New User Sticky

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live & Live Plus
1

So, am I lost here or something? Is there a getting started/new user stick post that I should read that has comments on:

  1. Differences in Ripping (ISO vs. MKV vs Other)
  2. Common/popular free software packages to do things
  3. Common Configs/Hacks
  4. What it takes to always have Title thumbnails for videos
  5. other best practices

I’m not a troll and have spent time looking at the boards but am totally lost as there should be some pretty basic primer info out there for what people actually do…or  no?  

2

Welcome to the forums.

You are absolutely correct.  We’re working on this (and we’ll keep your list in mind).

3

So, I’ll post a few thoughts then for others newbies:

To Rip your DVDs:

Free:

  1. MakeMKV
  2. Handbrake

I use MakeMKV, it seems easier than Handbrkae which has many more options (like Iphone format) and different compression settings.  I don’t care much about space as disk is cheap so I go for ease of use.

Open Questions:

Am I missing some other value of Handbrake?

What about Nero, AnyDVD and the for-fee options? What’s the value statement for those packages?

Is there a way to keep Chapter information so I can togo the next chapter?

Since disk is cheep, can I just ISO (folder2iso) an image? This didn’t work for some Pixar movies, but I figure it’s 'cause those guys are smarter than freeware. 

Images:

It seems like there a constant problem fetching images. When I burn a DVD I always quickly image Google the DVD title and grab the thumbnail. I put the .jpg in the main directory for my disk as well as the directory where I save all the files that are MKV-ed. The file name is the same as the .mkv file. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Questions:

Is this the same problem that everyone has?

Isn’t there an easier way of doing this? IMDB api or something?

Since I’m using a USB drive, Is there a way to give the USB folder an image?

Since I only have one USB drive connected, is there a way to streamline out the extra menu selection to choose USB2?

Best Practices:

I find that I really don’t need/want subtitles, So I remove them when I run MKV, I wonder if there is an automatic way to do that.

Is there a way to have a list of all “current running” videos, so that I can see where I left off of all videos I have?

I have many, many DVDs. If I burn them to say, a TB disk, and the disk blows, I’m sentenced to recopying everything again. No question, this just scares me.

4

amarkson wrote:

If I burn them to say, a TB disk, and the disk blows, I’m sentenced to recopying everything again. No question, this just scares me.

 

One hint: Backup …:wink:

Cocovanna

5

amarkson wrote:

Since disk is cheep,

 

I have many, many DVDs. If I burn them to say, a TB disk, and the disk blows, I’m sentenced to recopying everything again. No question, this just scares me.

 

 

You answer your own problem here – buy TWO separate TB discs and use the first as a backup of the second.  Disks are cheap – having to redo all that work is not (assuming that you feel, as I do, that time is money).

For regular DVDs (which I don’t do anymore) and the Live Handbrake isn’t much needed.