Backing up DVD / blu ray & CD collection?

[Technique]

The taking time to shrink things doesn't bother me a great deal. Like backing up the PC i just set it to do it while i sleep.

 

I've just now tried out the Amazon Fire Stick. It's a bit strange in that the background music is coming through the TV perfectly fine but there's no dialogue. Well there is but it's ridiculously quiet as in you really can't hear it. I have the TV on normal volume and the background music is playing at normal volume. Let's call it setting 20. The people speaking are at like volume 1. Only happened with the Fire Stick though.

 

Opened up Plex...

 

 

So i see the audio is direct streaming with the fire stick unlike to the TV. The video is still transcoding though. I also don't seem to have that squiggly clicky thing on the right hand side you pointed out earlier when playing through the fire stick. You'll note i did have it yesterday when playing through the TV's Plex app.

[+BudMan MVC]

Looks like you lost your prem, since you don't see the traffic graph either.

 

So in the setting on the firestick you can set what what to do with specific audio formats.. DTS, some systems will sound really LOW because how it converts the 5.1 to say stereo and or stereo and center channel, etc.  Dialogue is normally going to be center channel, etc.

 

If you say you grabbed all the audio streams, pick a different one in your player.. Is there just a stereo stream?

[Technique]

Lost my premium? Wow that trial was pretty poor. Only lasted a few hours!

[+BudMan MVC]

Thats what looks like to me.. Since your not see the advanced dashboard with the traffic graph, etc.  Dude buy a month... its freaking $5...

 

That should give you enough time to decide if you want to have the prem features, be it you buy a year or lifetime, etc.

 

You sure you didn't just log in with different account or something?  Looks like its 30 days

 

https://www.plex.tv/ad/free-trial-plex-pass/

 

 

So here I fired up movie on my phone while work - and one of my friends is also watch something.

 

You can see both are direct play.. 2 different players.. One is my iphone and the other is his tv built in plex app.

 

[Technique]

I only have one Plex account.

I've just checked and the premium is still active. Right at the top of Account...

 

TIDAL HiFi Bundle + Plex Pass

Anyway i did as you said and of course you're right....

 

Firestick sure doesn't like whatever that DTS is. DTS 7.1 and DTS 5.1 .... lips were moving but no sound. I even tried a different movie this time.

 

Switched to AC3 Stereo and bingo, sound is perfectly fine.

 

Don't have such an issue on the Plex app for the TV.

[Technique]

Hmm nope i've just tried the Plex app on the TV and i'm not getting that info any more through that either. Maybe i shouldn't have it on a trial and they've just realised. Who knows.

 

I tested out that DTS audio though and it plays perfectly fine through the TV app. Like you said, there seems to be a lot of try this, try that and see what works for whatever i'm using at the time kind of thing.

[+BudMan MVC]

Prem is Prem be it trial or not...

 

Why your not seeing the prem info on your dashboard?  No idea..

 

Not so much would say try this, try that - this is no way to do anything.. I don't know your player, so I can not tell you hat it supports or doesn't support as direct play/stream.. I do not know how you have your audio setup, or what receiver you have or don't have or how you have it setup with your TV... Your going to want to try a few different codex or do a google for your specific TV And what it can direct play, etc.  Then put your movies into that - or just let your box transcode... Seems your doing ok - but since you know DTS not really doing anything for you - no reason to rip that to the digital file.. Save you some space... DTS-HD can be large

[Technique]

True. However one reason i've ripped everything English is because while the movie will (should) stay, the TV eventually wont. Could be tomorrow, could be next year, could be 5 or 10 years. The replacement, well who knows what it will or wont support, what my audio setup will be at the time. The point being it's better to have the movie being compatible with various set ups and not need it than need (want) it and not have it.

 

Apart from the audio where the director or whoever talks over the film. That's just annoying and nobody wants that anyway. The only time i ever did watch a movie like that was Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury where i actually found it quite interesting hearing about various pieces of history but like i said, that's the only time i've ever bothered with that kind of audio.

[Technique]

I still have PlexPass but not sure what is going on with the lack of the features you mentioned.

[+BudMan MVC]

That is odd, did you try restarting plex server?

 

I have not done anything with that tidal stuff - will never have use or want for that..

 

You can have all the audio stuff you want in the film, you will just need to select the appropriate audio track for the player your using then.. Yeah if you plan on updating your audio setup - then good idea to rip the higher end 5.1 or even 7.1 audio tracks.  Have not played much with it auto selecting stuff.. My roku tv is set to play everything as Dolby Digital +

 

Just looked and 3 different players all using direct currently

[Technique]

Hmm that direct thing is strange how you’re forever direct streaming and I’m struggling to get it. 

 

Havent restarted the server (unless you mean turn PC on and off in which case I have). I’ll look at that tonight. 

 

Not it interested in Tidal myself either but it seemed there was no choice when it came to 30 day free trial. 

 

Converted Ed the movie last night. Took 5 hours so I set it up while I slept. 

First thing I noticed aside from on the PC at least the image quality seems fine is that I messed the height. It was like 1920 or whatever but by 816 instead of 1080. Like you say, it’s all a learning process that takes time so I’ll just do it again another night and keep playing with settings until I think I’m happy. 

 

Shrunk a 29GB file to just under 6GB though. Can’t complain. 

[Technique]

Ah i can't edit my post.

 

Anyway it looks like i've done something wrong as there's no subtitles in the file i created via Handbrake. I thought i'd put them in but i'm obviously doing something wrong. The first file i created i didn't select English, this time i did from the drop down but they didn't appear in the end product for some reason. I want them so i can select and deselect in the movie itself, not have them showing without a choice.

 

Sound shows up in Plex as 2.0 so that's come down. The video quality is showing as 7mb down from the original 30mb. If i have Plex auto select the original file then it seems to settle at 12mb.

[+BudMan MVC]

I would suggest you read some guides on using handbrake.. It wouldn't of messed with the video dimensions unless you told it too.. You didn't just set a hard bitrate which is what I do, 2500 for example... See if you can tell difference it quality of picture.  As to subs - yeah your going to have to add them, out of the box its prob just going to do a foreign scan.. 

 

As to audio - its prob going to downmix everything to AAC stereo, again you have to play with the tab if you want it to passthru and which ones, etc.

[Technique]

1 hour ago, BudMan said:

I would suggest you read some guides on using handbrake.. It wouldn't of messed with the video dimensions unless you told it too.. You didn't just set a hard bitrate which is what I do, 2500 for example... See if you can tell difference it quality of picture.  As to subs - yeah your going to have to add them, out of the box its prob just going to do a foreign scan.. 

 

As to audio - its prob going to downmix everything to AAC stereo, again you have to play with the tab if you want it to passthru and which ones, etc.

Yeah i kinda figured this is going to be something i'm going to need to look in to more on how to use properly (Handbrake). I don't think i can just wing it 🤣

 

I'm actually off work today so i set up Handbrake to do a Super HQ 1080 (compress? correct term?). Anyway i'm an hour in and there's 10 hours to go 😂 I don't think this will be my chosen setting. I'm just trying it out.

 

Regards the settings, honestly they were default. I've had to actively change the second setting to 1080 on the height. Width was correct but default height was 816. I don't know if that's been pulled from info embedded in the video or what. I have a lot of martial arts DVDs and they seem to love the black lines top & bottom. I should try an American blockbuster and see if the same happens. Again - trial & error.

 

Rabbit hole? You weren't kidding!!

 

Though i'm still not put off yet

[+BudMan MVC]

The size of the video is not always going to be 1920x1080, going to depend on the movie.. 1.85:1 and 2.39:1 are common ratios, not your typical 16:9 (1.7:1) There are many ratio's that movie might have been filmed in.

 

If your goal is shrinking... You might want want to look to setting a specific bitrate that allows for the file to be as small as possible and still look "good" to you on your current device.  1080 movies in the 2-4mbps bitrate range seems fine to me.. On 55" TV.

 

[Technique]

Currently having trouble with the subtitles in Handbrake. It appears (for the time being) that the only way i can include them is via external means. I have to go to a subtitle providing website, download the file and put it in to the video that way.

 

Which is strange to me since i've done a direct rip of the blu ray disc, so the subtitles should be within the file somewhere. Indeed when i import in to Handbrake they are actually listed, but when i select them & start the process they're not there in the end product. I managed to get them to be selectable on my TV as an option ... but nothing appeared.

 

Had a look on some videos on YouTube and i like how i can set a queue so i can really set it up to do a few movies and it'll run right through them. That'll be helpful for sure.

 

 

Out of interest, is your library mostly mkv or mp4?

[+BudMan MVC]

just add the track... Give me a sec and find and example and post it up.

 

My library is almost all mkv - there are some left over stuff that is mp4, and even some avi stuff..  But the goal is to be 100% mkv... Its just too easy to work with to have to deal with other containers.

 

edit:  Here.. So if I load a file into handbrade - default subs is juts for scan... Click to add a track and you can pick which track you want that is in your source file.

 

 

Same for Audio, just add another track and pick what you want with that, you can pass it through, downcode, etc. etc.

 

That source file had both english and spanish audio tracks one in 7.1 other in 5.1 with both english and spanish subs..  One of the ones need to clean up   Have no need for 7.1 and spanish was because buddy was coming over who speaks it and we want to see how good the different subs were, etc..  I normally only have 5.1 and english with english subs.. Many friends and family like the subs... I almost never have them on unless watching a foreign language film with english.. I only have a few of those - unless you count Godzilla movies

[Technique]

Got a little problem. Not sure if you'll be able to help as i understand subtitles are a personal preference that not everyone shares.

 

So i ripped a blu ray using makeMKV and out popped a perfectly good rip....

 

 

^^ Nothing wrong with the above right?

 

Now using Handbrake to trim the file i've found that simply selecting the subtitles from the drop down using the source (makeMKV) video file...

 

 

Doesn't actually copy any subtitles to the trimmed video file.

 

It seems i have to go to a website that has subtitle .srt files and download it from there...

 

 

I just cut the actual file in to that image so you can see the full file name.

 

Anyway so i used that and then went ahead and started encoding.

 

All appeared fine at first....

 

 

Until it clearly wasn't.....

 

 

 

 

And at 6 hours or so per encode session, while i do have time, i don't really have time to do this 101 times for each movie as i try to include a decent set of subtitles.

 

Is there no way at all to just pull the subtitles from the makeMKV file? They're listed, obviously, but they don't get put in with the trimmed file.

Hmm i checked a good while after you posted that and you hadn't edited it by that point. You must've added the second half a good bit later as i've only just noticed it.

[+BudMan MVC]

Why would you have to go grab subs?  They are all on your original media... Not sure what your doing - but for help with handbrake your best best is to go onto their forums..

 

I can tell you I have never run into such an issue like you posted.. But not sure what you grabbed.. Could you post up the srt you grabbed and can take a look to what is in it.

 

As to your transcode time, all going to come down to your settings and and your hardware.

 

Let me stress this yet again   This is a very deep and crazy rabbit hole you have found... Its going to be impossible to continue with your journey in this one thread... Or we will be here for YEARS!!! and on page 1002 at some point... I have been playing with this stuff for 10+ years and still have only scratched the surface and would consider myself a newbie

[Technique]

17 hours ago, BudMan said:

Why would you have to go grab subs?  They are all on your original media...

Exactly! So i don't know why they don't get put in the edited file.

 

17 hours ago, BudMan said:

 

Not sure what your doing - but for help with handbrake your best best is to go onto their forums..

True. I was going to do that last night but it was getting a bit late and since i'm registered here i thought i'd try it first.

17 hours ago, BudMan said:

 

I can tell you I have never run into such an issue like you posted.. But not sure what you grabbed.. Could you post up the srt you grabbed and can take a look to what is in it.

I did? It's in the 4th image of my last post.

17 hours ago, BudMan said:

 

As to your transcode time, all going to come down to your settings and and your hardware.

True. I don't mind the 6 hours (well i do but some things you can do little about), but what i want to avoid is multiple lots of 6 hours just to get a working set of subs.

17 hours ago, BudMan said:

 

Let me stress this yet again   This is a very deep and crazy rabbit hole you have found... Its going to be impossible to continue with your journey in this one thread... Or we will be here for YEARS!!! and on page 1002 at some point... I have been playing with this stuff for 10+ years and still have only scratched the surface and would consider myself a newbie

Yeah i was thinking of asking this in the software forum actually but by the time i got round to it i'd forgotten and was in a rush. Still, so long as i have the original file then i can keep working at it.

[+BudMan MVC]

12 minutes ago, Technique said:

Exactly! So i don't know why they don't get put in the edited file.

 

Because you didn't tell it too... I posted a picture on to do it... Or you didn't pull it from the original when you use makemkv?

 

What srt did you download?  So can actually look inside it, etc. Not a screen shot..

 

 

[Technique]

https://subscene.com/subtitles/avengers-infinity-war-extended

 

Avengers - Infinity War

[+BudMan MVC]

How hard would of been to post up the srt?

 

Here is your issue.

 

That says only if forced - ie foreign lang sections.. and to burn them in.. Oh and what format are you changing to - if your using handbrakes default MP4, I do not believe you can even pass over PGS subs like off your bluray.. So that wold be why no subs at all listed, etc.

 

And why again mkv is such a better container

 

Again your best bet is going to read the guide on handbrake... There is zero reason for this thread to now turn into a guide on using handbrake

https://handbrake.fr/docs/en/latest/advanced/subtitles.html

 

Which one did you grab there are multiiple - did you grab the colored?  normal SRT would not have fonts called out, etc.

 

 

[Technique]

To answer your question, I tried posting the .srt. It said invalid file. 

 

Then an I posted the file name and received a word in the ear for doing so. 

[+BudMan MVC]

Yeah this whole thread could degrade into unwanted conversations..  But we as long as we make sure we are talking about your own media, etc.  But it could be tightrope

 

Handbrake and containers and the different formats are their own rabbit holes to be sure.. I do not really have a lot of experience with subs to be honest - have only recently started pulling them, and encoding them... I personally other than forced for foreign language parts of movie don't use them.. And foreign language films for example.. But friends and family that have access to my plex that only has really grown in the last year with the change to my nas and better internet that could accommodate more users have been asking more for them - so been making sure any new stuff I pull them, and have been going back an adding them when I redo a movie to mkv or updating it resolution, etc.

 

If its foreign lang film, I normally just hard code - godzilla collection for example... I have a couple of those that were dubbed in english as well and have both Japanese and English audio tracks.. So in that case then I leave the subs soft so you can either watch the dubbed version or original audio with english subs.

 

You have come a long way   You will get there.. its just not going to be something that happens in a couple days - especially if you don't have a lot of free time to play..