What's the preferred format for Audio and Video Files

[DrunkenLizard]

I use AnyDVD with DVDshrink as well, and AnyDVD can pretty much handle any disc out there. Whenever there is a new 'encryption scheme', they post an update which can handle it just fine. I do not use any compression, and only grab the main movie with the Dolby AC3 track (or DTS when available), and the English subtitles. If I want the bonus features, I'll just pop the disc back in the drive.

Thanks Dan that answers my next question about whether or not I have to compress the video with this solution.

And call me crazy but I've always wanted to create an iso backup of every disk I own, but can't come up with a long time archival solution (if a terabyte hdd fails thats alot of lost backups)

 

[electron]

I used to create ISO images as well, back in the Windows Media Center days, but there just is no benefit, and adds another step to the process of playing back your videos. I don't bother with compressing, as I am too picky when it comes to that stuff. I have a 750gig drive, if it fails, well, it will be a lot of work to rip them again, but I'll take that chance. If you are really worried about failure, invest in a Drobo unit.

 

[tmbrown97]

MavRic -that's the simplest workaround to DRM - but you are losing a little... that's like making a tape of a tape - you lose an increment of quality.

Personally, I am pretty happy with 192kbps MP3's. I have 22,000 MP3's, taking up over 100gb... if I were using 320 (which I suspect very, very few people could tell from lossless), it'd take so much more space.

I'll buy music any day if it comes DRM-Free... So, MP3... I refuse to pay to deal with DRM crap. I want to know that what I bought I'll have for life.

 

[elcano]

MavRic -that's the simplest workaround to DRM - but you are losing a little... that's like making a tape of a tape - you lose an increment of quality.

I'm not sure about this. A tape of a tape is an analog copy. With every copy the signal is degraded and noise is added. Burning and ripping a CD is a digital copy in lossless format (WAV). While burning and reading a CD might have some errors, the error correction algorithm of the protocol should take care of eliminating them. Otherwise, all your programs burned to a CD corrupted. Notice that software does not tolerate any loss as music do.

Personally, I am pretty happy with 192kbps MP3's. I have 22,000 MP3's, taking up over 100gb... if I were using 320 (which I suspect very, very few people could tell from lossless), it'd take so much more space.

I agree with this one - have about 10,000 MP3s too. My suggestion: make sure to use latest LAME encoder in VBR format. In this way the encoder will go higher than 192 if the music really requires it, and lower if it doesn't. When I use their -V2 the average bit rate is ~192 and quality is very good for my wife and guests with good hearing. I never notice quality drop unless going below the 128 CBR since I have some hearing deficiencies in the high frequencies. You might consider using -V1 or even -V0 to play safe (~245 VBR), without reaching the 'insane' (as they call it) -b320 setting.

 

[elcano]

Here is some interesting info on the design of the experiment of blind testing for the quality of compressed music:
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=ABX

I invite to the ones that can notice the difference of lossless vs. high quality MP3 (like LAME -b320) to download one of the programs and take the challenge of completing the blind test. I would love to see you sharing your results with the rest of the cocooners.

 

[upstatemike]

Here is some interesting info on the design of the experiment of blind testing for the quality of compressed music:
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=ABX

I invite to the ones that can notice the difference of lossless vs. high quality MP3 (like LAME -b320) to download one of the programs and take the challenge of completing the blind test. I would love to see you sharing your results with the rest of the cocooners.

The problem is that these tests are done by playing files through a PC sound card which probably does not have the fidelity to reproduce any differences between the files. Unless you have a very high end sound card with a premium set of DAC chips, you might as well be doing the test on an iPod... even if one of the files is better the hardware just isn't good enough to benefit from it.

 

[felixrosbergen]

What programm do you use to rip using that LAME encoder? Is it free?

I ripped the vast majority of my MP3's close to 10 years ago....i guess things have improved some then...i suppose the source material (on CD) may however not be the same quality of the newer stuff. I'm talking audio quality here, not quality of whats being performed which has obviously degraded tremendously ).

 

[upstatemike]

What programm do you use to rip using that LAME encoder? Is it free?

I ripped the vast majority of my MP3's close to 10 years ago....i guess things have improved some then...i suppose the source material (on CD) may however not be the same quality of the newer stuff. I'm talking audio quality here, not quality of whats being performed which has obviously degraded tremendously ).

I don't know what MavRic uses but I hear that EAC is probably the best free tool. There is also dBpoweramp which is not free but it is cheap and maybe a little easier to use.

 

[Texsun]

For audio, I'd agree with one of the lossless formats.

For video, all my movies are in iso including blu-ray. By using DVD Lobby and PowerDVD, a software agent loads/unloads the iso's automatically with either Daemon tools or VCD and playing a movie is as simple as clicking its cover art. Nice thing about iso's is that the original disc structure is maintained including TOC, extra's, commentaries, etc. and can be burned to a disc for use on a set-top player.

 

[PAPutzback]

I use AnyDVD with DVDshrink as well, and AnyDVD can pretty much handle any disc out there. Whenever there is a new 'encryption scheme', they post an update which can handle it just fine. I do not use any compression, and only grab the main movie with the Dolby AC3 track (or DTS when available), and the English subtitles. If I want the bonus features, I'll just pop the disc back in the drive.

I have bought almost the entire sweet from Slysoft. I used ANYDVDHD to crack the encryption on both DVD and bluRay. Then I use CloneDVD mobile to grab just the movie off the DVD, to save space and then I used AnyDVDHd to rip the bluray movie to a folder. There is a process to take just the movie also but it adds a couple steps.

I don't know if DVDshrink can handle BluRay.

 

[felixrosbergen]

How easy is it to capture a DVD into a softcopy format so i can play it on a ipod touch? What tools would i need?

 

[electron]

HandBrake will do this for you, very easy to use.

 

[scriptx]

Personally I prefer APE lossless for my music library. And for those that say you can't hear the difference between mp3 and lossless... hmmm... I beg to differ and my ears are over 50 years old...

Some people can definitely hear the difference. I use MP3 192 VBR and I can't tell, but I sideline as a guitarist in bands that play very loudly so my ears are shot.

As for the music ripping recommendation, EAC is the way to go.

For the iPod, I use VLC and Handbrake, both are free and they do a great job encoding into H.264 format. Handbrake even has a Touch/Iphone setting to make it simple.

 

[Neurorad]

Funny this should resurface - I'm leaning toward dbPoweramp over EAC, for FLAC.

MavRic - Have you attempted to stream a lossless format using the Music Port?

 

[jwilson56]

I personally use APE lossless and JRMC to rip the CD's. I can hear the difference between MP3 and APE on my system even at my age. I would not waste my time ripping with anything but a lossless format. JRMC lets you convert to any other format so I rip with APE then make a MP3 set for my mp3 player or car.