Backing Up Dragon Ball DVDs and Blu-rays 2.0

[Robo4900]

MKVToolNix has proven to be an easy tool to use for splitting the episodes up on my later FUNi Dragon Box Z volumes, as well as all my GT singles, Blue Bricks and Kai Part volumes which all read as the long movie length files in MakeMKV. This definitely makes it easier for me to have them all separated out into the individual episodes themselves in both sub and sub audio tracks, as opposed to the 1 to 2 hour long files with all of them mashed together which can get very taxing to watch sometimes.

Another plus about using the program is the individual episodes take up a lot less space on my computer and hard drive in comparison to those initial movie length files, so ToolNix is definitely a great way to go for that.

You can do the same kind of thing in DVD Decrypter too, by going into IFO mode, selecting the PCG containing all the episodes, and unticking all the boxes except for the chapters containing the first episode before ripping, then uncheck those and check the ones containing the second episode before ripping that, etc.

Yeah, i basically just entered the time code marks for the individual episodes in the one part and separated them out that way and it worked good there too.

Yeah, that works too.

There are many ways to rip/backup your DVDs.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

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You can do the same kind of thing in DVD Decrypter too, by going into IFO mode, selecting the PCG containing all the episodes, and unticking all the boxes except for the chapters containing the first episode before ripping, then uncheck those and check the ones containing the second episode before ripping that, etc.

Yeah, i basically just entered the time code marks for the individual episodes in the one part and separated them out that way and it worked good there too.

Yeah, that works too.

There are many ways to rip/backup your DVDs.

Yep, it definitely works and certainly takes up much less space on my PC than all those movie length files with the episodes all together so.

[Robo4900]

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Yeah, i basically just entered the time code marks for the individual episodes in the one part and separated them out that way and it worked good there too.

Yeah, that works too.

There are many ways to rip/backup your DVDs.

Yep, it definitely works and certainly takes up much less space on my PC than all those movie length files with the episodes all together so.

Well, it wouldn't take up less space, since it's the same data, just spread out over more files.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

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Yeah, that works too.

There are many ways to rip/backup your DVDs.

Yep, it definitely works and certainly takes up much less space on my PC than all those movie length files with the episodes all together so.

Well, it wouldn't take up less space, since it's the same data, just spread out over more files.

It's mostly that i prefer having them split up into the individual episodes themselves because trying to watch all those 1-2 hour long files can get pretty taxing on me.

[KBABZ]

It's mostly that i prefer having them split up into the individual episodes themselves because trying to watch all those 1-2 hour long files can get pretty taxing on me.

I often long for this option when it comes to my rips of the Dragon Box for the OG series because it can be a bit of a faff trying to locate a specific episode! Maybe I should bookmark this page...

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

It's mostly that i prefer having them split up into the individual episodes themselves because trying to watch all those 1-2 hour long files can get pretty taxing on me.

I often long for this option when it comes to my rips of the Dragon Box for the OG series because it can be a bit of a faff trying to locate a specific episode! Maybe I should bookmark this page...

I mean, i do still have the movie length versions of the later FUNi Dragon Boxes on my HDD if i want to watch them that way, it mostly comes down to personal preference with me for having the separate episodes.

[Robo4900]

It's mostly that i prefer having them split up into the individual episodes themselves because trying to watch all those 1-2 hour long files can get pretty taxing on me.

Yes, it is rather a lot more convenient having them as individual episodes. Plus, the 1-2-hour chunks they're usually combined into have no real deliberate narrative flow to them, it's just whatever 6 or 7 episodes were next after the last chunk. It's just better to have them individually.

I often long for this option when it comes to my rips of the Dragon Box for the OG series because it can be a bit of a faff trying to locate a specific episode! Maybe I should bookmark this page...

Use DVD Decrypter to rip them, and split them up as I described in my post. Gives you the untouched VOB/IFO format files for each episode, and gives you them episode-by-episode.

[KBABZ]

Plus, the 1-2-hour chunks they're usually combined into have no real deliberate narrative flow to them, it's just whatever 6 or 7 episodes were next after the last chunk.

Haha, you just described my big stickling point with the Manga Review of Awesomeness!

[TheGreatness25]

Hi everyone.

I saw several people saying that MakeMKV is a good tool to back up DVDs and even Blu-rays. I admit that I'm pretty impressed with it. Each episode is over a GB, which seems about right. But it rips them so quickly! I've tried Handbrake, I've tried Freemake, I've even tried copying and pasting the VOB files. By far the quickest method is MakeMKV. I haven't touched any settings. Is this a 1:1 transfer? As in, if I were to watch or take screenshots of the backed up files, that it will be identical to the DVDs? That's really, really good.

[LostTimeLord]

Is this a 1:1 transfer? As in, if I were to watch or take screenshots of the backed up files, that it will be identical to the DVDs?

Yep, the video and audio tracks are left as-is. No re-encoding, just a new container.

[TheGreatness25]

Is this a 1:1 transfer? As in, if I were to watch or take screenshots of the backed up files, that it will be identical to the DVDs?

Yep, the video and audio tracks are left as-is. No re-encoding, just a new container.

Oh, awesome. I took a screenshot of the Dragon Box DVD and the video I just ripped and compared the two and it looked like the file was brighter. Then, I figured it might be because it was a moving shot, so colors might've been different frame-to-frame, so I did it with another scene and it looked great. Maybe in my own doubtful mind, the DVD seemed a little darker, but it was very minuscule.

So, I'm glad that this is the DVD alternative. I tried to throw in a Blu-ray (not Dragon Ball, albeit) into MakeMKV and when I try to play the ripped file, it basically says that it's unsupported :/

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

So, I'm glad that this is the DVD alternative. I tried to throw in a Blu-ray (not Dragon Ball, albeit) into MakeMKV and when I try to play the ripped file, it basically says that it's unsupported :/

Do you have the means to play Blu-Rays normally?

[TheGreatness25]

So, I'm glad that this is the DVD alternative. I tried to throw in a Blu-ray (not Dragon Ball, albeit) into MakeMKV and when I try to play the ripped file, it basically says that it's unsupported :/

Do you have the means to play Blu-Rays normally?

I make it work. I guess said Blu-ray rips don't play in Windows' player, but do play in VLC (I have to check if they play in MPC). Still kind of sucks that I have to convert them to MP4 to play on PS4.

In any event, I'm happy to be able to rip the video. But ultimately would like to be able to set multiple audio tracks for the videos and don't know how to go about that. Subtitles are a total other animal and I doubt that would ever happen lol

For now, though, you guys helped me with the hardest part -- the backup. So, thank you!

[TheGreatness25]

Sorry for the double post, but I just don't get it. From the video that I've ripped, sometimes the colors are spot-on, sometimes the DVD is brighter, sometimes the DVD is darker. I don't understand it. This is coming off of the Ocean singles; the DVD screenshot is first, the ripped video screenshot is second. I used MPC for both.







It's super faint, but there are definitely differences. I know that the colors flicker back and forth constantly, so I might be capturing a screenshot of what I think is the exact same frame when I'm not, but what are the odds of that?

[LostTimeLord]

I think that MPC must be boosting the colors, because the second screencap looks almost clipped on the DVD and normal on the file. It might be automatically adjusting the colors range on the DVD but not the MKV?

[ect5150]

Spoiler:

There are a variety of issues that can effect the quality of your screenshots (even subtle differences in the colors).

I believe someone mentioned it before, but the best way to make a "back up" is to just extract the video and audio streams from the VOB files into another file container format. MKV can typically handle anything you throw at it. Playback of the MKV file though is the issue (as not all hardware based players can play everything... some are better than others...). Playback on your PC is typically universal though... but you still might have the same screenshot issues you mention. Your player may use hardware to decode the disc, but not the file... and the hardware may display the colors slightly differently (for different reasons).

As long as the video/audio stream was yanked from the disc with no re-compression, the show is "backed-up" for all intents and purposes.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Spoiler:

There are a variety of issues that can effect the quality of your screenshots (even subtle differences in the colors).

I believe someone mentioned it before, but the best way to make a "back up" is to just extract the video and audio streams from the VOB files into another file container format. MKV can typically handle anything you throw at it. Playback of the MKV file though is the issue (as not all hardware based players can play everything... some are better than others...). Playback on your PC is typically universal though... but you still might have the same screenshot issues you mention. Your player may use hardware to decode the disc, but not the file... and the hardware may display the colors slightly differently (for different reasons).

As long as the video/audio stream was yanked from the disc with no re-compression, the show is "backed-up" for all intents and purposes.

Yes, pretty much all the ones that i have done in my collection including my FUNi Dragon Boxes all basically play identically to the discs themselves. MakeMKV+HandBrake for the initial copies of both the dub and subbed versions then going back in with MKVToolNix to split them by the individual episodes is how i have done it and they basically are no different from the files on the original DVDs themselves. Funny enough, my Dragon Box volumes 1-3 actually had the individual episodes from the start. It appears it's only starting with Box 4 onward for some reason that it becomes the large 1 to 2 hour long files that i've manually split up into the separate episodes with MKVToolNix.

I just remembered there was a similar thread as this posted back in 2017 well before i joined the forum, that also has some interesting and useful info on the topic at hand as well.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=40034

[ect5150]

Yes, pretty much all the ones that i have done in my collection including my FUNi Dragon Boxes all basically play identically to the discs themselves. MakeMKV+HandBrake for the initial copies of both the dub and subbed versions then going back in with MKVToolNix to split them by the individual episodes is how i have done it and they basically are no different from the files on the original DVDs themselves. Funny enough, my Dragon Box volumes 1-3 actually had the individual episodes from the start. It appears it's only starting with Box 4 onward for some reason that it becomes the large 1 to 2 hour long files that i've manually split up into the separate episodes with MKVToolNix.

Robo4900 said it previously. If you are using DVD Decrypter, you need to select each episode's chapters within a certain program chain. You can easily separate out each episode. Some PC DVD Player software packages out there will display what chapter and program chain is currently playing.

If you guys use Handbrake though, you are probably re-encoding the episode. I guess that's a backup of sorts, just not a lossless one. All in all, if you don't want to get into all of encoding details, and manually dealing with interlaced video and whatnot, HandBrake is probably the best solution out there. For me, it's a 9 out of 10 (but it is missing a few options for encoding).

Also, do you have the Region 1 or Region 2 Dragon Box DVDs? (USA or Japan?) Maybe I'll throw up a screenshot or two to better explain what I mean.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Yes, pretty much all the ones that i have done in my collection including my FUNi Dragon Boxes all basically play identically to the discs themselves. MakeMKV+HandBrake for the initial copies of both the dub and subbed versions then going back in with MKVToolNix to split them by the individual episodes is how i have done it and they basically are no different from the files on the original DVDs themselves. Funny enough, my Dragon Box volumes 1-3 actually had the individual episodes from the start. It appears it's only starting with Box 4 onward for some reason that it becomes the large 1 to 2 hour long files that i've manually split up into the separate episodes with MKVToolNix.

Robo4900 said it previously. If you are using DVD Decrypter, you need to select each episode's chapters within a certain program chain. You can easily separate out each episode. Some PC DVD Player software packages out there will display what chapter and program chain is currently playing.

If you guys use Handbrake though, you are probably re-encoding the episode. I guess that's a backup of sorts, just not a lossless one. All in all, if you don't want to get into all of encoding details, and manually dealing with interlaced video and whatnot, HandBrake is probably the best solution out there. For me, it's a 9 out of 10 (but it is missing a few options for encoding).

Also, do you have the Region 1 or Region 2 Dragon Box DVDs? (USA or Japan?) Maybe I'll throw up a screenshot or two to better explain what I mean.

Yeah, it's mostly that MKVToolNix is what i have on hand and overall it works pretty good for what i have needed it for that being splitting the long files into the separate episodes. In terms of the encoding through HandBrake if it's not a lossless copy it isn't to the point where i can really notice but overall it's a good program overall for converting video files. Also yes what i have are indeed the FUNimation Z Dragon Boxes, so feel free to post some pics to detail your point.

[TheGreatness25]

I wish that VOB files weren't so all over the place. I feel like when I'd try to copy and paste them off the Japanese Dragon Box, they'd be split into like 3/4 of an episode each. So then I'd have to use a program to combine them, then split them. It's ridiculous.

I love the MKV rips because they even retained their chapter markers, audio track options, and subtitle options. Why can't this be simpler? Lol