These are some questions about ripping that are more conceptual or workflow than technical but would like to know the habits of others. I will * the options that apply to me.
With foreign language discs do you:
A. Rip the dub for your language *
B. Rip the default language
C. Rip default language with subtitles for your language
Do you typically rip extra features along with the main features or episodes?
Say you get a disc like HBO Generation Kill disc 2 (but there are many like this); on that one there are three "episodes" or segments of the story, each a little more than 60 minutes in length, not that it matters. Then there is a fourth track of 202 minutes which is a sum of the other three parts. Nothing different about the content, just one single volume. Which would you rip, the three single episodes and skip the single volume version or just the single long volume*? or all?
When grabbing special or extra features, where do you draw the line? For example, trailers; if it is a new unseen movie/show/etc I might rip it but if its just something that I would see on TV anyhow its like "meh" and I skip it*.
What about commentary? For me when they were new it was a hoot and I listened to and archived most of the ones I liked. Now there are so many devoid of content plus its a lot of extra work for questionable gain...
Finally, audio. I am not talking language tracks but rather sound system type. How many of you would select one sound system over another? Which one? Would you feel safe calling your choice a default?
Thanks in advance. You learn so much from watching how others work.
Jeff
When you rip do you...
Re: When you rip do you...
When dealing with foreign language features, my preference is to rip in the original language with english subs - a lot of great films are let down by an abysmal english dub.
I rarely bother with encoding extras... unlike the main feature they usually don't stand up to repeated viewing and aren't worth the time and effort. There are of course exceptions - any shorts associated with a Pixar release, or the 3.5 hour documentary on the latest release of Blade Runner. This also applies to commentary tracks. The simple truth is while extras may help sell a DVD they're only rarely watched.
When ripping TV series, I prefer to rip the individual episodes rather than the amalgamated title - this is only there for the "play all" functionality on the DVD so you get correct elapsed/remaining/total times.
Your choice of audio codec comes down to your playback device... if it supports AC3, the AC3 passthrough is the way to go. Otherwise, it comes down to the restrictions of the container format (i.e. MP4 only supports AC3/AAC audio).
I rarely bother with encoding extras... unlike the main feature they usually don't stand up to repeated viewing and aren't worth the time and effort. There are of course exceptions - any shorts associated with a Pixar release, or the 3.5 hour documentary on the latest release of Blade Runner. This also applies to commentary tracks. The simple truth is while extras may help sell a DVD they're only rarely watched.
When ripping TV series, I prefer to rip the individual episodes rather than the amalgamated title - this is only there for the "play all" functionality on the DVD so you get correct elapsed/remaining/total times.
Your choice of audio codec comes down to your playback device... if it supports AC3, the AC3 passthrough is the way to go. Otherwise, it comes down to the restrictions of the container format (i.e. MP4 only supports AC3/AAC audio).
Re: When you rip do you...
Cheers Ted and I guess I mis-phrased my question about episodes versus single tracks; allow me to be clearer by way of an example: I have a mini-series (< 10 "shows") that is meant (I think but thats an opinion) to be seen end-to-end. Think of The Stand and how it was laid out; yes there were segments to it but the obvious intent was sequential viewing. The mini-series I am doing now is exactly like that; on this disc there is just over three hours of content present; one version in 3 1-hourish segments and one that is the whole thing w/o interruption. I can find myself in situations where having one form or the other has advantages. Either method could be emulated in the other via playlists/selective use of chapters and other such nonsense but anything I can develop a norm for I can automate 
and thats what I do.
Thank you for your remarks on extras too; they are not the goldmine they once were but there are exceptions to be sure. Some commentary such as that on Army Of Darkness or Evil Dead is priceless too
Jeff
and thats what I do.Thank you for your remarks on extras too; they are not the goldmine they once were but there are exceptions to be sure. Some commentary such as that on Army Of Darkness or Evil Dead is priceless too
Jeff
Re: When you rip do you...
Admittedly, it may be appropriate to use the amalgamated track for a mini-series. If you're looking to standardise your ripping procedure I'd still go with encoding the individual episodes since this is how I'd handle a regular series.
Regarding extras, I'm always willing to make exceptions for the mighty Bruce.
Regarding extras, I'm always willing to make exceptions for the mighty Bruce.
Re: When you rip do you...
BTW Ted I have coded into my rip system a sort of scan mode or "sniff test" where on command it will do a prescan first, just grabbing the first chapter or two (configurable) and ripping at low quality. Even on something loaded with extras this takes very little time. Anyhow when done it pauses and gives me a chance to quickly sample the different extras to see if they are worth saving or not. I have a file auto-generated with a menu-like structure so any tracks I don't like I simple delete from this. Then save and the real rip starts up using the good video settings, etc. This approach has revealed some real jewels that might have otherwise been missed as well as saved me from ripping some pretty lame stuff. Hard drive space is cheap, not free.