Another installment of ....
As the Disc Drive Turns!I'm up to 400+ movies stored on my unRAID server, and I'm only up to the letter "H".
I discovered a much better tool for ripping BluRay and DVD movies onto other media. And it's Open Source (that's "Free" for all intents and purposes).
It's called MakeMKV. Basically, if you have a DVD/BluRay drive attached to your computer, the software can read the movie data using the hardware's decryption abilities, then saves that to another file, The file is in MKV format, which is pretty much compatible with any video streaming device.
MakeMKV is available for Linux, Windows and in Beta release for Mac OS. So far, I've had the best results using the Linux version as far as what movies it can rip.
I've been using AnyDVD by RedFox/SlyFox for many years. I use one app to RIP the DVD, another to copy just the movie I want (no previews or special/bonus content), and a third to format it for viewing in MP4 format.
When I have a disk that's giving me problems in MakeMKV, the AnyDVD utilities seem to handle it fine.
Depending on the speed of your hardware, a DVD can be copied to the unRAID array in about 10-15 minutes. For BluRay, it's about 20-30 minutes.
Since the BluRay output is way larger than I want on my array (20-30GB), I use another freebie called AVIDEMUX. That program is a must-have for anyone needing to manipulate video files. You can convert between formats of video and audio, and even splice multiple movie files into one. That's handy for movies that are on multiple discs (part 1, Part 2, etc). That way you don't have to worry if your video streaming device has the capability of playing multiple files under one folder (my FireTV can't, so this is much better).
Some of my backups to the array are from copies of originals that often have smudges and scratches -- maybe even a crack from inside to outside edge. If I can't get the software to read it, I use the Linux line commands to "cat" the DVD/BluRay to an ".iso" file that I can then mount on Windows. There I can use MakeMKV and AnyDVD to try and RIP from a virtual DVD. It takes more time, but the percentage of movies I can backup is about double that of AnyDVD alone.
Of course, you should never copy a DVD or BluRay movie that's copy-protected/encrypted unless you own the movie already. In fact, just bypassing the encryption can be deemed a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Many companies in the US creating and selling utilities to backup your discs were forced to move to another country to continue their business.
Effectively, if you do ANYTHING that allows you to avoid encryption on anything copyrighted, EVEN IF YOU OWN THE RIGHTS TO THE COPY YOU BOUGHT, it's a violation.
I don't think anyone ever gets hauled away for this unless they are pirating software and movie discs for a profit, or engaged in sharing their files across the Internet, such as some BitTorrent sites do.
Having said that, there's nothing wrong with using these utilities to backup unencrypted discs that were not encrypted when purchased.
Most of my older movies were backups on DVD and BluRay I created from VHS. That media was purchased long before any DMCA laws were passed. In fact, at that time, it was legal to make backups of tapes for your own use as long as you had a way to do it. When the Macromedia copy protection came out, it interfered with that for most people. I happened to have some PC hardware and software that ignore the Macromedia protection.
It you are interested, look up DVDXCopy. I used that initially for copying to DVD -- until they also had to move to Canada and eventually folded. They PREEMPTIVELY SUED the movie industry and Congress for creating laws that prevented people who owned copyrighted material from making backup copies, a practice that's covered under the Fair Use doctrine. Unfortunately, they lost their suit, but at least they did it before the industry came after them. Gave everyone a heads-up on what the deal has become.
One other note: Most new BluRays and DVDs can be purchased either with a "Digital Copy" disc included, or they offer it for downloading. This copy lets you put the movie on your home theater system or even your cell phone. The movie industry realized they need to cater to people who no longer buy or use DVD and BluRay players to watch their content. If you have that copy available, then there's no reason to use these software tools unless the copy is not formatted for your device or you want to reduce multiple files down to one.
