How do I make a good (digital) setup of my DVD movies?

[Phil22]

Thanks for the info vrDrew much appreciated.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-049-OP&groupid=43&catid=2073&subcat=

This is the server box I'm thinking of getting, except with the 3TB hardrive upgrade. So hopefully I just install iTunes onto it, point it towards my apple tv and I should be sorted.

Cheers

 

[blairh]

OP, I was in a similar situation to yours a few years back, and this is what I choose to do. I should tell you that it's worked perfectly for me and perhaps you'll find it useful. I honestly think encoding is an unnecessary step. I had roughly 500 DVDs and wanted to simply ditch my discs and digitalize everything. Here is what I did:

Step 1: Rip my movies.

I used RipIt to make make loseless copies of each film. This preserves both picture quality and allows you to save the menu and all extras the movie may provide. DVDs max out at 8 GBs. Seeing that you have 1000 movies you will clearly need a very large external HD to save your movies onto. I purchased a 4 TB WD Studio Book for $267 at B&H last year. Even though DVDs max out at 8 GBs often times they are not that large. You might be able to fit your entire collection on a 6 TB external like this one. Worst case scenario you split your collection in half on 2 external HD's or use another method of backup.

Step 2: Organize my movies.

I organized all my film titles in alphabetical order (listed in Word Document). I then went to this website and downloaded a picture of the movie poster for each movie in my collection. I labeled the pictures (using the movie title of course) and I keep one folder of the movie posters on my external HD and another copy on my MacBook Air & Mac Mini. (Examples Below.) This is especially useful for when I want to look through my collection and select a movie to watch (or see if I own a movie). If I wanted I could also put all these photos on my iPad.

Step 3: Watching the movies.

Personally I'm not a fan of encoding unless I'm adding a movie to my iPad. It's a time consuming measure and degrades the picture quality of your original file. Instead I highly recommend that you connect a Mac of your choice to your HDTV (which I'm assuming you have). It's an easy step once you know what cables you will need, etc. I was able to purchase a Monoprice HDMI to Min iDisplayPort cable (no adapter) when they still legal. I'm sure you can find one online. Otherwise you just need to get that extra adapter to connect a Mini DisplayPort cable to an HDTV. Once my MacBook Air and HDTV are connected I simply drag my movie file to my HDTV screen (don't mirror your display), click "fullscreen" in VLC (which I use to watch all video files) and I'm good to go.

And.........that's it. It's a very simple setup and works perfectly for me. Also my movies are well organized. If a friend comes over we just open my movie art folder and scan my collection (looks especially cool in coverflow). Also roughly two dozen of my movies are HD so I simply add "HD" to the end of the movie title.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Hope this helps.

 

[MultiBat]

OP, I was in a similar situation to yours a few years back, and this is what I choose to do. I should tell you that it's worked perfectly for me and perhaps you'll find it useful. I honestly think encoding is an unnecessary step. I had roughly 500 DVDs and wanted to simply ditch my discs and digitalize everything. Here is what I did:
... <snip>

Thanks for that response!

Actually I have pretty much decided to go with a similar setup. I went and bought an adapter (Mini Display port to HDMI) and tried Plex with my MBP connected to my TV. When I really start this project I will get a Mac Mini and a large external HDD for storage.
I actually looked at that specific HDD you linked to.

So, my plan...
1. Use ripit and store the whole dvd as it is in a specific directory.
2. Point to that directory in Plex on a Mac Mini that will always be connected to the TV.
Done!

If I want a movie for my iPod, iPhone or future iPad I will just encode a copy from my ripped library and toss it into iTunes.

As I said I tried this setup and was really pleased with a lot of things.

• Plex has a nice look to it. Felt Apple-ish. Easy to search, nice cover flow, etc.
• Plex had no issues with a rip directly from ripit (even as a dvdmedia file) Important, as I don't want to "fiddle" with stuff due to the amount of DVDs.
• Plex found all the cover art and other meta data automagically. But it also lets me edit it manually when needed.
• With the Plex app for my iphone I could both browse my library and use my device as the remote control. Great!

Plex is really easy to install and try out. I recommend users to do it just to check it out.

 

[MultiBat]

A follow up on my own post...

After some testing last night I have to have another setup.

Playback of DVD rips through Plex is really poor. Unusable in fact. Sound feels delayed and the picture is kind of stuttering.
When googling it seems that this is the way it is.
Playing it through the dvd player on the mac removes all those effects.

So now I need to find a way of finding and playing my movies as blairh has in his setup above or I have to go for a movie encode route to a proper format.

With an encoded movie I can use either Plex or iTunes.
Right now I am encoding a movie with three different handbrake settings to see the difference (universal, appleTV 2 and normal).

 

[Navdakilla]

Here we go:

So I recently got a apple tv after getting a iMac. My prior streaming setup was having all my already digital videos (over 400 movies, 30 tv series, tons of documentaries, and a lot of sports/boxing clips) on a external hard drive, and using my xbox 360 to stream all of it. Sold the pc stuff, got into the apple ecosystem, and now I'm sitting here with a mac, 3 tb external hard drive, and a apple tv 2.

Here is what I have been doing (It's going to take me a few more weeks to finish everything, but I am satisfied with what's done so far, and love the apple tv interface (more on that later), that I don't mind running my computer on overtime for a month to get everything converted and setup perfectly.

Here is what I do to convert my movies:
Handbrake: on apple tv 2 settings. Free and fairly easy.
Iflicks: cost me 20$. Some of the movies don't like handbrake and don't convert, so I use iflicks to convert those.

Adding Metadata:
Subler is the best program I have used to add album art and all that jazz to my videos, it's also pretty easy and straight forward, takes song time tho (especially with tv shows with many seasons and episodes).

I don't really like the descriptions that come out of iflicks, so with files that I encode using iflicks I also run through subler to get it the way I like.

So overall it's pretty much a 2 step process. Takes some time, but the stuff I have encoded so far I love, (also regarding subtitles I add them through handbrake, by just directing it to the srt and it works for movies like avatar and five fast where there are some parts of the movie that have non-english).


I do have one problem tho, so here is my question for you guru's. When I click on my computer for home sharing when I want to watch a program I want to add another heading there, (music, movies, tv shows etc) I want to add a heading that says documentaris so I can put all of them in there, and another one for stand up comedy, and sports (since those are not really movies, nor tv shows)
Any way I can do that? That would make this setup even more epic if that was possible.

Thanks

 

[blairh]

A follow up on my own post...

After some testing last night I have to have another setup.

Playback of DVD rips through Plex is really poor. Unusable in fact. Sound feels delayed and the picture is kind of stuttering.
When googling it seems that this is the way it is.
Playing it through the dvd player on the mac removes all those effects.

So now I need to find a way of finding and playing my movies as blairh has in his setup above or I have to go for a movie encode route to a proper format.

With an encoded movie I can use either Plex or iTunes.
Right now I am encoding a movie with three different handbrake settings to see the difference (universal, appleTV 2 and normal).

Hey MultiBat. Sorry for your problems.

I'm a little confused. You say you are encoding now to see the differences in PQ. Have you already ripped your DVDs?

I still stand by my previous statement that encoding is a waste of your time and a degrade of your DVD PQ. I only encode to get movies onto my iPad.

Your best bet is to either connect your MBP to your TV (very easy) or get a Mac Mini and connect that via HDMI.

You seem a little hungup on having a clean/Apple-like interface for your movies. I still contend that while my method is a bit bare bones and no-frills, it's also very simple and quite nice to look through movie titles via coverflow in the my movie art folder. You could even look up a movie title by searching in finder and seeing if the movie poster art pops up. Or just scan your movie art folder.

Anyways that's my take on your situation. Let me know if you have questions/concerns.

 

[lali]

I do have one problem tho, so here is my question for you guru's. When I click on my computer for home sharing when I want to watch a program I want to add another heading there, (music, movies, tv shows etc) I want to add a heading that says documentaris so I can put all of them in there, and another one for stand up comedy, and sports (since those are not really movies, nor tv shows)
Any way I can do that? That would make this setup even more epic if that was possible.

Thanks

Navdakilla,
there is an easy solution and you are already using the right software, subler.

on your files, in subler, simply make sure you have the "genre" section available (or add it) and then write what you want based on your needs.

that is how I separate my movies for kids, movies for parents, documentaries, etc....
be sure to remove all your files from itunes, do the changes in subler, and recreate your library after you've added the genre in subler.

that way itunes will recognize your updates in the hardcoded metadata.

thanks

 

[lali]

Thanks for taking the time to write all that!
It was really useful!

I think I might go with the ATV setup.
If there are special features I can always encode those as well.

Thanks all for the input in this thread. I think I need to dig into the encoding stuff and see what is possible regarding multiple audio tracks and optional subtitling.
Then there is also the metadata stuff to investigate.

hi there
re: metadata I really like iFlicksapp, it's great. i also use subler to make manual changes to the metadata, since as you know, you could spend 1000 hours coding the proper info in itunes and it does not hardcode the data you enter. that is why iflicks and subler are great.

now, if you intend on going the encode route.... be warned... this is a huge job you are looking at. i have done it myself and it takes so much time.. the best idea is as you said, only rip. encode only if you need to view on the idevices, hope you find a solution

 

[radicalcentrist]

A follow up on my own post...

After some testing last night I have to have another setup.

Playback of DVD rips through Plex is really poor. Unusable in fact. Sound feels delayed and the picture is kind of stuttering.
When googling it seems that this is the way it is.
Playing it through the dvd player on the mac removes all those effects.

So now I need to find a way of finding and playing my movies as blairh has in his setup above or I have to go for a movie encode route to a proper format.

With an encoded movie I can use either Plex or iTunes.
Right now I am encoding a movie with three different handbrake settings to see the difference (universal, appleTV 2 and normal).

For encoding, I use MakeMKV. Granted, it strips all the fancy stuff out, but it's a perfect copy of the movie file and Plex plays it like a champ. The downside is that if, in the future, you want to add an ATV, you would have to convert again to an iTunes format.

 

[slothrob]

I want to add another heading there, (music, movies, tv shows etc) I want to add a heading that says documentaris so I can put all of them in there, and another one for stand up comedy, and sports (since those are not really movies, nor tv shows)
Any way I can do that? That would make this setup even more epic if that was possible.

I can think of two ways to simulate this. One is to create genre's in iTunes for those. The other is to create playlists for them.

 

[MultiBat]

Hey MultiBat. Sorry for your problems.

I'm a little confused. You say you are encoding now to see the differences in PQ. Have you already ripped your DVDs?

I still stand by my previous statement that encoding is a waste of your time and a degrade of your DVD PQ. I only encode to get movies onto my iPad.

Your best bet is to either connect your MBP to your TV (very easy) or get a Mac Mini and connect that via HDMI.

You seem a little hungup on having a clean/Apple-like interface for your movies. I still contend that while my method is a bit bare bones and no-frills, it's also very simple and quite nice to look through movie titles via coverflow in the my movie art folder. You could even look up a movie title by searching in finder and seeing if the movie poster art pops up. Or just scan your movie art folder.

Anyways that's my take on your situation. Let me know if you have questions/concerns.

No, I just ripped a handful of movies (including one disc of a TV show) to experiment a bit.

About the quality of the movie, I cannot really see the difference between my DVD rip and an ATV2 encode in handbrake, but I do agree that the encoding step does take extra time.

Yes, I am hung up on a nice interface. Otherwise I might just keep the DVDs in the bookcase as I have today. I want the "digitalization" to give me something extra.
That being said I am also considering having both the DVD rips and an ATV2 encoded version stored. Yes, plenty of extra storage required but on the other hand I can then also access the DVD rip for the full menu and all extra features if I want to. It would also serve as a backup of the DVDs.

 

[MultiBat]

hi there
re: metadata I really like iFlicksapp, it's great. i also use subler to make manual changes to the metadata, since as you know, you could spend 1000 hours coding the proper info in itunes and it does not hardcode the data you enter. that is why iflicks and subler are great.

now, if you intend on going the encode route.... be warned... this is a huge job you are looking at. i have done it myself and it takes so much time.. the best idea is as you said, only rip. encode only if you need to view on the idevices, hope you find a solution

Yes, it's a huge job but I knew that from the beginning. As I think I said earlier, I am not in a rush. Time is on my side as storage will get less expensive over time.

About the meta data part.
I tried metaX, but it seems to be somewhat broke at the moment (saw another thread in this forum). So I tried a trial version of iVI and it seems pretty good. Then there is iFlicks, subler and probably many more. If the have trial versions (or are free ) I will try them out.
I am planning to do the movie encode in handbrake. I know other programs can do both encoding and meta data, but handbrake must be the most used (and therefor proved) concept.

 

[lali]

I am planning to do the movie encode in handbrake. I know other programs can do both encoding and meta data, but handbrake must be the most used (and therefor proved) concept.

Hi again
also consider buying an external dvd drive. You will be doing a lot of rips and this would prevent excessive wear on your internal macbook pro dvd drive. This is relatively inexpensive.

Your computer scores a 7597 on Geekbench, which is double what I have with my iMac 2.4Ghz so it is faster.
http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/

Have you considered buying a second computer just for that purpose? For example; a Windows PC with an i7-2600K processor? Or even a 2011 Mac Mini? You could even sell the encoding PC after you are done with your job.

The way I see the project is this:

1. Rip 50 DVDs from your macbook pro.
2. Have the second computer encode non-stop 7 days a week.
3. At your convenience, start ripping again from your macbook pro.
4. Dump the rips to the encode box and continue.

That way you can have your laptop with you any day of the week while the encoding computer does its job. Some people more qualified than I may have other ideas. But I must say that my encoding project, along with busy professional life and family life, was a bit more effort and needed more focus that I would have liked it to be.

You should also know that depending on the copy protections on your collection of DVDs, you might want to consider having access to a windows PC, or a Windows partition in bootcamp. I understand there is more software available to archive your DVDs than on OSX. Please see here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_Ripper#Disabling_DRM
Moderators: I am posting the above link only in the spirit of archiving your own DVDs. If need be I will remove that link.

I understand this post at the top of this forum can be of great assistance to someone starting on such a project.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/805573/


François

 

[blairh]

No, I just ripped a handful of movies (including one disc of a TV show) to experiment a bit.

About the quality of the movie, I cannot really see the difference between my DVD rip and an ATV2 encode in handbrake, but I do agree that the encoding step does take extra time.

Yes, I am hung up on a nice interface. Otherwise I might just keep the DVDs in the bookcase as I have today. I want the "digitalization" to give me something extra.
That being said I am also considering having both the DVD rips and an ATV2 encoded version stored. Yes, plenty of extra storage required but on the other hand I can then also access the DVD rip for the full menu and all extra features if I want to. It would also serve as a backup of the DVDs.

I'm surprised that you don't see at the very least a little difference between your DVD rip and Handbrake encode.

My feeling on encoding is this: you should only do it if you need to. I don't see any advantage, for example, of streaming your content wirelessly via an Apple TV vs. connecting a plug to your Mac and TV and watching your DVD rip. Now, the wireless approach requires no wires of course but it also means having to go the extra step and encode your rip. Just to save yourself from connecting a wire. Not worth it in my opinion but to each their own.

I wish you luck with whatever you plan to do. I still contend that encoding for anything beyond iDevices is unnecessary. If you want a slick interface like Plex then maybe there are other programs you can look into. My method is bare bones but it's also dead simple and like I've said before I can easily navigate through my movie posters to select a movie or show others what I have. Let me know if you have any other questions. I definitely think either way digitalizing your collection in some form is the way to go. Discs suck. Period.

 

[obsidian1200]

OP: for metadata, I'd give iDentify 2 a try. It's free and the interface is fairly simple to navigate. There's a free and paid version on the internet, the difference being some unlocked features. The free version should be more than enough to suit your needs. Also, I'd suggest modifying the ATV2 preset to include the default Decomb filter, as this will correct interlacing in your movies only when it's present. Otherwise, you might notice interlacing when playing back your content. Bear in mind that even if you didn't see the interlacing artifacts when watching the DVD, that doesn't mean the interlacing isn't there; most DVD players and DVD player programs just correct these artifacts on the fly.

I'm surprised that you don't see at the very least a little difference between your DVD rip and Handbrake encode.

My feeling on encoding is this: you should only do it if you need to. I don't see any advantage, for example, of streaming your content wirelessly via an Apple TV vs. connecting a plug to your Mac and TV and watching your DVD rip. Now, the wireless approach requires no wires of course but it also means having to go the extra step and encode your rip. Just to save yourself from connecting a wire. Not worth it in my opinion but to each their own.

Most people really don't see that difference. I don't and I watch my encodes on a 1440p screen. The only artifacts present in the encodes are also present in the DVD rip. The size a DVD rip takes up in no way justifies the limited compatibility, visual quality, and the obstacles between you and just watching a movie (if you use a program like Ripit that doesn't give you the choice to rip just the movie, you're stuck with the commercials, legal warnings, and intros that many DVDs don't let you skip). With an encode, the file size is smaller, the visual quality can be very good (as good as it can really get from a DVD anyway), it's compatible with many devices other than just iDevices, you can tag the movie poster and metadata to the actual file (I know that neither iDentify or Subler will tag DVD files), and you never have to worry about startup times for a movie (just point and click).

 

[blairh]

Most people really don't see that difference. I don't and I watch my encodes on a 1440p screen. The only artifacts present in the encodes are also present in the DVD rip. The size a DVD rip takes up in no way justifies the limited capability, visual quality, and the obstacles between you and just watching a movie (if you use a program like Ripit that doesn't give you the choice to rip just the movie, you're stuck with the commercials, legal warnings, and intros that many DVDs don't let you skip). With an encode, the file size is smaller, the visual quality can be very good (as good as it can really get from a DVD anyway), it's compatible with many devices other than just iDevices, you can tag the movie poster and metadata to the actual file (I know that neither iDentify or Subler will tag DVD files), and you never have to worry about startup times for a movie (just point and click).

While that's true that some (not all) of my movie rips via RipIt have trailers, warnings, etc, I seriously don't think that justifies encoding. I'd say more than half my RipIt movies simply show a 10-15 second FBI warning and then jump straight to the menu. On the films where there are trailers, I simply advance onto the next chapter via the DVD app. We are talking the difference between making two or three clicks (when necessary) vs. encoding just to avoid such a thing. I think that's a pretty ridiculous counter.

Like I stated before, if people want to avoid wires entirely or use an Apple TV to stream their encode, that's fine. But encoding just to avoid the occasional trailer or FBI warning is an unnecessary step and time consuming.

 

[tallpaul]

2011 Mac Mini with Plex(8GB ram upgrade is €250 cheaper than Apple)
WD My Studio 3TB fw800 (perfect partner to Mac Mini) if collection grows i can daisy chain another 3TB drive into the existing one

HDMI to 42 plasma and digital optical out to Samsung home cinema(Handbrake ripped most of the 700 movies in 5.1)

Trackpad is a perfect remote along with iPhone

Apple Tv in bedroom with iPhone remote app and regular app

and most importantly iFlicks App on Mac mini and MBP tags the movies and TV shows so well, adds to iTunes , thrashes originals

Couldn't be happier and I won't need to spend anything until I get another 3TB!

 

[MultiBat]

After working on and off with this over the weekend I have come to a conclusion.

I will not start a all out transformation project right now. The reason is that I cannot get the setup I want. Why spend tons of time when I cannot get my dream setup?

Anyway, maybe plex will be able to handle DVD rip playback in the future. Also plex could be a bit more stable. I hade two or three crashes this weekend.
When that is fixed I am all in.

...or if Apple TV start supporting DVD rips.

For now I will do encoding of some movies. Mostly my childrens movies to protect those discs a bit.

I also tried the free version of Delicious Library 2, where I could add a direct link to the DVD rip, but I did not really like the meta data part. Wrong covers, e.g. other editions of the cover, and lots of manual work to make it look just right.

 

[obsidian1200]

While that's true that some (not all) of my movie rips via RipIt have trailers, warnings, etc, I seriously don't think that justifies encoding. I'd say more than half my RipIt movies simply show a 10-15 second FBI warning and then jump straight to the menu. On the films where there are trailers, I simply advance onto the next chapter via the DVD app. We are talking the difference between making two or three clicks (when necessary) vs. encoding just to avoid such a thing. I think that's a pretty ridiculous counter.

Like I stated before, if people want to avoid wires entirely or use an Apple TV to stream their encode, that's fine. But encoding just to avoid the occasional trailer or FBI warning is an unnecessary step and time consuming.

Lucky; I've yet to rip a DVD that lets me go straight to the menu when I press the menu or title button on the DVD Player, let alone immediately after the FBI warning screen (unless that comes after all the trailer nonsense). Usually that just makes the whole sequence start all over again from the very first trailer. Anyway, that was just one of my points against DVD rips (the weakest and easiest to counter, no less), so I think my overall position still stands.

The encoding process isn't nearly as time consuming (or troublesome) as you're making it out to be, either. At most, a full-length DVD movie takes about a half hour to encode for me. It's not that much time, even on a larger scale, especially when you use a queuing method that runs the encodes overnight.

 

[blairh]

The encoding process isn't nearly as time consuming (or troublesome) as you're making it out to be, either. At most, a full-length DVD movie takes about a half hour to encode for me. It's not that much time, even on a larger scale, especially when you use a queuing method that runs the encodes overnight.

I haven't encoded a movie in a while now, but if I remember correctly it took roughly 90 mins on my 2009 MBP using Handbrake's default settings for iPad video using my RipIt files. I once tried to encode a Blu-ray rip and it took over 3 hrs.

Again, I still don't see the point in encoding a video file if I can already watch the file by connecting my Mac to my TV (unless I want to use something like Plex, which I don't). It couldn't be simpler. One wire and I'm ready to go. No need to encode. I'm not saying it's pointless for others, but it really is an extra step that many don't need to take. That's why I suggested my method to the OP in the first place.

 

[slothrob]

I'm surprised that you don't see at the very least a little difference between your DVD rip and Handbrake encode.

My feeling on encoding is this: you should only do it if you need to.

My Handbrake encodes (quality set to 19.25, aTV2 setting) actually look better than DVDs played through my DVD player. I assume this has something to do with quality upscaling by the aTV2 or the HDMI connection.

Handbrake actually takes me almost no time at all. Once I had used it a few times and now that I have a couple preset established for different material, I am able to Handbrake a half a dozen projects in about 5 minutes. Sure my computer takes most of the night to complete them, but I'm asleep (or at work) and could care less how long it takes. It takes me almost no time at all.

 

[khollister]

If you are demanding about video quality, one thing to consider is that none of the current set-top boxes (WD TV Live, PCH, Boxee, etc), ATV nor a Mac Mini HTPC running Plex or XBMC will equal the video quality obtained from SD playback via a good upscaling blu-ray player like the Oppo. And since none of these options offer a "source direct" mode (480i output) so an outboard video processor (or your AVR) can deinterlace and upscale, the resulting video quality is not great IMHO.

This (along with some HD requirements that are not relevant to this discussion) are why I ultimately went with a custom Win7 HTPC. By ripping the features as MKV's and using the MadVR render engine, I get something more akin to what I see playing DVD's with my Oppo.

As I replace more of my SD material with BD as it becomes available (and cheaper), this is becoming less of a problem.

That said, if the choice was ATV or Mini/XBMC, I would pick the Mini in a heartbeat (cost aside) due to not having to transcode all of the video.

Be aware that if you get into blu-ray/HD material later, the Mini will NOT decode or even bitstream the lossless HD audio material (Dolby TrueHD or DTS Master Audio HD) due to driver (Win7 bootcamp) and CoreAudio (OS X) limitations. Too bad, because it is the perfect HTPC solution otherwise.

 

[blairh]

My Handbrake encodes (quality set to 19.25, aTV2 setting) actually look better than DVDs played through my DVD player. I assume this has something to do with quality upscaling by the aTV2 or the HDMI connection.

Handbrake actually takes me almost no time at all. Once I had used it a few times and now that I have a couple preset established for different material, I am able to Handbrake a half a dozen projects in about 5 minutes. Sure my computer takes most of the night to complete them, but I'm asleep (or at work) and could care less how long it takes. It takes me almost no time at all.

Setting up a file to be encoded on Handbrake of course takes virtually no time. That's not what I was referring to. I'm talking about the time it takes to encode.

Also, and more importantly, my point in the first place is that I don't encode unless I need to. Seeing that I can watch my movies using the ripped file from RipIt, I'm all set.

 

[dynaflash]

Age old conversation ... yes, transcoding takes time ... how much you lose in visual quality is arguable. Note I said "visual" quality. This is how much your eye can see in visual quality loss or maybe artifacting.

Point of fact, if you transcode from source with HandBrake you *will* lose quality. you are compressing an already compressed source further. There is no way around it. However, are you losing "quality" that your eye can detect ? That is another matter altogether. Much of what is lost in a transcode cannot be detected by the human eye. Its kind of along the lines of a dog whistle ... does it make sound if you cannot hear it even though the dog can ? I guess it depends how good your ears are.

While there isn't a perfect answer ... beware of what you can and cannot see/hear in reality. Many people got all excited when the appletv2 came out and could decode *most* 1080p video when running xbmc ... what most people failed to read in the release notes is that it could not output 1080p to the display mostly due to ram limitations (256 mb soldered on board ram). So while it was decoding a 1080p source you were only seeing 720p on your tv. Am I bashing the atv2 ? No. For $99 its a pretty remarkable device any way you cut it if it fills your needs from a ui perspective. However, that said there is no reason to say it can do what it can't.

Now, if you use HandBrakes ATV2 preset and notice artifacting ... bump up the quality scale from the presets rf of 20 to an rf of say 19 (yes, its like golf, lower number is better ... go figure) ... you will notice the visual quality jumps up (along with bitrate and file size) while still being considerably smaller and more "future proof" than the original in terms of IOS device compatibility.

 

[clarkie604]

Playing DVD rips from your computer on a TV works great if you're willing to dedicate a computer to your TV.

Or, you could use that same computer as a multipurpose computer and get an Apple TV or other small box to play streaming content. If you go the streaming route then you are pretty much required to encode your movies into more efficient formats. But you don't have to buy an additional full-fleged computer to do that. The easiest part of the DVD-->AppleTV process is Handbreak. Take 5 minutes to load a bunch of rips into the Handbreak queue and in the morning everything is encoded. And quality is prime. DVDs look as good or better (than with my admittedly cheepo DVD player - can't comment on the differenve b/t an encode and a BluRay player with good downsizing).

My needs are (i) great picture quality, (ii) easy for everyone in the fam to run and (iii) availablility on all my TVs. I use the computer that I would otherwise dedicate to my main TV for serving iTunes and a Plex server (which I use to play my content on iOS devises when I'm not at home and occasionally when I want to watch an internet download before I get a chance to encode). The AppleTV is so easy, my 3-year-olds can turn on Diego Halloween again and again and again -- all by themselves (can be a good and bad thing). Picture quality is consistently great. And it runs on all TVs. Set up is extremly easy. The hardest part is ripping, but what can you do.