How-To: Automating DVD & Blu-Ray (Backup, Encoding & Tagging) for Mac OS X

[gunthermic]

That's correct, for example...
S2D1-1
S2D1-2
S2D2-1
S2D2-2

will end up as
S02E01
S02E02
S02E03
S02E04
etc.

And then the tags will be applied in episode order. The tags have nothing to do with (don't care about) what disk the episode came from, because that has nothing to do with how it was televised to begin with.

When you watch TV, do you say, "Oh, good, tonight they're showing Disk 2 Episode 4)"? No, but you might say, "they are showing episode 9" (which happens to be the 4th episode from disk 2 of the DVD or BRD). The disk number just doesn't matter in the end.

Thanx for answering, but like I said when I highlight:

S2D1-1
S2D1-2
S2D2-1
S2D2-2

I end up with

S02E01
S02E02

that's all. Not 4 files, it seems to take the -1 and over write it. I know this is a pain to explain, also when it's pulled into iDenitfy it makes them all Episodes 9.. which is a whole other problem.

 

[RaceTripper]

Thanx for answering, but like I said when I highlight:

S2D1-1
S2D1-2
S2D2-1
S2D2-2

I end up with

S02E01
S02E02

that's all. Not 4 files, it seems to take the -1 and over write it. I know this is a pain to explain, also when it's pulled into iDenitfy it makes them all Episodes 9.. which is a whole other problem.

Something must be messed up with your configuration. I've done almost 300 episodes of TV shows & the "Rename and Tag TV Items" service has worked just fine.

 

[neshkito]

Subbed! thx for this writeup

Yea thank you m8. All working very good here. Was just what I wanted. Great running blu-ray now 🙂

 

[gunthermic]

Something must be messed up with your configuration. I've done almost 300 episodes of TV shows & the "Rename and Tag TV Items" service has worked just fine.

Race, I hope you have done The Office..

In season 1. There is 6 episodes. however the Batch Rip pulls out 10(time of 15-25). How do you tell which ones? I thought someone had said you could play these in VLC and see what track was actually playing.

It pulls(rips) like 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11.

Does it matter how they are numbered? i.e say ripped track number 8 is actually episode number 6?

 

[RaceTripper]

Race, I hope you have done The Office..

In season 1. There is 6 episodes. however the Batch Rip pulls out 10(time of 15-25). How do you tell which ones? I thought someone had said you could play these in VLC and see what track was actually playing.

It pulls(rips) like 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11.

Does it matter how they are numbered? i.e say ripped track number 8 is actually episode number 6?

I do not have The Office.

You have to just figure out which 6 of the 11 are the correct episodes. I had to do that. For example, ripping BSG left me tracks like 0, 1 , 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9. I was able to determine (I think) that 0-4 were the episodes, while 7, 8, 9 were alternate copies, e.g. with commentary. I have yet to play the final encodings, but spot checks indicate I got it right.

Firefly was all messed up -- the internet site used by the Tag TV Items service has episode order all wrong. I had to just tag them. Figure out what the order is, retag them, and rename and adjust the final episode order. PITA.

You can open mkv files in VLC and view them. It will also give you the timing.

 

[DaveGee]

mac.jedi mega mega mega props!

I'm really having a great time with your scripts, it's making my 600+ and 900+ tv episode ripping project ... well I'd say 'a joy' but that wouldn't be totally accurate... HOWEVER it is making it ever easy to attempt such a mammoth project at all... So that saying a lot! 😀 😎

Just a tip... and wouldn't you know that using 3 hours as an upward limit would come back to bite you...

PROCESSING: The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (2003)

*Scanning Folder: 'The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (2003)'
No tracks found between 80-180 minutes (Movie).
- Track 1 Duration: 201 min.

* ERROR: The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (2003) FAILED during processing!

It's an easy enough fix but perhaps some additional text in the instructions telling users that the 180 minute limit would need to be adjusted for some popular movies such as LoTR ... A dvd found in many collections I'm sure.

Anyway... my hats off to ya really super work my friend!

 

[gunthermic]

I do not have The Office.

You have to just figure out which 6 of the 11 are the correct episodes. I had to do that. For example, ripping BSG left me tracks like 0, 1 , 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9. I was able to determine (I think) that 0-4 were the episodes, while 7, 8, 9 were alternate copies, e.g. with commentary. I have yet to play the final encodings, but spot checks indicate I got it right.

Firefly was all messed up -- the internet site used by the Tag TV Items service has episode order all wrong. I had to just tag them. Figure out what the order is, retag them, and rename and adjust the final episode order. PITA.

You can open mkv files in VLC and view them. It will also give you the timing.

So if I figure out which 6 episodes are the real ones and delete the others then run the Batch: rename and Tag TV Shows?

How in the heck does it figure out which episode is which? You have 6 mkv files, how does it know what order to put them into?

Very confused... but trying. LOL

 

[RaceTripper]

So if I figure out which 6 episodes are the real ones and delete the others then run the Batch: rename and Tag TV Shows?

How in the heck does it figure out which episode is which? You have 6 mkv files, how does it know what order to put them into?

Very confused... but trying. LOL

The tutorial explains it. Bottom line, they just need to be named in alphabetical order that matches episode order. I think you are over-thinking this. It's really not that hard. If it sorts correctly in the Finder when you view by name, the rename will work correctly.

S1D1-1
S1D1-2
S1D2-1
S1D2-2
...
S2D1-1
S2D2-3

etc...

Why don't you just make copies of your encodes and experiment until you see how it works?

 

[gunthermic]

The tutorial explains it. Bottom line, they just need to be named in alphabetical order that matches episode order. I think you are over-thinking this. It's really not that hard. If it sorts correctly in the Finder when you view by name, the rename will work correctly.

S1D1-1
S1D1-2
S1D2-1
S1D2-2
...
S2D1-1
S2D2-3

etc...

Why don't you just make copies of your encodes and experiment until you see how it works?

Thanx, I guess that is what I will have to do. Make copies until I see it work. For tagging to TV Shows you use MetaX or iDenitfy?

 

[RaceTripper]

Thanx, I guess that is what I will have to do. Make copies until I see it work. For tagging to TV Shows you use MetaX or iDenitfy?

I don't know. I run the "Batch Rip • Rename & Tag TV Items" workflow. Whatever it uses.

 

[REBELinBLUE]

I've figured out the problem with MetaX

It doesn't like the cnID

If I run mp4tags -r I filename.m4v I can add the file to MetaX again

Anyone else had this problem?

I guess i'll just change the tagging script to not set that as I don't have copies of the same video, but I thought I'd post it here in case it is of use to anyone else

When I try to drag a file onto metax with a cnID the console contains the following

10/03/2011 23:29:36	MetaX[67304]	*** Canceling drag because exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException' (reason '*** -[NSCFArray insertObject:atIndex:]: attempt to insert nil') was raised during a dragging session

So god knows what is going on

 

[fred_garvin]

Specials exist as Season 0

I was trying to figure out how to tag some of the bonus content that is listed as specials for a tv series. It turns out that data is listed as Season 0.

http://thetvdb.com/api/XXXXX/series/79309/default/0/2/en.xml

You can see this link has Season 0, Episode 2 for an extra track. I've replaced the API key from the script with XXXX as I assume it shouldn't be posted here.

It wasn't obvious to me that season 0 would be specials, so it took a while to figure out. Was having some problems with the scripts giving errors, but got it working. I think they were having problems with the Add TV Tags (DVD) option, but eventually worked with (Date Aired).

 

[3282868]

Pages/Word Format to Guide

For anyone who may need/want it, I made a pages/word version of this guide. As I want to fully absorb the information to make certain I rip my collection without any degradation in quality or issues, printing out the guide allows me to better read it and make any notes for future reference. I made it as short as I could, shrank the images and text but it still is roughly 40 pages. Download it and tweak the fonts/images to your liking. Enjoy!

EDIT: Great, now I just realized I deleted the file after reinstalling on that partition from Java runtime errors. Ugh. I'll produce it again and post it later.

 

[JMan01]

Blu-Ray Issue

I have been using this script for the last year or so with great success when it comes to the DVD aspect of it (thanks so much for the hard work on it!!)

I recently decided how nice it would be to start converting Blu-Ray movies (have a Synology NAS with lots of extra space) so I purchased an external Plextor PX-B120U reader and attached it to my iMac. Unfortunately when I use it with the batch rip automator workflow it does not work. I sees that it exists but never gets to the point that it is prompting me if it is a Movie or TV show. Manually running the MakeMKV or just browsing it in finder work. I have upgraded the firmware of the unit to 1.08 but that has not fixed anything as well.

Any recommendations of how to proceed? Is anyone using this Plextor model without this issue (not against returning it if it's only this model that is the issue) I went through this thread and saw someone had a similar issue close to a year ago but I never saw any guidance on it. Any help would be appreciated. I can manually convert them but I have been so spoiled on this script I would love to be use it for Blu-Rays. I am running the latest version of all the required software.

 

[gunthermic]

I have been using this script for the last year or so with great success when it comes to the DVD aspect of it (thanks so much for the hard work on it!!)

I recently decided how nice it would be to start converting Blu-Ray movies (have a Synology NAS with lots of extra space) so I purchased an external Plextor PX-B120U reader and attached it to my iMac. Unfortunately when I use it with the batch rip automator workflow it does not work. I sees that it exists but never gets to the point that it is prompting me if it is a Movie or TV show. Manually running the MakeMKV or just browsing it in finder work. I have upgraded the firmware of the unit to 1.08 but that has not fixed anything as well.

Any recommendations of how to proceed? Is anyone using this Plextor model without this issue (not against returning it if it's only this model that is the issue) I went through this thread and saw someone had a similar issue close to a year ago but I never saw any guidance on it. Any help would be appreciated. I can manually convert them but I have been so spoiled on this script I would love to be use it for Blu-Rays. I am running the latest version of all the required software.

yea the script does work on BD, I have done about 200 of them. Have you tried to manually kick off the service to rip it?

 

[JMan01]

yea the script does work on BD, I have done about 200 of them. Have you tried to manually kick off the service to rip it?

I have tried that to no avail... I was trying to figure out, as a work around, if I can manually use the MakeMKV to copy it and then put it into movie/TV folder and have the script encode it but that doesn't seem to work either. I'm not sure what format the blu-ray has to be in after you copy it for the encode script to take it.

 

[3282868]

Thanks again for all your hard work. Still working on that pages file I misplaced

I have a question.

Setup:

● 2010 Mac Pro 3.33GHz 6-Core Westmere
● LG BD-RE BH10LS30
● OCZ Vertex 2 SSD (which replaced the BTO SuperDrive)
● External USB Superdrive

● 50" Pioneer Elite
● Pioneer VSX-33 Receiver (supports full audio codecs w/ ~5 HDMI inputs and 1 output to Pioneer Elite)
● AppleTV 2 via HDMI

I have made full backups, audio being crucial.

Process:

1. Running dispatch, ripping SD DVD's w/ Fairmount and BD w/ Handbrake
- Saving full backups in "Batch Rip Movies" folder an my Bay 2 SATA HDD

2. Using Handbrake to convert ripped backups:

→ Video:
● m4v H.264 (x264) with "Large file size" checked
● Framerate: Same as source
● Video Quality: Average Bitrate (kbps) 1500, 2-pass encoding w/ turbo first pass

→ Audio: Need 5.1/6 channel discrete/full quality
● English 5.1/6-channel discrete
● Codec: AC3 (I have read AAC Core Audio is best yet some receivers may not process it)
● Mixdown: 6-channel discrete for full audiobackup (over Dolby Digital II)
● Subtitles: None
● Chapters: Create chapter markers

→ m4v's have:
Standard and Blu-Ray DVD m4v:
● Codec: H.264, AC3, Text
● Color Profile: SD (6-1-6)
● Audio Channels: 6

Using "Batch Encode.workflow" for tagging seems to create m4v files w/ lower audio quality as opposed to Handbrake w/ 6-channel discrete audio. Attached are the images for the Handbrake version and the "Batch Encode.workflow" image":

Handbrake m4v:

Batch Encode.workflow m4v:

Since I want to tag the m4v's with chapter names, movie poster, etc I don't want to re-encode the file to a lesser quality. I have read the guide but have not learned of a way in doing so. Can any one help?

Thanks and sorry for the long post, I hope reading it helps others which is why I added a lot of information.

 

[scifi451]

^ when I view files that like you have listed 2 channels in the plex media player they are listed as 5.1 surround sound. Interesting to note

 

[weldon]

The Finder's "Get Info" window will only show details for the first audio track in the file. Quicktime Player, VLC or other apps can show you all the available audio tracks.

When Handbrake makes a video file using the Apple TV settings (maybe other presets too, haven't checked) it will embed two different audio tracks: stereo for iPod/iPhone, and surround sound for Apple TV.

 

[3282868]

The Finder's "Get Info" window will only show details for the first audio track in the file. Quicktime Player, VLC or other apps can show you all the available audio tracks.

When Handbrake makes a video file using the Apple TV settings (maybe other presets too, haven't checked) it will embed two different audio tracks: stereo for iPod/iPhone, and surround sound for Apple TV.

I checked the batch encoded m4v's with Quicktime 10.0/7/VLC and they all display 2-channel stereo. Only the Hankbrake m4v's show 5.6/6-channel discrete. On my AppleTV 2 playing through a brand new Pioneer VSX-33 and on my 50" Pioneer Elite it doesn't list 5.1 whereas the Handbreak m4v does.This doesn't add up. 😕

 

[gunthermic]

I have tried that to no avail... I was trying to figure out, as a work around, if I can manually use the MakeMKV to copy it and then put it into movie/TV folder and have the script encode it but that doesn't seem to work either. I'm not sure what format the blu-ray has to be in after you copy it for the encode script to take it.

Must be in a MKV file format.

Open Batch Encoding(finder) in Automater

Select verbose logging. Attempt to encode, and attach logs so I can look at them.

 

[gunthermic]

Handbrake m4v:

Batch Encode.workflow m4v:

Since I want to tag the m4v's with chapter names, movie poster, etc I don't want to re-encode the file to a lesser quality. I have read the guide but have not learned of a way in doing so. Can any one help?

Thanks and sorry for the long post, I hope reading it helps others which is why I added a lot of information.

I beleive you may be reading it wrong. On your image that you have from the Batch Workflow you highlighted the 2 Channel. However that is 100% correct. Why? becuase it muxes the audio in your encoded file twice. The first being AAC (which is why it shows 2 Channel) right after that it shows AC3 which is your dolby digital 5.1 sound.

Why is this correct? Becuase if you play this file say on a iPad, iPhone or a TV with only stereo speakers you will have sound. But if you play it through a stereo reciever that has Dobly Digital you will be perfectly fine.

When you use HB manually of course you only used AC3, show that is all it shows.

 

[scifi451]

Ran into a bit of a problem and figured out what caused it. This has happened with Blu-ray rips but not sure if that is cause or would happen with dvd rips as well. When I right click on the batch rip movies folder and select from the services menu batch encode finder, the terminal starts up has an error and then completely deletes the movie folder and checked the trash and it is not there.

First time it happened and was trying to figure out what happened, I did an extensive search using spotlight and could not find the missing files any where. The second time it had happened had figured out what happened. Recreated it a third time to confirm but copied the files first before so had them saved, and turned on verbose logging.

Also when I right an individual blu ray mkv I had and used the batch encode finder service it went perfectly fine and outputted a m4v file.

Here is what the terminal outputted.
Figured would post about it so people knew and maybe so we can fix this problem.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
batchEncode.sh v1.0.6

Start: Fri Mar 25 18:04:14 CDT 2011
Input directory 1: /Users/atlantis/Movies/Batch Rip Movies
Input directory 2: /Users/atlantis/Movies/Batch Rip TV
Output directory: /Users/atlantis/Movies/Batch Encode
Use optical Drive: No
Encode HD Sources: Yes
Keep MKV Temp Files: No
Auto-add movie tags: Yes
Retire Existing File: No
Growl me when complete: No
Encode TV Shows between: 20-140 mins
Encode Movies between: 80-200 mins
Native Language: eng (en)
Use Disc's Default Audio Language: Yes
Will Encode: 720p/AppleTV 2

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
VERBOSE MODE
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

WILL PROCESS THE FOLLOWING VIDEOS:
sed: 1: "s|\/Batch Rip Movies\n.B ...": unterminated substitute pattern
sed: 1: "s|\/Batch Rip Movies\n.B ...": unterminated substitute pattern
Batch Rip Movies
.Batch
Rip
Movies : (Movie)

sed: 1: "s|\/Batch Rip Movies\n.B ...": unterminated substitute pattern
sed: 1: "s|\/Batch Rip Movies\n.B ...": unterminated substitute pattern
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
PROCESSING: Batch Rip Movies
.Batch
Rip
Movies

*Scanning File: 'Batch Rip Movies
.Batch
Rip
Movies'


* ERROR: Batch Rip Movies
.Batch
Rip
Movies FAILED during processing!


PROCESSING COMPLETE: Batch Rip Movies
.Batch
Rip
Movies
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
End: Fri Mar 25 18:04:18 CDT 2011

logout

[Process completed]

 

[3282868]

I beleive you may be reading it wrong. On your image that you have from the Batch Workflow you highlighted the 2 Channel. However that is 100% correct. Why? becuase it muxes the audio in your encoded file twice. The first being AAC (which is why it shows 2 Channel) right after that it shows AC3 which is your dolby digital 5.1 sound.

Why is this correct? Becuase if you play this file say on a iPad, iPhone or a TV with only stereo speakers you will have sound. But if you play it through a stereo reciever that has Dobly Digital you will be perfectly fine.

When you use HB manually of course you only used AC3, show that is all it shows.

I figured it out. You are correct, here's my thread for reference:

BD/SD DVD backup m4v's tagging chapters, etc without changing quality

Ok guys, so I have a serious amount of egg on my face. I reset some parameters in my Pioneer Elite VSX-33 AVR such as speaker settings, codecs, HDMI output, and MCACC processing (http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pi...les/index.html), so it decodes AAC 5.1+. All the batch encoded m4v's now play perfect surround sound, so I can use the batch encode.workflow and save hella time.

So if I understand correctly, using this process:
1. Two audio layers, stereo for iDevices/etc and AAC/AC3 full surround (my Pioneer supports AAC 5.1/7/1+ surround sound)
2. Full DVD backups
3. Handbrake to convert those backups w/o loss of quality
4. Chapter tagging, the official movie poster, and the official movie description w/ actors, etc.

My only issue is with Fairmount​

I was using Fairmount to rip DVD's with my LG BD-RE and an attached USB superdrive. I removed the BTO second Superdrive for my OCZ Vertex 2 SSD. Since Lion is on the SSD I removed it today and installed the Superdrive that came with my Mac Pro in order to speed up the ripping process with three optical drives. Fairmount has been giving me issues so I researched alternatives.

Here are some of the top recommended paid DVD ripper applications I'm weeding through:

Fairmount not so great, need rec's for best DVD ripper - full backups before Handbake

1. RipIt!
2. MacTheRipper 4

Someone mentioned MakeMKV, but that outputs a mkv file and not a full backup. I want to keep the full DVD image in case I need to reburn it or encode it again.

Thanks and sorry for the long post! 🙂

 

[weldon]

Someone mentioned MakeMKV, but that outputs a mkv file and not a full backup. I want to keep the full DVD image in case I need to reburn it or encode it again.

MakeMKV will make a perfect bit-copy of the original movie from the blu-ray disc. It's not a full backup of the entire disc with menus and all that, but it is a perfect backup of the movie itself.