Hack Manhattan Wiki - User contributions [en]

Meeting 2026-04-29

2026-04-29T23:26:48Z

LambdaCalculus: Prepare the meeting minutes page

Meetings are conducted according to [[MIBS_Rules]].

==Approve Minutes==

==Consensus Agenda==
* Consensus Item 1
* Consensus Item 2

==Member Reports==
=== Board Reports===
====President's Report====
* No report.
====Treasurer's Report====
* No report.
====Secretary's Report====
* No report.
====Directors-at-Large's Report====
* No report.
===Member and Project Reports===

== Old Business ==

== New Business ==

===Sponsored Members Induction===
For each prospective member, please confirm no later than Thursday before the meeting:

* Has the member visited 3 times at the regular Tuesday and Thursday open nights?
* Has the member received the briefing? When, and who was the briefer?
* Has the member's bio and photo been circulated on the members list? (not just Discord)

==Meeting Meta==
* Members in Attendance: Robert, Leo (I-Ball), Hannah, Jay, Amanda, Robin M, Grant, Marsha
* Visitors: visitor1, visitor2
* Called to order at 23:59 by MEMBER.
* The meeting was adjourned at 23:59 by MEMBER.
* Minutes taken and submitted by Robert.

[[Category:Meetings]]

Meeting 2026-03-25

2026-03-26T14:38:57Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Old Business */

Meetings are conducted according to [[MIBS_Rules]].

==Approve Minutes==

No issues or objections

==Consensus Agenda==
* No agenda items this meeting

==Member Reports==
=== Board Reports===
====President's Report====
* Hannah has ideas for breakout workshops and an after party for HOPE this year where we can also run a fundraiser for the space
====Treasurer's Report====
* Robin: For February, dues are down slightly; we had members drop from the $110 tier to the $55 tier and others paused membership. Class income is down; utilities are higher than December by $100.
====Secretary's Report====
* Robert will be submitting another talk to HOPE and will be offering to volunteer time for the HM village; we should set up a volunteer list to see who is interested in helping out.
====Directors-at-Large's Report====
* Jay: AC facility fixed and operational; thanks Robin for setting the security camera up. Jay is also starting a $40 class for 3D printing and modeling; we also need to start throwing things out that can be thrown out.
* Mihir: Nothing to report.
===Member and Project Reports===

== Old Business ==
* None to report this meeting

== New Business ==
* HOPE has announced they have a new venue for this year: the New Yorker Hotel on West 34th Street and 8th Avenue. This will make it much easier to get to the venue from HM as we're mere blocks away. We will be signing up for a village this year.

===Sponsored Members Induction===
For each prospective member, please confirm no later than Thursday before the meeting:

* Has the member visited 3 times at the regular Tuesday and Thursday open nights?
* Has the member received the briefing? When, and who was the briefer?
* Has the member's bio and photo been circulated on the members list? (not just Discord)

We have two prospective new members signed up for membership.

==Meeting Meta==
* Members in Attendance: Hannah, Robert, Jay, Chris (RogueJ3di), Boost, Nick, Leo (I-Ball), Robin, Peter, Mihir, Chris F.
* Visitors: Ivan
* Called to order at 19:35 by Hannah.
* The meeting was adjourned at 19:42 by Hannah.
* Minutes taken and submitted by Robert.

[[Category:Meetings]]

Meeting 2026-03-25

2026-03-26T14:38:36Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Consensus Agenda */

Meetings are conducted according to [[MIBS_Rules]].

==Approve Minutes==

No issues or objections

==Consensus Agenda==
* No agenda items this meeting

==Member Reports==
=== Board Reports===
====President's Report====
* Hannah has ideas for breakout workshops and an after party for HOPE this year where we can also run a fundraiser for the space
====Treasurer's Report====
* Robin: For February, dues are down slightly; we had members drop from the $110 tier to the $55 tier and others paused membership. Class income is down; utilities are higher than December by $100.
====Secretary's Report====
* Robert will be submitting another talk to HOPE and will be offering to volunteer time for the HM village; we should set up a volunteer list to see who is interested in helping out.
====Directors-at-Large's Report====
* Jay: AC facility fixed and operational; thanks Robin for setting the security camera up. Jay is also starting a $40 class for 3D printing and modeling; we also need to start throwing things out that can be thrown out.
* Mihir: Nothing to report.
===Member and Project Reports===

== Old Business ==

== New Business ==
* HOPE has announced they have a new venue for this year: the New Yorker Hotel on West 34th Street and 8th Avenue. This will make it much easier to get to the venue from HM as we're mere blocks away. We will be signing up for a village this year.

===Sponsored Members Induction===
For each prospective member, please confirm no later than Thursday before the meeting:

* Has the member visited 3 times at the regular Tuesday and Thursday open nights?
* Has the member received the briefing? When, and who was the briefer?
* Has the member's bio and photo been circulated on the members list? (not just Discord)

We have two prospective new members signed up for membership.

==Meeting Meta==
* Members in Attendance: Hannah, Robert, Jay, Chris (RogueJ3di), Boost, Nick, Leo (I-Ball), Robin, Peter, Mihir, Chris F.
* Visitors: Ivan
* Called to order at 19:35 by Hannah.
* The meeting was adjourned at 19:42 by Hannah.
* Minutes taken and submitted by Robert.

[[Category:Meetings]]

Meeting 2026-03-25

2026-03-25T23:53:31Z

LambdaCalculus: Meeting minutes added

Meetings are conducted according to [[MIBS_Rules]].

==Approve Minutes==

No issues or objections

==Consensus Agenda==
* Consensus Item 1
* Consensus Item 2

==Member Reports==
=== Board Reports===
====President's Report====
* Hannah has ideas for breakout workshops and an after party for HOPE this year where we can also run a fundraiser for the space
====Treasurer's Report====
* Robin: For February, dues are down slightly; we had members drop from the $110 tier to the $55 tier and others paused membership. Class income is down; utilities are higher than December by $100.
====Secretary's Report====
* Robert will be submitting another talk to HOPE and will be offering to volunteer time for the HM village; we should set up a volunteer list to see who is interested in helping out.
====Directors-at-Large's Report====
* Jay: AC facility fixed and operational; thanks Robin for setting the security camera up. Jay is also starting a $40 class for 3D printing and modeling; we also need to start throwing things out that can be thrown out.
* Mihir: Nothing to report.
===Member and Project Reports===

== Old Business ==

== New Business ==
* HOPE has announced they have a new venue for this year: the New Yorker Hotel on West 34th Street and 8th Avenue. This will make it much easier to get to the venue from HM as we're mere blocks away. We will be signing up for a village this year.

===Sponsored Members Induction===
For each prospective member, please confirm no later than Thursday before the meeting:

* Has the member visited 3 times at the regular Tuesday and Thursday open nights?
* Has the member received the briefing? When, and who was the briefer?
* Has the member's bio and photo been circulated on the members list? (not just Discord)

We have two prospective new members signed up for membership.

==Meeting Meta==
* Members in Attendance: Hannah, Robert, Jay, Chris (RogueJ3di), Boost, Nick, Leo (I-Ball), Robin, Peter, Mihir, Chris F.
* Visitors: Ivan
* Called to order at 19:35 by Hannah.
* The meeting was adjourned at 19:42 by Hannah.
* Minutes taken and submitted by Robert.

[[Category:Meetings]]

Meeting 2026-03-25

2026-03-25T23:45:53Z

LambdaCalculus: Get minutes started

Meetings are conducted according to [[MIBS_Rules]].

==Approve Minutes==

==Consensus Agenda==
* Consensus Item 1
* Consensus Item 2

==Member Reports==
=== Board Reports===
====President's Report====
* No report.
====Treasurer's Report====
* No report.
====Secretary's Report====
* No report.
====Directors-at-Large's Report====
* No report.
===Member and Project Reports===

== Old Business ==

== New Business ==

===Sponsored Members Induction===
For each prospective member, please confirm no later than Thursday before the meeting:

* Has the member visited 3 times at the regular Tuesday and Thursday open nights?
* Has the member received the briefing? When, and who was the briefer?
* Has the member's bio and photo been circulated on the members list? (not just Discord)

==Meeting Meta==
* Members in Attendance: Hannah, Robert, Jay, Chris (RogueJ3di), Boost, Nick, Leo (I-Ball), Robin, Peter, Mihir, Chris F.
* Visitors: Ivan
* Called to order at 19:35 by Hannah.
* The meeting was adjourned at 19:42 by Hannah.
* Minutes taken and submitted by Robert.

[[Category:Meetings]]

Veilid Nodes

2025-05-19T23:03:58Z

LambdaCalculus:

== Hack Manhattan Veilid Node Cluster ==

'''Hack Manhattan Veilid Nodes''' are being built to help up the Veilid network, a private. E2EE network and framework for apps for the network. Currently one Raspberry Pi 4 runs a node on the rack.

== What the Heck is Veilid? ==

Veilid is a new project by the hacktivist group, Cult of the Dead Cow, launched in 2023. It is designed to be a people powered, privacy focused, end-to-end encrypted network and framework to write applications for said network. Think if Tor and IPFS had a baby and the baby actually worked, and you can write and do whatever you want on this network.

Currently, there are a small handful of applications that demonstrate the capabilities and potential of Veilid:

* [https://veilid.com/chat/ VeilidChat] - An E2EE chat application similar to Signal; currently in beta
* [https://github.com/cmars/stigmerge stigmerge] A file sharing tool that uses Veilid nodes to seed and share files

== Node Purposes ==

As Veilid needs nodes to function, this is our way of contributing to the Veilid project. Building nodes means building a better network.

== Future Plans ==

A class on how to set up Veilid nodes may be planned for the future.

== More Info on Veilid ==

The Veilid website has documentation, links to the source, and more: [https://veilid.com/ Veilid Framework]

Veilid Nodes

2025-05-19T22:59:46Z

LambdaCalculus: /* What the Heck is Veilid? */

== Hack Manhattan Veilid Node Cluster ==

'''Hack Manhattan Veilid Nodes''' are being built to help up the Veilid network, a private. E2EE network and framework for apps for the network.

== What the Heck is Veilid? ==

Veilid is a new project by the hacktivist group, Cult of the Dead Cow, launched in 2023. It is designed to be a people powered, privacy focused, end-to-end encrypted network and framework to write applications for said network. Think if Tor and IPFS had a baby and the baby actually worked, and you can write and do whatever you want on this network.

Currently, there are a small handful of applications that demonstrate the capabilities and potential of Veilid:

* [https://veilid.com/chat/ VeilidChat] - An E2EE chat application similar to Signal; currently in beta
* [https://github.com/cmars/stigmerge stigmerge] A file sharing tool that uses Veilid nodes to seed and share files

Links to Outside Media Resources

2025-05-02T00:45:10Z

LambdaCalculus: Added Queens Public Library

Libraries in the area:
* New York Public Library: https://www.nypl.org/locations/directory (covers Manhattan, Bronx, & Staten Island)
* Brooklyn Library: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/locations
* Queens Public Library: https://www.queenslibrary.org/
* NYC Synth Library: https://synthlibrarynyc.org/
* Hoboken Public Library: https://hobokenlibrary.org/
* Jersey City Public Library: https://www.jclibrary.org/about/branch-hours-locations/
* Westchester Public Library: https://www.westchesterlibraries.org/about-wls/member-libraries/

Online Archives:
* https://archive.org
* Video game magazines and other print materials: https://archive.gamehistory.org/explore

User:LambdaCalculus

2025-05-02T00:42:07Z

LambdaCalculus:

[[File:lambdacalculus.png|250px|right]]HIJACKING THE AIRWAVES 
 
 
Find me on Mastodon: https://masto.hackers.town/@LambdaCalculus
 
 
<li>Resident of the Sprawl, Datarunner, teacher of the old lore. Holder of much secret knowledge. 
<li>Old school crustpunk, sysadmin, network engineer, and plenty of good security knowledge. Hire me! 
<li>Resident of hackers.town, member of DC212, frequents NYC2600 meetups, and will still hit a good punk show 
 
 
Currently working on a few projects for the space, including a multipurpose server and building a cluster of nodes for the Veilid network (shameless plug: I'm a member of the project). I also teach the monthly Linux classes!
 
Fueled by caffeine, THC, and beer, among other things!
 
HACK THE PLANET!!

User:LambdaCalculus

2025-05-02T00:41:50Z

LambdaCalculus:

[[File:lambdacalculus.png|250px|right]]HIJACKING THE AIRWAVES 
 
 
Find me on Mastodon: https://hackers.town/@LambdaCalculus
 
 
<li>Resident of the Sprawl, Datarunner, teacher of the old lore. Holder of much secret knowledge. 
<li>Old school crustpunk, sysadmin, network engineer, and plenty of good security knowledge. Hire me! 
<li>Resident of hackers.town, member of DC212, frequents NYC2600 meetups, and will still hit a good punk show 
 
 
Currently working on a few projects for the space, including a multipurpose server and building a cluster of nodes for the Veilid network (shameless plug: I'm a member of the project). I also teach the monthly Linux classes!
 
Fueled by caffeine, THC, and beer, among other things!
 
HACK THE PLANET!!

Hackerspaces

2025-03-28T17:20:49Z

LambdaCalculus: /* NYC Hackerspaces */

== NYC Hackerspaces ==

* [http://www.alphaonelabs.com/ Alpha One Labs] - Greenpoint, Brooklyn
* [http://www.nycresistor.com/ NYC Resistor] - Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
* [http://genspace.org/ Genspace] - science focused
* [http://www.madagascarinstitute.com/ Madagascar Institute] - machining, welding, etc. far out in Brooklyn
* [http://make.si/ Make:SI] - in a garage in SI!
* [http://blog.makerbar.com/ MakerBar] - Hoboken, spacious and fun
* [https://fatcatfablab.org/ Fat Cat Fab Lab] - West Village, Manhattan - DC212 meets here

Hackerspaces

2025-03-28T17:20:33Z

LambdaCalculus: Adding Fat Cat

User:LambdaCalculus

2025-03-28T17:08:37Z

LambdaCalculus:

[[File:lambdacalculus.png|250px|right]]HIJACKING THE AIRWAVES 
 
 
Find me on Mastodon: https://hackers.town/@LambdaCalculus
 
 
<li>Resident of the Sprawl, Datarunner, teacher of the old lore. Holder of much secret knowledge. 
<li>Old school crustpunk, sysadmin, network engineer, and plenty of good security knowledge. Hire me! 
<li>Resident of hackers.town, member of DC212, frequents NYC2600 meetups, and will still hit a good punk show 
 
 
Currently working on a few projects for the space, including the Plex server for members, and building a cluster of nodes for the Veilid network (shameless plug: I'm a member of the project). I also teach the monthly Linux classes!
 
Fueled by caffeine, THC, and beer, among other things!
 
HACK THE PLANET!!

User:LambdaCalculus

2025-03-28T17:07:29Z

LambdaCalculus:

[[File:lambdacalculus.png|250px|right]]HIJACKING THE AIRWAVES 
 
<li>Resident of the Sprawl, Datarunner, teacher of the old lore. Holder of much secret knowledge. 
<li>Old school crustpunk, sysadmin, network engineer, and plenty of good security knowledge. Hire me! 
<li>Resident of hackers.town, member of DC212, frequents NYC2600 meetups, and will still hit a good punk show 
 
 
Currently working on a few projects for the space, including the Plex server for members, and building a cluster of nodes for the Veilid network (shameless plug: I'm a member of the project). I also teach the monthly Linux classes!
 
Fueled by caffeine, THC, and beer, among other things!
 
HACK THE PLANET!!

User:LambdaCalculus

2025-03-28T17:07:04Z

LambdaCalculus:

[[File:lambdacalculus.png|250px|right]]HIJACKING THE AIRWAVES 
 
<li>Resident of the Sprawl, Datarunner, teacher of the old lore. Holder of much secret knowledge. 
<li>Old school crustpunk, sysadmin, network engineer, and plenty of good security knowledge. Hire me! 
<li>Resident of hackers.town, member of DC212, frequents NYC2600 meetups, and will still hit a good punk show 
 
 
Currently working on a few projects for the space, including the Plex server for members, and building a cluster of nodes for the Veilid network (shameless plug: I'm a member of the project). I also teach the monthly Linux classes!

Fueled by caffeine, THC, and beer, among other things!

HACK THE PLANET!!

User:LambdaCalculus

2025-03-28T17:06:49Z

LambdaCalculus: Setting up a member page

[[File:lambdacalculus.png|250px|right]]HIJACKING THE AIRWAVES 
 
<li>Resident of the Sprawl, Datarunner, teacher of the old lore. Holder of much secret knowledge. 
<li>Old school crustpunk, sysadmin, network engineer, and plenty of good security knowledge. Hire me! 
<li>Resident of hackers.town, member of DC212, frequents NYC2600 meetups, and will still hit a good punk show 

Currently working on a few projects for the space, including the Plex server for members, and building a cluster of nodes for the Veilid network (shameless plug: I'm a member of the project). I also teach the monthly Linux classes!

Fueled by caffeine, THC, and beer, among other things!

HACK THE PLANET!!

User:LambdaCalculus

2025-03-28T16:59:56Z

LambdaCalculus: Created page with "rightHIJACKING THE AIRWAVES "

[[File:lambdacalculus.png|250px|right]]HIJACKING THE AIRWAVES

File:Lambdacalculus.png

2025-03-28T16:59:02Z

LambdaCalculus:

Individual Pages

2025-03-28T16:57:51Z

LambdaCalculus:

Individual Pages

2025-03-28T16:57:16Z

LambdaCalculus: Making a member page

How to Back Up Your Blu-Rays and DVDs

2025-03-28T16:53:06Z

LambdaCalculus: Typo fix

== How to Rip Blu-Ray and DVD Discs using MakeMKV and Handbrake ==

This page will guide readers on how to get good rips from their Blu-Rays and DVDs, allowing for upload to a media server or to watch on their devices.

== Tools needed ==

* Physical DVDs or Blu-Rays
* A DVD or Blu-Ray drive (internal or external)
* Handbrake (available at https://handbrake.fr/ and in the repos of most popular Linux distros)
* For Blu-Rays, MakeMKV (available at https://www.makemkv.com/ and free as long as it's in beta)
* For both media and for discs with multiple episodes or copies (i.e. special features in movies or multiple episodes of TV shows), VLC and something to take notes with
* The libdvdcss and libaacs libraries may be required on Linux for disc decryption (most distros will have these in their repos)
* Plenty of drive space; Blu-Ray rips can take upwards of 50GB!
* A good amount of free time

== Beginning the Process ==

Begin by getting the media you want to rip and an optical drive to read the disc with. We will be using a copy of Porco Rosso as our example for this tutorial.

[[File:tutorial1.jpg|480x800px]]

Hook up the drive to your computer, insert the disc, and mount it in your OS (Windows and Mac mount automatically; most Linux distros mount automatically as well).

== Decoding Your Blu-Rays with MakeMKV ==

If you haven't installed MakeMKV yet, do so now and launch it.

If you already inserted your disc into your optical drive, MakeMKV will automatically read it and show its information.

[[File:makemkv-1.png|840x547px]]

Click the "Backup" icon (it looks like a small folder with a green arrow pointing into it).
MakeMKV will ask you where you want to save your disc dump to. Select a location and ensure the "Decrypt video files" checkbox is checked. Once you're ready, click "OK" and MakeMKV will do its thing!

[[File:makemkv-2.png|646x300px]]

The disc will now be decrypted and written to the backup location. This will take a while, so sit back and relax!

[[File:makemkv-3.png|840x547px]]

Once the backup is completed, move onto the next step!

== Using Handbrake for Decoded Blu-Rays ==

Now that we have our decrypted Blu-Ray dump, it's time to process it using Handbrake and get our finished movie file.
This guide will work in all OSes that run Handbrake.

Begin by clicking "File" and "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu. Navigate to the folder where your disc dump was copied to and select it. Be sure to make certain that "Recursively scan directories" in the lower left corner is unchecked, otherwise the directory scan will not work properly!

[[File:handbrake-bd-1.png|920x500px]]

Once scanning is complete, you should see a preview screenshot appear, and the source and title information should be set automatically. If the title doesn't seem right, select the title drop down menu and look for the title which matches the length of the movie you're working with (usually written on the package somewhere).
For full length movies, you don't need to change chapter information; just assure the title is the correct one (you can also verify this information via VLC).

[[File:handbrake-bd-2.png|1366x722px]]

Once you have the correct title set, it's time to prepare for the encoding!
Select the Dimensions tab and set "Cropping" to "None" (cropping isn't usually needed as it can sometimes mess up aspect ratio).

[[File:handbrake-bd-3.png|1366x722px]]

By default, Handbrake encodes in H.264 video which is functional and fast enough for most devices, so changing it is completely optional. If you wish to use a different video codec, switch to the Video tab and select your favorite video encoder codec from the drop-down menu, then switch to the Audio tab.

[[File:handbrake-bd-4.png]]

This is where it gets slightly tricky: some movies may have multiple audio tracks (either languages or crew commentary), and if you wish to get multiple tracks in your encoded video, you'll have to add the additional ones you want. By default, Handbrake will select the default track for the disc. If you wish to edit the settings of said track, double click it and the above dialogue will appear. From here, you can set the source track you wish to rip, set a name for it (optional), what audio encoder you want to use (by default AAC), the bitrate or quality, and the mix type you want to use (stereo by default). Set your settings and click "Save" once you're satisfied.

[[File:handbrake-bd-5.png|1366x722px]]

Lastly, if you need to add subtitles, switch to the Subtitles tab, click "Tracks", and select "Add All Tracks". This should add any subtitle sets from the disc to your project.

Once you're set with everything, be sure to set the "Save As" field at the bottom to a filename, and click the "To:" button to select the directory where your encoded video will go. Finally, click "Add to Queue" on the top and your project will be added to the queue, which you can view by clicking the "Queue" button in the upper right of the main window.

[[File:handbrake-bd-6.png|840x661px]]

Check all your settings, and once you're satisfied with everything, click "Start"!

Grab yourself a snack, because the encoding will take quite a bit of time depending on your computer's power and RAM.
Handbrake will let you know when it's done!

[[File:handbrake-bd-7.png|1020x614px]]

And done! Enjoy your freshly ripped Blu-Ray disc!

== Using Handbrake for DVDs ==

Ripping DVDs in Handbrake is thankfully a less strenuous process, but there are still a few things we need to make sure are set properly to ensure a good rip of one. This example will focus on ripping a movie from a DVD. Most DVDs can be ripped directly from Handbrake without having to use MakeMKV first to decode the contents.

=== Ripping Movie DVDs ===

First, let's focus on a movie DVD. We'll use a DVD of Raiders of the Lost Ark for this example.

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc into your drive and mount the volume, then launch Handbrake. As before, go to "File" > "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu, and navigate to the mountpoint of the DVD, then look for the "VIDEO_TS" folder, double click it (you should see a bunch of files in the folder similar to below), and click "Open". As with the Blu-Ray tutorial above, make sure the "Recursively Scan Directories" checkbox is unchecked, or Handbrake will have difficulty reading the title and chapter information of the disc!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-2.png|800x435px]]

Handbrake will scan the directory and display its preview screenshot and disc info as before. As with the Blu-Ray tutorial, look for the title in the drop-down menu that matches the length of the movie you're ripping (in our case, Title 1 is the main feature.)

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-3.png|840x423px]]

From here, you can largely follow along with setting features, cropping, video codec, audio codec, and subtitles largely the same way as with a Blu-Ray rip. DVDs, unlike Blu-Rays, display at a lower 720x480p resolution, so take note of this when setting your cropping and display settings.

As before, make sure to fill out the "Save As:" field with a filename, and set a destination directory by clicking the "To:" button. Once you're ready, click the "Add to Queue" button up top to add the job to the queue, then click the "Queue" button to make sure everything is set the way you want it. Once you're ready, click "Start" and sit back as Handbrake encodes your video!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-5.png|761x599px]]

Once it's done, you can load your encoded video in VLC or your favorite video player to test it out!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-6.png|840x537px]]

=== Ripping TV Series on DVD ===

Ripping a TV series that's on DVD is a slightly more involved process. Discs will have multiple episodes and you'll need to figure out identifying episodes, finding the titles that correspond to each episode, and creating jobs in Handbrake for each individual episode so you get multiple videos for each separate episode and not just one large file that's hard to navigate and find start points of each episode for.

For this example, we'll use an Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season 1 set.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc, mount, open in Handbrake just the same as with the above example.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-2.png|800x423px]]

Notice how there are multiple titles on this disc of varying lengths; the longest length track in this case would correspond to the "Play All" feature most TV series DVDs would have, and the smaller length (around 11 minutes each) titles are the individual episodes we want to extract from this disc. In this case, let's say we want to extract one specific episode only from this disc, but we can't identify which one it is simply by the title currently. So let's go over to VLC and look for which title corresponds to the episode we want.

Open VLC, and go to "Media" > "Open Disc" (Ctrl+D on Windows and Linux or Cmd+D on macOS), and select "DVD", then "Play".

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-3.png]]

From here, let's navigate the menu to "Episodes" and click it.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-4.png]]

Let's use "Mayhem of the Mooninites" as the example episode. Click it to start playback, then on the VLC menu, click "Playback" > "Title" and make a note of which title is currently selected; we'll need this info for Handbrake! For our selected episode, it's Title 6 on the disc. Go back to Handbrake, select Title 6 from the drop down menu, and set all your cropping, video codec preferences, audio preferences, and everything else as in previous examples.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-5.png|800x423px]]

Once you're satisfied, add the job to the queue. If you want to add additional episodes to the queue to rip, repeat the process above and locate each title on the disc for each episode, and add them to the queue as well. Be sure to name each output file correctly to prevent issues with overwriting files!

Once you have all the episodes you want to rip in the queue, click "Start" and sit back while your jobs process!

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-6.png|835x656px]]

Once all your jobs are done, admire your handiwork with your favorite video player!

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-8.png]]

== Testing your rips ==

Be sure to run your rips through at least a couple of media players. VLC, mplayer, and mpv are useful for testing, but if you have other players that can support the codecs that Handbrake used for encoding the videos, be sure to test with them, too!

If you find issues or glitches in your rips, you can always go back and try redoing the encoding jobs.

== Done! ==

Congrats! You're now ready to rip your physical DVDs and Blu-Rays like a pro! Get out there and build the best damn library you can!

How to Back Up Your Blu-Rays and DVDs

2025-03-22T14:10:53Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Using MakeMKV for Blu-Rays */

== How to Rip Blu-Ray and DVD Discs using MakeMKV and Handbrake ==

This page will guide readers on how to get good rips from their Blu-Rays and DVDs, allowing for upload to a media server or to watch on their devices.

== Tools needed ==

* Physical DVDs or Blu-Rays
* A DVD or Blu-Ray drive (internal or external)
* Handbrake (available at https://handbrake.fr/ and in the repos of most popular Linux distros)
* For Blu-Rays, MakeMKV (available at https://www.makemkv.com/ and free as long as it's in beta)
* For both media and for discs with multiple episodes or copies (i.e. special features in movies or multiple episodes of TV shows), VLC and something to take notes with
* The libdvdcss and libaacs libraries may be required on Linux for disc decryption (most distros will have these in their repos)
* Plenty of drive space; Blu-Ray rips can take upwards of 50GB!
* A good amount of free time

== Beginning the Process ==

Begin by getting the media you want to rip and an optical drive to read the disc with. We will be using a copy of Porco Rosso as our example for this tutorial.

[[File:tutorial1.jpg|480x800px]]

Hook up the drive to your computer, insert the disc, and mount it in your OS (Windows and Mac mount automatically; most Linux distros mount automatically as well).

== Decoding Your Blu-Rays with MakeMKV ==

If you haven't installed MakeMKV yet, do so now and launch it.

If you already inserted your disc into your optical drive, MakeMKV will automatically read it and show its information.

[[File:makemkv-1.png|840x547px]]

Click the "Backup" icon (it looks like a small folder with a green arrow pointing into it).
MakeMKV will ask you where you want to save your disc dump to. Select a location and ensure the "Decrypt video files" checkbox is checked. Once you're ready, click "OK" and MakeMKV will do its thing!

[[File:makemkv-2.png|646x300px]]

The disc will now be decrypted and written to the backup location. This will take a while, so sit back and relax!

[[File:makemkv-3.png|840x547px]]

Once the backup is completed, move onto the next step!

== Using Handbrake for Decoded Blu-Rays ==

Now that we have our decrypted Blu-Ray dump, it's time to process it using Handbrake and get our finished movie file.
This guide will work in all OSes that run Handbrake.

Begin by clicking "File" and "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu. Navigate to the folder where your disc dump was copied to and select it. Be sure to make certain that "Recursively scan directories" in the lower left corner is unchecked, otherwise the directory scan will not work properly!

[[File:handbrake-bd-1.png|920x500px]]

Once scanning is complete, you should see a preview screenshot appear, and the source and title information should be set automatically. If the title doesn't seem right, select the title drop down menu and look for the title which matches the length of the movie you're working with (usually written on the package somewhere).
For full length movies, you don't need to change chapter information; just assure the title is the correct one (you can also verify this information via VLC).

[[File:handbrake-bd-2.png|1366x722px]]

Once you have the correct title set, it's time to prepare for the encoding!
Select the Dimensions tab and set "Cropping" to "None" (cropping isn't usually needed as it can sometimes mess up aspect ratio).

[[File:handbrake-bd-3.png|1366x722px]]

By default, Handbrake encodes in H.264 video which is functional and fast enough for most devices, so changing it is completely optional. If you wish to use a different video codec, switch to the Video tab and select your favorite video encoder codec from the drop-down menu, then switch to the Audio tab.

[[File:handbrake-bd-4.png]]

This is where it gets slightly tricky: some movies may have multiple audio tracks (either languages or crew commentary), and if you wish to get multiple tracks in your encoded video, you'll have to add the additional ones you want. By default, Handbrake will select the default track for the disc. If you wish to edit the settings of said track, double click it and the above dialogue will appear. From here, you can set the source track you wish to rip, set a name for it (optional), what audio encoder you want to use (by default AAC), the bitrate or quality, and the mix type you want to use (stereo by default). Set your settings and click "Save" once you're satisfied.

[[File:handbrake-bd-5.png|1366x722px]]

Lastly, if you need to add subtitles, switch to the Subtitles tab, click "Tracks", and select "Add All Tracks". This should add any subtitle sets from the disc to your project.

Once you're set with everything, be sure to set the "Save As" field at the bottom to a filename, and click the "To:" button to select the directory where your encoded video will go. Finally, click "Add to Queue" on the top and your project will be added to the queue, which you can view by clicking the "Queue" button in the upper right of the main window.

[[File:handbrake-bd-6.png|840x661px]]

Check all your settings, and once you're satisfied with everything, click "Start"!

Grab yourself a snack, because the encoding will take quite a bit of time depending on your computer's power and RAM.
Handbrake will let you know when it's done!

[[File:handbrake-bd-7.png|1020x614px]]

And done! Enjoy your freshly ripped Blu-Ray disc!

== Using Handbrake for DVDs ==

Ripping DVDs in Handbrake is thankfully a less strenuous process, but there are still a few things we need to make sure are set properly to ensure a good rip of one. This example will focus on ripping a movie from a DVD. Most DVDs can be ripped directly from Handbrake without having to use MakeMKV first to decode the contents.

=== Ripping Movie DVDs ===

First, let's focus on a movie DVD. We'll use a DVD of Raiders of the Lost Ark for this example.

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc into your drive and mount the volume, then launch Handbrake. As before, go to "File" > "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu, and navigate to the mountpoint of the DVD, then look for the "VIDEO_TS" folder, double click it (you should see a bunch of files in the folder similar to below), and click "Open". As with the Blu-Ray tutorial above, make sure the "Recursively Scan Directories" checkbox is unchecked, or Handbrake will have difficulty reading the title and chapter information of the disc!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-2.png|800x435px]]

Handbrake will scan the directory and display its preview screenshot and disc info as before. As with the Blu-Ray tutorial, look for the title in the drop-down menu that matches the length of the movie you're ripping (in our case, Title 1 is the main feature.)

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-3.png|840x423px]]

From here, you can largely follow along with setting features, cropping, video codec, audio codec, and subtitles largely the same way as with a Blu-Ray rip. DVDs, unlike Blu-Rays, display at a lower 720x480p resolution, so take note of this when setting your cropping and display settings.

As before, make sure to fill out the "Save As:" field with a filename, and set a destination directory by clicking the "To:" button. Once you're ready, click the "Add to Queue" button up top to add the job to the queue, then click the "Queue" button to make sure everything is set the way you want it. Once you're ready, click "Start" and sit back as Handbrake encodes your video!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-5.png|761x599px]]

Once it's done, you can load your encoded video in VLC or your favorite video player to test it out!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-6.png|840x537px]]

=== Ripping TV Series on DVD ===

Ripping a TV series that's on DVD is a slightly more involved process. Discs will have multiple episodes and you'll need to figure out identifying episodes, finding the titles that correspond to each episode, and creating jobs in Handbrake for each individual episode so you get multiple videos for each separate episode and not just one large file that's hard to navigate and find start points of each episode for.

For this example, we'll use an Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season 1 set.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc, mount, open in Handbrake just the same as with the above example.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-2.png|800x423px]]

Notice how there are multiple titles on this disc of varying lengths; the longest length track in this case would correspond to the "Play All" feature most TV series DVDs would have, and the smaller length (around 11 minutes each) titles are the individual episodes we want to extract from this disc. In this case, let's say we want to extract one specific episode only from this disc, but we can't identify which one it is simply by the title currently. So let's go over to VLC and look for which title corresponds to the episode we want.

Open VLC, and go to "Media" > "Open Disc" (Ctrl+D on Windows and Linux or Cmd+D on macOS), and select "DVD", then "Play".

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-3.png]]

From here, let's navigate the menu to "Episodes" and click it.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-4.png]]

Let's use "Mayhem of the Mooninites" as the example episode. Click it to start playback, then on the VLC menu, click "Playback" > "Title" and make a note of which title is currently selected; we'll need this info for Handbrake! For our selected episode, it's Title 6 on the disc. Go back to Handbrake, select Title 6 from the drop down menu, and set all your cropping, video codec preferences, audio preferences, and everything else as in previous examples.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-5.png|800x423px]]

Once you're satisfied, add the job to the queue. If you want to add additional episodes to the queue to rip, repeat the process above and locate each title on the disc for each episode, and add them to the queue as well. Be sure to name each output file correctly to prevent issues with overwriting files!

Once you have all the episodes you want to rip in the queue, click "Start" and sit back while your jobs process!

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-6.png|835x656px]]

Once all your jobs are done, admire your handiwork with your favorite video player!

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-8.png]]

== Testing your rips ==

Be sure to run your rips through at least a couple of media players. VLC, mplayer, and mvp are useful for testing, but if you have other players that can support the codecs that Handbrake used for encoding the videos, be sure to test with them, too!

If you find issues or glitches in your rips, you can always go back and try redoing the encoding jobs.

== Done! ==

Congrats! You're now ready to rip your physical DVDs and Blu-Rays like a pro! Get out there and build the best damn library you can!

How to Back Up Your Blu-Rays and DVDs

2025-03-21T00:19:33Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Done! */

== How to Rip Blu-Ray and DVD Discs using MakeMKV and Handbrake ==

This page will guide readers on how to get good rips from their Blu-Rays and DVDs, allowing for upload to a media server or to watch on their devices.

== Tools needed ==

* Physical DVDs or Blu-Rays
* A DVD or Blu-Ray drive (internal or external)
* Handbrake (available at https://handbrake.fr/ and in the repos of most popular Linux distros)
* For Blu-Rays, MakeMKV (available at https://www.makemkv.com/ and free as long as it's in beta)
* For both media and for discs with multiple episodes or copies (i.e. special features in movies or multiple episodes of TV shows), VLC and something to take notes with
* The libdvdcss and libaacs libraries may be required on Linux for disc decryption (most distros will have these in their repos)
* Plenty of drive space; Blu-Ray rips can take upwards of 50GB!
* A good amount of free time

== Beginning the Process ==

Begin by getting the media you want to rip and an optical drive to read the disc with. We will be using a copy of Porco Rosso as our example for this tutorial.

[[File:tutorial1.jpg|480x800px]]

Hook up the drive to your computer, insert the disc, and mount it in your OS (Windows and Mac mount automatically; most Linux distros mount automatically as well).

== Using MakeMKV for Blu-Rays ==

If you haven't installed MakeMKV yet, do so now and launch it.

If you already inserted your disc into your optical drive, MakeMKV will automatically read it and show its information.

[[File:makemkv-1.png|840x547px]]

Click the "Backup" icon (it looks like a small folder with a green arrow pointing into it).
MakeMKV will ask you where you want to save your disc dump to. Select a location and ensure the "Decrypt video files" checkbox is checked. Once you're ready, click "OK" and MakeMKV will do its thing!

[[File:makemkv-2.png|646x300px]]

The disc will now be decrypted and written to the backup location. This will take a while, so sit back and relax!

[[File:makemkv-3.png|840x547px]]

Once the backup is completed, move onto the next step!

== Using Handbrake for Decoded Blu-Rays ==

Now that we have our decrypted Blu-Ray dump, it's time to process it using Handbrake and get our finished movie file.
This guide will work in all OSes that run Handbrake.

Begin by clicking "File" and "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu. Navigate to the folder where your disc dump was copied to and select it. Be sure to make certain that "Recursively scan directories" in the lower left corner is unchecked, otherwise the directory scan will not work properly!

[[File:handbrake-bd-1.png|920x500px]]

Once scanning is complete, you should see a preview screenshot appear, and the source and title information should be set automatically. If the title doesn't seem right, select the title drop down menu and look for the title which matches the length of the movie you're working with (usually written on the package somewhere).
For full length movies, you don't need to change chapter information; just assure the title is the correct one (you can also verify this information via VLC).

[[File:handbrake-bd-2.png|1366x722px]]

Once you have the correct title set, it's time to prepare for the encoding!
Select the Dimensions tab and set "Cropping" to "None" (cropping isn't usually needed as it can sometimes mess up aspect ratio).

[[File:handbrake-bd-3.png|1366x722px]]

By default, Handbrake encodes in H.264 video which is functional and fast enough for most devices, so changing it is completely optional. If you wish to use a different video codec, switch to the Video tab and select your favorite video encoder codec from the drop-down menu, then switch to the Audio tab.

[[File:handbrake-bd-4.png]]

This is where it gets slightly tricky: some movies may have multiple audio tracks (either languages or crew commentary), and if you wish to get multiple tracks in your encoded video, you'll have to add the additional ones you want. By default, Handbrake will select the default track for the disc. If you wish to edit the settings of said track, double click it and the above dialogue will appear. From here, you can set the source track you wish to rip, set a name for it (optional), what audio encoder you want to use (by default AAC), the bitrate or quality, and the mix type you want to use (stereo by default). Set your settings and click "Save" once you're satisfied.

[[File:handbrake-bd-5.png|1366x722px]]

Lastly, if you need to add subtitles, switch to the Subtitles tab, click "Tracks", and select "Add All Tracks". This should add any subtitle sets from the disc to your project.

Once you're set with everything, be sure to set the "Save As" field at the bottom to a filename, and click the "To:" button to select the directory where your encoded video will go. Finally, click "Add to Queue" on the top and your project will be added to the queue, which you can view by clicking the "Queue" button in the upper right of the main window.

[[File:handbrake-bd-6.png|840x661px]]

Check all your settings, and once you're satisfied with everything, click "Start"!

Grab yourself a snack, because the encoding will take quite a bit of time depending on your computer's power and RAM.
Handbrake will let you know when it's done!

[[File:handbrake-bd-7.png|1020x614px]]

And done! Enjoy your freshly ripped Blu-Ray disc!

== Using Handbrake for DVDs ==

Ripping DVDs in Handbrake is thankfully a less strenuous process, but there are still a few things we need to make sure are set properly to ensure a good rip of one. This example will focus on ripping a movie from a DVD. Most DVDs can be ripped directly from Handbrake without having to use MakeMKV first to decode the contents.

=== Ripping Movie DVDs ===

First, let's focus on a movie DVD. We'll use a DVD of Raiders of the Lost Ark for this example.

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc into your drive and mount the volume, then launch Handbrake. As before, go to "File" > "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu, and navigate to the mountpoint of the DVD, then look for the "VIDEO_TS" folder, double click it (you should see a bunch of files in the folder similar to below), and click "Open". As with the Blu-Ray tutorial above, make sure the "Recursively Scan Directories" checkbox is unchecked, or Handbrake will have difficulty reading the title and chapter information of the disc!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-2.png|800x435px]]

Handbrake will scan the directory and display its preview screenshot and disc info as before. As with the Blu-Ray tutorial, look for the title in the drop-down menu that matches the length of the movie you're ripping (in our case, Title 1 is the main feature.)

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-3.png|840x423px]]

From here, you can largely follow along with setting features, cropping, video codec, audio codec, and subtitles largely the same way as with a Blu-Ray rip. DVDs, unlike Blu-Rays, display at a lower 720x480p resolution, so take note of this when setting your cropping and display settings.

As before, make sure to fill out the "Save As:" field with a filename, and set a destination directory by clicking the "To:" button. Once you're ready, click the "Add to Queue" button up top to add the job to the queue, then click the "Queue" button to make sure everything is set the way you want it. Once you're ready, click "Start" and sit back as Handbrake encodes your video!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-5.png|761x599px]]

Once it's done, you can load your encoded video in VLC or your favorite video player to test it out!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-6.png|840x537px]]

=== Ripping TV Series on DVD ===

Ripping a TV series that's on DVD is a slightly more involved process. Discs will have multiple episodes and you'll need to figure out identifying episodes, finding the titles that correspond to each episode, and creating jobs in Handbrake for each individual episode so you get multiple videos for each separate episode and not just one large file that's hard to navigate and find start points of each episode for.

For this example, we'll use an Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season 1 set.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc, mount, open in Handbrake just the same as with the above example.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-2.png|800x423px]]

Notice how there are multiple titles on this disc of varying lengths; the longest length track in this case would correspond to the "Play All" feature most TV series DVDs would have, and the smaller length (around 11 minutes each) titles are the individual episodes we want to extract from this disc. In this case, let's say we want to extract one specific episode only from this disc, but we can't identify which one it is simply by the title currently. So let's go over to VLC and look for which title corresponds to the episode we want.

Open VLC, and go to "Media" > "Open Disc" (Ctrl+D on Windows and Linux or Cmd+D on macOS), and select "DVD", then "Play".

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-3.png]]

From here, let's navigate the menu to "Episodes" and click it.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-4.png]]

Let's use "Mayhem of the Mooninites" as the example episode. Click it to start playback, then on the VLC menu, click "Playback" > "Title" and make a note of which title is currently selected; we'll need this info for Handbrake! For our selected episode, it's Title 6 on the disc. Go back to Handbrake, select Title 6 from the drop down menu, and set all your cropping, video codec preferences, audio preferences, and everything else as in previous examples.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-5.png|800x423px]]

Once you're satisfied, add the job to the queue. If you want to add additional episodes to the queue to rip, repeat the process above and locate each title on the disc for each episode, and add them to the queue as well. Be sure to name each output file correctly to prevent issues with overwriting files!

Once you have all the episodes you want to rip in the queue, click "Start" and sit back while your jobs process!

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-6.png|835x656px]]

Once all your jobs are done, admire your handiwork with your favorite video player!

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-8.png]]

== Testing your rips ==

Be sure to run your rips through at least a couple of media players. VLC, mplayer, and mvp are useful for testing, but if you have other players that can support the codecs that Handbrake used for encoding the videos, be sure to test with them, too!

If you find issues or glitches in your rips, you can always go back and try redoing the encoding jobs.

== Done! ==

Congrats! You're now ready to rip your physical DVDs and Blu-Rays like a pro! Get out there and build the best damn library you can!

How to Back Up Your Blu-Rays and DVDs

2025-03-20T23:53:43Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Testing your rips */

== How to Rip Blu-Ray and DVD Discs using MakeMKV and Handbrake ==

This page will guide readers on how to get good rips from their Blu-Rays and DVDs, allowing for upload to a media server or to watch on their devices.

== Tools needed ==

* Physical DVDs or Blu-Rays
* A DVD or Blu-Ray drive (internal or external)
* Handbrake (available at https://handbrake.fr/ and in the repos of most popular Linux distros)
* For Blu-Rays, MakeMKV (available at https://www.makemkv.com/ and free as long as it's in beta)
* For both media and for discs with multiple episodes or copies (i.e. special features in movies or multiple episodes of TV shows), VLC and something to take notes with
* The libdvdcss and libaacs libraries may be required on Linux for disc decryption (most distros will have these in their repos)
* Plenty of drive space; Blu-Ray rips can take upwards of 50GB!
* A good amount of free time

== Beginning the Process ==

Begin by getting the media you want to rip and an optical drive to read the disc with. We will be using a copy of Porco Rosso as our example for this tutorial.

[[File:tutorial1.jpg|480x800px]]

Hook up the drive to your computer, insert the disc, and mount it in your OS (Windows and Mac mount automatically; most Linux distros mount automatically as well).

== Using MakeMKV for Blu-Rays ==

If you haven't installed MakeMKV yet, do so now and launch it.

If you already inserted your disc into your optical drive, MakeMKV will automatically read it and show its information.

[[File:makemkv-1.png|840x547px]]

Click the "Backup" icon (it looks like a small folder with a green arrow pointing into it).
MakeMKV will ask you where you want to save your disc dump to. Select a location and ensure the "Decrypt video files" checkbox is checked. Once you're ready, click "OK" and MakeMKV will do its thing!

[[File:makemkv-2.png|646x300px]]

The disc will now be decrypted and written to the backup location. This will take a while, so sit back and relax!

[[File:makemkv-3.png|840x547px]]

Once the backup is completed, move onto the next step!

== Using Handbrake for Decoded Blu-Rays ==

Now that we have our decrypted Blu-Ray dump, it's time to process it using Handbrake and get our finished movie file.
This guide will work in all OSes that run Handbrake.

Begin by clicking "File" and "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu. Navigate to the folder where your disc dump was copied to and select it. Be sure to make certain that "Recursively scan directories" in the lower left corner is unchecked, otherwise the directory scan will not work properly!

[[File:handbrake-bd-1.png|920x500px]]

Once scanning is complete, you should see a preview screenshot appear, and the source and title information should be set automatically. If the title doesn't seem right, select the title drop down menu and look for the title which matches the length of the movie you're working with (usually written on the package somewhere).
For full length movies, you don't need to change chapter information; just assure the title is the correct one (you can also verify this information via VLC).

[[File:handbrake-bd-2.png|1366x722px]]

Once you have the correct title set, it's time to prepare for the encoding!
Select the Dimensions tab and set "Cropping" to "None" (cropping isn't usually needed as it can sometimes mess up aspect ratio).

[[File:handbrake-bd-3.png|1366x722px]]

By default, Handbrake encodes in H.264 video which is functional and fast enough for most devices, so changing it is completely optional. If you wish to use a different video codec, switch to the Video tab and select your favorite video encoder codec from the drop-down menu, then switch to the Audio tab.

[[File:handbrake-bd-4.png]]

This is where it gets slightly tricky: some movies may have multiple audio tracks (either languages or crew commentary), and if you wish to get multiple tracks in your encoded video, you'll have to add the additional ones you want. By default, Handbrake will select the default track for the disc. If you wish to edit the settings of said track, double click it and the above dialogue will appear. From here, you can set the source track you wish to rip, set a name for it (optional), what audio encoder you want to use (by default AAC), the bitrate or quality, and the mix type you want to use (stereo by default). Set your settings and click "Save" once you're satisfied.

[[File:handbrake-bd-5.png|1366x722px]]

Lastly, if you need to add subtitles, switch to the Subtitles tab, click "Tracks", and select "Add All Tracks". This should add any subtitle sets from the disc to your project.

Once you're set with everything, be sure to set the "Save As" field at the bottom to a filename, and click the "To:" button to select the directory where your encoded video will go. Finally, click "Add to Queue" on the top and your project will be added to the queue, which you can view by clicking the "Queue" button in the upper right of the main window.

[[File:handbrake-bd-6.png|840x661px]]

Check all your settings, and once you're satisfied with everything, click "Start"!

Grab yourself a snack, because the encoding will take quite a bit of time depending on your computer's power and RAM.
Handbrake will let you know when it's done!

[[File:handbrake-bd-7.png|1020x614px]]

And done! Enjoy your freshly ripped Blu-Ray disc!

== Using Handbrake for DVDs ==

Ripping DVDs in Handbrake is thankfully a less strenuous process, but there are still a few things we need to make sure are set properly to ensure a good rip of one. This example will focus on ripping a movie from a DVD. Most DVDs can be ripped directly from Handbrake without having to use MakeMKV first to decode the contents.

=== Ripping Movie DVDs ===

First, let's focus on a movie DVD. We'll use a DVD of Raiders of the Lost Ark for this example.

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc into your drive and mount the volume, then launch Handbrake. As before, go to "File" > "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu, and navigate to the mountpoint of the DVD, then look for the "VIDEO_TS" folder, double click it (you should see a bunch of files in the folder similar to below), and click "Open". As with the Blu-Ray tutorial above, make sure the "Recursively Scan Directories" checkbox is unchecked, or Handbrake will have difficulty reading the title and chapter information of the disc!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-2.png|800x435px]]

Handbrake will scan the directory and display its preview screenshot and disc info as before. As with the Blu-Ray tutorial, look for the title in the drop-down menu that matches the length of the movie you're ripping (in our case, Title 1 is the main feature.)

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-3.png|840x423px]]

From here, you can largely follow along with setting features, cropping, video codec, audio codec, and subtitles largely the same way as with a Blu-Ray rip. DVDs, unlike Blu-Rays, display at a lower 720x480p resolution, so take note of this when setting your cropping and display settings.

As before, make sure to fill out the "Save As:" field with a filename, and set a destination directory by clicking the "To:" button. Once you're ready, click the "Add to Queue" button up top to add the job to the queue, then click the "Queue" button to make sure everything is set the way you want it. Once you're ready, click "Start" and sit back as Handbrake encodes your video!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-5.png|761x599px]]

Once it's done, you can load your encoded video in VLC or your favorite video player to test it out!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-6.png|840x537px]]

=== Ripping TV Series on DVD ===

Ripping a TV series that's on DVD is a slightly more involved process. Discs will have multiple episodes and you'll need to figure out identifying episodes, finding the titles that correspond to each episode, and creating jobs in Handbrake for each individual episode so you get multiple videos for each separate episode and not just one large file that's hard to navigate and find start points of each episode for.

For this example, we'll use an Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season 1 set.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc, mount, open in Handbrake just the same as with the above example.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-2.png|800x423px]]

Notice how there are multiple titles on this disc of varying lengths; the longest length track in this case would correspond to the "Play All" feature most TV series DVDs would have, and the smaller length (around 11 minutes each) titles are the individual episodes we want to extract from this disc. In this case, let's say we want to extract one specific episode only from this disc, but we can't identify which one it is simply by the title currently. So let's go over to VLC and look for which title corresponds to the episode we want.

Open VLC, and go to "Media" > "Open Disc" (Ctrl+D on Windows and Linux or Cmd+D on macOS), and select "DVD", then "Play".

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-3.png]]

From here, let's navigate the menu to "Episodes" and click it.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-4.png]]

Let's use "Mayhem of the Mooninites" as the example episode. Click it to start playback, then on the VLC menu, click "Playback" > "Title" and make a note of which title is currently selected; we'll need this info for Handbrake! For our selected episode, it's Title 6 on the disc. Go back to Handbrake, select Title 6 from the drop down menu, and set all your cropping, video codec preferences, audio preferences, and everything else as in previous examples.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-5.png|800x423px]]

Once you're satisfied, add the job to the queue. If you want to add additional episodes to the queue to rip, repeat the process above and locate each title on the disc for each episode, and add them to the queue as well. Be sure to name each output file correctly to prevent issues with overwriting files!

Once you have all the episodes you want to rip in the queue, click "Start" and sit back while your jobs process!

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-6.png|835x656px]]

Once all your jobs are done, admire your handiwork with your favorite video player!

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-8.png]]

== Testing your rips ==

Be sure to run your rips through at least a couple of media players. VLC, mplayer, and mvp are useful for testing, but if you have other players that can support the codecs that Handbrake used for encoding the videos, be sure to test with them, too!

If you find issues or glitches in your rips, you can always go back and try redoing the encoding jobs.

== Done! ==

How to Back Up Your Blu-Rays and DVDs

2025-03-20T23:51:52Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Ripping TV Series on DVD */

== How to Rip Blu-Ray and DVD Discs using MakeMKV and Handbrake ==

This page will guide readers on how to get good rips from their Blu-Rays and DVDs, allowing for upload to a media server or to watch on their devices.

== Tools needed ==

* Physical DVDs or Blu-Rays
* A DVD or Blu-Ray drive (internal or external)
* Handbrake (available at https://handbrake.fr/ and in the repos of most popular Linux distros)
* For Blu-Rays, MakeMKV (available at https://www.makemkv.com/ and free as long as it's in beta)
* For both media and for discs with multiple episodes or copies (i.e. special features in movies or multiple episodes of TV shows), VLC and something to take notes with
* The libdvdcss and libaacs libraries may be required on Linux for disc decryption (most distros will have these in their repos)
* Plenty of drive space; Blu-Ray rips can take upwards of 50GB!
* A good amount of free time

== Beginning the Process ==

Begin by getting the media you want to rip and an optical drive to read the disc with. We will be using a copy of Porco Rosso as our example for this tutorial.

[[File:tutorial1.jpg|480x800px]]

Hook up the drive to your computer, insert the disc, and mount it in your OS (Windows and Mac mount automatically; most Linux distros mount automatically as well).

== Using MakeMKV for Blu-Rays ==

If you haven't installed MakeMKV yet, do so now and launch it.

If you already inserted your disc into your optical drive, MakeMKV will automatically read it and show its information.

[[File:makemkv-1.png|840x547px]]

Click the "Backup" icon (it looks like a small folder with a green arrow pointing into it).
MakeMKV will ask you where you want to save your disc dump to. Select a location and ensure the "Decrypt video files" checkbox is checked. Once you're ready, click "OK" and MakeMKV will do its thing!

[[File:makemkv-2.png|646x300px]]

The disc will now be decrypted and written to the backup location. This will take a while, so sit back and relax!

[[File:makemkv-3.png|840x547px]]

Once the backup is completed, move onto the next step!

== Using Handbrake for Decoded Blu-Rays ==

Now that we have our decrypted Blu-Ray dump, it's time to process it using Handbrake and get our finished movie file.
This guide will work in all OSes that run Handbrake.

Begin by clicking "File" and "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu. Navigate to the folder where your disc dump was copied to and select it. Be sure to make certain that "Recursively scan directories" in the lower left corner is unchecked, otherwise the directory scan will not work properly!

[[File:handbrake-bd-1.png|920x500px]]

Once scanning is complete, you should see a preview screenshot appear, and the source and title information should be set automatically. If the title doesn't seem right, select the title drop down menu and look for the title which matches the length of the movie you're working with (usually written on the package somewhere).
For full length movies, you don't need to change chapter information; just assure the title is the correct one (you can also verify this information via VLC).

[[File:handbrake-bd-2.png|1366x722px]]

Once you have the correct title set, it's time to prepare for the encoding!
Select the Dimensions tab and set "Cropping" to "None" (cropping isn't usually needed as it can sometimes mess up aspect ratio).

[[File:handbrake-bd-3.png|1366x722px]]

By default, Handbrake encodes in H.264 video which is functional and fast enough for most devices, so changing it is completely optional. If you wish to use a different video codec, switch to the Video tab and select your favorite video encoder codec from the drop-down menu, then switch to the Audio tab.

[[File:handbrake-bd-4.png]]

This is where it gets slightly tricky: some movies may have multiple audio tracks (either languages or crew commentary), and if you wish to get multiple tracks in your encoded video, you'll have to add the additional ones you want. By default, Handbrake will select the default track for the disc. If you wish to edit the settings of said track, double click it and the above dialogue will appear. From here, you can set the source track you wish to rip, set a name for it (optional), what audio encoder you want to use (by default AAC), the bitrate or quality, and the mix type you want to use (stereo by default). Set your settings and click "Save" once you're satisfied.

[[File:handbrake-bd-5.png|1366x722px]]

Lastly, if you need to add subtitles, switch to the Subtitles tab, click "Tracks", and select "Add All Tracks". This should add any subtitle sets from the disc to your project.

Once you're set with everything, be sure to set the "Save As" field at the bottom to a filename, and click the "To:" button to select the directory where your encoded video will go. Finally, click "Add to Queue" on the top and your project will be added to the queue, which you can view by clicking the "Queue" button in the upper right of the main window.

[[File:handbrake-bd-6.png|840x661px]]

Check all your settings, and once you're satisfied with everything, click "Start"!

Grab yourself a snack, because the encoding will take quite a bit of time depending on your computer's power and RAM.
Handbrake will let you know when it's done!

[[File:handbrake-bd-7.png|1020x614px]]

And done! Enjoy your freshly ripped Blu-Ray disc!

== Using Handbrake for DVDs ==

Ripping DVDs in Handbrake is thankfully a less strenuous process, but there are still a few things we need to make sure are set properly to ensure a good rip of one. This example will focus on ripping a movie from a DVD. Most DVDs can be ripped directly from Handbrake without having to use MakeMKV first to decode the contents.

=== Ripping Movie DVDs ===

First, let's focus on a movie DVD. We'll use a DVD of Raiders of the Lost Ark for this example.

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc into your drive and mount the volume, then launch Handbrake. As before, go to "File" > "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu, and navigate to the mountpoint of the DVD, then look for the "VIDEO_TS" folder, double click it (you should see a bunch of files in the folder similar to below), and click "Open". As with the Blu-Ray tutorial above, make sure the "Recursively Scan Directories" checkbox is unchecked, or Handbrake will have difficulty reading the title and chapter information of the disc!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-2.png|800x435px]]

Handbrake will scan the directory and display its preview screenshot and disc info as before. As with the Blu-Ray tutorial, look for the title in the drop-down menu that matches the length of the movie you're ripping (in our case, Title 1 is the main feature.)

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-3.png|840x423px]]

From here, you can largely follow along with setting features, cropping, video codec, audio codec, and subtitles largely the same way as with a Blu-Ray rip. DVDs, unlike Blu-Rays, display at a lower 720x480p resolution, so take note of this when setting your cropping and display settings.

As before, make sure to fill out the "Save As:" field with a filename, and set a destination directory by clicking the "To:" button. Once you're ready, click the "Add to Queue" button up top to add the job to the queue, then click the "Queue" button to make sure everything is set the way you want it. Once you're ready, click "Start" and sit back as Handbrake encodes your video!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-5.png|761x599px]]

Once it's done, you can load your encoded video in VLC or your favorite video player to test it out!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-6.png|840x537px]]

=== Ripping TV Series on DVD ===

Ripping a TV series that's on DVD is a slightly more involved process. Discs will have multiple episodes and you'll need to figure out identifying episodes, finding the titles that correspond to each episode, and creating jobs in Handbrake for each individual episode so you get multiple videos for each separate episode and not just one large file that's hard to navigate and find start points of each episode for.

For this example, we'll use an Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season 1 set.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc, mount, open in Handbrake just the same as with the above example.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-2.png|800x423px]]

Notice how there are multiple titles on this disc of varying lengths; the longest length track in this case would correspond to the "Play All" feature most TV series DVDs would have, and the smaller length (around 11 minutes each) titles are the individual episodes we want to extract from this disc. In this case, let's say we want to extract one specific episode only from this disc, but we can't identify which one it is simply by the title currently. So let's go over to VLC and look for which title corresponds to the episode we want.

Open VLC, and go to "Media" > "Open Disc" (Ctrl+D on Windows and Linux or Cmd+D on macOS), and select "DVD", then "Play".

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-3.png]]

From here, let's navigate the menu to "Episodes" and click it.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-4.png]]

Let's use "Mayhem of the Mooninites" as the example episode. Click it to start playback, then on the VLC menu, click "Playback" > "Title" and make a note of which title is currently selected; we'll need this info for Handbrake! For our selected episode, it's Title 6 on the disc. Go back to Handbrake, select Title 6 from the drop down menu, and set all your cropping, video codec preferences, audio preferences, and everything else as in previous examples.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-5.png|800x423px]]

Once you're satisfied, add the job to the queue. If you want to add additional episodes to the queue to rip, repeat the process above and locate each title on the disc for each episode, and add them to the queue as well. Be sure to name each output file correctly to prevent issues with overwriting files!

Once you have all the episodes you want to rip in the queue, click "Start" and sit back while your jobs process!

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-6.png|835x656px]]

Once all your jobs are done, admire your handiwork with your favorite video player!

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-8.png]]

== Testing your rips ==

== Done! ==

File:Handbrake-tv-tutorial-8.png

2025-03-20T23:51:14Z

LambdaCalculus:

How to Back Up Your Blu-Rays and DVDs

2025-03-20T23:50:47Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Ripping TV Series on DVD */

== How to Rip Blu-Ray and DVD Discs using MakeMKV and Handbrake ==

This page will guide readers on how to get good rips from their Blu-Rays and DVDs, allowing for upload to a media server or to watch on their devices.

== Tools needed ==

* Physical DVDs or Blu-Rays
* A DVD or Blu-Ray drive (internal or external)
* Handbrake (available at https://handbrake.fr/ and in the repos of most popular Linux distros)
* For Blu-Rays, MakeMKV (available at https://www.makemkv.com/ and free as long as it's in beta)
* For both media and for discs with multiple episodes or copies (i.e. special features in movies or multiple episodes of TV shows), VLC and something to take notes with
* The libdvdcss and libaacs libraries may be required on Linux for disc decryption (most distros will have these in their repos)
* Plenty of drive space; Blu-Ray rips can take upwards of 50GB!
* A good amount of free time

== Beginning the Process ==

Begin by getting the media you want to rip and an optical drive to read the disc with. We will be using a copy of Porco Rosso as our example for this tutorial.

[[File:tutorial1.jpg|480x800px]]

Hook up the drive to your computer, insert the disc, and mount it in your OS (Windows and Mac mount automatically; most Linux distros mount automatically as well).

== Using MakeMKV for Blu-Rays ==

If you haven't installed MakeMKV yet, do so now and launch it.

If you already inserted your disc into your optical drive, MakeMKV will automatically read it and show its information.

[[File:makemkv-1.png|840x547px]]

Click the "Backup" icon (it looks like a small folder with a green arrow pointing into it).
MakeMKV will ask you where you want to save your disc dump to. Select a location and ensure the "Decrypt video files" checkbox is checked. Once you're ready, click "OK" and MakeMKV will do its thing!

[[File:makemkv-2.png|646x300px]]

The disc will now be decrypted and written to the backup location. This will take a while, so sit back and relax!

[[File:makemkv-3.png|840x547px]]

Once the backup is completed, move onto the next step!

== Using Handbrake for Decoded Blu-Rays ==

Now that we have our decrypted Blu-Ray dump, it's time to process it using Handbrake and get our finished movie file.
This guide will work in all OSes that run Handbrake.

Begin by clicking "File" and "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu. Navigate to the folder where your disc dump was copied to and select it. Be sure to make certain that "Recursively scan directories" in the lower left corner is unchecked, otherwise the directory scan will not work properly!

[[File:handbrake-bd-1.png|920x500px]]

Once scanning is complete, you should see a preview screenshot appear, and the source and title information should be set automatically. If the title doesn't seem right, select the title drop down menu and look for the title which matches the length of the movie you're working with (usually written on the package somewhere).
For full length movies, you don't need to change chapter information; just assure the title is the correct one (you can also verify this information via VLC).

[[File:handbrake-bd-2.png|1366x722px]]

Once you have the correct title set, it's time to prepare for the encoding!
Select the Dimensions tab and set "Cropping" to "None" (cropping isn't usually needed as it can sometimes mess up aspect ratio).

[[File:handbrake-bd-3.png|1366x722px]]

By default, Handbrake encodes in H.264 video which is functional and fast enough for most devices, so changing it is completely optional. If you wish to use a different video codec, switch to the Video tab and select your favorite video encoder codec from the drop-down menu, then switch to the Audio tab.

[[File:handbrake-bd-4.png]]

This is where it gets slightly tricky: some movies may have multiple audio tracks (either languages or crew commentary), and if you wish to get multiple tracks in your encoded video, you'll have to add the additional ones you want. By default, Handbrake will select the default track for the disc. If you wish to edit the settings of said track, double click it and the above dialogue will appear. From here, you can set the source track you wish to rip, set a name for it (optional), what audio encoder you want to use (by default AAC), the bitrate or quality, and the mix type you want to use (stereo by default). Set your settings and click "Save" once you're satisfied.

[[File:handbrake-bd-5.png|1366x722px]]

Lastly, if you need to add subtitles, switch to the Subtitles tab, click "Tracks", and select "Add All Tracks". This should add any subtitle sets from the disc to your project.

Once you're set with everything, be sure to set the "Save As" field at the bottom to a filename, and click the "To:" button to select the directory where your encoded video will go. Finally, click "Add to Queue" on the top and your project will be added to the queue, which you can view by clicking the "Queue" button in the upper right of the main window.

[[File:handbrake-bd-6.png|840x661px]]

Check all your settings, and once you're satisfied with everything, click "Start"!

Grab yourself a snack, because the encoding will take quite a bit of time depending on your computer's power and RAM.
Handbrake will let you know when it's done!

[[File:handbrake-bd-7.png|1020x614px]]

And done! Enjoy your freshly ripped Blu-Ray disc!

== Using Handbrake for DVDs ==

Ripping DVDs in Handbrake is thankfully a less strenuous process, but there are still a few things we need to make sure are set properly to ensure a good rip of one. This example will focus on ripping a movie from a DVD. Most DVDs can be ripped directly from Handbrake without having to use MakeMKV first to decode the contents.

=== Ripping Movie DVDs ===

First, let's focus on a movie DVD. We'll use a DVD of Raiders of the Lost Ark for this example.

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc into your drive and mount the volume, then launch Handbrake. As before, go to "File" > "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu, and navigate to the mountpoint of the DVD, then look for the "VIDEO_TS" folder, double click it (you should see a bunch of files in the folder similar to below), and click "Open". As with the Blu-Ray tutorial above, make sure the "Recursively Scan Directories" checkbox is unchecked, or Handbrake will have difficulty reading the title and chapter information of the disc!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-2.png|800x435px]]

Handbrake will scan the directory and display its preview screenshot and disc info as before. As with the Blu-Ray tutorial, look for the title in the drop-down menu that matches the length of the movie you're ripping (in our case, Title 1 is the main feature.)

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-3.png|840x423px]]

From here, you can largely follow along with setting features, cropping, video codec, audio codec, and subtitles largely the same way as with a Blu-Ray rip. DVDs, unlike Blu-Rays, display at a lower 720x480p resolution, so take note of this when setting your cropping and display settings.

As before, make sure to fill out the "Save As:" field with a filename, and set a destination directory by clicking the "To:" button. Once you're ready, click the "Add to Queue" button up top to add the job to the queue, then click the "Queue" button to make sure everything is set the way you want it. Once you're ready, click "Start" and sit back as Handbrake encodes your video!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-5.png|761x599px]]

Once it's done, you can load your encoded video in VLC or your favorite video player to test it out!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-6.png|840x537px]]

=== Ripping TV Series on DVD ===

Ripping a TV series that's on DVD is a slightly more involved process. Discs will have multiple episodes and you'll need to figure out identifying episodes, finding the titles that correspond to each episode, and creating jobs in Handbrake for each individual episode so you get multiple videos for each separate episode and not just one large file that's hard to navigate and find start points of each episode for.

For this example, we'll use an Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season 1 set.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc, mount, open in Handbrake just the same as with the above example.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-2.png|800x423px]]

Notice how there are multiple titles on this disc of varying lengths; the longest length track in this case would correspond to the "Play All" feature most TV series DVDs would have, and the smaller length (around 11 minutes each) titles are the individual episodes we want to extract from this disc. In this case, let's say we want to extract one specific episode only from this disc, but we can't identify which one it is simply by the title currently. So let's go over to VLC and look for which title corresponds to the episode we want.

Open VLC, and go to "Media" > "Open Disc" (Ctrl+D on Windows and Linux or Cmd+D on macOS), and select "DVD", then "Play".

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-3.png]]

From here, let's navigate the menu to "Episodes" and click it.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-4.png]]

Let's use "Mayhem of the Mooninites" as the example episode. Click it to start playback, then on the VLC menu, click "Playback" > "Title" and make a note of which title is currently selected; we'll need this info for Handbrake! For our selected episode, it's Title 6 on the disc. Go back to Handbrake, select Title 6 from the drop down menu, and set all your cropping, video codec preferences, audio preferences, and everything else as in previous examples.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-5.png|800x423px]]

Once you're satisfied, add the job to the queue. If you want to add additional episodes to the queue to rip, repeat the process above and locate each title on the disc for each episode, and add them to the queue as well. Be sure to name each output file correctly to prevent issues with overwriting files!

Once you have all the episodes you want to rip in the queue, click "Start" and sit back while your jobs process!

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-6.png|835x656px]]

Once all your jobs are done, admire your handiwork with your favorite video player!

== Testing your rips ==

== Done! ==

File:Handbrake-tv-tutorial-7.png

2025-03-20T23:24:47Z

LambdaCalculus:

File:Handbrake-tv-tutorial-6.png

2025-03-20T23:24:20Z

LambdaCalculus:

File:Handbrake-tv-tutorial-5.png

2025-03-20T23:23:49Z

LambdaCalculus:

File:Handbrake-tv-tutorial-4.png

2025-03-20T23:23:20Z

LambdaCalculus:

File:Handbrake-tv-tutorial-3.png

2025-03-20T23:22:17Z

LambdaCalculus:

File:Handbrake-tv-tutorial-2.png

2025-03-20T23:21:47Z

LambdaCalculus:

How to Back Up Your Blu-Rays and DVDs

2025-03-20T23:15:06Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Ripping TV Series on DVD */

== How to Rip Blu-Ray and DVD Discs using MakeMKV and Handbrake ==

This page will guide readers on how to get good rips from their Blu-Rays and DVDs, allowing for upload to a media server or to watch on their devices.

== Tools needed ==

* Physical DVDs or Blu-Rays
* A DVD or Blu-Ray drive (internal or external)
* Handbrake (available at https://handbrake.fr/ and in the repos of most popular Linux distros)
* For Blu-Rays, MakeMKV (available at https://www.makemkv.com/ and free as long as it's in beta)
* For both media and for discs with multiple episodes or copies (i.e. special features in movies or multiple episodes of TV shows), VLC and something to take notes with
* The libdvdcss and libaacs libraries may be required on Linux for disc decryption (most distros will have these in their repos)
* Plenty of drive space; Blu-Ray rips can take upwards of 50GB!
* A good amount of free time

== Beginning the Process ==

Begin by getting the media you want to rip and an optical drive to read the disc with. We will be using a copy of Porco Rosso as our example for this tutorial.

[[File:tutorial1.jpg|480x800px]]

Hook up the drive to your computer, insert the disc, and mount it in your OS (Windows and Mac mount automatically; most Linux distros mount automatically as well).

== Using MakeMKV for Blu-Rays ==

If you haven't installed MakeMKV yet, do so now and launch it.

If you already inserted your disc into your optical drive, MakeMKV will automatically read it and show its information.

[[File:makemkv-1.png|840x547px]]

Click the "Backup" icon (it looks like a small folder with a green arrow pointing into it).
MakeMKV will ask you where you want to save your disc dump to. Select a location and ensure the "Decrypt video files" checkbox is checked. Once you're ready, click "OK" and MakeMKV will do its thing!

[[File:makemkv-2.png|646x300px]]

The disc will now be decrypted and written to the backup location. This will take a while, so sit back and relax!

[[File:makemkv-3.png|840x547px]]

Once the backup is completed, move onto the next step!

== Using Handbrake for Decoded Blu-Rays ==

Now that we have our decrypted Blu-Ray dump, it's time to process it using Handbrake and get our finished movie file.
This guide will work in all OSes that run Handbrake.

Begin by clicking "File" and "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu. Navigate to the folder where your disc dump was copied to and select it. Be sure to make certain that "Recursively scan directories" in the lower left corner is unchecked, otherwise the directory scan will not work properly!

[[File:handbrake-bd-1.png|920x500px]]

Once scanning is complete, you should see a preview screenshot appear, and the source and title information should be set automatically. If the title doesn't seem right, select the title drop down menu and look for the title which matches the length of the movie you're working with (usually written on the package somewhere).
For full length movies, you don't need to change chapter information; just assure the title is the correct one (you can also verify this information via VLC).

[[File:handbrake-bd-2.png|1366x722px]]

Once you have the correct title set, it's time to prepare for the encoding!
Select the Dimensions tab and set "Cropping" to "None" (cropping isn't usually needed as it can sometimes mess up aspect ratio).

[[File:handbrake-bd-3.png|1366x722px]]

By default, Handbrake encodes in H.264 video which is functional and fast enough for most devices, so changing it is completely optional. If you wish to use a different video codec, switch to the Video tab and select your favorite video encoder codec from the drop-down menu, then switch to the Audio tab.

[[File:handbrake-bd-4.png]]

This is where it gets slightly tricky: some movies may have multiple audio tracks (either languages or crew commentary), and if you wish to get multiple tracks in your encoded video, you'll have to add the additional ones you want. By default, Handbrake will select the default track for the disc. If you wish to edit the settings of said track, double click it and the above dialogue will appear. From here, you can set the source track you wish to rip, set a name for it (optional), what audio encoder you want to use (by default AAC), the bitrate or quality, and the mix type you want to use (stereo by default). Set your settings and click "Save" once you're satisfied.

[[File:handbrake-bd-5.png|1366x722px]]

Lastly, if you need to add subtitles, switch to the Subtitles tab, click "Tracks", and select "Add All Tracks". This should add any subtitle sets from the disc to your project.

Once you're set with everything, be sure to set the "Save As" field at the bottom to a filename, and click the "To:" button to select the directory where your encoded video will go. Finally, click "Add to Queue" on the top and your project will be added to the queue, which you can view by clicking the "Queue" button in the upper right of the main window.

[[File:handbrake-bd-6.png|840x661px]]

Check all your settings, and once you're satisfied with everything, click "Start"!

Grab yourself a snack, because the encoding will take quite a bit of time depending on your computer's power and RAM.
Handbrake will let you know when it's done!

[[File:handbrake-bd-7.png|1020x614px]]

And done! Enjoy your freshly ripped Blu-Ray disc!

== Using Handbrake for DVDs ==

Ripping DVDs in Handbrake is thankfully a less strenuous process, but there are still a few things we need to make sure are set properly to ensure a good rip of one. This example will focus on ripping a movie from a DVD. Most DVDs can be ripped directly from Handbrake without having to use MakeMKV first to decode the contents.

=== Ripping Movie DVDs ===

First, let's focus on a movie DVD. We'll use a DVD of Raiders of the Lost Ark for this example.

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc into your drive and mount the volume, then launch Handbrake. As before, go to "File" > "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu, and navigate to the mountpoint of the DVD, then look for the "VIDEO_TS" folder, double click it (you should see a bunch of files in the folder similar to below), and click "Open". As with the Blu-Ray tutorial above, make sure the "Recursively Scan Directories" checkbox is unchecked, or Handbrake will have difficulty reading the title and chapter information of the disc!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-2.png|800x435px]]

Handbrake will scan the directory and display its preview screenshot and disc info as before. As with the Blu-Ray tutorial, look for the title in the drop-down menu that matches the length of the movie you're ripping (in our case, Title 1 is the main feature.)

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-3.png|840x423px]]

From here, you can largely follow along with setting features, cropping, video codec, audio codec, and subtitles largely the same way as with a Blu-Ray rip. DVDs, unlike Blu-Rays, display at a lower 720x480p resolution, so take note of this when setting your cropping and display settings.

As before, make sure to fill out the "Save As:" field with a filename, and set a destination directory by clicking the "To:" button. Once you're ready, click the "Add to Queue" button up top to add the job to the queue, then click the "Queue" button to make sure everything is set the way you want it. Once you're ready, click "Start" and sit back as Handbrake encodes your video!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-5.png|761x599px]]

Once it's done, you can load your encoded video in VLC or your favorite video player to test it out!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-6.png|840x537px]]

=== Ripping TV Series on DVD ===

Ripping a TV series that's on DVD is a slightly more involved process. Discs will have multiple episodes and you'll need to figure out identifying episodes, finding the titles that correspond to each episode, and creating jobs in Handbrake for each individual episode so you get multiple videos for each separate episode and not just one large file that's hard to navigate and find start points of each episode for.

For this example, we'll use an Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season 1 set.

[[File:handbrake-tv-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc, mount, open in Handbrake just the same as with the above example.

== Testing your rips ==

== Done! ==

File:Handbrake-tv-tutorial-1.jpg

2025-03-20T23:12:31Z

LambdaCalculus:

How to Back Up Your Blu-Rays and DVDs

2025-03-20T23:11:14Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Using Handbrake for DVDs */

== How to Rip Blu-Ray and DVD Discs using MakeMKV and Handbrake ==

This page will guide readers on how to get good rips from their Blu-Rays and DVDs, allowing for upload to a media server or to watch on their devices.

== Tools needed ==

* Physical DVDs or Blu-Rays
* A DVD or Blu-Ray drive (internal or external)
* Handbrake (available at https://handbrake.fr/ and in the repos of most popular Linux distros)
* For Blu-Rays, MakeMKV (available at https://www.makemkv.com/ and free as long as it's in beta)
* For both media and for discs with multiple episodes or copies (i.e. special features in movies or multiple episodes of TV shows), VLC and something to take notes with
* The libdvdcss and libaacs libraries may be required on Linux for disc decryption (most distros will have these in their repos)
* Plenty of drive space; Blu-Ray rips can take upwards of 50GB!
* A good amount of free time

== Beginning the Process ==

Begin by getting the media you want to rip and an optical drive to read the disc with. We will be using a copy of Porco Rosso as our example for this tutorial.

[[File:tutorial1.jpg|480x800px]]

Hook up the drive to your computer, insert the disc, and mount it in your OS (Windows and Mac mount automatically; most Linux distros mount automatically as well).

== Using MakeMKV for Blu-Rays ==

If you haven't installed MakeMKV yet, do so now and launch it.

If you already inserted your disc into your optical drive, MakeMKV will automatically read it and show its information.

[[File:makemkv-1.png|840x547px]]

Click the "Backup" icon (it looks like a small folder with a green arrow pointing into it).
MakeMKV will ask you where you want to save your disc dump to. Select a location and ensure the "Decrypt video files" checkbox is checked. Once you're ready, click "OK" and MakeMKV will do its thing!

[[File:makemkv-2.png|646x300px]]

The disc will now be decrypted and written to the backup location. This will take a while, so sit back and relax!

[[File:makemkv-3.png|840x547px]]

Once the backup is completed, move onto the next step!

== Using Handbrake for Decoded Blu-Rays ==

Now that we have our decrypted Blu-Ray dump, it's time to process it using Handbrake and get our finished movie file.
This guide will work in all OSes that run Handbrake.

Begin by clicking "File" and "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu. Navigate to the folder where your disc dump was copied to and select it. Be sure to make certain that "Recursively scan directories" in the lower left corner is unchecked, otherwise the directory scan will not work properly!

[[File:handbrake-bd-1.png|920x500px]]

Once scanning is complete, you should see a preview screenshot appear, and the source and title information should be set automatically. If the title doesn't seem right, select the title drop down menu and look for the title which matches the length of the movie you're working with (usually written on the package somewhere).
For full length movies, you don't need to change chapter information; just assure the title is the correct one (you can also verify this information via VLC).

[[File:handbrake-bd-2.png|1366x722px]]

Once you have the correct title set, it's time to prepare for the encoding!
Select the Dimensions tab and set "Cropping" to "None" (cropping isn't usually needed as it can sometimes mess up aspect ratio).

[[File:handbrake-bd-3.png|1366x722px]]

By default, Handbrake encodes in H.264 video which is functional and fast enough for most devices, so changing it is completely optional. If you wish to use a different video codec, switch to the Video tab and select your favorite video encoder codec from the drop-down menu, then switch to the Audio tab.

[[File:handbrake-bd-4.png]]

This is where it gets slightly tricky: some movies may have multiple audio tracks (either languages or crew commentary), and if you wish to get multiple tracks in your encoded video, you'll have to add the additional ones you want. By default, Handbrake will select the default track for the disc. If you wish to edit the settings of said track, double click it and the above dialogue will appear. From here, you can set the source track you wish to rip, set a name for it (optional), what audio encoder you want to use (by default AAC), the bitrate or quality, and the mix type you want to use (stereo by default). Set your settings and click "Save" once you're satisfied.

[[File:handbrake-bd-5.png|1366x722px]]

Lastly, if you need to add subtitles, switch to the Subtitles tab, click "Tracks", and select "Add All Tracks". This should add any subtitle sets from the disc to your project.

Once you're set with everything, be sure to set the "Save As" field at the bottom to a filename, and click the "To:" button to select the directory where your encoded video will go. Finally, click "Add to Queue" on the top and your project will be added to the queue, which you can view by clicking the "Queue" button in the upper right of the main window.

[[File:handbrake-bd-6.png|840x661px]]

Check all your settings, and once you're satisfied with everything, click "Start"!

Grab yourself a snack, because the encoding will take quite a bit of time depending on your computer's power and RAM.
Handbrake will let you know when it's done!

[[File:handbrake-bd-7.png|1020x614px]]

And done! Enjoy your freshly ripped Blu-Ray disc!

== Using Handbrake for DVDs ==

Ripping DVDs in Handbrake is thankfully a less strenuous process, but there are still a few things we need to make sure are set properly to ensure a good rip of one. This example will focus on ripping a movie from a DVD. Most DVDs can be ripped directly from Handbrake without having to use MakeMKV first to decode the contents.

=== Ripping Movie DVDs ===

First, let's focus on a movie DVD. We'll use a DVD of Raiders of the Lost Ark for this example.

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc into your drive and mount the volume, then launch Handbrake. As before, go to "File" > "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu, and navigate to the mountpoint of the DVD, then look for the "VIDEO_TS" folder, double click it (you should see a bunch of files in the folder similar to below), and click "Open". As with the Blu-Ray tutorial above, make sure the "Recursively Scan Directories" checkbox is unchecked, or Handbrake will have difficulty reading the title and chapter information of the disc!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-2.png|800x435px]]

Handbrake will scan the directory and display its preview screenshot and disc info as before. As with the Blu-Ray tutorial, look for the title in the drop-down menu that matches the length of the movie you're ripping (in our case, Title 1 is the main feature.)

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-3.png|840x423px]]

From here, you can largely follow along with setting features, cropping, video codec, audio codec, and subtitles largely the same way as with a Blu-Ray rip. DVDs, unlike Blu-Rays, display at a lower 720x480p resolution, so take note of this when setting your cropping and display settings.

As before, make sure to fill out the "Save As:" field with a filename, and set a destination directory by clicking the "To:" button. Once you're ready, click the "Add to Queue" button up top to add the job to the queue, then click the "Queue" button to make sure everything is set the way you want it. Once you're ready, click "Start" and sit back as Handbrake encodes your video!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-5.png|761x599px]]

Once it's done, you can load your encoded video in VLC or your favorite video player to test it out!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-6.png|840x537px]]

=== Ripping TV Series on DVD ===

Ripping a TV series that's on DVD is a slightly more involved process. Discs will have multiple episodes and you'll need to figure out identifying episodes, finding the titles that correspond to each episode, and creating jobs in Handbrake for each individual episode so you get multiple videos for each separate episode and not just one large file that's hard to navigate and find start points of each episode for.

== Testing your rips ==

== Done! ==

How to Back Up Your Blu-Rays and DVDs

2025-03-20T23:10:09Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Using Handbrake for DVDs */

== How to Rip Blu-Ray and DVD Discs using MakeMKV and Handbrake ==

This page will guide readers on how to get good rips from their Blu-Rays and DVDs, allowing for upload to a media server or to watch on their devices.

== Tools needed ==

* Physical DVDs or Blu-Rays
* A DVD or Blu-Ray drive (internal or external)
* Handbrake (available at https://handbrake.fr/ and in the repos of most popular Linux distros)
* For Blu-Rays, MakeMKV (available at https://www.makemkv.com/ and free as long as it's in beta)
* For both media and for discs with multiple episodes or copies (i.e. special features in movies or multiple episodes of TV shows), VLC and something to take notes with
* The libdvdcss and libaacs libraries may be required on Linux for disc decryption (most distros will have these in their repos)
* Plenty of drive space; Blu-Ray rips can take upwards of 50GB!
* A good amount of free time

== Beginning the Process ==

Begin by getting the media you want to rip and an optical drive to read the disc with. We will be using a copy of Porco Rosso as our example for this tutorial.

[[File:tutorial1.jpg|480x800px]]

Hook up the drive to your computer, insert the disc, and mount it in your OS (Windows and Mac mount automatically; most Linux distros mount automatically as well).

== Using MakeMKV for Blu-Rays ==

If you haven't installed MakeMKV yet, do so now and launch it.

If you already inserted your disc into your optical drive, MakeMKV will automatically read it and show its information.

[[File:makemkv-1.png|840x547px]]

Click the "Backup" icon (it looks like a small folder with a green arrow pointing into it).
MakeMKV will ask you where you want to save your disc dump to. Select a location and ensure the "Decrypt video files" checkbox is checked. Once you're ready, click "OK" and MakeMKV will do its thing!

[[File:makemkv-2.png|646x300px]]

The disc will now be decrypted and written to the backup location. This will take a while, so sit back and relax!

[[File:makemkv-3.png|840x547px]]

Once the backup is completed, move onto the next step!

== Using Handbrake for Decoded Blu-Rays ==

Now that we have our decrypted Blu-Ray dump, it's time to process it using Handbrake and get our finished movie file.
This guide will work in all OSes that run Handbrake.

Begin by clicking "File" and "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu. Navigate to the folder where your disc dump was copied to and select it. Be sure to make certain that "Recursively scan directories" in the lower left corner is unchecked, otherwise the directory scan will not work properly!

[[File:handbrake-bd-1.png|920x500px]]

Once scanning is complete, you should see a preview screenshot appear, and the source and title information should be set automatically. If the title doesn't seem right, select the title drop down menu and look for the title which matches the length of the movie you're working with (usually written on the package somewhere).
For full length movies, you don't need to change chapter information; just assure the title is the correct one (you can also verify this information via VLC).

[[File:handbrake-bd-2.png|1366x722px]]

Once you have the correct title set, it's time to prepare for the encoding!
Select the Dimensions tab and set "Cropping" to "None" (cropping isn't usually needed as it can sometimes mess up aspect ratio).

[[File:handbrake-bd-3.png|1366x722px]]

By default, Handbrake encodes in H.264 video which is functional and fast enough for most devices, so changing it is completely optional. If you wish to use a different video codec, switch to the Video tab and select your favorite video encoder codec from the drop-down menu, then switch to the Audio tab.

[[File:handbrake-bd-4.png]]

This is where it gets slightly tricky: some movies may have multiple audio tracks (either languages or crew commentary), and if you wish to get multiple tracks in your encoded video, you'll have to add the additional ones you want. By default, Handbrake will select the default track for the disc. If you wish to edit the settings of said track, double click it and the above dialogue will appear. From here, you can set the source track you wish to rip, set a name for it (optional), what audio encoder you want to use (by default AAC), the bitrate or quality, and the mix type you want to use (stereo by default). Set your settings and click "Save" once you're satisfied.

[[File:handbrake-bd-5.png|1366x722px]]

Lastly, if you need to add subtitles, switch to the Subtitles tab, click "Tracks", and select "Add All Tracks". This should add any subtitle sets from the disc to your project.

Once you're set with everything, be sure to set the "Save As" field at the bottom to a filename, and click the "To:" button to select the directory where your encoded video will go. Finally, click "Add to Queue" on the top and your project will be added to the queue, which you can view by clicking the "Queue" button in the upper right of the main window.

[[File:handbrake-bd-6.png|840x661px]]

Check all your settings, and once you're satisfied with everything, click "Start"!

Grab yourself a snack, because the encoding will take quite a bit of time depending on your computer's power and RAM.
Handbrake will let you know when it's done!

[[File:handbrake-bd-7.png|1020x614px]]

And done! Enjoy your freshly ripped Blu-Ray disc!

== Using Handbrake for DVDs ==

Ripping DVDs in Handbrake is thankfully a less strenuous process, but there are still a few things we need to make sure are set properly to ensure a good rip of one. This example will focus on ripping a movie from a DVD.

=== Ripping Movie DVDs ===

First, let's focus on a movie DVD. We'll use a DVD of Raiders of the Lost Ark for this example.

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc into your drive and mount the volume, then launch Handbrake. As before, go to "File" > "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu, and navigate to the mountpoint of the DVD, then look for the "VIDEO_TS" folder, double click it (you should see a bunch of files in the folder similar to below), and click "Open". As with the Blu-Ray tutorial above, make sure the "Recursively Scan Directories" checkbox is unchecked, or Handbrake will have difficulty reading the title and chapter information of the disc!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-2.png|800x435px]]

Handbrake will scan the directory and display its preview screenshot and disc info as before. As with the Blu-Ray tutorial, look for the title in the drop-down menu that matches the length of the movie you're ripping (in our case, Title 1 is the main feature.)

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-3.png|840x423px]]

From here, you can largely follow along with setting features, cropping, video codec, audio codec, and subtitles largely the same way as with a Blu-Ray rip. DVDs, unlike Blu-Rays, display at a lower 720x480p resolution, so take note of this when setting your cropping and display settings.

As before, make sure to fill out the "Save As:" field with a filename, and set a destination directory by clicking the "To:" button. Once you're ready, click the "Add to Queue" button up top to add the job to the queue, then click the "Queue" button to make sure everything is set the way you want it. Once you're ready, click "Start" and sit back as Handbrake encodes your video!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-5.png|761x599px]]

Once it's done, you can load your encoded video in VLC or your favorite video player to test it out!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-6.png|840x537px]]

=== Ripping TV Series on DVD ===

Ripping a TV series that's on DVD is a slightly more involved process. Discs will have multiple episodes and you'll need to figure out identifying episodes, finding the titles that correspond to each episode, and creating jobs in Handbrake for each individual episode so you get multiple videos for each separate episode and not just one large file that's hard to navigate and find start points of each episode for.

== Testing your rips ==

== Done! ==

How to Back Up Your Blu-Rays and DVDs

2025-03-20T23:04:53Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Ripping Movie DVDs */

== How to Rip Blu-Ray and DVD Discs using MakeMKV and Handbrake ==

This page will guide readers on how to get good rips from their Blu-Rays and DVDs, allowing for upload to a media server or to watch on their devices.

== Tools needed ==

* Physical DVDs or Blu-Rays
* A DVD or Blu-Ray drive (internal or external)
* Handbrake (available at https://handbrake.fr/ and in the repos of most popular Linux distros)
* For Blu-Rays, MakeMKV (available at https://www.makemkv.com/ and free as long as it's in beta)
* For both media and for discs with multiple episodes or copies (i.e. special features in movies or multiple episodes of TV shows), VLC and something to take notes with
* The libdvdcss and libaacs libraries may be required on Linux for disc decryption (most distros will have these in their repos)
* Plenty of drive space; Blu-Ray rips can take upwards of 50GB!
* A good amount of free time

== Beginning the Process ==

Begin by getting the media you want to rip and an optical drive to read the disc with. We will be using a copy of Porco Rosso as our example for this tutorial.

[[File:tutorial1.jpg|480x800px]]

Hook up the drive to your computer, insert the disc, and mount it in your OS (Windows and Mac mount automatically; most Linux distros mount automatically as well).

== Using MakeMKV for Blu-Rays ==

If you haven't installed MakeMKV yet, do so now and launch it.

If you already inserted your disc into your optical drive, MakeMKV will automatically read it and show its information.

[[File:makemkv-1.png|840x547px]]

Click the "Backup" icon (it looks like a small folder with a green arrow pointing into it).
MakeMKV will ask you where you want to save your disc dump to. Select a location and ensure the "Decrypt video files" checkbox is checked. Once you're ready, click "OK" and MakeMKV will do its thing!

[[File:makemkv-2.png|646x300px]]

The disc will now be decrypted and written to the backup location. This will take a while, so sit back and relax!

[[File:makemkv-3.png|840x547px]]

Once the backup is completed, move onto the next step!

== Using Handbrake for Decoded Blu-Rays ==

Now that we have our decrypted Blu-Ray dump, it's time to process it using Handbrake and get our finished movie file.
This guide will work in all OSes that run Handbrake.

Begin by clicking "File" and "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu. Navigate to the folder where your disc dump was copied to and select it. Be sure to make certain that "Recursively scan directories" in the lower left corner is unchecked, otherwise the directory scan will not work properly!

[[File:handbrake-bd-1.png|920x500px]]

Once scanning is complete, you should see a preview screenshot appear, and the source and title information should be set automatically. If the title doesn't seem right, select the title drop down menu and look for the title which matches the length of the movie you're working with (usually written on the package somewhere).
For full length movies, you don't need to change chapter information; just assure the title is the correct one (you can also verify this information via VLC).

[[File:handbrake-bd-2.png|1366x722px]]

Once you have the correct title set, it's time to prepare for the encoding!
Select the Dimensions tab and set "Cropping" to "None" (cropping isn't usually needed as it can sometimes mess up aspect ratio).

[[File:handbrake-bd-3.png|1366x722px]]

By default, Handbrake encodes in H.264 video which is functional and fast enough for most devices, so changing it is completely optional. If you wish to use a different video codec, switch to the Video tab and select your favorite video encoder codec from the drop-down menu, then switch to the Audio tab.

[[File:handbrake-bd-4.png]]

This is where it gets slightly tricky: some movies may have multiple audio tracks (either languages or crew commentary), and if you wish to get multiple tracks in your encoded video, you'll have to add the additional ones you want. By default, Handbrake will select the default track for the disc. If you wish to edit the settings of said track, double click it and the above dialogue will appear. From here, you can set the source track you wish to rip, set a name for it (optional), what audio encoder you want to use (by default AAC), the bitrate or quality, and the mix type you want to use (stereo by default). Set your settings and click "Save" once you're satisfied.

[[File:handbrake-bd-5.png|1366x722px]]

Lastly, if you need to add subtitles, switch to the Subtitles tab, click "Tracks", and select "Add All Tracks". This should add any subtitle sets from the disc to your project.

Once you're set with everything, be sure to set the "Save As" field at the bottom to a filename, and click the "To:" button to select the directory where your encoded video will go. Finally, click "Add to Queue" on the top and your project will be added to the queue, which you can view by clicking the "Queue" button in the upper right of the main window.

[[File:handbrake-bd-6.png|840x661px]]

Check all your settings, and once you're satisfied with everything, click "Start"!

Grab yourself a snack, because the encoding will take quite a bit of time depending on your computer's power and RAM.
Handbrake will let you know when it's done!

[[File:handbrake-bd-7.png|1020x614px]]

And done! Enjoy your freshly ripped Blu-Ray disc!

== Using Handbrake for DVDs ==

Ripping DVDs in Handbrake is thankfully a less strenuous process, but there are still a few things we need to make sure are set properly to ensure a good rip of one. This example will focus on ripping a movie from a DVD.

=== Ripping Movie DVDs ===

First, let's focus on a movie DVD. We'll use a DVD of Raiders of the Lost Ark for this example.

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-1.jpg|337x599px]]

Same as before, insert the disc into your drive and mount the volume, then launch Handbrake. As before, go to "File" > "Open Directory" in the Handbrake menu, and navigate to the mountpoint of the DVD, then look for the "VIDEO_TS" folder, double click it (you should see a bunch of files in the folder similar to below), and click "Open". As with the Blu-Ray tutorial above, make sure the "Recursively Scan Directories" checkbox is unchecked, or Handbrake will have difficulty reading the title and chapter information of the disc!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-2.png|800x435px]]

Handbrake will scan the directory and display its preview screenshot and disc info as before. As with the Blu-Ray tutorial, look for the title in the drop-down menu that matches the length of the movie you're ripping (in our case, Title 1 is the main feature.)

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-3.png|840x423px]]

From here, you can largely follow along with setting features, cropping, video codec, audio codec, and subtitles largely the same way as with a Blu-Ray rip. DVDs, unlike Blu-Rays, display at a lower 720x480p resolution, so take note of this when setting your cropping and display settings.

As before, make sure to fill out the "Save As:" field with a filename, and set a destination directory by clicking the "To:" button. Once you're ready, click the "Add to Queue" button up top to add the job to the queue, then click the "Queue" button to make sure everything is set the way you want it. Once you're ready, click "Start" and sit back as Handbrake encodes your video!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-5.png|761x599px]]

Once it's done, you can load your encoded video in VLC or your favorite video player to test it out!

[[File:handbrake-dvd-tutorial-6.png|840x537px]]

== Testing your rips ==

== Done! ==

File:Handbrake-dvd-tutorial-6.png

2025-03-20T23:00:30Z

LambdaCalculus:

How to Back Up Your Blu-Rays and DVDs

2025-03-20T22:34:28Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Ripping Movie DVDs */

How to Back Up Your Blu-Rays and DVDs

2025-03-20T22:33:47Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Ripping Movie DVDs */

How to Back Up Your Blu-Rays and DVDs

2025-03-20T22:26:28Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Ripping Movie DVDs */

File:Handbrake-dvd-tutorial-5.png

2025-03-20T22:21:26Z

LambdaCalculus:

File:Handbrake-dvd-tutorial-4.png

2025-03-20T22:20:57Z

LambdaCalculus:

File:Handbrake-dvd-tutorial-3.png

2025-03-20T22:19:39Z

LambdaCalculus:

File:Handbrake-dvd-tutorial-2.png

2025-03-20T22:19:08Z

LambdaCalculus:

How to Back Up Your Blu-Rays and DVDs

2025-03-20T22:18:12Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Ripping Movie DVDs */

File:Handbrake-dvd-tutorial-1.jpg

2025-03-20T22:16:11Z

LambdaCalculus:

How to Back Up Your Blu-Rays and DVDs

2025-03-20T22:14:52Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Using Handbrake for DVDs */

How to Back Up Your Blu-Rays and DVDs

2025-03-19T23:39:34Z

LambdaCalculus: /* Using Handbrake for DVDs */