Converting Your Movies Into A Digital Format

Do you have that big collection of movies and TV shows sitting on shelves and feel like you could be getting a little more use out of them other than collecting dust? How about keeping backups of them on your computer or server? It sounds like a big hassle, but it isn't too much work and should be a worthwhile endeavor to be able to easily access all of your favorite movies and shows, of course, of which you legally own. I will show you how to do this following these straightforward steps and I'll even add in a video for extra measure. There are two routes for this tutorial, standard and advanced. I'd recommend advanced for those who want to get the most out of their collection. (This tutorial was meant for the Windows OS. Alterations to steps may be needed for other operating systems.)

1. Gather needed hardware: You will need the movies (in either DVD or BD format) and a PC capable of ripping either DVD's or BD's.

2. Gather needed software: MakeMKV (free ripper), HandBrake free video (transcoder), DivX Video Codec (Advanced Only), AC3 Audio Codec (Advanced Only)

Install the above software and be wary as to uncheck any bloatware that is associated with installation. (Advanced Users: For the DivX installation, ONLY the Plus Codec Pack is needed.)

 

3. Start Ripping Process: Insert movie disc into disc (optical) drive and close out of any auto-launches, such as Windows Media Player or autorun. Open MakeMKV and select the right source, which would be the drive you inserted the disc into. Select the "Blu-Ray to Hard Drive" image. If a message appears, select OK. Wait for the data to be decrypted and processed. Select the title or titles that seem most fit as being the actual movie. For example, with Raiders of the Lost Ark, there were five titles but four of them only had 1 chapter and were about 300 MB each. The first title is 31 chapters and is 5.9 GB, which makes sense to be the movie since it is the largest in size. Click on the Make MKV image in the top right corner and wait for ripping to complete. The file should then have been saved under Video (not Videos) on your Local Disk (usually the C drive). Here is what the pathway may look like for you: C:\Video\"Insert Movie Title"

 

4. Start Compressing Process: After a success message appears in MakeMKV, you can then open up HandBrake. Click on source, Video File (or Folder), Local Disc, Video, "Insert Movie Title" folder, and "Insert Movie Title" file.

For standard users: Keep all settings as the default and press start. Wait for encoding to finish, which may take some time.

For advanced users: Change "Container" to MKV file. Go to the "Audio" tab and add the desired languages. Change the audio codec to "AC3 Passthru" (this will maintain surround sound) for all tracks in surround sound. Go to the "Subtitles" tab and add the desired languages, but this is not needed for those who do not want subtitles. You can modify other settings if you know what you are doing, but this should be fine for most people. Press start and wait for encoding to finish.

 

5. Finalize and enjoy your digital collection: Rename the video file to whatever you find suitable and place it into a folder that you would use to store movies in. You can now go enjoy that movie!

Notes:

• Video will not be uploaded at the time of this posting.
• Scratched/damaged discs may result in skippy/unplayable videos.