchase DVDs cheap from CEX looking for obscure movies or box sets that I may have missed.
Never blockbusters, as I reserve those for viewing on my big screen in HD.
At any one time, I may have 10 movies and a box series on my tablet for travel viewing. Once viewed, deleted.
Ripping DVDs is a time consuming PITA, but worth it for the occasions that I use them.
In no way would I contemplate ripping my whole collection. Pointless.
I use "DVD Catalyst". As others have said, it's very hit and miss. Successful about 80% of the time.
As I view on tablet, my output is compressed. I've not even attempted to rip any of my Blurays.
I purchase DVDs cheap from CEX looking for obscure movies or box sets that I may have missed.
Never blockbusters, as I reserve those for viewing on my big screen in HD.
At any one time, I may have 10 movies and a box series on my tablet for travel viewing. Once viewed, deleted.
Ripping DVDs is a time consuming PITA, but worth it for the occasions that I use them.
In no way would I contemplate ripping my whole collection. Pointless.
eein said:
I wonder what the legal position is if you download from bittorrent a digital copy of a DVD you already own to serve only as a personal copy? That could avoid the ripping headache.
That is an easy one......illegal. The reason being that peer2peer downloads are always uploads as well and it means you are sharing with many people. I will admit that I got a letter from my internet provider many years ago for this very reason. It is the reason I have not purchased any media in any format since around 2006 because that media seems stuck with the technology.
h0b0 said:
eein said:
I wonder what the legal position is if you download from bittorrent a digital copy of a DVD you already own to serve only as a personal copy? That could avoid the ripping headache.
That is an easy one......illegal. The reason being that peer2peer downloads are always uploads as well and it means you are sharing with many people. I will admit that I got a letter from my internet provider many years ago for this very reason. It is the reason I have not purchased any media in any format since around 2006 because that media seems stuck with the technology.
eein said:
It's quite easy to set bittorrent to download only...
Is it? The last I looked all clients required a minimum upload speed with some setting 0 = infinite. This may have changed, or you have found a specific client, but the fundamental success of peer2peer is the requirement to upload.Anyway, even if you are downloading only, still illegal.
Very many DVDs and Blurays sold in the last few years come with a download code in the packaging to save you having to do this. You could have a portable copy to watch on your phone and/or tablet. The idea being that the studios would much rather you purchased a DVD or Bluray which costs them pennies to make but nets then infinitely more than they get from the likes of Netflix or any other streaming service.
I've been doing this for ages (at least 15yrs).
If you have a large collection, the initial setup is indeed a pain. My machine (an old Mac Mini) will do a raw DVD rip in 20-30mins giving 5Gb to 7Gb of data typically. The Mac Mini I had was a spare, so I simply slotted discs in when I had time and let it do its thing.
Took a number of months to complete everything. But was well worth it. The collection's fully accessible from anywhere in the house. You can search on all sorts of factors when you want something to watch, and everyone in the house finds it a piece of cake to use. The DVDs are in storage crates in the loft.
Whenever we buy a DVD, it gets ripped straight away and the disc put in the storage creates. Nice and easy.
You need a NAS really, and get one that uses RAID to give some protection against disk failure. You can build on this over time (I now have several NAS units, with resilience between them).
I latterly starting doing additional MP4 rips of the raw DVDs to give portability options. This takes considerably longer. But again can be done in the background. Just be clear on what you want to achieve - the first ones I did were relatively low quality. I should really have done them all at much higher quality with multiple soundtracks (half of mine are like this now...they use ~1Gb of space per movie but have surround and stereo audio and DVD quality video, just without extras etc).
Whether it's worth it will depend on how much you enjoy watching the movies you have in your collection IMO. Renting is fine if you know you only want to watch a film once. Streaming services are OK these days, but you seem to need several platforms to get decent coverage and I'm not a fan of subscription services where you never actually own a product.
If you have a large collection, the initial setup is indeed a pain. My machine (an old Mac Mini) will do a raw DVD rip in 20-30mins giving 5Gb to 7Gb of data typically. The Mac Mini I had was a spare, so I simply slotted discs in when I had time and let it do its thing.
Took a number of months to complete everything. But was well worth it. The collection's fully accessible from anywhere in the house. You can search on all sorts of factors when you want something to watch, and everyone in the house finds it a piece of cake to use. The DVDs are in storage crates in the loft.
Whenever we buy a DVD, it gets ripped straight away and the disc put in the storage creates. Nice and easy.
You need a NAS really, and get one that uses RAID to give some protection against disk failure. You can build on this over time (I now have several NAS units, with resilience between them).
I latterly starting doing additional MP4 rips of the raw DVDs to give portability options. This takes considerably longer. But again can be done in the background. Just be clear on what you want to achieve - the first ones I did were relatively low quality. I should really have done them all at much higher quality with multiple soundtracks (half of mine are like this now...they use ~1Gb of space per movie but have surround and stereo audio and DVD quality video, just without extras etc).
Whether it's worth it will depend on how much you enjoy watching the movies you have in your collection IMO. Renting is fine if you know you only want to watch a film once. Streaming services are OK these days, but you seem to need several platforms to get decent coverage and I'm not a fan of subscription services where you never actually own a product.
LunarOne said:
Very many DVDs and Blurays sold in the last few years come with a download code in the packaging to save you having to do this. You could have a portable copy to watch on your phone and/or tablet. The idea being that the studios would much rather you purchased a DVD or Bluray which costs them pennies to make but nets then infinitely more than they get from the likes of Netflix or any other streaming service.
I've not seen this for a few years. It used to be common but then the Ultroviolet service stopped, and then Flixster stopped (with existing collections migrated to Google Play, which was nice). But I dont see digital download codes in any discs I've bought in the last ~2 years.It's strange that the music industry has turned a blind eye to personal ripping of CDs for years, yet the film & TV industry are still precious about it.
You buy a CD from Amazon, and automatically get instant downloads to load up to itunes. You don't even have to wait for the physical media to arrive.
It's a shame that the likes of Ultraviolet have stopped.
It's also a shame that SACD never really caught on. No interest as the demand is for portable media.
Both audio and video should be readily available to buy and keep for portable use, using personal storage without the need for connectivity.
You buy a CD from Amazon, and automatically get instant downloads to load up to itunes. You don't even have to wait for the physical media to arrive.
It's a shame that the likes of Ultraviolet have stopped.
It's also a shame that SACD never really caught on. No interest as the demand is for portable media.
Both audio and video should be readily available to buy and keep for portable use, using personal storage without the need for connectivity.
I built a server using some left over parts and ripped a few hundred blurays to it.
MakeMKV to rip and left in full size for most. Handbrake if I fancied a reduced file size.
Server runs Proxmox and then OMV with a Plex docker.
TV can run Plex directly but has issues with 25mb+ streams, so a Nvidia shield is the main source.
Lockdown gave extra time to add the films I hadn't bothered to rip so far.
MakeMKV to rip and left in full size for most. Handbrake if I fancied a reduced file size.
Server runs Proxmox and then OMV with a Plex docker.
TV can run Plex directly but has issues with 25mb+ streams, so a Nvidia shield is the main source.
Lockdown gave extra time to add the films I hadn't bothered to rip so far.
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