Ripping your own DVD's

So what's the point?

1. Rip a physical DVD to create a single playable file. 
2. File can then be placed onto a device that does not actually have a DVD drive.  iphone, adnroid, tablet, Smart TV etc etc
3. Install the single file onto a DLNA server so that it can be streamed all around your home to multiple devices. Smart TV's, smart phones etc etc..
4. Install the single file onto a DLNA server to avoid replicating the file onto several devices in your home and therefore avoid hogging up valuable disk space on multiple devices.
5. Essentially backup your physical DVD
6. Regain shelf space of physical DVD's and chuck them in a box and push them away in the garage or under the bed etc... :)

I have settled on Handbrake from https://handbrake.fr/ It is available for most operating systems. After trying a few around, I found this to be simple to configure!

If you're ripping the file for the purpose of playing on a Samsung Smart TV like I am...  you see the field where it's showing seconds??? Make sure you select "seconds" in the drop-down. If you don't you may find that the fast-forward and rewind features on your TV will not work! 

For the record, I'm going with *.mkv files..

Hickup.. Just discovered the windows version is not scanning one of my DVD's and so I can rip it with the Windows version.

Lucky I also run Linux which works a charm!

Later I will log how I improved audio quality as I'm noticing 5.1 Surround does not seem evident.
Still pretty sweet!

To be continued...