[michaelkahl]

Well since I'm past my tv tuner setup, I've returned to working slowly on getting the rest of my DVD's
converted to MPEG4 for my HTPC(started a couple months ago). I never watch extras or do much with
special features. So ripping a standard DVD to MPEG4 @ 1.4GB for a 2 hour movie seems fine for me.
It's a lot smaller than a full ISO, but I was wondering how do most of you store your DVD's, or do you
store them at all on your HTPC?
I know encoding to MPEG4 isn't the quickest way to convert my collection, but I'm trying to save on
space, and honestly I don't need them all on there right away.

[CGR]

I dont really have a desire to setup an htpc. Im fine with using DVD's.

[curtis1552]

What OS are you using on the HTPC?
if *nix I would recommend dvd::rip as it's in most repositories and works very well.
For windows DVDecoder and DVDshrink would be your best bet.

[Wicked Klown]

I use MeGui to encode my rips. I also use a 200disc DVD changer.

[Great Satchmo]

I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 movies on my HTPC (not to mention the 20-some-odd full series of TV shows).

Anyways, for the DVD's I've ripped (both movies and TV box sets), I use DVDshrink or DVD Decrypter (come to think of it, I don't remember which I used more often) and then used AutoGK (Auto Gordian Knot) to encode as an .avi with Xvid. With AutoGK you can choose the target size, I generally have picked 1 CD size (~700mb) for a movie. I don't have any HD movies and although I do care about quality, 700mb seems to do fine for me.

I have tried finding out if AutoGK now supports h.264 encoding, but am as of yet unable to find out. For me its moot for now, everything I want to rip has been ripped, now its just good 'ole LEGAL torrents.

[michaelkahl]

Thanks for the responces, I've been using Fair Use Wizard 2.8. It seems simple and easy enough to use, but I think I'll try out some of the programs mentioned here to see if it works better.

[Cuper]

I used DVD Decrypter and AutoGK with great success. my movies are around 2 gigs. movies look great IMO but honestly I am not a video snob

[Mathis]

Not that we don't have a wealth of information here, but the best info for this IMHO is afterdawn.com

[Shiggity]

Originally Posted by Mathis

Not that we don't have a wealth of information here, but the best info for this IMHO is afterdawn.com

book marked

[gsrcrxsi]

i use MythTVs built in ripper for most movies. i do Full ISO's (with 2TB of space, why not). for anything else with stricter encryption i use a trial version of DVDFab

[LandShark]

I ripped all mine in ISO to preserve 100% of the picture quality as I only watch movies in my dedicated home theater thus high picture and sound quality is my top priority!! even on downloaded materials, I only chose the high quality 720p+ x264 mkv format! yes the files size is huge, but given nowaday's HDD price, space isn't a problem imho. I store all of them in my file server that all of my HTPCs access from.

I've been planning to start ripping my Bluray/HDDVD collection onto my file server too!!

[Shiggity]

Share some of that HDD space

Bluerays are like 50GB a pop aren't they?

[Great Satchmo]

Originally Posted by Shiggity

Share some of that HDD space

Bluerays are like 50GB a pop aren't they?

Thats why you rip and compress, so you get to the ~4-6gb file. Yes, the point of blueray is the quality, but if you are renting and burning or something, and want a huge movie library (which is the plug of having an HTPC for me, being able to pick hundreds of movies or dozens of TV shows (all series and episodes up until current) with the remote in my hand immediately.

Hell, I have a bunch of movies I don't think I'll personally ever choose to watch, or I have already watched, but still keep despite being out of space. I'd rather buy a new HDD and maintain a large, diverse library for any entertaining I may do. Its funny, I almost gear my collection to others as much as I do myself.

[Jon]

I've been using RipBot264 as of late as it's a bit quicker and returns quality nearly on par with a well-configured MeGUI. I actually create my avs script with MeGUI and then stream it to RipBot264 for encoding. Works very well and isn't overly complicated.

DVDs at 1.25Mbps video and 192-256kbps audio are nearly indistinguishable from the source. Blu-Ray downsized to 720p at 1.5Mbps-2Mbps video (depends on whether there is a lot of action or not) and 256kbps audio look/sound very good too. Going from 35GB to >2GB is priceless.

[Cuper]

Originally Posted by LandShark

I ripped all mine in ISO to preserve 100% of the picture quality as I only watch movies in my dedicated home theater thus high picture and sound quality is my top priority!! even on downloaded materials, I only chose the high quality 720p+ x264 mkv format! yes the files size is huge, but given nowaday's HDD price, space isn't a problem imho. I store all of them in my file server that all of my HTPCs access from.

I've been planning to start ripping my Bluray/HDDVD collection onto my file server too!!

Not all of us have 500TB of space tho...

[LandShark]

Originally Posted by Shiggity

Share some of that HDD space

Bluerays are like 50GB a pop aren't they?

they average around 25-35GB/movie. a $110 750GB drive could hold +/-20 movies or so. I haven't started to rip my blurays yet..... still shopping for a nice bluray drive. however, imho, HDD space really isn't a huge concern nowaday.

Originally Posted by Great Satchmo

Thats why you rip and compress, so you get to the ~4-6gb file. Yes, the point of blueray is the quality, but if you are renting and burning or something, and want a huge movie library (which is the plug of having an HTPC for me, being able to pick hundreds of movies or dozens of TV shows (all series and episodes up until current) with the remote in my hand immediately.

Hell, I have a bunch of movies I don't think I'll personally ever choose to watch, or I have already watched, but still keep despite being out of space. I'd rather buy a new HDD and maintain a large, diverse library for any entertaining I may do. Its funny, I almost gear my collection to others as much as I do myself.

yes, the main reason for HTPC is having all the media files at your finger tips!

and yes, IF I'm watching any of those ripped movies on a 50" HDTV, sitting 12' away with regular HTIB (home theater in a box) sound system, I won't be complaining at all!! however, when you are watching those movies on a 100" screen from a 1080p projector sitting 10' away with some "ok" (+/- $5k) sound system in a completely light controlled dedicated home theater room, then you sure want every single bit of the A/V quality out of it!!

Originally Posted by Cuper

Not all of us have 500TB of space tho...

brad, you've seen my HT room, would you agree if you've got a room like that, you do want the top notch quality of out your movie experience?!

[Wicked Klown]

Originally Posted by LandShark

still shopping for a nice bluray drive.

What about the LG DH-4O1S-11

[LandShark]

Originally Posted by Wicked Klown

What about the LG DH-4O1S-11

I thought 'bout it, but not sure how good is it.... you know, I've seen too many reviews stating some drive couldn't read all discs....

[Cuper]

Originally Posted by LandShark

brad, you've seen my HT room, would you agree if you've got a room like that, you do want the top notch quality of out your movie experience?!

haha true true but the $2000 in hard drives I would need to hold my dvd collection sure would buy me a nice set of evosport cams...

[silent bob]

I bought the LG HD Blu-Ray from newegg , havent tried any yet , still trying to get Vista figured out ( not a fan yet ) , and to all the " try Linux" people , Not Yet . When I get around to it . I think I have enuff space for now , 3x500 gig sata II drives

what are you gunna use for ripping your blu rays?