I have a drawer with a lot of DVDs, CDs, and VHS tapes in my room.
These are physical media that my dad bought years ago
just tucked away that we almost never use,
mostly because you can find reuploads online and that things can be watched via streaming nowadays.
Over this summer, I decided that I was gonna archive the ENTIRE collection and put it in my NAS,
partly because I was bored and also because physical media can rot and die away.
If you ever so slightly touch or scratch a DVD, or a VHS videotape,
it can ruin the media,
so it’s best to archive it in a digital format to preserve it.
This will take forever since I have hundreds of media, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
To get started, the first thing I do is to scan or photocopy whatever I can get using my parent's printer.
I connect the printer to my laptop
and I use the ‘Document Scanner’ app on Linux
or the ‘Windows Scan’ app on Windows.
If it has a cover like this, I scan each side individually and then put it together using GIMP.
If it has paper, I lay it down on the machine and I scan it.
If it’s a disc or tape, I just put it face down on the scanner and scan it.
On Linux, I use the built in crop tool in ‘Document Scanner’
while in Windows, I use the default photo app to crop stuff.
You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, I just personally do it for archiving purposes. [Also, it takes a long time]
So onto the actual thing, ripping DVDs to a video file format.
This is already pretty easy since DVDs are digital, it’s in the name.
What you need is a computer, a DVD drive, and a free and open source software called Handbrake (supported on all platforms).
The reason why I’m using Handbrake and not MakeMKV is because I personally find it a lot easier
and that Handbrake compresses the file while ripping it,
which is pretty handy since DVDs have a file size of around 5 GBs.
I haven’t tested this for Blu-ray discs because my laptop doesn’t support it
so I just used the Samsung blu-ray player in my living room
and a HDMI capture card to record it into OBS and I save it that way, anyway.
So once you installed Handbrake, put the DVD into your computer.
Ok so...
Ok it recognized it right here.
Let's cancel.
So on Handbrake, uh, click on open source, and then your DVD.
VIDEO_TS, then open it.
Now you have to wait for it to scan.
Ok so cool, so here's the preview.
You can change the preview by clicking on this, and then you can...
Change it...
Uh you can also change the title.
So if you don't have the right title, you can change it here.
Ok anyways, the first thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna click on, uh, the presets here.
Then general, and then...
Fast 480p30
We don't have to change dimensions or filters, but we do have to change video.
So in video, um, change the framerate to same as source.
And then to constant framerate.
Then to audio.
Uh click on add all to add all the audios.
Uh you can add them all individually.
Then subtitles, um, add all if you want.
Uh you can press reload to, uh, reset it.
Anyways, I'm gonna save the new preset that I just made, so...
I'm gonna name this preset '_tutorial'.
Ok
Oh (chuckle)
Wait let's add them again.
Ok ok
So audio and subtitles, alright cool cool cool.
Chapters...
Tags...
Alright.
Now all we have to do is to export it so
So, it's gonna export to uh, videos, the default folder.
Right here.
But anyways, let's change it to um...
Big Hero 6 tutorial rip.
Ok now let's start.
And it should be ripping or encoding.
So it's gonna take like, ok like, 34 minutes I guess.
I'll catch you up when it's back.
Alright so when it's done, it should say "encode done" right here at the bottom.
So...
It saves to your video folder right here.
Alright here it is right here.
It's 1.2GB so...
That's way less, anyways let's open it.
And...
As you can see.
Yeah it works right there.
So at the top here let's tinker with the menu, so chapter.
So let's go to chapter 4.
There we go, let's go to chapter 7 right here.
There we go nice
On 1
All the way to beginning.
So now the audio track.
Um, let's do uh...
French, let's see.
[Speaking French]
Then Spanish.
[Speaking Spanish]
Uh, subtitles.
[Speaking English]
Ok there- it was delayed.
[Speaking English]
So nice, everything works, um...
Let's go to codec, so...
Oh so it's 360p alright (x2).
Close enough
24fps alright
Ok so cool, we have everything.
We have the chapters.
We have audio, the audio tracks.
The subtitles.
Yeah we pretty much have everything.
But yeah, that's how you rip your DVDs to your computer.
Next is ripping CDs to an audio file format.
Saying that makes me sound like a nerd bruh.
Again, you need a computer, a CD drive, Asunder CD Ripper for Linux and Windows Media Player for Windows.
Let’s get into it.
So once that we have Asunder CD Ripper installed on your computer.
Insert the CD into your computer.
So it detected it, that's pretty nice.
And...
Make sure it's all the correct metadata, so nice...
This is Mozart, and then...
Bach.
Beethoven.
Chopin.
Yeah ok, this is.
This is correct, ok.
So I don't really have to do anything here, it's already pretty good, but um...
I'm gonna go to uh, preferences here.
In general, uh...
Uncheck 'create M3U playlist'.
So uncheck it because it makes an extra file that you don't really need.
It's just a playlist.
Um...
Filenames, you don't really need anything.
Encode, now...
On default, it's OGG.
But, I'm just gonna click on MP3.
If there's an error on MP3, just um, go into your terminal.
'Sudo apt install lame', with an L.
So install that.
There we go, it should work.
Now change it to.
190, like, kbps (kilobits per second).
So yeah there we go.
Um yeah, that's it, just...
Uncheck this, and then check this.
Oh yeah, you can also change the destination folder, but I'm just gonna leave it on music.
But yeah...
Now rip it.
Okay so once it's done, it should say all files are created successfully.
Now close that.
So it should appear in your music folder.
So Various - 21 Greatest Classics.
Let's click on it, so...
Here is all the 21 songs.
Let's click on Chopin I guess.
[Beautiful Chopin music]
Ok so nice.
So it has the meta data, it's...
Ok so there's the title, there's the artist
I don't know what's 'Various', but...
it has the album, the year, the track.
Yeah.
[Music to my ears 🎵]
Yeah nice.
[Music]
Yeah (x3) nice.
So that's how you rip, um, your CDs files onto your computer, your Linux machine.
And yeah there you go, it's pretty easy.
But let's check on Windows.
Ok so now that I have my Windows Media Player on and my, uh, CD inserted.
It has all the correct- (metadata here, so...) The video file was corrupted :( It works in the video editor but not in the video player or render, sorry.
Mozart.
Bach.
Bee- Beethoven.
Uh I can't pronounce it.
Chopin.
Alright nice.
So now it's time to rip it so anyways.
So rip settings, to change stuff to make your life easier while ripping it, so um...
Format... I'll format it to MP3
Then the audio quality to, uh, 192 kbps (kilobits per second).
Now you can go to more options.
So here, you can change the location of it.
Uh...
Oh this is the same settings, alright.
So you don't really need to change anything here.
It's all good.
So uh yeah.
Now time to rip it, so let's press on 'Rip CD'.
And yeah there you go, it's ripping.
Ok so, it's all done.
It should be saying 'Ripped to library'.
So if I go open my music folder.
I can see it has, again, the folder.
And then, ugh, the folder inside it
Okay there we go.
Okay so I closed the media player, let's click on like, open with VLC I guess, Mozart.
Ok so yeah, that's pretty nice.
Chopin.
Ok nice, just how, uh, I remember it.
Mozart again.
Ok.
So yeah, that's how you rip, uh, your CD files to your computer using Windows Media Player on Windows.
Finally, converting VHS tapes to a digital format.
Thanks to ‘The Oldskool PC’ on YouTube, I learned that you need a capture card to do this.
I got mine for 40 bucks on Amazon which is quite expensive,
but I got this one because I wanted to capture the VHS to 60FPS video.
So you pretty much need
a computer, a VHS capture card, a VCR player,
and OBS studio running on Windows because it didn’t work for me on Linux,
I wish it did.
You know how a VCR player connects to a TV via a RCA connector,
and when you put in your VHS tape, it plays the tape onto your TV?
Well, what if you can connect the VCR player to your computer!
Using the adapter I just talked about,
connect the RCA cable to the capture card,
and plug in the USB side to your Windows machine.
Now go to the link or website I put in the description
and download the driver for the capture card from there.
Now that we have things set up,
we can use OBS Studio to record the VHS tape onto the computer.
This will take a long time since we’re not ripping but recording,
and it will take longer if your VHS tape is like 6 hours or something.
Ok so I'm on my Windows 10 main computer right here.
So I'm assuming you guys have everything set up .
You guys have your capture card connected to your computer.
And you have the driver downloaded.
Um you can use any capture card that you guys, uh, want.
I'm not sure if this would apply to everybody because not everybody has 40$ to spend, but anyways.
So we have the hardware, so now let's open up the OBS Studio software.
OBS studio is like the default industry standard application for recording and streaming stuff.
So I'm pretty sure you guys have heard of this software before.
You guys already know how it works.
Anyways, enough yapping.
Following 'The Oldskool PC's tutorial.
What he did was he added a new profile.
So, profile -> new.
VHS Capture
Uh, optimize for recording, next (x2), apply,
Then he added a new scene.
So, scene collection -> new.
VHS Capture
Ok
This makes it so that you can switch between your, uh, stuff.
Yeah it's pretty handy, wait.
Yeah there we go.
So now let's add a new dock.
So, docks -> stats.
I already set it up right here, but yeah.
So this is that you can view your stats, I guess yeah.
Anyways let's go down here to the settings.
This is the real kicker here, um...
So go to output.
Now change this output mode to advanced.
And then recording.
Now we're going to change the recording format to .mp4.
And then the video encoder to x264.
The reason why is so that I can go here to the bottom.
Change the rate control to CRF.
Then change it to, um, 18.
This is so that the file size doesn't become big I guess.
Now go over here to audio.
And then set the default audio to the capture card device.
Now go to a video.
Then change the resolution, so...
VHS tapes or video are typically in the 4:3 aspect ratio, so let's change it, so...
1440 by 1080 if you want 1080P.
Then add if for both fields.
Or 960 by 720 for 720P.
Add if for both fields there we go.
Now change the FPS to 59.94.
And we should be all good to go.
Ok
So now let's add in our video, so...
At the sources right here,
let's click the plus sign, then add our video capture device.
Ok
Now add in our device.
And yeah, there we go.
To make the size larger, you can press Ctrl+F for fullscreen.
So yeah, there we go, it's fullscreened.
Ok so I rewinded the tape, but it doesn't really matter.
Um the video looks a bit bright.
I'm (x2) not sure why.
I think it's just something with the capture card I have, but anyways.
If (x2) it's so bright, you can just change it in the settings, so...
Click your capture card and go to the properties, then you can configure the video.
Uh...
Yeah ok, I can change the brightness here.
Yeah, woah.
Woah, alright (x2).
I'm not sure which capture card you guys have, but you can configure it if necessary.
Ok anyways it looks about right, so...
Anyways, now that you have configured your video you can start recording, but...
If your capture card supports it,
you can turn this video from 30 fps to 60 FPS,
by right clicking on the video capture device.
Deinterlacing, and then Yadif 2x, this is like, the best option.
Oh yeah, there we go, 60 FPS.
Then right click again, scale filtering and then Lanczos, I guess.
Better quality.
So now that I have everything set up, I can start recording it, so...
Let's start yeah, there we go...
Ok so, let's stop now.
OBS saves your videos to the video, uh, folder, so...
Here's my video, let's check to see if it works.
...cười, cho kiếp người tình thương đắm đuối 🎵. ...smile, give a lifetime of passionate love 🎵. (google translate)
Ánh xuân đem vui với đời. 🎵 Spring light brings joy to life. 🎵 (google translate)
The sound works, so yeah, it's a success!
Now sometimes you can see that it drops frames.
Like, some parts.
But when going back to recording it's pretty smooth, I don't know why.
Lo- ư ư look, it dropped frames, for some reason.
Or sometimes if the video doesn't look good,
you can just, um, change the cha-.
I just change the channel.
Press the button on my VCR player
I'm not sure which VCR player you guys have, but yeah...
...đã đến rồi, gieo rắc ngàn hồn hoa xuống đời. 🎵 ...has arrived, spreading thousands of flower souls into the world. 🎵 (gg translate)
Vui trong bình minh, muôn loài chim hót vang mọi nơi. 🎵 Happy in the dawn, all kinds of birds sing everywhere. 🎵 (gg translate)
But yeah, that’s how I archive/preserve/rip my physical media.
This is gonna take me quite a while to archive everything
since I have hundreds of the stuff,
but it’s worth it to be honest.
But with that being said,
my name is Luke,
save your physical media,
and I’ll see you guys next time, bye.