Backing up DVD / blu ray & CD collection?

[+BudMan MVC]

Dude your going so far over his head its like not funny...  Remember We are talking Car Fast and Shiny at this point... Not CVT, etc..

 

Then we will wait for him to come back and ask "how make car go fast"

 

Why are we bringing up the difference between pal and ntsc?

720 x 480 pixels per frame for NTSC,  720 x 576 pixels per frame for PAL dvd..

 

Sorry should of said 576 for you... its still utter crap today   Your CAR is slow.. But that is the car you have so we live with it... Once you learn how to drive your slow car, and you get new faster car then we worry about how to drive the faster car, ie 1080, 4k -- guess what 8k is coming and actually a thing already.. Like I have been saying this is a crazy rabbit hole your going to jump into..

 

If your ok with watching 480 or 576 dvd quality on your 60" 4k TV then sure lets go with it   Lets forget all the resolution detail stuff - car is goes fast enough.. Its shiny enough for a paint job.. So you put the disk in the slot.. You run the software that takes the info from the disk and creates file.. You name this file movie.xyz and put it in a folder than plex sees and bing bang zoom you click a button on your TV and you watch said movie

 

Once you figure out how to make that work - then we worry about how to make the car faster and brighter flasher paint job...

 

Diving into the actual details is like talking brain surgery to a goldfish - no offense

 

edit:  When I said 8K is a thing

https://www.newsshooter.com/2018/12/01/8k-is-now-being-broadcast-in-japan/

[nekrosoft13]

21 hours ago, BudMan said:

Yeah HUGE FAN of stablebit drivepool!!  I can not say enough about that software it really is the cats meow for sure.. And their support is top notch as well.. If your going to run your own box with windows then yes I would agree drive pool is a requirement.. Loss of that software was one of the things keeping me away from a predone nas, but I got over it.. But I still run it on my old N40L as my old nas with drivepool for the 3x2TB disks it has in it..

 

The ability to pick files and folders to have on more than 1 disks is the slick ass feature!!  And if you add the clouddrive addon where you can just put cloudspace into your pool - its slick feature for sure!

 

You don't really need to grab all the art on your own - plex will do that for you..

thats for stablebit drivepool, that looks quite good. will give it a shot.

[Technique]

14 hours ago, BudMan said:

 

Diving into the actual details is like talking brain surgery to a goldfish - no offense

 

None taken at all.

 

Like i've said from the start, treat me like an idiot and i mean that. Think of me like someone who needs it broken down to the most basic level - because i will. Jargon will have me leaving this i can pretty much guarantee it.

 

With that said, what i'm cautious about is ripping 200 DVDs and getting everything up and running only to then learn a bit more, require/want more quality and then needing to rip the same 200 all over again differently, higher quality maybe i don't know.

Or would the tweaking (if needed) come AFTER the rip?

[+BudMan MVC]

When you pull the video off with makemkv there is nothing to tweak - its a 1:1 copy of the video.. Its the best quality that is possible from that optical disk you could possible do..

 

Anything you did with handbrake or other tool after that would be loss of quality in some fashion or another..

 

The only real question would be if you actually want to use mkv as your container vs say mp4... But you can switch containers without have to actually transcode the video or audio..

[DevTech]

2 hours ago, Technique said:

None taken at all.

 

Like i've said from the start, treat me like an idiot and i mean that. Think of me like someone who needs it broken down to the most basic level - because i will. Jargon will have me leaving this i can pretty much guarantee it.

 

With that said, what i'm cautious about is ripping 200 DVDs and getting everything up and running only to then learn a bit more, require/want more quality and then needing to rip the same 200 all over again differently, higher quality maybe i don't know.

Or would the tweaking (if needed) come AFTER the rip?

As long as you put Blinders on and are not tempted by those tantalizing options you see to get "better" quality, your objective is to make 200 - 500 exact pristine copies of the originals.

 

Once you have the exact copy, you can do experiments LATER ON, such as make variations on a quest for higher quality after you have learned more.

 

So right now there are 2 optional things you can investigate

(only if you want to be absolutely sure you are making the best RIPs possible):

 

1. Find the best DVD drive or Blu-Ray drive to do the 200 - 500 RIPs

 

2. Check to see if there is any software better than MakeMKV to do the RIP along the lines of EAC for audio.

 

 

[DevTech]

1 hour ago, BudMan said:

Anything you did with handbrake or other tool after that would be loss of quality in some fashion or another

Right on! Exactly right. For the OP, that statement is truer than true. The gospel. The Last Word. The best possible Alternate Fact in a world swimming with an overload of information. 

 

OP: Skip reading the rest of this post for 6 months...

 

-----------------------------

It is also a false statement. Not true. Contradicts actual facts and reality. And that is the frustratingly bizarre crazy aspect of this thread. With really intelligent software that does very clever Video Post Processing, the quality of a DVD can be improved a certain amount that is probably worth the effort if you had the motivation of 500 DVDs which you will NEVER replace with their Blu-Rays. But it is completely impossible to discuss this option/consideration in any way without getting things muddled beyond belief! Muggles...

[+BudMan MVC]

So ok it is possible to do some processing and "upscale" those DVDs are never going to be the quality of 1080i or p.. To be honest the time and effort required would be not worth the it the long run other than a exercise in understanding the possibilities.

 

If the quality is not up to what you want, get better quality originals is what you would be best path forward - where you acquire those is up to you.. Keep an eye out in the bargain bins at your local stores.. Borrow from newer versions from the library to supplement your library with quality copies   Or there other sources of such better quality media to be sure - none of which are valid discussion topics here on neowin.. Lets leave such other sources for your own on your own research if such topics do not conflict with your moral compass.

 

To be honest in the long run as such services as netflix and amazon prime, hulu, etc. etc.. Provide for higher and higher resolution libraries and ease of streaming them and bandwidth of connections increase other than home video the collection of such media on your own hardware becomes less and less attractive.. Why should you acquire copies of such media for local storage when included in your subscription fee you have access to most anything you could want at very high resolution levels.. Other than classic sort of stuff that has not yet made it into the online libraries..

 

Your headed down a very crazy rabbit hole and only about 10 years late to the game   My first media player was a popcorn hour that you put a disk in and copied your media too..   Interface was lame, but it got the job done for not having to slap a disk into a player..

 

I just looked up my order

 Order Details - Feb 13, 2009 8:22 PM CST

What when I got the popcorn hour A110   So pretty much 10 years exactly..

 

[Technique]

Budman, what do you do with all your DVDs once you've ripped them? Or Blu Rays, but basically the movies on a disc.

 

1 hour ago, DevTech said:

 

 

1. Find the best DVD drive or Blu-Ray drive to do the 200 - 500 RIPs

 

 

 

Not sure what a new drive will give me. Maybe quicker speeds? I don't know. My stuff is 8 years old now. I bought it back in 2010 and can no longer access my order details.

 

I know the Blu Ray drive is a Samsung of some kind and the DVD drive is an LG.

 

[DevTech]

6 minutes ago, Technique said:

Budman, what do you do with all your DVDs once you've ripped them? Or Blu Rays, but basically the movies on a disc.

 

Not sure what a new drive will give me. Maybe quicker speeds? I don't know. My stuff is 8 years old now. I bought it back in 2010 and can no longer access my order details.

 

I know the Blu Ray drive is a Samsung of some kind and the DVD drive is an LG.

 

 

A few pages back I posted an interesting project by a guy that invented an "automatic ripping machine" and the whole reason I posted that is because I empathized with your situation and I imagined you and the pain of sitting there for 500 DVDs!!!

 

I copied his diagram into the post which showed that you can insert anything into the drive and the software determines if it is an Audio CD or a DVD movie or a Blu-Ray movie or a data disk and it then automatically RIPs it with the right software into the right location without any thought or attention on your part!

 

When done, the disk pops out of the drive, signaling you that it is time to pop in the next one.

 

--------------

 

As part of that his article noted he had discovered differences in drives and in particular many Blu-Rays (but not all) detect if you are doing a RIP and force the drive to be insanely slow!

 

I know from working with EAC that the program has a large database of drive models and adapts it's method of Anti-Jitter for example to the jitter specs of that drive.

 

From that, I simply suspect that DVD drives and Blu-Ray drives might have similar variations that make certain models "prize collectibles" for "Hobbyists That RIP"

 

 

[DevTech]

27 minutes ago, BudMan said:

So ok it is possible to do some processing and "upscale" those DVDs are never going to be the quality of 1080i or p.. To be honest the time and effort required would be not worth the it the long run other than a exercise in understanding the possibilities.

YES. 100% Accurate. There is no upscale on a DVD that will equal a Blu-Ray other than the very recent state of the art application of "AI" type techniques for which there are some jaw dropping examples on GitHub but that path is kind of cheating because those techniques can also be applied to a Blu-Ray source to make that "improved" for 4K which philosophically maintains the correctness of your statement above.

 

34 minutes ago, BudMan said:

If the quality is not up to what you want, get better quality originals is what you would be best path forward - where you acquire those is up to you.. Keep an eye out in the bargain bins at your local stores.. Borrow from newer versions from the library to supplement your library with quality copies   Or there other sources of such better quality media to be sure - none of which are valid discussion topics here on neowin.. Lets leave such other sources for your own on your own research if such topics do not conflict with your moral compass.

The OP has stated over and over that he has no intention whatsoever of re-purchasing his movies in Blu-Ray or 4K. You are assuming he will change his mind on this over time, and well 99.99% of humanity has already been extorted by "Sony and the Cronies" to do exactly that, so simple statistics imply that your crystal ball is well charged up and working!

 

But this surprising "blast from the past" tech requirement is exactly what triggered my curiousness circuit - "Hmmm, I wonder what exactly is the best possible viewing experience for an old retro DVD format in 2018?"

 

 

59 minutes ago, BudMan said:

To be honest in the long run as such services as netflix and amazon prime, hulu, etc. etc.. Provide for higher and higher resolution libraries and ease of streaming them and bandwidth of connections increase other than home video the collection of such media on your own hardware becomes less and less attractive.. Why should you acquire copies of such media for local storage when included in your subscription fee you have access to most anything you could want at very high resolution levels.. Other than classic sort of stuff that has not yet made it into the online libraries..

To be honest, I had not considered that big picture since the OP was extremely opposed to any time of online service that had a monthly cost.

 

But long term, all of the insanely powerful video processing I have learned about will be within the resources of a huge online giant to implement - Netflix.

 

Good catch there!

 

 

ADDENDUM on Moral Compass:

 

On a moral compass, "Sony and the Cronies" have rigged the system and have actually used the WTO (World Trade Organization) to spread their own cartel based morally corrupt agenda to every country that wants to be a member of the WTO. So ignoring the big picture, what is the moral compass situation of a DVD movie that you already "own" and from a "moral" point of view every individual will make a judgment for themselves (and of course way too often they want to extend their conclusion to judge others as well)

 

If you buy a product from a local store and then you want to get an improved model, we all expect to pay again for that thing, because somebody made that new version out of new materials and paid the manufacturing and shipping costs. Not a bad way of operating a functional economy. But then Sony's greed went wacko and they claimed ownership of something they didn't actually make, a kind of digital photocopy of a DVD. To make that stick in courts worldwide (along with campaign contributions everywhere) they claimed they sold you a 25 cent DVD along with the Intellectual Property rights to view it. So by Sony's twisted logic, if you "find" a Blu-Ray photo-copy (while walking down the street of course) of the Intellectual Property you already have rights to, then presumably there is nothing bad, compass-wise, but everyone has to muddle through the history, the players, read up on ancient Greek Ethics, etc to see if they like Sony's conclusion or not.

 

The main problem is that trying to make "good" out of something "bad" is a signal that cries out for a ground up reformation of these approaches  for a modern digital world. Monopolies will resist that change when they can already easily extort people into paying over and over again for the same thing...

 

[DevTech]

Well, as the old expression goes: "Speak of the Devil"

 

https://www.neowin.net/news/makemkv-1142-beta

 

Step right up ladies and gents to get your updated copy and new decryption key to perform the criminal act (as defined by the U.S. Congress) of circumventing an encryption system!

 

 

[+BudMan MVC]

So as we have been on lots of side topics in this discussion... I had forgotten all about the cost of running a stick..

 

So I plugged in my roku stick from the guest room tv into my killawatt meter awhile ago.. And then forgot all about it..  Just looked its been on for 125 hours.. It has used a total of 0.28kwh

 

So we do a bit of math..  Keep in mind have not actually used it since that I recall - but maybe the wife did?

 

So looking on my elec bill I used 619 total kwh last month which breaks down to 0.1368497576736672 per kwh.. Which isn't all that cheap... Freaking Chicagoland...

 

So at .28khw over 125 hours = 0.00224 per hour.. or 19.6224 kwh a YEAR... Lets call it even 20..

 

20 x $0.137 your talking a whole $2.75 a year to leave your stick powered

Or $0.0075 a day...

[DevTech]

40 minutes ago, BudMan said:

So as we have been on lots of side topics in this discussion... I had forgotten all about the cost of running a stick..

 

So I plugged in my roku stick from the guest room tv into my killawatt meter awhile ago.. And then forgot all about it..  Just looked its been on for 125 hours.. It has used a total of 0.28kwh

 

So we do a bit of math..  Keep in mind have not actually used it since that I recall - but maybe the wife did?

 

So looking on my elec bill I used 619 total kwh last month which breaks down to 0.1368497576736672 per kwh.. Which isn't all that cheap... Freaking Chicagoland...

 

So at .28khw over 125 hours = 0.00224 per hour.. or 19.6224 kwh a YEAR... Lets call it even 20..

 

20 x $0.137 your talking a whole $2.75 a year to leave your stick powered

Or $0.0075 a day...

"Just pennies a day"

 

Time to finally get around to digging out a sub-basement to build that "Bomb Shelter" Mini Nuclear Reactor from the 60's

 

 

(I probably have the right keywords there to wake up Echelon for a millisec...)

[Technique]

I remember years ago a TV repair man came out to ... repair our TV. He said at the time that you shouldn't really leave your TV on standby when you're not watching it as it can still 'burn out'. I think that's what had happened to that TV, i can't 100% remember though. I'm pretty sure it wasn't turning on (we're going back maybe 20 years though tbh so things could've come along since then).

 

I don't know what it is that makes me prefer to not leave a stick plugged in. I couldn't honestly tell you. A bit of that on the subconscious maybe? Who knows.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

4 minutes ago, Technique said:

I remember years ago a TV repair man came out to ... repair our TV. He said at the time that you shouldn't really leave your TV on standby when you're not watching it as it can still 'burn out'. I think that's what had happened to that TV, i can't 100% remember though. I'm pretty sure it wasn't turning on (we're going back maybe 20 years though tbh so things could've come along since then).

 

I don't know what it is that makes me prefer to not leave a stick plugged in. I couldn't honestly tell you. A bit of that on the subconscious maybe? Who knows.

Old TV's yes. But nowadays, that has been fixed.

[DevTech]

1 hour ago, Technique said:

I remember years ago a TV repair man came out to ... repair our TV. He said at the time that you shouldn't really leave your TV on standby when you're not watching it as it can still 'burn out'. I think that's what had happened to that TV, i can't 100% remember though. I'm pretty sure it wasn't turning on (we're going back maybe 20 years though tbh so things could've come along since then).

 

I don't know what it is that makes me prefer to not leave a stick plugged in. I couldn't honestly tell you. A bit of that on the subconscious maybe? Who knows.

 

1 hour ago, Mindovermaster said:

Old TV's yes. But nowadays, that has been fixed.

 

1. The advice that is being dimly remembered is probably connected to electrical storms and powerline glitches where a certain percentage of equipment is destroyed everywhere by voltage spikes even when they are turned OFF. The only sure way to prevent this, is by manually disconnecting devices by yanking plugs from the wall when the device is not being used.

 

2. Nobody yanks wall plugs anymore or even turns OFF a powerbar or OFF switch because the statistical chance of a failure is very small.

 

And is outweighed by the benefit of having modern equipment (that pretty much ALL contain Computers from tiny to large) do all sorts of processing and updates in "standby mode" 

 

3. Philosophically, turning off devices, even putting them in standby as the life flows out of them, is mean spirited and shows a complete lack of respect and empathy toward digital lifeform family members (like pets) that enhance our lives in so many ways and deserve a chance to be ON and engaged with their adopted owners in the daily family co-existence that adds a beautiful rich complexity to modern family life. Just like your family dog that brings you your daily newspaper and slippers and your family cats that jump up and knock everything off your tables so you can have a clear work surface, your digital pets are there for you to respond to your needs in an instant!

 

 

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

9 minutes ago, DevTech said:

 

 

1. The advice that is being dimly remembered is probably connected to electrical storms and powerline glitches where a certain percentage of equipment is destroyed everywhere by voltage spikes even when they are turned OFF. The only sure way to prevent this, is by manually disconnecting devices by yanking plugs from the wall when the device is not being used.

 

2. Nobody yanks wall plugs anymore or even turns OFF a powerbar or OFF switch because the statistical chance of a failure is very small.

 

And is outweighed by the benefit of having modern equipment (that pretty much ALL contain Computers from tiny to large) do all sorts of processing and updates in "standby mode" 

 

3. Philosophically, turning off devices, even putting them in standby as the life flows out of them, is mean spirited and shows a complete lack of respect and empathy toward digital lifeform family members (like pets) that enhance our lives in so many ways and deserve a chance to be ON and engaged with their adopted owners in the daily family co-existence that adds a beautiful rich complexity to modern family life. Just like your family dog that brings you your daily newspaper and slippers and your family cats that jump up and knock everything off your tables so you can have a clear work surface, your digital pets are there for you to respond to your needs in an instant!

 

 

Well ALMOST everything now isn't really turned off unless you pull the plug.

 

I had my computer running 24/7 for 2 years now. (this physical computer) I'm not felling a grain of it being "blown up". We do have t-storms here, but only a few times has our power been out. Never hurt anything. Never turn off my monitors, too. Always in stand-by when not in use.

[+BudMan MVC]

My main PC is on 24/7 - I don't even put it in to standby... Not worth the hassle of having to wait for it to come out, or those times where it doesn't come out, etc..  I turn my monitors off, or they go into standby... But not worth it on the pc.. When its idle its only using a few watts.. What going to say say 40w for a few hours a day?  I am on my pc remote much of the day from work even, etc.

 

edit:  Do the math.. My PC idle uses lets call it 50w.. Which its lower than that... Lets say I do not use it for 16 hours a day... Which to be honest really high estimate.. Do the math your talking like 10 cents a day that I could save if I turned it off... Now how much time do I have to waste when I do want to use it booting back up.  Shoot it boots quick sure, its ssd and all.. But lets say that is even 1 minute.. Sorry but 1 minute is worth more to me than 10 cents.  I might drive by my machine multiple times a day and do xyz for a few minutes, then walk away and come back later and hit it again..  Every time I do that having to wait for it to boot, or cross my fingers it comes out of standby, or hibernate for what a savings of 10 cents.. No thanks!

 

Shoot I get annoyed having for wait the couple of seconds for the monitor wake up/turn on sometimes

Now if your sort of person that uses your machine for say 1 hour or so less a day.. Then hey ok turn it off, let it go to standby/hibernate.. But you do understand the machine is going to be doing all sort of maint in the background while your not using it.. Updates, Virus scans, etc.

[DevTech]

2 hours ago, BudMan said:

My main PC is on 24/7 - I don't even put it in to standby... Not worth the hassle of having to wait for it to come out, or those times where it doesn't come out, etc..  I turn my monitors off, or they go into standby... But not worth it on the pc.. When its idle its only using a few watts.. What going to say say 40w for a few hours a day?  I am on my pc remote much of the day from work even, etc.

All 10 of mine are normally on 24/7, but right now I'm working on 2 of them so only 8...

 

And monitors, I hate BLACK-BLANK monitors! They are NOT happy when they are off.

 

It's like they are staring back at you with that mournful expression a dog uses with those big eyes staring at you, wanting some attention... Please don't kill the Puppy! I keep all the monitors bright and cheerful, ready to get down to business, sometimes a slide-show screensaver if they are just servers...

 

Even the large TV in the living room is just a giant monitor for my media computer, which spends more time displaying The New York Times than movies or TV...

 

Keep your digital family members/pets happy and contented, allow them to live!

 

[Technique]

Hmm. Can't say i agree.

 

We're drifting way off topic here which i don't actually mind but i'm not a fan of this "it's only xyz per day" attitude. xyz per day is abc per week, def per month and ghi per year ... it all adds up.

 

A few years ago i was taking early finishes from work just because i felt like it. It was only £xx per early finish, not a great deal. By the end of the year i was £5k down on the previous year.

 

Also as far as waiting for a PC to turn on, it's no big deal. I wait longer than a minute when i do my weekly food shop. Such is life. When i turn my PC on i go to the toilet which is literally like 5 strides away. By the time i've finished the PC is ready to go. No waiting.

 

I'm also not a fan of auto-updates after they screwed my machine up once. Now i make them manual updates.

[DevTech]

So, that got me thinking -  they try to control us with those pennies and all the stolen minutes...

 

New York City, 1939:

 

 

Three books and a missing Flying Car:

 

1.  "Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?" Ecclesiastes 3:22

 

 

2. 1939: The Lost World of the Fair

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52679.1939

 

"In 1939, exhausted by a decade-long depression, Americans faced a brewing European conflict that would prove to be the most destructive war in history. At this dark juncture, a World's Fair was held in New York City that evoked such acute hope in its promise of a glorious future that a whole generation was drawn to it and transformed by its vision"

 

https://www.wired.com/2010/04/gallery-1939-worlds-fair/

 

 

3. Who Owns the Future?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Owns_the_Future%3F

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaron_Lanier

 

 

4. Where's my flying car?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_car

 

 

5. My take:

 

Somehow they stole our future, maybe the 1%, maybe just greed, but no Flying Cars, no "2001" Pan Am flights to Earth Orbit, all we have left of The Future is our crappy internet and our home computers.

 

We only live once and what little there is left of the future that never happened, they want to brainwash us into turning off our computers and stare at a black dead screen...

 

I draw a line in the sand. My computers shall stay ON!

 

[+BudMan MVC]

14 hours ago, Technique said:

. it all adds up.

Yeah it sure does... Those minutes you WAIT while your pc boots so you could save a nickel.. You never get those minutes back... But guess what - its a NICKEL!!  And omg yes you do it maybe 20,000 times and your talking actual money   And how much time has been lost?

 

Sure you go ahead unplugging and plugging in your stick from the wall that you have to crawl over stuff and reach under stuff so you can save that less than penny a day...

[Jim K Global Moderator]

I leave my computers off when not in use.  I mean ... it only takes a few seconds to boot these days.  In the hdd days ... I would hibernate and, before that was an option, I would leave it on during the day but typically turn it off at night.  Anyway, I personally have no reason to leave my PC on 24/7 ... there is no point.  It isn't baking me a cake or brewing coffee.

 

If I had one of those Fire sticks (or Chromecast, etc.)  ... I would just leave them plugged in and be done with it.

[dipsylalapo Supervisor]

I did leave my microserver on all the time and then realised that it was just burning electricity (as little as that was)

 

I've now set it to a schedule around when we're likely to want to use it (normally in the evening and weekends) and if I need it outside those hours, it's just a voice command away

[Technique]

Like i said, i actually turn my PC on and then go for a ssip. By the time i'm done the PC is ready so there is actually no waiting for me so the whole 'waiting' thing is irrelevant. You guys may do 1 thing at once but i like to combine things if possible.

 

Regards this hibernating talk, my PC is set to turn the display off after 1 hour and go to sleep after 4 hours. Something to that effect anyway. I have left it on overnight before when performing a backup and i set it to go to sleep after x-hours. I'll wake up in the morning to find my PC on. Something triggered it to come out of hibernation. I know it went in to hibernation as i'll have got up for the toilet through the night and it was off.

 

That's happened a few times.