MakeMKV: new tool to convert DVD/Blu-ray/HD-dvd directly to MKV

[Mike Chen]

Originally Posted by setarip_old

@RunningSkittleI've already questioned this in Post #4 of this thread...

I was referring to the "rip lock" "feature" that most drives implement. MakeMKV uses regular scsi read commands to read the disc and should be limited only by drive speed.

[setarip_old]

@Mike Chen

In light of the fact that presently, the vast majority of videos sold are in standard DVD format, I would yet again suggest to you that it is of paramount importance that you promptly update your program's ability to deal with the most current DVD copy protection schemes - such as (As I've mentioned earlier in this thread) that used for "Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian".

To ignore this necessity would, essentially, lead to obsoleting your very promising program while it's still in the development stage...

[Mike Chen]

Originally Posted by setarip_old

@Mike Chen

In light of the fact that presently, the vast majority of videos sold are in standard DVD format, I would yet again suggest to you that it is of paramount importance that you promptly update your program's ability to deal with the most current DVD copy protection schemes - such as (As I've mentioned earlier in this thread) that used for "Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian".

To ignore this necessity would, essentially, lead to obsoleting your very promising program while it's still in the development stage...

I could not agree more. In fact, the new version is available at http://www.makemkv.com/download that should be able to open all latest DVD discs. Thank you a lot for testing and reporting such problems!

[setarip_old]

I continue to be impressed by the speed of your program;>} However, I just used beta 634 with the R1 version of "Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian" and can report the following:

1) Created a properly processed 6.7Gb "Title00.mkv", representing the movie in its entirety

2) Erroneously created a "Title01.mkv" 2.3Gb, representing 50 minutes of the same movie

3) Properly created two small additional titles containing "extra" material.

Also, I re-examined the files created by beta 630 of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" - and discovered that it included an erroneous "t00_Title_0.mkv" of approximately 300Mbs, representing approximately 13 duplicated minutes of the beginning of the movie.

I'd suggest that some further refinements appear to be necessary and look forward to your updates...

[Sukrim]

Hm, what about menu support? I know I know, no Player can handle them... but maybe it's kind of a chicken-egg problem and it might be useful to have them...

On the other hand, Matroska 2.0 is supposed to hit this year (I hope they make it!) so maybe it's better to still wait a bit...

[Mike Chen]

Originally Posted by setarip_old

2) Erroneously created a "Title01.mkv" 2.3Gb, representing 50 minutes of the same movie

Originally Posted by setarip_old

Also, I re-examined the files created by beta 630 of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" - and discovered that it included an erroneous "t00_Title_0.mkv" of approximately 300Mbs, representing approximately 13 duplicated minutes of the beginning of the movie.

Actually, nothing can be done about it. Let me explain.
DVD discs contain audio/video clips. These clips are called "titles" and one disc can contain a maximum of 99 titles. The titles are split in "cells" that can contain any length of audio/video data. Theoretically any title can reference any cells multiple times in any order. There are two common cases. Most series disks contain "n+1" titles: for example three 30-minute series and 4th title containing all series together. Also it is used when encoding movies with alternate endings - the disc will contain three cell sequences: beginning of the movie, fist ending and second ending. In all cases MakeMKV will show all titles as they were defined by disc author. It is up to the user to choose which one to copy.

Regarding titles and cells, structure protections do two pretty evil things:
- They add "fake" cells that are skipped during playback but cause disc read errors. These can be detected and avoided.
- Create "fake" titles that reference parts of main movie and fake cells in random order. These are valid titles that one can select from DVD player menu (hardware player menu, not main menu) and watch! Sometimes MakeMKV can't figure out if title is fake or not. After all disc was authored in that way.

In your case the disc author put a separate title containing first 13 minutes of the movie on disc. It was put there not because it has any value by itself but in order to confuse DVD ripping software and make disc contents to appear bigger (while both titles share the same data they are referenced by different files on disc so disc size is increased). However MakeMKV can't detect that - only the human can distinguish it from a case when first 13 minutes were put into separate title because of some special value. It is up to you to delete the junk after the copy or recognize it and uncheck corresponding titles before.

Sorry.

[setarip_old]

Actually, nothing can be done about it. Let me explain...only the human can distinguish it from a case when first 13 minutes were put into separate title because of some special value.

Please try not to sound condescending - especially when you're wrong.

Every good ripping program (e.g. DVDFab HD Decrypter, DVD95Copy, AnyDVD, etc.) worth its salt is capable of identifying and automatically eliminating such "extra titles", without any decision making required by the user.

I'd like to continue to be supportive of your effort, because I believe it has great potential. However, if you're unwilling to acknowledge its shortcomings, I'm afraid true success may eventually prove to be beyond your grasp.

On the other hand, if you can fully develop the BluRay aspects of your program to the point that it is a legitimate competitor and more vis-a-vis AnyDVD, you'll certainly be viewed as a hero ;>}

It would be good to hear from any members who have attempted to use your program with either BluRay or HD-DVD discs...

[gn2]

Originally Posted by setarip_old

Please try not to sound condescending - especially when you're wrong.

Every good ripping program (e.g. DVDFab HD Decrypter, DVD95Copy, AnyDVD, etc.) worth its salt is capable of identifying and automatically eliminating such "extra titles", without any decision making required by the user.

I'd like to continue to be supportive of your effort, because I believe it has great potential. However, if you're unwilling to acknowledge its shortcomings, I'm afraid true success may eventually prove to be beyond your grasp.

On the other hand, if you can fully develop the BluRay aspects of your program to the point that it is a legitimate competitor and more vis-a-vis AnyDVD, you'll certainly be viewed as a hero ;>}

It would be good to hear from any members who have attempted to use your program with either BluRay or HD-DVD discs...

I'm not a computer engineer, but I've tried this program on BD and HD DVD and it didn't work AT ALL. Gave a single line error is all it did...

[Emp3r0r]

Originally Posted by setarip_old

[Color=Blue]
Every good ripping program (e.g. DVDFab HD Decrypter, DVD95Copy, AnyDVD, etc.) worth its salt is capable of identifying and automatically eliminating such "extra titles", without any decision making required by the user.

Is it possible that these other programs manage an internal database of which titles to ignore for each disc? So these programs are essentially human powered as well?

[setarip_old]

@Emp3r0r

Is it possible that these other programs manage an internal database of which titles to ignore for each disc?

Not only is it possible, it's likely that SOME rippers are based on such a premise.

However, in light of the fact that in some instances, a two year old version of a ripping program (RipIt4Me) successfully ripped many DVDs containing a NEW copy protection scheme that didn't exist when the version of the ripping program was created, as did a 7 month old version of another ripper (DVDFab HD Decrypter v.4.120), this could not be the case for all ripping programs.

Also, whatever the reason, proper and complete ripping of standard DVDs should be performed by the ripping program and transparent to the user...

[setarip_old]

@Mike Chen

It would be beneficial if you'd post detailed notifications of program updates/modifications (such as Beta v.646) to this thread.

[Thunderbolt8]

whats the difference compared to eac3to?

[SvT]

HD-DVD -> Gives lots of erros and ends up with trailers no sound.
Blu-Ray -> Gives lots of errors. Disk is BD+ so I guess further testing is useless.

Let me know if there is any log file / additional information you need.

Greets.

[setarip_old]

@Mike Chen

As mentioned in general terms by "SvT", I met with total failure when trying to backup HD-DVDS - all are "Advanced VTS" - all generated a multitude of the error notification "VC-1 video stream without TFCNTR information is not supported, sorry. Few HD-DVDs use it anyway.
Failed to decode audio/video data for title #0 - invalid mux or internal error, title skipped.":

Casino, Four Brothers, Ratlle & Hum, Harry Potter-Order of the Phoenix, Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy, King Kong, Last Samurai, Beowulf - and the list goes on.

Also as noted by "SvT", the titles that the program did manage to generate were SILENT versions of some trailers and some extras.

Additionally, for Beowulf, after generating all errors, it indicated "Unable to open disc".

Additionally, for Rattle & Hum (which momentarily made me optimistic), after generating "just a few" error messages (no sarcasm - just a few, compared to the other discs), the program indicated that it was about to generate a single 16.1Gb title. After about 20 seconds of apparently doing so, it terminated with "Unable to open disc".

The program was not able to generate the main title of any of the discs listed here (Not even a silent version). All discs were tested using beta versions 630, 634, and 650.

Please advise...

[setarip_old]

Additional observation:

Although selecting a ripped DVD from a hard drive works perfectly, "MakeMKV" will not accept a ripped HD-DVD from a hard drive.

Please advise.

(No postings to this thread by the author since 12/17/08. Let's hope it's not being abandoned, as its potential is enormous)

I just checked out the forum at the makemkv.com website. It looks like it's become dormant, in that it has recently been flooded with SPAM...

[setarip_old]

Sorry to note that MakeMKV failed to process the main movie portion of today's release of the R1 version of the standard DVD, "Bangkok Dangerous"...

[chadamir]

seta, he's posting on his forum, despite the spam. I just checked.

[setarip_old]

Since he/she initiated this thread, seeking advice/input/feedback, it would be nice if he/she continued to respond to the postings here...

[Emp3r0r]

I tried this program on Star Wars epIV but it failed. There is no error messages in the log.

[setarip_old]

@Mike Chen

It really would be appreciated (and proper, on your part) if you'd respond to the posts in this thread that you started.

Thank you