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    Therefore to clarify:
    • You may not discuss breaking DVD or BluRay encryption, copying, or "ripping" commercial, copy-protected DVDs.
    • This includes DVDs or BluRays you own. Even if you own the DVD or BluRay, it is still technically illegal under the DMCA to break the encryption. While some may argue otherwise, until the law is rewritten or the US Supreme Court strikes it down, we will adhere to the current intent of the law.
    • You may discuss ripping or copying unprotected movies or homemade DVDs.
    • You may discuss ripping or copying tools in the context that they are used for legal purposes as outlined in this post.

Making DVD Copies

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I've tried that software before and found the quality of the rip to be low.

Have you had any issues with quality?

Would anyone in the know have any tips on how to boost the quality of the DVD rip?
 

robduckyworth


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I've tried that software before and found the quality of the rip to be low.

Have you had any issues with quality?

Would anyone in the know have any tips on how to boost the quality of the DVD rip?

no issues with quality, just make sure you use the H.264 codec, with around a 60-70% quality rate or higher, and it usually turns out very nice.
 
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When you say around 60-70% quality rate, do you mean to use the constant quality option (in handbrake) and then slide the slider so the RF equals 60-70?

the other quality options allow you to set the average bit rate or a target size for the ripped file.
 

robduckyworth


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yep you can do that, or if you give it a very high target size, it will usually just do the best possible if it cant hit the target size.

the most important part is the codec, H.264 is far more efficient than the other codec available.
 
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If it's just ripping you need then the old version of MacTheRipper is still around, and is free. I think it's version 2.6.6. For conversion, I also use Handbrake with no quality issues.
 

robduckyworth


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If it's just ripping you need then the old version of MacTheRipper is still around, and is free. I think it's version 2.6.6. For conversion, I also use Handbrake with no quality issues.

un-copyrighted material does not need to be ripped. you can drag the VIDEO_TS folder straight off. encoding is done with handbrake.
 
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Thanks, all.
I've been having success with handbrake, using "constant quality RF:20"

I must of had it set at a different quality setting the first time i used it. Im going to try and rip that video again at this new setting and see if there's a difference.
 
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chas_m

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Actually, if your goal is to make a duplicate disc of a non-protected DVD, then Disc Utility is all you need. Just make an image of the original disc, then burn the image to the new disc. GREAT for making copies of a wedding DVD and that sort of thing.
 
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Thanks, all.
I've been having success with handbrake, using "constant quality RF:20"

I must of had it set at a different quality setting the first time i used it. Im going to try and rip that video again at this new setting and see if there's a difference.



So i tried to rip this DVD again, and the quality is again poor. Anybody have any ideas. The rip also comes out at 3 gigs and my other rips are btw 700mb-1.2g
 

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So i tried to rip this DVD again, and the quality is again poor. Anybody have any ideas. The rip also comes out at 3 gigs and my other rips are btw 700mb-1.2g

No need to rip at all. See chas_m's post. Ripping is only necessary if you're trying to defeat copy protection or convert to a different format.
 
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No need to rip at all. See chas_m's post. Ripping is only necessary if you're trying to defeat copy protection or convert to a different format.

Im trying to get rid of my dvds and just have digital copies.
 

cwa107


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Im trying to get rid of my dvds and just have digital copies.

OK. Just to be clear, anytime you use compression, you lose quality - period. It seems like you're looking for an exact replica of the original, and I think your expectations might be too high.

What I do (and find to have acceptable quality) is to use the AppleTV preset in Handbrake. Since the AppleTV is 720P (and so is my TV), I usually get a very nice picture as a result. Is it absolutely perfect? No. But I'd rather have the slight degradation then have to upgrade the disks in my NAS.
 
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OK. Just to be clear, anytime you use compression, you lose quality - period. It seems like you're looking for an exact replica of the original, and I think your expectations might be too high.

What I do (and find to have acceptable quality) is to use the AppleTV preset in Handbrake. Since the AppleTV is 720P (and so is my TV), I usually get a very nice picture as a result. Is it absolutely perfect? No. But I'd rather have the slight degradation then have to upgrade the disks in my NAS.



The issue Im having is that this particular DVD comes out looking A LOT worse than the other dvds Ive ripped using handbrake. The quality on my other rips are fine. The file size of the rip on this pesky dvd is also 3x the size of the other rips. With runtime of the DVDs being similar.

I will try the AppleTV preset.
 

robduckyworth


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drag the Audio/Video_TS folders onto your mac, and you have exactly whats on the disc. as cwa107 says, encoding (essentially turning it into a nice playable format like mp4 or avi) will lose quality. If you dont want to lose any quality, just drag the VIDEO_TS folder to your Mac somewhere, and open it as a disc in VLC. thats a 1:1 copy you are watching.
 
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chas_m

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Im trying to get rid of my dvds and just have digital copies.

Ah, now someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding of the DMCA is that what you are proposing is illegal. You MUST retain ownership of the physical DVD if you have digital copies of it. If you get rid of/sell/give away/etc the physical DVD, you must also delete all digital copies you may have, since you no longer have a license to have a digital copy.
 
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Ah, now someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding of the DMCA is that what you are proposing is illegal. You MUST retain ownership of the physical DVD if you have digital copies of it. If you get rid of/sell/give away/etc the physical DVD, you must also delete all digital copies you may have, since you no longer have a license to have a digital copy.

Actually, if you rip a copy-protected DVD, which is pretty much any DVD that is sold commercially, then you're violated the DMCA whether you retain the original or not due to the fact that you had to break the encryption scheme to rip it. That is where the main DMCA violation comes into play.

Same reason why I may be allowed to use a clip of say Princess Bride for a school project under fair use, but if I ripped that from a DVD, I still violated DMCA because I broke the copy protection.

It's stupid, but it's the law.
 

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