Starting from Scratch - Help me pick the right file format Options

[Carp]

My Plus should be here today or tomorrow, and I'm super excited to get going with it. One of the main purposes for going with the Plus is the ability to stream files from an external source. For now, it'll be our 1TB external HD, but I am looking to upgrade the desktop and use it for the NAS duties as well.

Right now, I don't have any movies saved, period. All of our movie watching comes from DVD's and Netflix. I want to start putting the kid DVD's on to External HDD to keep them from getting scratched.

My question for you all is: If you could start from scratch ripping your movie collection which program and file format would you use? Keep in mind that I'll be using the Plus, but might want to be able to use a Windows program to watch them on the laptop sometime. Also, I might want to rip some blu-rays in the future.

Thanks!

[WDUser]

If disk space is absolutely not an issue, then I would (do) create exact 1:1 ISO images of all my discs. That way, not only can I play them back with full menus (most of them anyway), just like on my DVD player, but the ISOs also serve as a backup so that I can keep my original discs safe and if required, make an exact copy of the same. The best program without any doubt for this is AnyDVD.

Second option would be lossless MKVs, but with these you won't have the menus. MakeMKV works quite well for ripping/converting both DVDs and BluRays. With BRs anyway none of these players support menus, so MKVs are fine. For simply ripping the BRs (if you want to convert with something else), AnyDVD HD can't be beaten.

Third option if disk space is an issue would be compressed MKVs/MP4s (the format most 720p/1080p HD movies are distributed in). Here something like RipBot264/Handbrake can help convert what AnyDVD HD has ripped.

Further down the line would be Xvid/DivX AVIs, which would be of lesser quality for the same size as compared to an MKV/MP4 with H.264 video, but if you also own a DivX-compatible DVD player, the files can be played on that as well.

[Carp]

Thank you for the information! I looked into AnyDVD and CloneDVD and should get started on that this weekend. What file structure should I use? Is one naming convention better than another?

[WDUser]

File structure? 1:1 ISO as I already stated above. The file/folder structure inside will obviously be the same as on the DVD itself.

As for naming, stick to English characters and you should be fine.

[Carp]

Sorry, that was a bad description. I was wondering how to name the overall file folder for each movie. Something like Toy_Story_3_2010_... Wondered what worked best with the Plus and would make it the easiest to get thumbnails up on the TV

[WDUser]

Underscores, spaces, brackets etc. should be fine. Just steer clear of any funky characters!