Easiest program to convert DVD for plex?

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murrayj48 wrote:

I know there is a particular file name format that plex requires but i just can seem to find the right one.

 

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You can use pretty much any filename you want, though Plex might not be able to tag it properly. Plex recommends MovieName (release year).ext - for instance Batman Begins (2005).mp4  Of course it needs to be in a folder that is part of the Plex Library.

If you use the web interface and select the library, there is a "browse by folder option" which might help locate the file.  The screenshot below should help you find that option.  

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murrayj48 wrote:

 

The current dvd i have converted is in a .mp4 format

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What tool did you use to convert the DVD to MP4?

You could try installing MediaInfoXP from here: http://muldersoft.com/#mixp  and use that to analyze the mp4.  If you aren't sure what it is telling you, you can copy the results to a post here - leaving the filename out if you wish.

This particular packaging of MediaInfo has no adware, so it's a good one to use.

https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/categories/200028098-Media-Preparation

https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/sections/200098856-Naming-your-Movie-media-files

https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/sections/200059498-Naming-and-Organizing-TV-Shows

The easiest program to rip a DVD for use in PLEX would be "MakeMKV"  Just Google search for it.  It's a great program to easily Rip DVD's, HD, DVD's and Blu-Ray's to a MKV file.  Which is just a container for MP4 type files.  

You can leave it at that or better yet,m use a program called Handbreak and you can compact the file even smaller.  Doing this takes a lot more time then just ripping the disc.

Make sure you name files correctly.  Generally for a Movie File, I have all my movies in their own Drawer.  So for a Example, I have a Drawer "Movies" and in that Movies Drawer I have one called "Alien (1979)"  Then inside that drawer is the Movie "Alien (1979) (1080p)"  It's a MKV file as are most of my movies.  I have Drawer for TV and Music content also.  

In Plex, You should have created a Library.  Mine is just simplely called MOVIES.  The Library Type should be Movies.  You then want to add a folder or folders where your movies are located.  Since PLEX is running directly from my NAS, the location of my movie files are in "/data/Media/Movies".  PLEX will search there, find "Alien (1979)" drawer, look in that and find the Video file.  Since all my movies have a release date, it helps with PLEX getting the correct Data.  After there there are movies that a remakes of older movies.  So data could end up wrong and then you would have to manually correct the data PLEX got wrong.  This was it's almost always right.   If there's a Movie with "The" at the begining like "The Cannonball Run", you should name it "Cannonball Run, The) or in my case "Cannonball Run, The (1981)"

For TV Shows, you want Name, Season and then Eposode Number. So say you have "Homeland"  So you would call it "Homeland S01E01"  That is Season 1 Eposode 1.   So you go on to S01E02, S01E03, up to S01E24 or whatever the last one is.  Then next season, it's S02E01 and so on and so on. It's really pretty simple.  Sometimes 2 episodes are combined into 1.  So you would do something like S02E02-03.

Again I keep each TV show in it's own folder.  In fact I keep each season in it's own folder in that folder.   PLEX has no problem finding any of it.  

Plex should find a mp4 file just fine and know what to do with it.  So my guess is you don't have PLEX setup to find it in the correct directory you have the file in.  I've been using PLEX for years, so it  seems pretty simple to me.  You'll figure it out.  You can also get help here at the Plex forums!!!  https://forums.plex.tv/

Since you're here, I assume you're running PLEX on your NAS, in which case you may not have your directory setup correctly.  So again I'musing "/data/Media/Movies" Without the quotes in PLEX of course.  So Movies is where most of my Movies are located in that Drawer, anf in there is Alien (1979) drawer and in side that drawer is the movie Alien.    On my 516 NAS my Media stuff is located in /data/media/   though just /Media/Movies/ seems to also work.   So I think this is the issue you may be having.   If you have the directory wrong, PLEX will never find anything.

Normal Settings

Format: MP4

Video Codec: x264

Framerate: Same as source

Constant quality: 50-70% depending on how much loss you are willing to take for size. 62% is my sweet spot.

Anamorphic: Strict (Loose is also ok, maybe better for space concerns)

Keep aspect ratio: Off

Crop: Auto

Audio Settings

Track 1: AC3 passthrough (This setting maintains compatibility with other devices like AppleTV/PS3.)

Track 2: AAC with Stereo mixdown 96 bitrate (again compatibility for when the file is played in not Plex- not needed if file is only for Plex!)

Advanced Settings

Reference Frames: 5

Mixed References: On

B-Frames: 5 if live action, 15 if animation

Direct Prediction: Spatial

Weighted B Frames: On Pyramidal B Frames: On (if things don't work turn this off first)

Motion Estimation Method: Uneven Multi-Hexagon

Motion Estimation Range: 16-32 (more towards 16 when its live action drama, more towards 32 on actiony animation)

Subpixel Motion Estimation: 2-9 (more towards 2 when its live action drama, more towards 9 on actiony animation)

Analysis: All

8x8 DCT: On

Deblocking: Do that in main settings if needed

Trellis: 2 (might be most important settings I have found for quality)

No DCT Decimate: Off

CABAC Entropy: On

If your DVD movies are home made without copy protection, you can directly download Handbrake to rip DVD to Plex comaptible settings listed above, for commercial DVD movies with copy protection and region code, you will need a third-party DVD Ripper application such as DVDAid to complete the conversion.