Mastodawn

Dan Fixes Coin-Ops

RIP YOUR DVD COLLECTION FOLKS

Wanted to watch Aliens, the disc plays OK but makes a horrible grinding sound. "OK fine," thinks I, "I'll watch it via other means," well my friends the other means are really really bad

"Oh cool there was a remaster this year" yeah they overexposed it and washed it all out, and as if that wasn't enough they AI'd it and everyone's got weird plastic skin

"Well butts, how about the blu-ray release from the early 2010's," well they didn't AI it yet but they did bollocks up the colours and made it all green because that was a thing in the 2010's

Rip your own DVDs folks 'cause if that DVD starts having problems you might not be able to find a copy amid a sea of gradually deteriorating versions

Dan Fixes Coin-Ops Sep 15, 2024

"I'll just pirate it, yo ho ho!" no you bloody won't, the pirates have rips of the crap blu-rays, who the hell still seeds DVD rips

Good luck sorting out a hundred different ALIENS 1986 torrents to figure out which are the AI-shitty ones and which are only the teal-shitty ones when half of them don't even mention whether they're the proper full length film or the crappy theatrical version where they cut out Ripley's entire daughter

Piracy won't help here, that was the whole point of the post

Rip your DVDs

Dan Fixes Coin-Ops Sep 15, 2024

"Random fedi people stop telling Dan what a torrent is" challenge

Dan Fixes Coin-Ops Sep 15, 2024

SPACE YEAR 2057

🦝 Aw shit hon, our holocube of Aliens (1986) oxidised right in the third MPU core
🐈 oh no, can you just download us a copy?
🦝 sure lemme check the torrents

TWO HOURS LATER

🦝 Well I found the 2010's-era print that got turned teal 'cause that's what they were doing in 2010
🐈 oh god yeah everything from then looked so weird and mossy
🦝 yeah, and then I found one from the 20's that was during that godawful uncanny valley AI phase so that's no good either
🐈 yuck
🦝 I found one from the 2030's when they were doing the face swaps with living actors? Remember that? Some weird rights thing?
🐈 haha oh wow yeah that's a blast from the past
🦝 and that one has a CRT filter too. Anyway 2040's edition brought back the film grain but, well, y'know the 40's and film grain
🐈 oh yeah, MORE film grain
🦝 WAY TOO MUCH film grain, and the LCD filters yeah
🐈 yeah
🦝 anyway I found one from the early 50's with tails, apart from that it's half decent quality
🐈 well are the tails done tastefully at least or
🦝 I mean they changed a couple shots so the marines are using their tails to reload and apparently at some point Ripley goes "Thank God I have this big bushy squirrel tail" but apart from that
🐈 huh that's actually pretty restrained compared with a lot of tail remasters
🦝 yeah this might be the best of the bunch, shall we give it a go
🐈 sure I'll rehydrate us some popcorn

5 minutes later

🐈🦝 FUCKING THEATRICAL CUT

Dan Fixes Coin-Ops Sep 15, 2024

🦝 Hell with this I'm downloading the one from Tom's Tapes
🐈 oh yeah while you were getting the others I read on the video forum that the version that Tom Taped off the Telly in 1994 is the best one
🦝 right off I go

...

🦝 so apparently at some point in the 30's Tom's Tape got used as a basis for colour-grading the subsequent remasters which is how they got rid of the teal, and recently they actually put out a remaster of Tom's Tape in PAL regions
🐈 oh yeah? Ad breaks and everything?
🦝 Yeah, just as it was but with higher resolution
🐈 and tails obviously
🦝 obviously

Dan Fixes Coin-Ops Sep 16, 2024

DVDs are better than blu-rays because if you take your glasses off the DVD looks fine but the blu-ray still looks like orange-and-teal greenfaced bizarro shit

🐇 Sir I know you told us to bollocks The Shining all up but we might have bollocksed it up so hard that Danny's playing with a bright pink Caterpillar bulldozer, is that still okay?
🦊 So long as he's got green hair and his sweater changes colour in the very next shot, yeah go for it lol

Gosunkugi Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops Hopefully by that point we'll have people treating Aliens like Star Wars and have 1:1 versions as they would have been in theatres.

That and holodecks where you can insert yourself into the movie and feel what it's like to be chestbursted.

Nick Phillips Sep 16, 2024

@Gosunkugi @ifixcoinops "Oh no, the holodeck safety failed..."

woof Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops trackers are alright if you can tolerate the poor tagging quality. in practice, though, they're too ephemeral to have a definitive archive. look at what happened to whatcd. most people use slsk + musicbrainz or beetz, but, while this is slightly better in terms of tagging, it doesn't solve the issue of older iterations of a record.

Andy Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops just a salient point that you have pirates and you have archival communities in just about all disciplines. It doesn’t mean you’ll find what you need easily but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist in the digital seed bank like communities that are scattered about.

Your point is also wise no matter what. If you still haven’t digitized certain parts of your media just for a backups sake. Do so. It’s not hard and the medium wears out.

jordan Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops Rip your local library's DVDs too

Ashley (she/they)Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops I ripped mine. Unfortunately I did not have a backup. You can guess what happened next to that hard drive.

Gustavo Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops To be fair, in case the DVDs are completely failing, I guess that's the best choice. Of course, it's hard, but there is always the chance there is someone in some small country still seeding it at 1 kbps. I remember downloading a torrent or two that took a year to finish just because the most seeded torrents were shit and the only good only had just a few seeders.

Or trying to buy a still recoverable DVD on the internet and hope that's really still recoverable, then rip it. It is still hard. Thus, anyone who still has recoverable DVDs should rip as soon as possible.

gws Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops You seem to have implied piracy (and piracy alone) can help thus everyone should be contributing.

DHeadshot's Alt Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops Do you have a software recommendation?

Dave Tabb Sep 22, 2024

@ddlyh @ifixcoinops DVDfab seems the best to me for storing the video as it is on the DVD (no recompression) while retaining subtitles to a mkv format. I had previously used Handbrake, but it recompresses the video and sometimes cannot pull subtitles.

Julian Sep 16, 2024

@ifixcoinops I mean it really depends on the tracker, some allow you to filter for DVD und also things like remaster and stuff...

The Book of Kels Sep 15, 2024

At first I thought you meant RIP as in "Rest In Peace", meaning your DVD collection is just fucked no matter what you do.

thermonuclear small claims Sep 15, 2024

@Nezchan @ifixcoinops ... I only realised that first RIP was rip and not R.I.P. after reading your comment

synlogic Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops yeah I hear you. Aliens is one of my favorite films. so I think I made a pure digital file backup somewhere, years ago

Dan Fixes Coin-Ops Sep 15, 2024

@synlogic if you watch the new remaster make sure you haven't watched a DVD version recently, Oof

synlogic Sep 15, 2024

new versions tend to be worse

one of the rare times I liked remasters was when Paramount revised the orig Star Trek episodes to have better space imagery. It made it more visually lush while still keeping original feel, imo

Johns Sep 15, 2024

Dan Fixes Coin-Ops Sep 15, 2024

@Johns_priv yeah, except all the torrents are for the shitty blu-ray versions, hence the emphasis on ripping DVDs

Duke Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops Howdy. Not to sound too inept, but software recommendations to use specifically for DVD rips? Thanks.

Andy Sep 15, 2024

@DukeDuke @ifixcoinops Handbreak. It’s free and I think available on all platforms. https://handbrake.fr

HandBrake: Open Source Video Transcoder

HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder.

rawe Sep 15, 2024

@DukeDuke @ifixcoinops dvdshrink was the go-to-tool for some time

Air Adam Sep 15, 2024

@stereo4x4 @DukeDuke @ifixcoinops I didn't realise it wasn't anymore 😳 I still use it, and then trusty VLC for playback of the ISO files.

Viral Obscurity Sep 15, 2024

@DukeDuke @ifixcoinops MakeMKV. Its the only reliable option in my experience

It fully rips with disc with no compression. Its free to rip DVD's but needs a license key for Bluray

You can compress it with handbrake after but if you're serious about doing this then you don't want to degrade quality from already low bitrate originals

My warning is some Lionsgate discs take a while to scan because of weird copy protection but this is the case with any software

Lunar 🛸 ♾Sep 15, 2024

@DukeDuke @ifixcoinops VLC does a decent enough job, IIRC.

RalfMaximus Sep 15, 2024

Yes yes, rip your DVDs while you're thinking of them. But also: polite reminder that thrift stores are an EXCELLENT source for cheap vintage DVDs. I've found un-remastered Alien discs for $1 each, in pristine condition.

Also, a good source for $9 DVD/BluRay players if you want a dedicated machine to do that.

Thalass Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops
Wait the green thing was on purpose? I thought my TV was busted. 🤦‍♂️

Dan Fixes Coin-Ops Sep 15, 2024

@Thalass as a bloke who calibrates monitors for a living it drives me up the bloody wall

TheFwGuy 🇪🇺🇮🇹🇺🇸🖖Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops I have all my DVD collection on Plex on a my server. The DVDs are packed in boxes, as backup, probably more than 1000 so far.

MegatronicThronBanks Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops Word

Earthshine --> moved Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops protip: search for the original lasedisc rip. You get the original cut in the best available quality (better than DVD for anything that originally came out before bluray).

You can tune your indexer to filter by format and file size to weed out fakes and lossy repacks.

Proper piratin' is an art these days.

TheZorse Sep 15, 2024

I'm still trying to figure out what's the best conversion quality to use in Handbrake. I converted the same VOB using two different settings and was driving myself crazy switching from one to another to see if there's a difference.

Currently I'm only using my laptop for watching, and I don't want to spend hours ripping and converting only to later realize the quality's not so good on a bigger screen.

Tom Walker Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops It's probably possible to find a 1:1 replacement for the actual DVD? (And then rip it.)

Lools like there are some on eBay for cheap

Alan Campbell Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops Aye done most of mine, especially the Stargate box sets, with this in mind.

Jay 🆘Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops Is there a list of movies that have shitty or controversial Blu-Rays? Surely many if not most are fine

Linza Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops I liked the remaster. It's easier to see. #oldppl

Lance, Enjoying Copious Pollen Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops I've ripped most of my DVDs for safekeeping and convenience.

I haven't done most of the Blu-Ray discs due to extra storage and steps required. There's also the painful decision regarding whether to save the rips as DVD quality to save space. In that case, you lose much of the benefit of the format.

Christian Schwägerl Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops @Lambo What is a DVD?

Mhairi Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops Its not that easy finding something to play them on either ,neither of our two new laptops have a dvd drive and I know you can get plug in ones but I have used those in the past and they arent great ,you usually need extra speakers for some reason .I have a big stock of DVDs because our winter internet isnt always great and we get pwoer cuts so laptops are perfect for passing a few hours without huddling over torches to read

@ifixcoinops i have SO many DVDs somewhere on a house, no idea if they work tho lol

Daniel Collin Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops I just finished ripping all my collection of DVDs and Blu-rays (about 500 discs) just last week. Feels very good to have a proper backup. Most of them worked fine, but a few was unreadable.

lori Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops also RIP THE SPECIAL FEATURES

Lately I've been buying new DVDs purely because people who rip DVDs/blurays for torrents often dont include commentary tracks

Matt Panaro Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops not trying to throw a monkey-wrench, but: aren't DVDs encoded @ 640x480? Is there any way to get at least HD, or are we just SOL?

Dan Fixes Coin-Ops Sep 15, 2024

@eigen with some films you're just plain SOL 😬

@eigen Best you can do is try to stretch the Anamorphic widescreen to actual widescreen for DVD.

Otherwise, Blu-Ray is an upgrade up as it actual widescreen instead of widescreen movie being compressed to the 4:3 video

@ifixcoinops

Chris Cunningham Sep 15, 2024

@ifixcoinops you say this and yet 25 years later i have still never seen either Fight Club nor The Matrix at their actual frame rates

@ifixcoinops i had DVD not work inn a player so unable to watched them, but they rip perfectly fine most of the time. So thanks to ripping them I can actualy watch them now.

@ifixcoinops makemkv ftw

@ifixcoinops I feel like a total zoomer cause I don't think I own a single DVD that doesn't have a video game on it

Mad Alex Sep 16, 2024

@ifixcoinops Decentralized backup copies FTW!

deBaer Sep 16, 2024

@ifixcoinops Interesting. I never had problems with a pressed DVD yet. Even most of my DVD-Rs from 20 years ago still play fine. That's a stark contrast to my LDs that have mostly rotten to complete unplayability.

Mystery Babylon

heart_progress_Hearts

@ifixcoinops True facts

Dio9sys Sep 16, 2024

@ifixcoinops Normally this is where I would say some remark about the 4k blu ray....but the 4k blu ray has AI upscaling and digital noise reduction all over it. I find it ridiculous how the only groups doing a scan of the film or intermediates are the small boutique labels, while the big companies keep thinking "You know what we need? AI upscaled version of this old rip we got on limewire"

gnate Sep 16, 2024

@ifixcoinops I often use the following website to figure out what UPC to look for when I buy used discs:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Aliens-4K-Blu-ray/347320/

They often have reviews that address color/clarity and so much more.

Aliens 4K Blu-ray (Ultimate Collector's Edition)

Aliens 4K Blu-ray Release Date March 12, 2024 (Ultimate Collector's Edition). Blu-ray reviews, news, specs, ratings, screenshots. Cheap Blu-ray movies and deals.

Blu-ray.com

Dan Herbert Sep 16, 2024

@ifixcoinops In at least a few cases, there are fan edits to correct these problems. LotR & Star Wars have done well there. I'm not aware of the same treatment for Aliens but it's definitely feasible. At this point, I think fan edits are the only path to preserving the actual theatrical cuts, since there's not likely to be another physical format for studios to migrate towards where they could course correct.