I’m well aware that I can rip most Blu-rays with MakeMKV and then convert to mp4 with Handbrake; however, the former just rips everything raw from the disk so the file size is humongous and the conversion via Handbrake for just a single file is terribly long and puts a lot of strain on my computer.
I’ve heard that EaseFab LosslessCopy is decent, but they only have a Windows and a Mac version, and I’m unsure how well it’d run under Wine.
I am willing to pay for it, but only as long as it’s not a subscription thing. Has to be a one-time payment.
Does anyone know any decent Blu-ray ripping software that fits these conditions and run well on Linux? Specifically, it would be either Pop!_OS or Linux Mint. (I’m still using Windows because I want to figure out some software alternatives before I do so I’m not caught with my pants down, so to speak.)
I always set the output framerate as “Same as source”, and when I do that the only options change from CBR & this other one I can’t remember to CBR & VBR. When it does this, it defaults to VBR. Should I change it to CBR instead?
Do you mean Constant Framerate and Variable Framerate? Because CBR and VBR mean Constant/Variable Bitrate. Anyway, I always set my stuff to same as source as well, with a constant frame rate. I don’t think this really matters because the video you are feeding to Handbrake is itself probably constant framerate, and therefore the result ends up being constant frame rate even with the variable frame rate option.
as far as I know MKVs tend to have smaller file sizes typically than MP4s for the same media
This is not correct. MKV and MP4 are just container formats. The stuff that actually makes up the size is what goes into those containers (the video stream, audio stream, and to a much lesser extent the subtitle files, chapter markers, and any other metadata).
I’ve read that mkv is more tuned for backups of TV shows & movies, and mp4 is more tuned for backups of web content (due to the streaming thing you mentioned)
MKV is an unbounded container. You can pretty much stuff anything into it, which is why it’s used for archiving. MP4 technically isn’t limited to its normal expected codecs through some clever use of metadata, but it is basically unexpected and mostly unsupported. It’s certainly unconventional to use it like how you would use an MKV.
mkv is both an open format and libre, unlike mp4 which is only the former
This is true, but not realistically relevant. Mp4 is old. I don’t know if it still has patents but judging by the date it was defined I would have to believe most if not all of its patents are expired. Though I am just guessing at that. But even then, that’s not important because basically everything plays mp4s because its open format is implementable by anyone. Given everything you’ve said, though, I agree that MKV is probably the better format to use.
I mainly see my backups first and foremost in an archival light
Then you should not use Handbrake, unless you plan to keep two copies of your media. MakeMKV should remux the blu ray discs directly into MKVs (I’ve never used it to do blu rays, but I have used it with DVDs to do this job). If you do anything to your media with Handbrake, it’s not really an archive anymore, it’s just a good copy. For many people this tradeoff is worthwhile because if you encode it at high enough settings you won’t get any visual loss but you will get a much smaller and more easily manageable file. But I would only call it an archive if it’s untouched from the source. That’s what the term “remux” implies: Taking the original video/audio stream contents and putting them into a new container such as MKV.
As an aside comment, I don’t understand how the term remux came into use, since a multiplexer selects a single signal among multiple…
Do you mean Constant Framerate and Variable Framerate?
Sorry, what I meant is under the Video tab in Handbrake, there’s the Framerate (FPS) setting and below that are 2 bubble options. Due to the profile Handbrake starts up to (I haven’t gotten around to setting up my own preferred profile just yet), the framerate is set to “30”, and the two bubble options are “Constant Framerate” and “Peak Framerate”.
However, when I change the framerate from “30” to “Same as source”, the two bubble options change to “Constant Framerate” and “Variable Framerate”.
What I wanna know is if you know why that changes? And if so, what does it mean?
This is not correct. MKV and MP4 are just container formats. The stuff that actually makes up the size is what goes into those containers (the video stream, audio stream, and to a much lesser extent the subtitle files, chapter markers, and any other metadata).
facepalm Holy bicycles, I knew that. Seriously, I did. I don’t know what the fuck was going through my head to make me forget that. Lol. Sorry!
Then you should not use Handbrake, unless you plan to keep two copies of your media. MakeMKV should remux the blu ray discs directly into MKVs (I’ve never used it to do blu rays, but I have used it with DVDs to do this job). If you do anything to your media with Handbrake, it’s not really an archive anymore, it’s just a good copy. For many people this tradeoff is worthwhile because if you encode it at high enough settings you won’t get any visual loss but you will get a much smaller and more easily manageable file. But I would only call it an archive if it’s untouched from the source. That’s what the term “remux” implies: Taking the original video/audio stream contents and putting them into a new container such as MKV.
This is all true. I think rather “archiving” may have been a poor choice of word on my part, though it is partly accurate. I do think of this as an archive, but not so much that it needs to be an exact 1:1 ripping. As long as it is perceptually the same audibly & visually, it is largely good enough. I guess by “archive”, I mostly meant as a backup; I didn’t necessarily mean it as archival-level quality. Sorry about the confusion! That was on me!
Edit: a word
Honestly I’m not sure about the frame rate part. Just my observation from my own encodes is that as long as you set the frame rate to same as source your result will have the same frame rate as the source, regardless of the radio options beneath it. I have never encountered a video with a variable frame rate, nor have I ever seen Handbrake produce one, regardless of setting choices.
