How to back-up a DVD for a lazy user with high goals

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live & Live Plus
1

Hi,

I would like WD’s philosophy and other user ideas/ recommendations on this topic.

I have a number of DVDs which I would like to back-up on my USB-drive or NAS and be able to easily watch them on my TV. I want high video quality and small file size. High quality is priority 1, but I do not accept file sizes of 7 GB for a regular DVD.

I would also like to skip the commercial junk which shows up on a DVD prior to the disc menu.

So, this can be achieved by MKV converting by using e.g. Handbrake ( www.handbrake.fr) but it takes an awful lot of time on my computer, and I have not found the settings to be used for all DVDs.

Another way is to back-up the DVD using “DVD Decrypter”, with files either in ISO file or VIDEO_TS folder structure.

But in the first step the back-ups are quite large, e.g. 7 GB.

The VIDEO_TS files can be compressed with good results by using “DVD Shrink”. Subtitles and audio in strange languages can be removed to save file size.

The ISO file I have so far not been able to compress.

With the latest firmware the WD HD TV Live does play the ISO file with navigation and audio/ subtitle options - but not the VIDEO_TS folder structure. (It does play the individual VOBs, but without all must-have options…)

Of course these DVD back-ups can be converted into MKVs, but that’s too much work thinking of the DVD back-ups already on my hard disc…

What great ideas are there out there and at WD???

2

So why post this in the ideas section when it clearly belongs to the firmware section?

The LIVE plays menus from VIDEO_TS as described here by TonyPh12345. Also DVD Decrypter is outdated, everyone’s move on to DVDFab and CTRL-I opens ISOs to compress in DVD Shrink.

3

You’re making something easy too difficult, use DVDFab, rip the disc to an ISO, copy the ISO to a directory on your NAS or another media device that your WDTV player can be mapped to and select the file, it will play just like the original DVD

with no issues. If you only save the main movie file, you’re going to have images of roughly 3-4 gigs per movie.

Miguel

Please don’t pirate DVDs it’s just not ethical and ultimately costs everyone!