which software to convert DVD -> .mkv (1 Viewer)

[Helios61]

Hi community!

Which software do you use, to convert TV-Show DVDs to .mkv in a quick and simple way with the same quality!

Best regards

Helios

 

[rtv]

For which reason?
Considering mkv (which is good) I doubt you want to do that for portability.

I really like staxrip as it automatically downloads and configures the best open source apps available. Converting to h.264 however isn't "quick" - on a common machine you might get close to "realtime" encoding (~25 FPS).

 

[Helios61]

For which reason?
Considering mkv (which is good) I doubt you want to do that for portability.

I really like staxrip as it automatically downloads and configures the best open source apps available. Converting to h.264 however isn't "quick" - on a common machine you might get close to "realtime" encoding (~25 FPS).

Hi rtv!

Thanks for your fast reply! I like to convert some TV-Shows from DVD (like "Pixar Shorts" or "Der Blaue Planet") in the same quality to .mkv!

Best regards

Helios

Edit: A further solution seems to be MakeMKV!

 

[mvank]

DVD to MKV

Handbrake is a fine to to convert DVD tv shows to sinlge mkv files (episodes).

HandBrake

 

[chris198810]

In fact, there are many DVD ripping tools can convert DVD to MKV. You can get some DVD ripping program reviews to get a proper one. Here is a simple guide on converting DVD to MKV with one of the best DVD ripper. You can refer to it.

 

[kszabo]

the one and only XMedia recode

 

[emma24xia]

I know ByteCopy could backup and convert DVD movies to MKV without quality loss, in that words, same video and audio quality are saved in MKV file. BTW, why you need MKV? I know backup disc can preserve same file structure as well as video quality.

 

[RoChess]

DVDs use MPEG-2 for video codec, whereas H.264 or H.265 more commonly used these days fall under the MPEG-4 category with much better quality at the same bitrates. In turn that means you can create much smaller files at near the same quality. I stress near, because to do transcoding justice you have to also resize the original to get the most out of the codec, or you end up highlighting the original codec weaknesses.

Ideally you would take 1080p sources and resize them to 480p DVD resolution, which will results in a much higher quality end result (close to 720p actually on a quality upscale system).

Otherwise, since HDD storage is so cheap, it might be easier to just convert the DVDs into ISOs, or wrap the original MPEG-2 video codec with AC3 audio codec into an MKV container file (can even retain IDX/SUB bitmap subtitles, menu structure, bonus material, etc), because MP-TVSeries does have a dual-episode import limit. You can get around that on ISOs via symbolic or hardlinks, but individual MKVs make things a lot easier.