Introduction
Storing blu ray discs on your PC is a fantastic option as it can eliminate the hassle of inserting disc every time, and you can stream them to watch on other devices too. But it is not a simple task. To do so, Blu-ray discs are ripped on the computer, and there are few ways to do it. One of the easiest and accessible ways to do it is by using MakeMKV and then reducing their size. Although it is easy, it’s not a short one. It will take a lot of patience and time to go through the whole procedure.
In the following article, we will discuss everything about the ripping of blu-rays on your computer.
Requirements
All the basic components you need to burn your discs are
- MakeMKV
- Blu-ray discs drive
- handbrake
Blu-Ray Drive
Most computers are equipped with a DVD drive, but they cannot copy Blu-ray discs. A Dvd burner can not rip Blu-ray discs. Hence you have to buy a Blu-ray drive and connect it with your PC through a USB port.
Makemkv
It is a free-burning software that is used in converting blu-ray CDs into an MKV file. The application available right now is a beta and but it is a very effective tool that extracts information from Blu-ray discs and saves it on your computer.
Handbrake
Handbrake is another freeware that helps to shrink the size of the MKV file. The blu-ray drive contains a lot of information, and when you rip it into an MKV file, it is 20-30 GB. This is a huge file, and sometimes the computer doesn’t have a lot of storage on the hard drive or will run slowly because of it. Thus reducing the size of the file by handbrake is your ultimate choice. The resulted compressed video file will work better and fast.
Ripping Blu-Ray
Now that you have all the basic requirements, you are all set to start your journey. But beware, it is a very agonizingly slow procedure.
Burning Into Mkv File
The first part is to rip the video file into the MKV file using the following steps.
- Insert the disc into the drive.
- Scan the titles by selecting the blu-ray icon through the MakeMKV software.
- Select the items you want to rip. The actual movie will be of the biggest size.
- Choose the hard drive of your computer with the largest free space. Start the DVD ripping by clicking on the green arrow or start button. The DVD burner will take approximately 25-30 minutes to convert the video into MKV completely.
- Once the disc burning is completed, you can safely eject the cd. The movie is now in MKV format with massive file size. So you can watch the movie directly by any media player on your computer, or you can put a little more effort and free up some space on your PC.
- You can rip as many movies as you want following the same steps.
Compressing the Size
All your ripped files are almost 20-30GB in size. They not only take huge space on your PC but also make your computer slow while starting or running other programs.
It is thus better to shrink these files and help your PC. There are a lot of software available for this purpose. Handbrake software is a free and easy way to do it.
- Firstly you have to select the file you want to compress using handbrake. You can scan multiple files at the same time and convert them simultaneously.
- Once the handbrake has uploaded all the files, you can choose which files you want to convert now and later. Select the title of the file and drop it down in the source section.
- The software will then ask about the location you want your file in after conversion. Select the browser and choose your location in the destination section.
- Now you have to choose quality settings.
The higher the resolution and quality, the more detailed are the special effects. So what quality you choose depends totally on how detailed and practical you want the movie to be. Action movies are not very exciting if their quality is not as good as they are designed to be high quality. On the other hand, simple comedy or romantic movies can be seen in low quality as well. Although the picture quality will be low, the drama and fun will still be there.
There are three predefined settings present in the software.
- SuperHQ and 1080p
- SuperHQ and 720p
- Very fast 720p
- SuperHQ and 1080p
This is the highest quality and highest resolution. The movies converted into this quality will have the most detailed special effects and keep the video in its original form. This setting is best for action-filled movies like Transformers and Avengers.
- SuperHQ and 720p
This setting uses the highest quality video with a highly compressed resolution. But still, the video quality will not be bad as it is in Super HQ or HQ. If you shrink the movie into Vey fast1080p, the movie quality will be too bad. Thus lowering the resolution but maintaining the quality is still better. This setting is good with comedy and drama movies like pride and prejudice or any other low-budget movie.
- Vey fast 720p
This setting is of the lowest quality with the maximum compression of the file. If you don’t care about the quality and just want a small-sized movie file that will free up space on your computer, this is the setting you choose. It is good with a low budget and low rating movies like
- If you know little about the settings, these predefined ones should be enough. While if you know, more you can do more advanced settings like setting subtitles, framerate, video enhancing, etc.
- Next, you can choose the format of the final product. You can either select MKV or MP4 format. If you want to play the movie on PC, MKV is a good option, while if you want it to stream on your mobile and other devices, Mp4 has fewer compatibility issues. You can also add these files to any home media server like Plex, Kodi, etc. so that they can be accessed by anyone and played on any device.
- After selecting the format, click on the start button and start encoding the file. If you want to convert multiple files simultaneously, you can add them to the queue one by one and start encoding all the queued files after selecting options for all of them.
- After the conversion is finished, you are all set for the fun. Don’t forget to delete the original rip file.
Now just sit back, relax and enjoy your movie night.
Hey! Do You Wanna Buy Best External Blu Ray Drive Then Click Me.
Conclusion:
Hooking up a Blu-ray player with tv is a costly affair, while a DVD player is affordable for everyone. But still, some people find movies on blu-ray more fun. So if you are one of them and don’t want to spend money, there is nothing wrong with ripping blu-ray movies and enjoy them on your computer screens. Ripping an entire series can be a time-consuming process, but it has its advantages. It saves money, frees up space from hard-drive and makes your PC work smoother.
