Rom
Prominent Member
As this seems to be a question often asked, here is my guide to creating high quality MKV rips from the DVD discs that you own to play on an NMT.
Tool(s) Required: -
Handbrake (free)
AnyDVD (optional, $$$)
DVDShrink (optional, free but difficult to find)
Why MKV?
A lot of people get confused about what MKVs are. An MKV is NOT a video file, it is a container. This container has the facility to hold various (and multiple) video, audio, subtitle and chapter streams. On the video side it may be xvid, divx, mpeg etc. However, we are going to use H.264.
Why H.264?
H.264 (or the public version known as x.264) is an extremely efficient codec allowing high quality video at lower bitrates and so smaller filesizes.
Overview of the procedure
If you are just using Handbrake and you don't have a ripping program (like AnyDVD or DVDShrink etc) then Handbrake can handle many DVDs on the market. However, it is not guaranteed to do every title.
I prefer to rip to my hard drive first. Why? because I can rip lots of DVDs and then queue them all up to be encoded by Handbrake. If I did it direct from the DVD I would have to set Handbrake encoding, wait for it to finish it's stuff, change the disc, set Handbrake encoding again. The batch queue facility in Handbrake makes encoding lots of DVDs painless and automatic (I like easy!).
Step 1. Rip the DVD to your hard drive.
I will not go into this as it is different for each ripping program you use, you also probably know how to rip if you already have ripping software. Whatever program you use, rip to VIDEO_TS folders - the format exactly like the structure of every DVD on the market. We will use this folder for Handbrake to encode from.
Step 2. Open handbrake and set the settings.
When you open Handbrake you will be presented with a screen with multiple tabs. On the right hand side there are presets available which have settings ideal for various players (like iPod, AppleTV, etc.).
That is the main settings done which you will probably never touch again so you can now save the settings. On the right at the bottom of the presets box click add, give the preset a name like MyProfile, uncheck the save cropping settings and click OK.
You now have your own standard preset which you can click on any time you open Handbrake and you will not have to change anything on the first 3 tabs.
Step 3. Encode the DVD.
(1) Click on the Source button on the toolbar, Select 'DVD/VIDEO_TS Folder' and browse to the VIDEO_TS folder of the disc you ripped to your hard drive in Step 1.
Once Handbrake has read the files in the folder you now make decisions. DVDs are broken up into 'titles'. There may be 1 or more titles on one DVD. In the case of a film, generally the longest title is the film (you can check the runing time, Handbrake tells you the length of each title). Other titles may be documentaries etc.
On a TV series you may have multiple titles of a similar length. these are the individual episodes and you can encode each seperately. EG. Star Trek series 1 disc 1 has 4 episodes on it, there are 4 'titles' - these are the 4 episodes.
(2) Drop down the title list and select the title you want to encode (Handbrake automatically selects the longest one by default so you may not need to change this).
(3) On the Destination line, click browse and browse to the folder you want Handbrake to put your MKV and give it a filename.
(4) Select the Audio Tab. Here you can see what audio tracks are on the disc. You can select 1 or more tracks to add to the MKV. Select a track, then the codec you want that track to be output as. If your NMP will decode AC3 and DTS then you can select the passthrough codec which will leave the track exactly as it is on the DVD. If you select AAC as the codec, you need to select what mixdown you want (mono, stereo, 6channel etc).
Important. The first audio track in the list is the default - this is what your NMT will use when you play the file.
If your NMT cannot decode AC3/DTS then select the track you want, set the codec to AAC and set the mixdown to what channels you want - All NMTs can do AAC audio.
If you select a DTS track, make sure you select DTS passthrough as the codec and NOT AC3 passthrough.
You can add multiple tracks, just click the add button, highlight the new line/track and set the settings as above.
(5) Select your subtitles on the subtitle tab. Handbrake will select what it thinks is the most relevant subtitle stream (if there are any). You can change this by highlighting the line and dropping down the track: combo and selecting the subtitle you want.
Like audio, you can add multiple subtitle tracks, just use the add button. To remove subtitle tracks, highlight the line you want to remove then click the remove button.
Subtitle options:
Forced only: This will show forced subtitles when say an english film has an actor talking in a foreign language, it will only show when the foreign actor is speaking.
Burned in: This wil PERMANENTY burn the titles onto the video, you won't be able to change the subtitles or move them etc. when playing the video. Leave this unchecked unless your NMT cannot handle MKV subtitles.
Default: When this is checked your subtitle will always be shown by default on playback.
(6) Chapters tab. Handbrake will automatically read and set the chapter marks from the DVD. Check the 'Create Chapter marks' box to encode chapters into the MKV. This is all you need to do. You can change the names of each chapter if you like but I don't bother.
(7) click on Encode and go & do something else!
......
If you have multiple discs ripped via Step 1. Then whilst Handbrake is encoding (it will be doing it in a seperate window) you can set up the next disc to encode.
Just do steps (1) onwards and instead of clicking Encode (step (7)) click 'Add to Queue'.
I have had 47 encodes queued at my max point If you want to see whats in the queue then simply click on 'Show Queue'.
Once you get the hang of it it is easy, fast and needs little attention. I can detail other options if you need more advanced information. Please give me feedback and I will keep updating this guide to make it as clear as possible.
Happy Encoding!
Tool(s) Required: -
Handbrake (free)
AnyDVD (optional, $$$)
DVDShrink (optional, free but difficult to find)
Why MKV?
A lot of people get confused about what MKVs are. An MKV is NOT a video file, it is a container. This container has the facility to hold various (and multiple) video, audio, subtitle and chapter streams. On the video side it may be xvid, divx, mpeg etc. However, we are going to use H.264.
Why H.264?
H.264 (or the public version known as x.264) is an extremely efficient codec allowing high quality video at lower bitrates and so smaller filesizes.
Overview of the procedure
If you are just using Handbrake and you don't have a ripping program (like AnyDVD or DVDShrink etc) then Handbrake can handle many DVDs on the market. However, it is not guaranteed to do every title.
I prefer to rip to my hard drive first. Why? because I can rip lots of DVDs and then queue them all up to be encoded by Handbrake. If I did it direct from the DVD I would have to set Handbrake encoding, wait for it to finish it's stuff, change the disc, set Handbrake encoding again. The batch queue facility in Handbrake makes encoding lots of DVDs painless and automatic (I like easy!).
Step 1. Rip the DVD to your hard drive.
I will not go into this as it is different for each ripping program you use, you also probably know how to rip if you already have ripping software. Whatever program you use, rip to VIDEO_TS folders - the format exactly like the structure of every DVD on the market. We will use this folder for Handbrake to encode from.
Step 2. Open handbrake and set the settings.
When you open Handbrake you will be presented with a screen with multiple tabs. On the right hand side there are presets available which have settings ideal for various players (like iPod, AppleTV, etc.).
Click on the High Profile preset.
Under Output Settings, change MP4 to MKV.
On the Picture tab, select Anamorphic to Loose and cropping to automatic.
On the Video Filters tab select Detelecineefault, Decombefault. Deinterlace off and denoise off. Deblock slider to the far left. Grayscale Encoding unticked.
Video tab should have Video Codec set to H.264, Framerate same as source and Quality set to Constant Quality. The slider denotes the quality of the encode, the higher the quality, the larger the output file. You should not need to go over 60. 55-60 gives good quality and small files.
That is the main settings done which you will probably never touch again so you can now save the settings. On the right at the bottom of the presets box click add, give the preset a name like MyProfile, uncheck the save cropping settings and click OK.
You now have your own standard preset which you can click on any time you open Handbrake and you will not have to change anything on the first 3 tabs.
Step 3. Encode the DVD.
(1) Click on the Source button on the toolbar, Select 'DVD/VIDEO_TS Folder' and browse to the VIDEO_TS folder of the disc you ripped to your hard drive in Step 1.
Once Handbrake has read the files in the folder you now make decisions. DVDs are broken up into 'titles'. There may be 1 or more titles on one DVD. In the case of a film, generally the longest title is the film (you can check the runing time, Handbrake tells you the length of each title). Other titles may be documentaries etc.
On a TV series you may have multiple titles of a similar length. these are the individual episodes and you can encode each seperately. EG. Star Trek series 1 disc 1 has 4 episodes on it, there are 4 'titles' - these are the 4 episodes.
(2) Drop down the title list and select the title you want to encode (Handbrake automatically selects the longest one by default so you may not need to change this).
(3) On the Destination line, click browse and browse to the folder you want Handbrake to put your MKV and give it a filename.
(4) Select the Audio Tab. Here you can see what audio tracks are on the disc. You can select 1 or more tracks to add to the MKV. Select a track, then the codec you want that track to be output as. If your NMP will decode AC3 and DTS then you can select the passthrough codec which will leave the track exactly as it is on the DVD. If you select AAC as the codec, you need to select what mixdown you want (mono, stereo, 6channel etc).
Important. The first audio track in the list is the default - this is what your NMT will use when you play the file.
If your NMT cannot decode AC3/DTS then select the track you want, set the codec to AAC and set the mixdown to what channels you want - All NMTs can do AAC audio.
If you select a DTS track, make sure you select DTS passthrough as the codec and NOT AC3 passthrough.
You can add multiple tracks, just click the add button, highlight the new line/track and set the settings as above.
(5) Select your subtitles on the subtitle tab. Handbrake will select what it thinks is the most relevant subtitle stream (if there are any). You can change this by highlighting the line and dropping down the track: combo and selecting the subtitle you want.
Like audio, you can add multiple subtitle tracks, just use the add button. To remove subtitle tracks, highlight the line you want to remove then click the remove button.
Subtitle options:
Forced only: This will show forced subtitles when say an english film has an actor talking in a foreign language, it will only show when the foreign actor is speaking.
Burned in: This wil PERMANENTY burn the titles onto the video, you won't be able to change the subtitles or move them etc. when playing the video. Leave this unchecked unless your NMT cannot handle MKV subtitles.
Default: When this is checked your subtitle will always be shown by default on playback.
(6) Chapters tab. Handbrake will automatically read and set the chapter marks from the DVD. Check the 'Create Chapter marks' box to encode chapters into the MKV. This is all you need to do. You can change the names of each chapter if you like but I don't bother.
(7) click on Encode and go & do something else!
......
If you have multiple discs ripped via Step 1. Then whilst Handbrake is encoding (it will be doing it in a seperate window) you can set up the next disc to encode.
Just do steps (1) onwards and instead of clicking Encode (step (7)) click 'Add to Queue'.
I have had 47 encodes queued at my max point If you want to see whats in the queue then simply click on 'Show Queue'.
Once you get the hang of it it is easy, fast and needs little attention. I can detail other options if you need more advanced information. Please give me feedback and I will keep updating this guide to make it as clear as possible.
Happy Encoding!
Last edited by a moderator: