MKV or ISO Files for Ripping HD & 4K UHD HDR Blu-ray | Which is Better?
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- Опубліковано 2 сер 2024
- Are you planning to set up a DIY local media server where you rip your SD, HD, 4K discs? Are you unsure about whether to rip and store them as ISO or MKV format? I break down these two popular file formats for local media and give guidance for why to choose to which and why I chose one for myself.
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0:00 Choosing ISO vs. MKV for Rips
0:49 General Differences
2:18 File Sizes
3:38 Playback Logistics
4:40 Keeping Content Pieces
5:24 Playback Devices
7:48 Single File Storage
8:48 Bit-For-Bit Quality
10:16 MKV Is Popular
11:32 MKV Takes Work
13:35 My Pick & Reasons
14:49 #1 My Stuff Works Better With MKV
15:20 #2 I Know How To Manage MKV
15:56 #3 I'm At My Computer Often
17:07 #4 Why Waste Storage
18:01 Which Do You Choose?
#hometheater #homecinema #hometheatre - Наука та технологія
There’s definitely valid reasons for either way. ISO is king for endangered/lost media that you could still derive MKV or any other bog-standard consumer format from at any point in the future, but for media that isn’t in danger of disappearing anytime soon, MKV from the start makes sense.
This doesn’t make any sense. Why would the MKV be any different from an ISO? It COULD be, but it also could be 100% exactly the same.
@BlownMacTruck Exactly... m2ts file is blu ray stream and mkv is container that houses m2ts contains for better capabilities
on my country, the method technically names : Remux ----> its rip file from original 4K ultra HD bluray Disc ( include metadata of HDR 10 or Dolby Vision)
I have some endangered media as well as out of print media, so ISO is the way to go.
This is extremely useful, and answered several questions I had. Thank you so much for making it!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for this information. Now I will start using MKV files. I didn’t know it was so compatible with most dvd players for play back. I’m new at this and I’m glad I found this video.
Glad I could help!
@@Techthusiasm Wow I am so glad I found you, you are a God send. I have been breaking my head literately for over 50 hours trying to figure out how or what free software I can use to make a playable Blu- ray disk now that I have the (Make MKV) software. So I now have a MLK file to burn to a Blu-ray disk, but I don't want to burn the image to the Blu-ray, I want to make a playable Blu-ray disk that can simply be put in to my Blu-ray player and boom I start watching the movie, I tried imagburn which some swear it work, I just cannot figure it out, how to find the Root folder for Certificate folder, the ACCS folder, and the BDMV folder to get it to work can you please guide me, I will be another loyal follower of your channel I promise. if possible is there any free software as (make MLK) that doesn't cost anything to do the trick? or will imageburn work if I find the root folders, and if so can you briefly guide me on how to find the root folders for use with imageburn ? thanks
I use the same process as you. Rip to mkv, store on Synology NAS, play on AppleTV using Infuse. Just doubled my storage capabilities today to 42TB on my movie NAS. Thanks for the videos. They're easy to understand and follow.
Awesome, thanks!
I have the same process as you.
My NAS capacity is 240 Tb on Qnap, the demand for space is growing, 4K movies are big.
@@user-ek9es5qz2fHow many movies do you have ripped on your Nas?
Very, very helpful information. Much appreciated.
Thanks!
Thanks! This will help me get started. Sound logic. I was thinking iso before viewing this.
Awesome! Thank you so much! There are many more videos on this topic on the channel so check them out. And I do take consulting calls where I can help walk you through the process. Good luck!
Thanks, interesting video.
Thanks!
Great video! I do MKV and stream them through PLEX on a Nvidia Shield. i dont even have a disc player hooked up at the moment. As soon as I get the disc, I pop it in the disc drive and rip it to the NAS. I also pretty much never watch any of the "extras" on the discs
Nice! I currently don't have a disc player either.
No problems here DVDFAB and Zidoo...Flawless
I compressed all of my disc rips into MP4 with Handbrake -- a decision I regretted later for the reasons you mention in the video. My reasoning, though, was that I could see all of my movies (both ripped and Apple purchases) in one place using the Computer app on the Apple TV, which shows you everything in the iTunes library of a machine on your network. I am now slowly replacing all of those rips. Still, nice to see everything in one place.
the greatest battle to ever exist. trying to keep everything in one place and organzied.
Same here and HDDs were pricey back then
Yes I think it's a fault people regret later! You loose Atmos / DTS-HD audio, lowering video quality by re-encoding (which takes hours for a movie!) this is not good for archiving your movies. What I do is skipping unwanted bonus content and languages/subtitles I know I never use. I've bought two 16TB HDs (Raid1 mirroring) and packed all my movies on it.
Here is my more nuanced statement. You can bring h264 encoded movies to h265 (HEVC) with Handbrake. The thing is, h265 codec generates same quality at half file size. You can pass trough audio when encoding. Today I don't use Handbrake to do that, it's very time intensive. 4k-UHD is already h265 and you lowering quality by re-encode at lower bitrate, this is what I don't like!
I rip with MakeMKV and then deinterlace with QTGMC if interlaced, and upscale with Topaz VEAI.
9:31 is a great point. Whether one uses iTunes, Movies Anywhere, or Vudu, they are ideal for alternate viewing IMO. Back in the day, Vudu allowed disc conversion as well as up-conversion for very reasonable prices of one’s physical media collection. From there, I always claim the digital version with my physical media for flexibility.
My local streaming is via MKV, movie file only. When offered multiple versions, I choose Director’s Cut (extended). The only times I used ISO was discs with obfuscation or menu necessary calibration discs.
Another good topic.
Thanks!
@@Techthusiasm It seems like MakeMKV does not copy 3D movies in blu ray, it will make a MKV file but it turns out to be in 2D onve you start wactching it, any suggestions?
I use a Raspberry pie 4+ with Kodi and a usb SSD with MKV file backups the pie does a pretty good job with 1080p I haven't test 4k rips yet so Idk how 4k would perform but for most people if you have a spare pie laying around not a bad use for it, its not going to outperform higher end tech but its a good option 😁
LOVE this video! This was extremely helpful and exactly what I needed as I begin ripping my discs for a Zidoo z1000 Pro that I recently purchased. MakeMKV has been working great for me. I've had nothing but problems with DVDFab. I'll probably need to create an ISO for concert and Dolby Atmos demo discs. What application do you recommend for creating an ISO file? Thanks!
Awesome! For ISO rips, using a PC, I always used AnyDVD HD.
I mainly use Avisynth & vapoursynth for Video encoding, i can do reduce the sizes 30 to 38% and getting much better quality from the source file...
Are you resampling or reprocessing the content with those tools?
If you use MKVtoolnix you can easily flad subs as forced and rename them. I also use it to rename the commentary audio track to know which track is which
Actually, this idea that copying to ISO limits you to the whole disc, including menus, commercials, etc, isn’t quite the case. I use DVDFAB to rip all my blurays to ISO and am able choose whatever stream I want. So, I’ll copy the main movie only, with desired language and
subtitles, to its own ISO. And you’re right, the process is simple. I then curate all my copied (and legally owned) movies in Kodi, which plays them back flawlessly and has a great interface.
That is true, yes. You can reduce the content and still package into ISO. I think most folks doing main movie rips though find more value/benefits in MKV, but I'm glad you have an excellent process going.
Great content. Just subscribed. Question: which format would be best for playing on a PS5? MKV or ISO? Unfortunately, the PS5 is struggling to play some 4K UHS discs. I figured that ripping the disc would be much better.
I would imagine MKV. I doubt there are any applications capable of playing an ISO properly on a console, but it might have a Plex app.
Libreelec mini pc media player does ISO for DVDs no problem. For bluray or 4K rips I prefer to do MKV to avoid needing or worrying about Java.
WOW Bro what an amazing chat! Loved all of or explanations, and also the whole time, I just thought what a genius Steve Jobs was with his 'It just Works' thinking and his iTunes Store which has made high quality film so accessible. As a Marketing Manager, my job is mental draining and then on an evening I train in Natural Bodybuilding for competing and I play basketball, run track and go mountain biking. I just wouldn't have the time to have and rip a library but the iTunes route fits into my crazy, hectic life (and then I travel to Paris every other weekend) so i'll watch a film on my iPhone with spacial audio on my AirPods Pro etc. LOVE YOUR CHANNEL! I love your honesty with everything! Paul
Thanks so much! If I wanted to do the sanest thing, I'd just buy all my movies from iTunes and forget everything else too, LOL.
I already own the physical media. If I really want to watch special features, I throw the disc in my Oppo. MKV is just way easier to store and use.
The best is mkv no doubt, with this format you can give more out of it
Can you make a guide about merging contents of many audio CDs into a single bluray disc that will be recognized by bluray disc players & will be played by it? Option to choose specific albums will be awesome.
That would be awesome.
I'll think about, but no promises. That would take a lot of learning on my part as it's working with things I haven't touched in a long time.
@@Techthusiasm Yeah.. Thank you.. I know it will take a lot of learning to ab able to do that. But if it's done, it will be very helpful for everyone.. Imagine fitting 150-200 cds in a single BDXL M disc. That's amazing for collection.
I am curious about this. Once the music is off it’s original physical media, what is the advantage of holding it on another physical media rather than on a hard drive, memory stick etc? Obviously an advantage is you can play it in that blue ray device, but many such devices also play lossless file formats either over network for the technically minded (not me) or usb for the less technically minded.
I personally choose iso just to preserve the disc itself. Once I have the actual iso disc then I just go mkv just to watch movies.
ISO is really nice way to go. So much simpler.
This is more of a niche use case, but one reason for BDVM over both MKV and ISO is when you aren't using a server, but you're using your Blu-ray player and the player cannot play ISO files, and simultaneously cannot play MKV files that have Dolby Vision. The OPPO UDP-203 is one such player. It can play MKV just fine as long as it doesn't have Dolby Vision, but it also cannot play ISO *natively. It can play any BDVM (with or without DV) just fine though.
Also, with BDVM you can actually go into the files (stream folder) and remove the FBI warnings and trailers or ads and then end up with a virtual disc backup without the crap you don't actually want, keeping what you do want like chapter selection, menus and possible special features.
I get why someone might want an actual dedicated server for their libraries, but other than simply being a general place to store your HDs, I find them to take up too much space and they also lead to higher risk of drive failure when you're playing off of them directly. I just store all of my backups on multiple external 8 TB drives, and then when there's something I actually want to watch, I just send it to an external 1TB drive and plug that into either my player or directly to my TV. Better to have a single, controlled drive for failure than multiples. And yes, I know backups exist, but then you're having to allocate even more space to backup your backups.
Great video! I didn't know that MKVs were bit-for-bit copies of video files. I always thought that ripping to MKV involved re-encoding which would lose information from the original video file. Do you have any ripping tutorials on your channel? I look forward to more info and insights from you!
I do like the special features on most discs, though. Is there a way to get the best of both worlds by ripping the special features to MKV as well?
You can re-encode content when going into an MKV, but you don't have to. If you use a tool like MakeMKV, then it is a 1:1 remux into the MKV container. There a bunch of ripping related videos in this playlist. ua-cam.com/play/PLPFrhh2ABNefZpLXSEGVIgGP4ze-F4Ic1.html
I would never touch trying to put special features into MKV files. If you want those, then rip to and use ISO files. You're asking for a world of pain and a tremendous amount of time investment to rip and manage special features.
@@Techthusiasm Thanks! I'll watch those.
I appreciate your videos. I have become interested lately in starting a movie collection, and have been buying my favorites, usually used and usually Blu-ray. I may have about 300 movies so far, but honestly don’t see the collection growing much more than 20-30% because I am sort of picky. As someone who is willing to watch a movie more than once, but usually not more often than say once every couple years, I don’t understand the benefit of spending so much time and money ripping the discs to MKV. I would probably rather just pop the disc in a player, tbh.
That said, what are the options to make a backup copy of the disc on physical media in case the original disc is damaged? Can iso files be burned to a new blank Blu-ray, and will that burned Blu-ray play in a normal player? Thanks, and sorry it took me so long to get to the question 😅 subbed
I think we do stuff like setting up the servers in the hobby sometimes because it's just part of the fun for people. It can be a way that we tweak, customize, and interact with things. That said, it can be a lot of time... The same general process to rip here is how you would make a physical backup. Rip to an ISO file, then write that ISO image back to a blank Blu-ray. You're on the right track. I've never done that though, so I don't have specific guidance.
@@Techthusiasm thanks for the quick reply!
@@TechthusiasmI did the BD-to-ISO-to-BD the other day. I bought the Austrian version (Region B) of Spider-Man No Way Home 3D and it wouldn't play in my Region A Blu-ray player. So, I used AnyDVD HD to rip to ISO without the region coding. Then, burned the resulting ISO back to a BD-R using ImgBurn. Played back just fine in the Blu-ray player. Worked like a champ.
Hi, thank you for your video. It mostly validated what I'm doing and getting ready. I've been doing DIY for over a decade, my current production setup uses RPI running KODI to preset ISO containers. It's reliable and works well but it's not wife-friendly (only I can use it). I've been playing around with PLEX and EMBY for a few years but neither support ISO files. Since the writing is on the wall and DVD/BlueRay disks are disappearing I'm moving to MKV and will slowly convert my ISO library to MKV. I run a NAS and have set up EMBY on that server to present the MKV. Many of the smart TVs, ROKU, and others run the EMBY app as well as PLEX but I find EMBY easier to administrate. If anyone has suggestions on an open-source ISO to MKV batch converters please share.
Thanks for the great advice. 2 huge questions: Can I make mkv backups of my 4K UHD discs that retain Dolby Vision (If so how???). Also, if I've made ISO copies already of blu rays or 4Ks, do I need to reload the discs again to make mkv's of just the movie, or can I run the rip off of the iso files?
Love your content and thanks again!
MakeMKV, I understand, does retain Dolby Vision. It's more a matter if the player you use will support the right DV profile. For ripping to MKV, yes, you can rip from ISO. You can load the ISO file into MakeMKV and rip from there.
@@Techthusiasm Thanks very much for your help!
I make 2 copies. First is the .ISO for a full backup of the disk. My second copy is a .mp4 that really shrinks down the image while retaining a certain level of quality. Currently I am limited by available disk space. My NAS has 16TB. I'll be replacing the current disks 16TB disks to expand my available space. At that point, I would opt for the .mkv as my second copy.
Nice!
@@Techthusiasm One thing that I've found out in this process. After making the ISO backup, I use tried using the ISO to make an MKV. It absolutely flew. Way faster than ripping from the Blu-Ray. I started testing Handbrake in the creation of .mp4 and the time was showing 1-hour 15mintues. I need to check today to see how long it took. This just solidifies my decision to make an ISO backup of my Blu-Rays.
I’m planning to put together a media server very soon, and will probably go with both options, even if it sounds a little crazy.
What am a bit unsure of is, does MakeMKV strip the encryption away from the disc before converting it to an ISO file, just the same way it does for MKVs? I wouldn’t want to deal with players not doing anything all because of DRM. That’d be such a waste of time. Also, do you have any experiencing with playing back ISOs with Kodi, with the menus intact? I’ve heard mixed things about its handling. Sounds unstable, but who knows?
Also thanks so much for the videos. They’re fantastic. Keep up the great work!
MakeMKV can't make an ISO. It can make a BDMV folder though (which is a folder-based copy of the disc).
Historically, I have not ever had real good experience playing ISO as full disc rips with menus just using software players. They may be better now though since the last time I had tried any.
Thanks!
@@Techthusiasm Thanks so much for the response?
May I ask what app you use for ripping to ISOs then?
Check out AnyDVD.
@@Techthusiasm I will. Thanks again!
This was interesting. I'm trying to decide between mkv and iso. I just bought a Zidoo and have tons of movies. The Zidoo isn't reading my mkv files decently but that might be because I don't know how to use it right yet. But the movies on my computer are definitely not showing up on the movie section.
I want almost everything in the file. I'm a huge extras fan. Trailers and warnings, not so much. Like you said, extra storage is becoming cheap. ;)
If you want the extra, then stick to ISO for sure. It would be a huge undertaking to rip them to MKVs.
What Zidoo do you have? I got Z2000 Pro
UHD3000. Not impressed with how often it locks up though. I did go with iso files.
I keep the bit for bit on the 4k movies but for the blue ray version ill shrink the video file and passing through the audio files. It will cut the size in half. Video compression quality is far less noticeable than audio compression. As far as time consuming. Rip the movie, through the file in a folder and handbrake will auto process that file.
Cool to have Handbrake run on an automatic mode like that, well done!
How do you make Handbrake run on automatic mode?
@Tim OHearn I'm using it in a docker( unraid). Under the config, there is a watch folder directory. Just transfer file to folder and it will see a change in that folder and then start the process.
@@triplerinse what number do you set the video quality ? I've used handbrake, and what number to set that to is always confusing to me.
A question regarding ISO's: When you talk about burning an ISO file on a BD, do you literally mean to burn an ISO file on a disc or do you mean to create a 1:1 copy with the ISO file?
I mean making a 1:1 copy off a disc into an ISO file.
Hi, what recommended software or program do you suggests for ISO?
AnyDVD is what I have used.
I go insane. I run both, but i have reasons for it. I rip 1 for 1 in mkv for plex. Then I make a iso backup of the disc as I have kids under the age of 4 that think discs are toys. Plus it kinda follows, very loosely, a 3-2-1 backup stratergy. A good chunk of my collection, even used 2nd hand purchases, came with digital codes so i use that for loading onto a mobile device on the go. I find that the digital codes are not as high quality as the 4k disc. for thos titles that i dont have a digital code for i use handbreak to create a mobile version. But I really enjoy physical media collecting especially in 4k. But I think these are background tasks that I run when my main focus is on something else.
I like this, but you could also just do a backup of your MKV file and forgo the ISO. Then keep your disks boxed up safely away if an EMP hits us.
Just curious, since you rip 1 to 1 4k movies, how many movies do you have on your server and what is the total amount of storage used?
There's a decent count of content on my server right now. Into the hundreds plus a number of old TV series I keep that aren't really available anywhere else except older physical media releases. I'm feeling that I'll be slowing down on my use of the server and re-focusing my use into my Kaleidescape. We'll see. More on that coming up. I'm at 31.4TB use of 52.4TB available on the NAS right now. But there is a lot more on there than just movies since I use it for the channel archive and other things.
can you make a video, how do you make a Blu-ray back up from original MakeMKV "BDMV files" and burn them onto to disc to play them on a Blu-ray player that has menus.
You would need some kind of disc burning software, but you'd probably need to package an ISO first as well. I appreciate the request, but to be honest, that's probably beyond my level of interest in ripping.
As far as I know, infuse on Apple TV does not support Dolby Atmos. I believe it will play but not support the ceiling "top" channels. Is this not correct?
Apple TV supports Dolby Atmos from streaming apps. It is not currently possible to bitstream out Dolby Atmos from rips from apps like Infuse or Plex.
I use mkv mostly cause that’s the first one I learned but also it skips all the fluff and gets to the movie. Def been there with failures from the zappiti tho. Soooo annoying when that happens
Yep!
This is what i want to do rip my 4k disk but i have come across a problem and i was hoping you would mention it and that is what external usb 4k blu ray player that is LibreDrive mode so that you can rip straight on the 4k disk with makemkv so it doesn't stop you from ripping it because of protection or flashing your player to make it work. As i am in the uk and there isn't much about this and all the forums are USA compatible players and when i look them up we cant get them in the UK
Check the MakeMKV forums. I think you'll find discussion you need there about what drives, firmware, and so on you need.
infuse for Apple TV can playback Disc Images with menus (Special Folder organization). however it does not have menu playback for UHD. Are you/anyone in this thread aware of any software that's available for Apple TV 4K/ Nvidia Shield Pro?
I'm not aware of any good apps for real menu playback on ATV or Shield. Most folks on the Shield tend to use Plex. I'm not a fan of using ISO and trying to play full disc rips with menus though with simple menu support. Some disc mastering is far too complex for the player software to get it right what you're actually watching.
What about all the behind the scenes content and navigating that?
That might be good for a follow-up video topic, but suffice to say, if you want to keep that stuff then I *strongly* recommend ripping to and using ISO. Getting all the special features off a disc into MKV files is not something I would wish on my worst enemy.
@@Techthusiasm Generally doing that is not too bad as most Blu-rays don't screw you over in having a logical make mkv rip and can have little to no special features at all so those discs are a doddle to rip. Some like Studios like Universal or Sony (Somewhat to a bit of a lesser degree) can be a real ball ache though with multiple copies of the movie being extracted by make mkv as well as multiple files for the extras (should you want them as well). I've got one in particular that I ripped a while ago which is Gladiator (only done Disc 1 of the 2 disc Blu--ray so far) and I wasn't quite as organised with my workflow as I am now but looking back on my original rip files nothing seems to match up in time length for the special features from that 1st disc particularly the deleted scenes which are not that long both collectively and individually but my files are longer or shorter (with multiple copies of the same scene of varying length) that seem to be just parts taken from the main film, therefore it could be a total shit show for those extras but I do seem to have the interactive bits (Roman History parts) done OK (just a lot of them to watch for renaming purposes), therefore I may need to do a re-rip of it to see if I can match up the deleted scene extras and if not then I'll just use the disc to watch them if I can't. Disc 2 may be the same too, so will have to see what happens there. Not looking forward to ripping Peter Jackson's King Kong which has hours of special features but is a Universal Studios release.
Also to pick you up on something else, not all iTunes films have iTunes extras attached to them, such as the aforementioned Gladiator (At least in the UK it doesn't have iTunes extras), even the same studios (e.g. Sony, Paramount) can have films that have iTunes extras, but some others don't, so can be frustrating if you have an inferior version/format such as DVD but the iTunes version doesn't have any special features that are on rhe iTunes version. Also in the US you do have the advantage of your Movies Anywhere digital copy of the film (just the Theatrical version?, don't know as while I've got some myself I haven't gone through playing my films that way, I know I don't seem to have any different versions of the Spider-Man films that have different cuts of the film) so while helpful to have at least one copy of the film it may be not the best version of that particular film leading you to do a rip due to that fact. Here in the UK we lost digital copies some time ago, so ripping is the only way to go (if you want to save keeping to have to put the physical discs in all the time, especially for just the film itself).
Also another thing is that either ISO's or BDMV's may be great not all of us can afford hundreds of pounds/dollars to purchase huge capacity hard drives to store those types of rip files, so re-encoding our rips is the only way to do it to store our films, let alone any special features as well. I know I'm starting to run out of storage capacity to keep original rips and the re-encoded versions together, so I may have to sacrifice keeping the larger film rip part of it and have to come back to it when and if I can afford to buy a huge capacity hard drive/NAS drive. At least I know that if I do need to re-rip just the film it won't be as long as re-encoding that film through Handbrake takes, just will be a ball-ache where certain discs throw up multiple copies of that film or where you have two or more cuts of that film.
I want my copy to have the Languages and subtitles. For example Anime & Korean dramas. Am having problems with my Blu-ray Disc, my DVD did get copied with menu options and languages Japanese, English, Spanish with subtitles of all 3 languages.
If it's a movie where I care about the extras and there are a ton of them I'll do both ISO and MKV. If it's just a small film where I only really care about the movie then MKV
Can i ask which media player do you use to play ripped movies and shows in your pc? is it VLC?
I don't play any video content on my PC. When I do want to play a video file or rip, I just use Infuse on my Apple TV.
I tried to go down the ripping road last year but in the end decided it isn't for me. I have over 1k discs and the time it would take and the cost for storage didn't make sense to me.
I use disc playback in the theater and found the digital copy using Vudu, movies anywhere, etc is sufficient for the other rooms in the house. The digital version has been my go to instead of me doing it myself. Yes, the quality would be better, but I'm not a computer guy and don't have a powerful desktop.
It's an undertaking, for sure, and I think are more reasons not to do this than there are to do it. You have a sweet, easy, accessible, and intentional solution for your content, stick with it. :)
Thanks for a genuine response and not for ripping me apart to go all digital.
I enjoy your content and your comparisons between streams.
Keep the content coming that is relevant to you and you enjoy.
Thanks! I'd never rip anyone for their choices when we are all enjoying this hobby together. Everyone does what works for them and every choice comes with trade-offs.
How about the Menu? Is it possible to create an MKV Menu? I mean, BRay has extras...
No, MKV by definition is video/audio only.
Is ripping ISO files software dependent (MakeMKV or DVDFab)? For example, can I rip an ISO file using MakeMKV?
Yes, it depends on the software. MakeMKV cannot make an ISO. DVDFab can, as well as AnyDVD HD.
@@Techthusiasmsince when I’ve been making ISO’s from makemkv for a while?
I’ve been ripping to MKV ever since.
The only time I’m ripping a main movie to an ISO instead is if I have a Dolby Vision 4K BluRay but only when the forced subs aren’t embedded within the main sub.
The ISO will store both DV streams in a file instead of ignore one stream and put it into a single track like a MKV does.
I’m using a Zidoo right now which is not capable off to encode the second video stream, many other players aren’t capable of doing it neither.
The only one which was able to do it was the oppo 203 I believe.
So no worries for now, but let’s say that they bring out a new series in years where they have two HEVC encoders on board I don’t have to Re-Rip those files and can fully playback these files like I would from a commercial 4k BluRay Player.
But for the rest of it, I’m fully MKV.
Like you stated, more support within players and also more knowledge spread and a wider range of different communities.
Forced subtitle support on most players, and also size differences ranging between 2-3 gb per movie if comparing MKV main movie vs ISO main movie.
Probably due to the fact, as you said in this video the iso stores even if it’s just the main movie stuff like jpeg attachments etc. and the MKV does not.
Excellent comment, thanks for sharing!
@@Techthusiasm thanks man appreciate it.
Keep up your good work!
For any title with forced subs, I'd recommend taking a few minutes to use SubtitleEdit to covert them to a .srt text file and then MKVToolNix to add that the file, mark it as forced and not the PGS track. I do this because a lot of software/players can't do PGS subs as they are a second video file. Plex transcodes the entire movie/show when you play it if it even has 1 forced PGS subtitle. It does not have the same issue with the .srt text file.
The only problem with MKV for me is that there can sometimes be a lot of subtitles and with movies that have multiple languages it can be a problem. Some can be forced and you don't know so you end up having to watch the whole film with subtitles on just to see the other languages. On a bluray it's all handled for you and if not you can just pull up the menu.
I have a bunch of videos here about ripping process and go into detail on subtitle handing. It's a pain.
I save stuff as if iTunes, Amazon & streaming don't exist ... , as streaming services continuously muck around with content .
So for me it's an issue of storage space VS original (Master) VS re-use (how often do I actually re-watch something) .
Sometimes I keep two copies, 1 ISO and 1 MP4 or MKV .
For me, ISO's are for music and classic (or bootleg) DVD's , stuff that at one point was on TV, and someone Tivo'd it (or it's from a VHS format) and it doesn't exist in a legit release . Anything that is important that compressing it again would just make it worse .
Any advantage or disadvantage of using the m2ts format over MKV?
I'm not sure on all the details. I believe there are some minor technical differences in terms what they can hold, some difference in supporting chapters or not, and then generally support by players and playback software.
An m2ts file is when you extract the file while solely contains the film, no ads, trailers etc. So m2ts is better quality than MKV.
Istvan Vilmos that’s not true. An MKV with no re-encoding is lot lower quality than an M2TS with no re-encoding. They are both bit for bit off the disc.
@@Techthusiasm so just stick to m2ts because it is much easier to back up with no loss of quality. Wouldn't u agree? Why make work for yourself when it isn't necessary? 👍🙂
@@istvanvilmos8400 Because it is not any easier to back up. It takes no effort to backup to mkv and it has advantages of allowing you to select only the tracks you want, reducing overall file size. Also, not every device/software supports m2ts files but almost everything does support mkv containers.
I have M2TS and MKV files. They serve me well. I am admittedly unhappy to learn that Panasonic 9000 Disc player doesn't do media files like Oppo did. I'll remain with NVidia Shield Pro for playback. Then again, the Panasonic doesn't handle Vudu just Netflix and Amazon Prime.
I’m relatively new at it, but I learned by doing BDMV/iso. With the Zidoo player you can either play it back as a disc or just play the movie, so I dont see a downside.
The failure point could be if the Zidoo chokes trying to play menus on a specific disc. That happens less on new models and new firmware than it did some years ago, but I still mentions about in owner's forums.
@@Techthusiasm I wasn’t aware of it as an issue, but hasn’t happened yet. The difference between disc playback and just playing the file is really minimal though. Both methods skip all the nonsense. Disc playback goes straight to the menu and file playback starts the movie. Disc playback seems to ensure forced subtitles work though so that’s a also factor.
So I definitely do see why MKV has many advantages but I think it’s more speaking for the tinkerers. Those that want more of a plug and play may want to go ISO. I do like to tinker so MKV might be the way I go. Thanks for making this video Jaremy!!! As always It was very helpful.
Yep, MKV more for a tinkerer for sure given the extra effort. With the extra effort comes some benefits, but ISO has benefits too. Like usual, one needs to pick what works best for them and accept the pros and cons. Thanks!
@@Techthusiasm 1) Does .mkv retain all the hdr meta data and the spatial audio formats like dolby atmos, dts-X etc?
2) Any advantage of .m2ts over .mkv (Channa from Techno dad saves his files in .m2ts)?
3) If I want to remux say my 3d movies with the atmos sound track (I have some movies in both 3d and 4k where atmos exists only in the 4k version), then in which of these formats can I achieve this: .iso, .bdmv, .mkv, .m2ts?
@@srikanthsbk @Techthusiasm please answer the above question!! i would like to know aswell!
1. Yes.
2. There are a few minor nuances between M2TS and MKV. MKV is the generally, more wider compatible format for players.
3. I don't do 3D, sorry.
Except neither Emby or Plex support ISO files.
I only want the FBI warning clip ripped.
This might be the right place to ask:
I'm looking to physically back up BR and DVD discs, basically have a straight disc copies of my movies.
What software would be recommended for that? Free would be the best, obviously.
Hmm, I don't have specific recommendation, but there are cloning tools out there. Check out DVDFab. I think it can do that.
@@Techthusiasm Thank you for the tip, I'll have a look at that.
MakeMKV is your friend.
It's a great tool.
@@Techthusiasm and it free the f you re apply the beta key every month.
I would recommend (as a software developer myself) that if it is a tool you are getting value from over a period of time, you should pay and support the team.
anydvdhd is not free. Can you suggest me a free software for converting to ISO file?
I don't have a good recommendation, sorry.
you didn't even emention or add, BDMV file instead?
If I'm doing a full disc rip, I prefer ISO vs. BDMV. The core idea of both is the same, that is fully retaining the entire contents of the disc. I like ISO in that case though because it is one contained file to copy, move, and manage. Going BDMV means now having this folder with tons of files in it and hierarchy of folders underneath. That makes me nervous copying or moving that package around between storage. Otherwise, again, the concepts here of MKV vs. full disc rip apply whether ISO or BDMV folder.
I use iso
Nice!
@@Techthusiasm infuse on a Apple 4K TV runs ISO 4k rips perfect except no TrueHD or DTS.
In addition that Atmos top layer track metadata is mixed into the LPCM 7.1 stream to your processor which base Dolby Surround Upmixer will pull that height top Atmos channels back out. So I don't miss the zido that much.
Don't get me wrong I want to see the Apple 4K TV support native TrueHD and DTS Bitstream but I don't want a zido and Apple 4 TV boxes.
True that Infuse plays ISO as a file format, but it won't play it with menus. I wouldn't use a non-menu playing app to play a full disc rip ISO without an engine reading the ISO contents and trying to make sure it knows exactly what to do with the contents.
Yes, you can rip a main movie to an ISO as well. I didn't really talk about that in this video. I was equating ISO to just being a full disc image.
I'm with you on the PCM 7.1 output. This bugs a lot of people, but to me it is just the one and only con of Infuse. Compared to all the other plusses, though, I accept that con. I always run my theater preamp in Dolby Surround mode and find the up-mixer quite good.
@@Techthusiasm it works fine for me
I simply love the menus and trailers cuase thats why I even buy and watch blurays
Nice!
Is there a specific drive you are using to rip with MKV? I need something to attach to my Mac.
No, I just rip to and process on the MacBook SSD. Then I move the files to my NAS.
@@Techthusiasm okay I need to buy an external BD drive
Oh, I misunderstood. I thought meant a drive to rip to, not from. I use an external LG in a Archgon enclosure via USBC to my Mac. I bought it pre-flashed for ripping off a seller on the MakeMKV forums.
@@Techthusiasm ah okay I better go over there and find one!
@@Techthusiasmdoesn’t this put a lot of read and writes on the SSD ? Considering you could be writing Terrabytes of data with 10 Blurays or 30 DVD’s
Couldn't you also remove the unnecessary features and still store it in an iso container?
Yes, but IMO, if you're doing main movie only then MKV is generally more compatible with players and playback software.
9:40 The reason why people like myself encode the mkv file after we have ripped it is so that we can watch it on mobile devices without having to set aside 30 gb or more per movie. Also, the reason we dont resort to streaming is because we want to actually own the content. Many of us do not have a plex server and so we cant stream it to our devices when outside of hour home and have to manually place the devices in our phones or other devices. Not to mention that my encodes look better than alot of these streaming services since many of them still use h264 and either compress the videos so much that you see visual artifacts (Netflix) or they dont compress it as much that when streaming it outside of a home network you will notice degredation in quality (Crunchyroll).
That's fair. There is a difference though in "streaming" as you mention it versus how I mention it in the video. You're meaning like Netflix where you do not own content. I'm talking a digital purchase on iTunes which does have you own the content. That is ownership with the ability to download to portable devices with smaller sizes.
So you set up a plex server or similar. The amount of hours of your and your computers time that it takes to reduce the quality on the discs you bought is massive vs the minority of time you need them transcoded. You can do that on the fly or you can do it before you leave and have that smaller file locally on your phone.
And no, your files won't look better that the streaming service because it will be on a small screen. Any minor differences will be invisible. Where it will be worse is on the big screen at home where you have reduced the quality of the source for 100% of the views there.
@@curtisbme no, I did not set up a plex server or similar. The amount of time my computer takes to encode video doesnt really matter to me considering I set it to encode while I am not home, its not as if Im home all day just sitting there waiting for an encode to finish. If I did have plex I could indeed transcode them on the fly but I would still like it all to be encoded regardless. (I still have the mkv files, its not as if Im deleting them). And yes, my files do look better than streaming, specially Netflix. The content that I mostly rip is animated (anime). It’s pretty easy to notice compression artifacts and color banding on Netflix when it comes to anime. Lastly about the video quality being worse on a bigger screen, the largest screen Im likely to Watch content is my 27 inch monitor. The difference between the mkv file and the compressed version I made are not noticeable. I encode video at h265 10-bit 20crf and audio at 128kbps opus(stereo) and 256kbps opus (surround sound)
What I usually do is make an iso of each disc in a set; then from there make two files one for most devices and a second for mobile devices. The iso is for if I ever need the disc again I just read that again compared to putting a disc in a drive and taking forever to read plus it’s easier as a backup having one single file per title.
What free program do you use to make a Blu-ray ISO file?
For ISO, check out AnyDVD HD. It's not free, but I'm not sure you'll find a free ISO tool.
Hello Sir question I download from the internet and store the file on a external hard drive which media player do you suggest that I purchase so I can watch for playback
I've owned some Zappiti and Dune players. They work, but each has their issues too. Zidoo too. I think you should look at the features of each of those and their price points, and decide which works best for you.
BDMV
Cant wait till we get petabyte drives soon. Id say within the next few years, as we're working on DNA/quantum storage breakthroughs. Gonna be awsome.
MakeMkv is great, but just yesterday, I ripped a bluray in which the episodes were numbered IN REVERSE, probably just to mess with people who rip discs. And this is not the only example of that kind. So if storage is not the issue and an ISO player can work (I dont have any), I can understand it can be a good solution as well.
That's the big challenge particularly of ripping TV series to MKV. Prepare to do the work verifying episodes one by one.
They don't do this to mess with anyone, they do it because they don't spend any time thinking about rippers. It is just whatever process the person who mastered the disc did. You should never assume they are in any specific order as they rarely are. The way to do is it to simply open it in a player and go though each episode, looking at the length and matching that to what MakeMKV has. You will rarely have an episode or extra that has the exact same time so it will resolve the issue 99% of the time. For the ones that might be of question, you can rip it and if you get it wrong, quickly fix the name embedded on the file with MKVToolnix.
What about mp4 which convert from Dvd to mp4 to save space my hard drive
I don't re-encode anything I rip. This process is already a significant time investment, re-encoding will make it that much more so. If I were to re-encode something though, a DVD rip is surely the only one I would consider doing because the DVD on disc codec is already inferior and low quality. You can turn an DVD rip into an MP4 by re-encoding the video and keep the audio as is. There is a tool I always used for this called HandBrake. I would absolutely not re-encode HD or 4K Blu-ray rips though.
I went ahead and ripped a whole bunch of movies using MakeMKV before my Zidoo UHD3000 arrived. When it did arrive and tried to play, all I got was the movie posters and none of the movies would play. So frustrated. I used DvdFab with m2ts passthrough and everything works fine. Still wonder what went wrong with the MakeMKV program though. Perplexing. I will watch your tutorials now that I've found this channel.
I don't bother with Digital Codes that come with Blu-rays. I rip my BDs and that way there isn't any D.R.M. and I may play them on any device, or make BD which contains more than 1 video. I've been doing this since 'ripping' has been possible. MKV is for portability, ISO isn't - except that you may mount them for a software player, or burn to disc for a hardware player. I still use ISOs because I really dig the menu structure for discs and themes. You may inject pictures into MKV...but you can't use themes. So, depends on your desires. Ripping also makes it possible to remove the HD junk from DTS. Stereo does very well.
Stress?? If you're stressed about any of this then you need more Zen in your life.
MakeMKV is a lossless process. Lossless is exactly what it means, you don't loose any quality from other video or audio.
BD-Rebuilder also has the ability to make Lossless MKVs but it's the Swiss Army Knife for Blu-rays. Very much worth donating to.
iTunes SUCKS!! Apple screws its users and doesn't allow freedom of Data very well. I do not and will not support Apple anymore.
Re-encoding.. If you want to have several videos or movies on your Phone's MicroSD or connected to a portable USB/SSD then reencoding can be very helpful to have many on one. BD-Rebuilder is excellent for keeping extremely great quality as the original when lowing the file size. With BD-Rebuilder it uses Software mode, the CPU, to reencode and that's better quality than with nVIDIA encoders, but using a newer GPU is much faster. Honestly, most people don't see any difference unless you're a massive nerd like me. Haha!
I keep all my 'ripped' discs on Hard Drives so I may put the originals away for safe keeping. So I use the directory structure vs ISO most times. If someone has a massive library of movies only, there isn't much interaction with other people. That's not a good thing. Wink.
Thanks for the detailed comment!
Simply put - I just want to watch the movie. That other stuff is just a waste of space.
I have encountered Hash errors for Alita and Aquaman 4K discs. How do I rip successfully?
Clean the discs thoroughly and try again, as a next step.
@@Techthusiasm that worked for Aquaman. I believe Alita must be bad disc, so I ripped the Blu-ray version instead the troubled 4K. Question, is the hard drive interchangeable between the Dune and Ziddo? Or will going from to the other force a reformat (removing all my files)?
Hmm, I'm not sure. If the drives are formatted by the device when you put them in, then they will destroy the content on them. If you can put them in and they just read the content, then you would be fine.
ISO for the win!
ISO is so easy. I think the best point in DIY media servers time ago was ripping ISO with one easy click and playing them off a server over network with an Oppo 203. Fully reliable support for disc menus.
Hello, how do I fix aspect ratio? MakeMKV stretches the video. Thanks
Hmm, MakeMKV shouldn't be doing anything with the video. It's a straight 1:1 remuxing of the content into the MKV-file format. Are you sure it isn't your player or playback software?
How does video quality or sound quality from rips compare to an actual physical blueray movie
If you are making a 1:1 rip or remux, then quality is identical.
Im saving everying re-encoded to av1 in a mkv container
Reencoding doesn't mean loss of quality at all. It all depends on the encoder settings. If compressed to much like streaming services do - ya then you have artifacts, loss of grain and all that funny stuff. So you can have smaller files and keep the visual quality of the BluRay. In some cases it is even possible or necessary to improve quality by using some tools prior to reencode. But good made reencodings are definitely not the same crap Netflix and others are offering.
Maybe not the same “crap”, but a lossy compressed copy of a media file will lose visual fidelity, it’s the nature of the process. Now as you said running tools in advance may result in even “better” image, it often there is trade offs for that too.
Also I have a dolby vision tv that also supports dolby atmos I want a player that supports both
This doesn't really answer what the title is all about. Will I have HDR when ripping to a MKV???
Edit: OK I found out myself, HDR can be stored in MKV and it's visible on the color profile definition (can be checked in VLC media information)
The video is about difference and benefits of storing your rips in either format. Both formats will retain HDR, yes.
As far as using handbrake u can shrink an mkv file by a large amount and have no quality loss at all
Not possible if the files smaller the quality is worse you typically lose audio and bitrate
I totally prefer using ISO files. I hate playing MKV. The preference is totally that of the user. I play my iso files on PowerDVD 22. I love the 4K HDR playback I get. To each their own, but for me, it's ISO all the way.
ISO is very nice in many respects. One button rip. No extra complexity of MKV making. And more.
4K doesn’t work on modern computers. PowerDVD relied on Intel SGX extensions which were abandoned and no longer supported.
@@jasonjoyce7835Eh? 4K works perfectly fine on my recently bought PC using PowerDVD 22.
ISO all the way. too much hazzle with audio titles and forced / not forced subs on mkv.
plus VLC can play ISO just as easy.
Large hard drive space isn't as much a premium cost nowadays either.
I rip my 4k to about 25g each and my blurays to 10g. trust me nobody ever says the quality is low.
Sweet! Everyone has their best way to doing this process for them.
Jpg is the best
???
"you use Handbrake? Just stream" So much wrong in this hot take, so much wrong.
It's not. It's an opinion. If you're going to compress your content down further to lower sizes/bit rates, I question why to put in all the effort when a stream is quite good (from the proper service) already and instantly/easily accessible with no work.
I convert mkv's into mp4 using handbrake because I don't own a NAS or use Plex. I only mainly rip anime and put it in a 4tb storage external hard drives so I can play it on my PS5.
Hate to burst your bubble Bro, but you “Rarely” mentioned that MKV has different MODES (and you only [primarily] mentioned the “demux” mode, of MKV).
But it seems like you almost completely IGNORED [or minimized] the “Full Back-Up” [FBU] of the MKV program (also called, saving to BDMV).
So thus the FBU is VERY similar to the 1:1 of an ISO.
BIG “miss” here Bro 👎
IMHO, in the past I would do a ISO, but I found that I always [still] had MANY times of security [blocking] issues.
BUT, having MKV create FBU [making BDMV folders] is MUCH MORE superior, to ISO (as MKV strips out most AACS [security], while ISO rips may still have AACS security issues - unless you [first] do a MKV FBU, then translate that [again] over into the ISO (which to me, is a Very LONG way to do things 🤦🙅♂️).
My Zidoo media player reads MKV BDMV rips MUCH better than ISO’s.
As even you mentioned, you really have to do HARD hacking (on the OPPO) in order to get ISO’s to work (100%).
BUT, I found the MKV [FBU] BDMV rips work WAY…BETTER… (on the most variety of devices)👍👍👍
My 2 Cents 🪙😉👏
The video was meant to be focused on ISO vs. MKV as single file options. I think I did talk about folder rips for a little bit, and yes, you can make them out of MakeMKV which is great. I think there are benefits/reasons one would choose BDMV folders, as you say. I always have preferred a single file option, personally. But I agree BDMV playback can be more reliable or supported than ISO at times.