Another thing which I don't think has been mentioned yet is how you handle the fact that some BluRays that you rip will have forced subtitles e.g. Avatar. They can also be a right pita to do correctly. This is how I rip my collection and handle forced subtitles (I don't know of any easier way!).
Applications Used
1. MakeMKV
http://www.makemkv.com/download/
2. VLC
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
3. Handbrake
http://handbrake.fr/downloads.php
4. Subler
http://code.google.com/p/subler/downloads/list
5. iDentify 2
http://identify2.arrmihardies.com
Preparation
Before I first started ripping I created folders to organise movie files at their various stages. These were:
- "To Transcode" <-- Folder to store the .mkv BluRay rips.
- "To Tag" <-- Folder to temporarily store newly transcoded BluRay .m4v's for tagging.
- "To Add" <-- Folder to store tagged newly transcoded BluRay .m4v's for copying to iTunes.
Stage 1 - Ripping
The first time I opened MakeMKV I changed the following preferences to make it easier to filter out unnecessary tracks and to link to my folders:
- Default destination: Changed this to the newly created folder "To Transcode". (Found under the Video tab of preferences.) This saves the rips to that specific folder to keep them organised.
- Minimum title length (seconds): 2400. (Found under the Video tab of preferences.) This ignores extras like trailers, deleted scenes etc.
- Preferred language: eng: English. (Found under the Language tab of preferences.) This checks only the English versions of tracks such as subtitles and audio (saves a lot of unchecking).
1. Open MakeMKV and click 'Open Blu-ray disc'.
2. To select the correct video track, I make sure the largest title is checked (around 25-35 GB in size). It looks something like this: "Movie name - xx chapter(s), xx.x GB). Sometimes there are duplicate tracks (no idea why) but only one needs checking.
3. To select the correct audio track, I check only the best available audio track. In nearly all cases this will be the audio track at the top and will either be named "DTS-HD Lossless" (this is the DTS-HD Master Audio), "TrueHD" (this is Dolby TrueHD) or in rare cases "DD 3/2+1"/"DTS 3/2+1" (this is Dolby Digital 5.1/DTS 5.1).
4. After the main audio tracks are listed, there can sometimes be several audio tracks listed one following another named "DD 2/0". These can be audio visual descriptions (not important to most), a stereo track of the main audio (not important) or feature commentaries (to me they are important). As there is no way to tell which is which I check all of the "DD 2/0" tracks and disregard any which I don't use later.
5. Check all relevant language subtitles, making sure that the (forced only) tracks inside them are not checked. I do this as forced subtitles can be located on any of these tracks.
At this stage MakeMKV usually looks something like this:
6. Click 'MakeMKV' to create the custom BluRay .mkv rip.
Stage 2 - Brief Research
Once the .mkv rip is created I then open it up in VLC. I then change the audio track being played in order to identify any "DD 2/0" tracks that I selected to include in the .mkv rip (e.g. some may be feature commentaries that I like to keep). For those that I want to keep, I then make a note of the order in which it appears in the audio track list e.g. 2.
At this stage I also check the film I am ripping against a user created database of Forced subtitles:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=t8Xb85eyNFtZ3vaNK8gqkbQ&single=true&gid=0&output=html
As far as I know, forced subtitles can come on BluRays in two ways, either in their own subtitle track, or flagged as forced in a subtitle track with subtitles for the whole film.
If someone has flagged it on the database as being on their own subtitle track, I will open the .mkv in VLC, find a relevant point in the movie which should contain forced subtitles (e.g. foreign language scene) and change between the different subtitle tracks that I selected to include in the .mkv to identify which shows only the forced subtitles. I will then make a note of the order in which it appears in the subtitles track list e.g. 2.
If someone has flagged it on the database as not having their own subtitle track, I will open the .mkv in VLC, find a relevant point in the movie which should contain forced subtitles (e.g. foreign language scene) and change between the different subtitles tracks that I selected to include in the .mkv to identify which shows the dialogue subtitles. I will then make a note of the order in which it appears in the subtitles track list e.g. 1. This is important as some subtitle tracks included in the BluRay .mkv rip can be subtitles of feature commentaries.
Stage 3 - Transcoding
The first time I opened Handbrake I changed the following preferences to make life easier:
- When Done: I checked "Send file to: xx", hit Browse and selected "Subler". (Found under the General tab of preferences.) This opens the newly created .m4v in Subler, ready for track naming.
1. Click 'Source', navigate to the folder "To Transcode" and select the BluRay .mkv rip for transcoding.
2. Select the 'AppleTV 3' preset.
3. Under the Audio tab, I add any necessary additional audio tracks to include in the transcoded file. e.g. If I have earlier made a note that track 2 of the audio from the .mkv BluRay rip is a feature commentary, I will select the second one down from the track list (this is 1, as they are ordered 0, 1 2, 3, etc.).
At this stage the Audio settings usually look something like this:
4. If I identified the film as having forced subtitles, select the Subtitles tab and do one of the following:
- If I identified the forced subtitles as being on their own subtitle track I will select the necessary subtitle track and make sure that 'Forced Only' is unchecked and that 'Burned In' is checked. e.g. If I have earlier made a note that subtitle track 2 from the .mkv BluRay rip has the forced subtitles on their own subtitle track, I will select the second one down from the track list (this is 1, as they are ordered 0, 1 2, 3, etc.) and make sure that 'Forced Only' is unchecked and that 'Burned In' is checked. This burns any subtitles that appear in that subtitles track which, as identified, will only be forced subtitles.
- If I identified the forced subtitles as not having their own subtitle track I will select the necessary subtitle track and make sure that both 'Forced Only' and 'Burned In' are checked. e.g. If I have earlier made a note that subtitle track 1 from the .mkv BluRay rip has the forced subtitles together with subtitles for the whole film, I will select the second one down from the track list (this is 0, as they are ordered 0, 1 2, 3, etc.) and make sure that both 'Forced Only' and 'Burned In' are checked. This burns only subtitles flagged as being forced that appear in that subtitle track. The rest of the film subtitles should therefore not be included.
At this stage the Subtitles settings can look something like this:
5. Select the destination for the transcoded file as the folder "To Tag".
6. Click 'Start'.
Stage 4 - Renaming Audio Tracks
Once Handbrake has finished transcoding the BluRay .mkv rip, the newly created .m4v should automatically open in Subler (as per the settings). At this stage I rename the audio tracks as following:
- Audio Track 1: Stereo --> Dolby Pro Logic II.
- Audio Track 2: Surround --> Dolby Digital 5.1.
- Audio Track 3 (Optional): Stereo --> Feature Commentary: Actors/Feature Commentary: Directors.
I then save it.
Stage 5 - Tagging
1. I open the newly created file in iDentify 2 and allow it to look it up.
2. If it does not find a match I find the film on IMDb
http://www.imdb.com/ and copy and paste the unique film identification from the URL into the IMDb code field in iDentify 2. e.g. In the case of
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258463/ I would copy and paste the tt0258463 part.
3. I re-scan if necessary and use IMDb to fill in any blank fields.
4. If chapter names are not found, I use
http://www.tagchimp.com to fill in blanks.
5. Select my preferred cover artwork.
6. Save the file and move it into the folder "To Add".
The newly transcoded/tagged .m4v is then ready to add to iTunes.