DVD -> Mac, Lossless?

[Travis Wheaton]

G'day,

The problem with democracy is, everyone is entitled to an opinion... But I'm after the right one!!! ;)

I am looking to convert around 130 DVDs for use on an original AppleTV for my brother who has Down Syndrome. We've tried giving him either original or duplicated copies of the discs themselves, but they just do not last long before they are scratched beyond use, and he has astonished us all by adapting very well to using an AppleTV, with cover-art to help him make his selection.

What I am wanting to achieve is as near lossless a result as possible. My thoughts therefore were that I need to rip as MPEG-2, as that's what the original files are on the DVDs. Hard drive space is not an issue - I've got an external drive ready to go.

Would I be right in thinking that the MPEG-2 option is best? Or would H.264/etc be as good, but with less storage required?

I've been checking out MacX DVD Ripper as it offers MPEG-2 as one option, and the de-interlaced and high quality engine ooptions seem to result in pretty good output... But before embarking on this task, I wanted to get as best advice as I can...

Thanks for your help. VHS was so much easier - he couldn't use them as coasters!

Cheers

Travis

[Seth Bloombaum]

A quick trip to the specs of the current Apple TV shows no MPEG-2 compatibility. h.264 or MPEG-4.

Your brother has an original Apple TV? Perhaps it does show MPEG-2.

The problem I see is what you do when the box eventually fails - then you'll need to be on a current codec. h.264/MP4 rules the roost right now, with h.265 and HEVC in the wings.

I'd bite the bullet and encode to the most current codec. That's going to be most compatible with the next player... which I think you should be considering seriously.

PS. This is standard def off the DVDs, and you're going to get equivalent quality in less than a quarter the storage space, IF your encoder is any good! I don't use MacX DVD ripper, you'll want to make sure you have control of pixel dimensions and bitrate.

[Boyd Ostroff]

I've ripped almost my entire DVD collection over the past few years, about 600 Movies and 600 TV shows (I'm in a rural area with no cable and very slow internet, so I like having everything stored locally). After trying various things, I settled on Handbrake. I have a couple Apple TV 3's and just use the built-in Handbrake preset for them, it encodes as H.264. There's also a built-in preset for the original Apple TV. Of course you can experiment and customize the settings if you don't like the standard ones.

Never saw an original Apple TV myself, but it is rather unique in that it has an internal hard drive for media storage, none of the later models have that - they fetch high prices from people who like to jailbreak them. My experience is that a typical movie ripped from DVD at high quality is between 1gb and 2gb. They are generally hard to tell from the original DVD's, although very dark scenes with subtle gradients sometimes show blocking.

Anyway, give Handbrake a try it has worked really well for me and it's free. I don't know how much experience you have with the Apple TV, but there can be some annoyances. For one thing, you must have an internet connection at all times in order to access your local library, even though it only consists of DVD's you ripped yourself.

[Derek Heeps]

Originally Posted by Travis Wheaton

G'day,

The problem with democracy is, everyone is entitled to an opinion... But I'm after the right one!!! ;)

I am looking to convert around 130 DVDs for use on an original AppleTV for my brother who has Down Syndrome. We've tried giving him either original or duplicated copies of the discs themselves, but they just do not last long before they are scratched beyond use, and he has astonished us all by adapting very well to using an AppleTV, with cover-art to help him make his selection.

What I am wanting to achieve is as near lossless a result as possible. My thoughts therefore were that I need to rip as MPEG-2, as that's what the original files are on the DVDs. Hard drive space is not an issue - I've got an external drive ready to go.

Would I be right in thinking that the MPEG-2 option is best? Or would H.264/etc be as good, but with less storage required?

I've been checking out MacX DVD Ripper as it offers MPEG-2 as one option, and the de-interlaced and high quality engine ooptions seem to result in pretty good output... But before embarking on this task, I wanted to get as best advice as I can...

Thanks for your help. VHS was so much easier - he couldn't use them as coasters!

Cheers

Travis

Either Roxio Toast or iSkysoft video converter will do it .