Creating a media library - file quality??

Withbellson

JustAnotherSaver said:

Olinda - something omitted from your post is a why.

"Do this do that" ... that's all fine, but why? Why this instead of that or that instead of this?

Example - you say use FLAC. Why and not high bitrate mp3? You say use mp4 - why, and not .mkv?

About 2GB per film. That's fairly generalising is it not? What does that even apply to? I'll give you 2 examples - Avengers Infinity War blu ray rip I have at 33.1GB, Jackie Chan's Dragons Forever DVD rip I have at 4.75GB. One only needs compressing approx half to get to the 2GB, the other much more. Little bit of a difference.

K-Man - I don't know whether it's the same as comparing original to compressed but when I've been watching a movie through Plex and it's been having a bit of a hard time playing (buffering) then I'll drop the image quality from original to say 12Mbps. I don't know at what point I start seeing a difference but I know I can go down 1 or 2 options and not see a difference in terms of image quality.

Now whether that's my eyes or whether that's the TV perhaps, I don't know. Maybe if I had a new TV (or just different TV) then dropping down to 12Mbps or thereabouts I would see a difference ... or maybe not. Like I said, it could be my eyes, I've no idea (and also no spare TV).

The actual ripping of the discs doesn't take that long. I've had a play with compressing using Handbrake and that's a different story. IIRC it was about 5-8 hours.

Regards streaming - I appreciate everything is going that way but I'm not a fan of it. I'm quite happy being old fashioned and wanting to have possession. If i want to watch any movie I own then it's not a problem. If I go streaming only then does the streaming service have it? Maybe, maybe not. Is it to be paid for or is it free as part of my subs?

Not only that but I have quite a lot of Asian made martial arts movies for example. Now if I want to watch Titanic (stream) then I'd be fairly confident that the streaming service would have it - it's a big name movie. The martial arts movies though? Not quite so confident. Enter the Dragon with Bruce Lee yes, but Armour of God by Jackie Chan? Maybe, maybe not. I remember about 15 years ago it was hard enough to get Wheels on Meals (Jackie Chan) on DVD, nevermind a streaming service. I don't think it's as hard to get now as it was but I'm sure you appreciate the point I'm making.

There are advantages to streaming, yes. There was a movie I wanted to watch through Plex & it was buffering like mad. I found it on Netflix and watched it fine.

But still, I'd prefer to have a media library of everything I own.

Example:



If you already own it, choose from the already ripped versions if there is something suitable. If nothing suitable; create your own..

k_man

I agree, the difference between 4K and a good HD is hardly noticeable (apart from with an A/B test) especially as HD gives options for effective higher bitrate (20GB rip is a high bitrate)
(Albeit deep down you know it could have been 4K😉)

Can you keep HDR if you rip to 1080? And does using 20fps not lead to some 'judder'? (Or do you have smoothing enabled?) I know some players/TVs don't like certain non native frame rates.

@JustAnotherSaver
Additional variables to add to your considerations

Bitrate

FPS

Resolution

HDR

Soundtrack format

The can may be opening...

JustAnotherSaver

Withbellson said:

My advice would be to rip as little as possible. meaning that you should find a source that already has the titles that you own and download them from there. 
It will take you ages with EAC to rip and convert your CD collection to a lossless format. Then there is the visual media.

I wouldn't know where to start to be honest.

Well I would, in a way. Things like iTunes and Amazon should have a good chunk of what I own in terms of music but then I'm not going to be paying twice.

So then you get in to discussing free content and that's dodgy site talk which while we can't discuss it here, I'm not actually against. What I am against is being on these sites, getting 1001 pop ups, having some crappy files end up on my PC and then I need to format the drive.

Almost like I'm talking from past experience eh?

Withbellson said:

Anyone who suggests that they cannot detect the difference between lossy MP3 and a lossless format, has very poor listening equipment; that including their ears and brain.

Well I know for sure my listening equipment isn't top of the range. Is it "very poor"? Maybe. Depends who's judging.

What I do know is if I listen to a CD and then rip the CD in to 192bit mp3s I can't tell the difference.

While I'm not officially deaf, I do know my hearing is not the best, as my wife will jump at the chance to agree. It's one of the reasons I watch the TV with subtitles if subtitles are available. I can mostly hear what's being said but it annoys me when there's bits I can't make out.

My job also probably doesn't help with the ears. I'd dare say if I had my ears tested then there'd be damage on the lower end (deep droning tones) where the higher pitched side I'd probably be ok. My wife will be the reverse - also due to her job.

Withbellson said:

Visual media can be dealt with similarly. Choose the quality you want from what is already out there, unless you have a relatively small collection and want to treat it as a hobby.

Visual media I'll assume you mean pictures?

I don't really have a concern with that side of things. I don't have enough images for it to warrant even being questioned. I can store all of that in the quality it's currently at - I don't need to compress in any way.

JustAnotherSaver

Withbellson said:

Example:



If you already own it, choose from the already ripped versions if there is something suitable. If nothing suitable; create your own..

1) How do you quote from page 2 when you're on page 1 quoting from page 1 already? Old forum was much better.

Anyway

2) Looking at that screenshot and having wild guesses that could be wrong, I think that's touching on what I said about questionable sites.

>>>IF<<< I'm correct with that, then I don't doubt any title will be available to find somewhere.

And as I said, I'm not whiter than white. The rights and wrongs of these sites really don't bother me at all.

But it's not like hopping on YouTube. These sites come with risks. I've had a looping pop up attack and junk on my PC.

Speaking of loops, I've been out of the loop of this kind of stuff for years as the hassle of it all put me off. As such I don't know how to navigate around them properly while keeping your PC secure.

And as we can't discuss it here....

k_man said:

@JustAnotherSaver
Additional variables to add to your considerations

Bitrate

FPS

Resolution

HDR

Soundtrack format

The can may be opening...

Yes indeed.

When I started out I was warned by a guy on another forum. His words were that there's no end to this rabbit hole, it is incredibly deep, are you sure you want to go down it?

I've not turned back yet though

If I retain the physical media then it's not really much of an issue. It can be an inconvenience at best.

However a lot of the blu ray versions I have, I no longer have the physical media which is as much as I'll say on that one on an open forum.

k_man

JustAnotherSaver said:

Withbellson said:

Example:



If you already own it, choose from the already ripped versions if there is something suitable. If nothing suitable; create your own..

1) How do you quote from page 2 when you're on page 1 quoting from page 1 already? Old forum was much better.

Anyway

2) Looking at that screenshot and having wild guesses that could be wrong, I think that's touching on what I said about questionable sites.

>>>IF<<< I'm correct with that, then I don't doubt any title will be available to find somewhere.

And as I said, I'm not whiter than white. The rights and wrongs of these sites really don't bother me at all.

But it's not like hopping on YouTube. These sites come with risks. I've had a looping pop up attack and junk on my PC.

Speaking of loops, I've been out of the loop of this kind of stuff for years as the hassle of it all put me off. As such I don't know how to navigate around them properly while keeping your PC secure.

And as we can't discuss it here....

k_man said:

@JustAnotherSaver
Additional variables to add to your considerations

Bitrate

FPS

Resolution

HDR

Soundtrack format

The can may be opening...

Yes indeed.

When I started out I was warned by a guy on another forum. His words were that there's no end to this rabbit hole, it is incredibly deep, are you sure you want to go down it?

I've not turned back yet though

If I retain the physical media then it's not really much of an issue. It can be an inconvenience at best.

However a lot of the blu ray versions I have, I no longer have the physical media which is as much as I'll say on that one on an open forum.

I was torn between worm can or rabbit hole 😄

Olinda99

For those who asked

1. i recommendeded flac for CDs as it is lossless and therefore future proof. You can also convert the flac to .mp3 if you wish for playing in the car or wherever but keep the flac too. I prefer to play the flac files but others may prefer the convenience of mp3 (smaller filesize, plays everywhereish)

2. mp4 format for video is widespreadly played - much more so than eg mkv. Resolution of 1080p would be fine for most people. You could go higher but it would use more disk space.