Maddy 🏳️‍⚧️ - ADHD-powered Feb 27
This is a general invitation to chat (async, likely) or otherwise connect if you have an interest in disc dumping/preservation of CD, DVD, Blu-Ray, UHD Blu-Ray, and/or game console discs, want to get into it, and you aren't sure where to start, what to do, or what to use.

It's something I've been doing for a long time, and it's something I'm very passionate about. I'm happy to help newbies get their efforts off the ground if they want assistance.

I wouldn't say I'm any sort of authority or 'expert', but I've done this for so long that I'm aware of many quirks and 'gotchas' that come with it, and I'm happy to share my knowledge and experience! ​​

Feel free to boost, if you'd like! ​​
Show threadSpongeFeb 28

@maddy

Any advice for non digital formats such as Cassette or VHS? (other than avoid easycap devices :p )

or a good bluray drive for ripping rec?

Show threadMaddy 🏳️‍⚧️ - ADHD-powered Feb 28
@[email protected] Analog formats are a fuck. At least for VHS, I'd recommend into proper head cleaning techniques (nothing with fabric - it can get caught) and the Domesday Replicator project. I haven't dug deep into that rabbit hole myself, but YT channels like Tech Tangents have gone over the project. It's usually used for LaserDisc, but it also works for VHS preservation, from my understanding.

As for Blu-ray, any computer-compatible Blu-ray drive will work with software like MakeMKV (which you can keep using for free on Linux, Mac, Windows with the free Beta key in the forums). I prefer to do a complete decrypted dump of the disc (file > backup in the program when the disc is inserted), and then I make the MKV for my media server from that decrypted disc dump.

I then backup the original decrypted dumps to LTO tape for future if I need them, and I tend to keep the original discs around as well.

UHD requires certain drives, which are a pain in the ass to find in certain areas (especially in Canada, both online and in retail stores, for example). Retail stores like Best Buy and Micro Center in the US are still receiving stock of them, and would be the ideal way to go rather than paying scalpers 4x what the drives are worth.

List of compatible drives can be found here - https://forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19634
Show threadSpongeFeb 28

@maddy

Thank you for the list of UHD drives!! Another couple questions; First is, will a non-UHD drive rip a UHD movie in lower quality, or will it not rip at all? 2nd is I have ripped with MakeMKV before, and ive also used dd to just clone DVDs entirely. I feel like I like cloning with dd better due to the fact I can just drop the iso file on an NFS connected to kodi and have the original intended experience (Special features, interactive menus, shitty java games, just liking archival), and theres less work sorting through files that are ripped. Do you know if that sort of thing works with blu-ray drives? Ive been hesitant to buy one for that reason.

Ive heard about the Domesday replicator before!! but it seemed so hard and expensive i bowed out after reading a couple docs 😭. Do you think itd be worth reconsidering?

Show threadMaddy 🏳️‍⚧️ - ADHD-powered Mar 1
@[email protected]
1. Drives outside of the list in that forum post will not read retail UHD Blu-rays at all, even if it states it will read/burn BD-XL discs, which UHD Blu-rays are based on.

2. You shouldn't DD Blu-ray discs because of bus encryption. Some discs have a BEE (bus encryption enable) flag, which will trigger bus encryption on any drive that supports it, adding another layer of encryption to the disc. Unless you have the key your drive encrypted it with, your dump is totally useless, and I've not found a way to extract bus encryption keys myself. The easiest way I've found to dump complete Blu-ray discs is by using the Backup feature within MakeMKV and making sure that "Decrypt" is checked. Regardless of what drive you have, MakeMKV should be able to work around these protections. Again, UHD Blu-ray is special and requires specific hardware. Regular Blu-rays are trivial in comparison, especially with MakeMKV. I don't know if Kodi will support the menus and such, but all the content from the original disc will be there in a decrypted backup. You can do an untouched (encrypted) backup if you prefer, but it will only be easily decryptable by MakeMKV as the way it stores the data needed to decrypt the contents seem to be proprietary to MakeMKV. I prefer decrypted backups since it won't matter what software handles it, as long as it can handle a Blu-ray structure.

3. As for Domesday Duplicator, if you care to get the highest quality dump possible of a VHS or LaserDisc, it currently seems to be the way to go.
Show threadMaddy 🏳️‍⚧️ - ADHD-powered Mar 1
@[email protected] Also, while DD is generally fine for DVD discs, I'd recommend switching to Redumper as it will not only give you an ISO, but it'll give you a more complete overall dump of the disc, including metadata about disc properties, and it'll list the CSS keys in the log. I've also had pretty good luck with its error correction.
Show threadSponge

@maddy

Thank you for the detailed responses, they are greatly appreciated!! I hadnt heard of redumper, ill look into it. Good thing backing up my physical media has been more of a backburner project for me lol.

Again, thank you! Your answers have been way more helpful than the hellhole that is modern search engines 😭

Mar 1 at 3:16amWeb
Show threadMaddy 🏳️‍⚧️ - ADHD-powered Mar 1
@[email protected] You're very welcome! ^.^
Here's a link to the software's github. https://github.com/superg/redumper
GitHub - superg/redumper: Low level CD dumper utility

Low level CD dumper utility. Contribute to superg/redumper development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub