I have a box of old DVDs that I'd like to convert to movie files.
These are NOT commercial DVDs--they're home videos and the like made back when hard drive space was relatively costly and it made more sense to burn them to DVD than to store on a hard drive, especially when it came to sharing among friends/family (and not everyone had broadband). Back then I was the only one with a DVD burner (and the know-how) so I ended up making everyone's discs. Now I'd like to be able to get rid of that box filled with dozens or scores of DVDs.
So, I'm not looking for decryption, just a way to quickly set up a workflow and convert 1) for quality (though obviously DVD quality is much less than HD) and 2) speed (since I have so many).
Playback will be on different devices, mainly via Macs, but also by Smart TVs that can play video stored on a connected NAS.
I've used Handbrake for a half-dozen disks and it's generally OK... I use High profile, since I didn't think anything else would look better, considering the source. But I've mainly had two problems:
1) I've inexplicably had a few "No Valid Source" errors. Most of the fixes I've seen online seem centered around encryption issues, but since these AREN'T encrypted DVDs, I'm not sure what else to do.
I have an old copy of DVDRemaster, and that could handle the same DVDs. I'd be tempted to use it, but it's old (released in 2012) and very slow; I checked for an update and found out that it's been so long since I've used it that the company has since shut down.
2) I'd like to find something that handles subtitles better (though perhaps the issues I've been having are with QuickTime and the MP4 format). For a dozen or so of the DVDs I'd thought it a grand idea to annotate them with subtitles, thus identifying people, places, and things but able to be turned off. While they often work fine, despite using the same setting sometimes the subtitles don't appear and sometimes they're burned in. I don't know why.
So, since I'm looking only to convert and not decrypt, what would work best?
These are NOT commercial DVDs--they're home videos and the like made back when hard drive space was relatively costly and it made more sense to burn them to DVD than to store on a hard drive, especially when it came to sharing among friends/family (and not everyone had broadband). Back then I was the only one with a DVD burner (and the know-how) so I ended up making everyone's discs. Now I'd like to be able to get rid of that box filled with dozens or scores of DVDs.
So, I'm not looking for decryption, just a way to quickly set up a workflow and convert 1) for quality (though obviously DVD quality is much less than HD) and 2) speed (since I have so many).
Playback will be on different devices, mainly via Macs, but also by Smart TVs that can play video stored on a connected NAS.
I've used Handbrake for a half-dozen disks and it's generally OK... I use High profile, since I didn't think anything else would look better, considering the source. But I've mainly had two problems:
1) I've inexplicably had a few "No Valid Source" errors. Most of the fixes I've seen online seem centered around encryption issues, but since these AREN'T encrypted DVDs, I'm not sure what else to do.
I have an old copy of DVDRemaster, and that could handle the same DVDs. I'd be tempted to use it, but it's old (released in 2012) and very slow; I checked for an update and found out that it's been so long since I've used it that the company has since shut down.
2) I'd like to find something that handles subtitles better (though perhaps the issues I've been having are with QuickTime and the MP4 format). For a dozen or so of the DVDs I'd thought it a grand idea to annotate them with subtitles, thus identifying people, places, and things but able to be turned off. While they often work fine, despite using the same setting sometimes the subtitles don't appear and sometimes they're burned in. I don't know why.
So, since I'm looking only to convert and not decrypt, what would work best?
