Ripping DVDs Component Bias Conversion Rates
Ripping Delights
I’d be interested to hear about Alan Dexter’s project to rip all his DVDs to a NAS. In particular, the program and settings he used. Was he ripping the movie only or the entire DVD? I am looking at doing a project like this, but I am not sure of the best way to proceed.
–Wes Matthews
EXECUTIVE EDITOR, ALAN
DEXTER, RESPONDS: We’ve covered a few ways of doing this in these very pages, most recently in the December 2019 issue ( Vol. 24, No. 12). I did rip some of the first DVDs using HandBrake, and the rips (just of the movies) were small (all less than 1GB) and looked reasonably good. The thing is, I have lots of space in the NAS I’m using, so size wasn’t much of a problem, so instead I moved over to using DVD Decrypter, which worked with some of the discs that were erroring using HandBrake. So, that’s what I’ve used for everything now. DVD Decrypter is free to download, and really is a single- button ripper for the most part. I haven’t bothered with all the DVD extras, because if I want to explore those, I’ve still got the DVDs. It works well, though, and with Plex serving up the films from the NAS, it makes for a pretty interface, too.
Preferential Treatment
My last MaxPC is in the mail, as they say. I’ll try to eventually cover why.
1) For months and months and months, the three builds at back have featured Ryzen CPUs, AMD/ Radeon GPUs, and more than a few WD drives. Let me put it this way. If you had a contest for a $10K PC with those components, and I actually won it, the next day after it arrived, it would be for sale. Intel CPUs, GeForce GPUs, and Seagate drives are all I use. I shouldn’t write this, but my next Seagate drive that fails will be the first, both internal or external.
2) Don’t remember seeing an article on how the only problem with this (my)
PC is Windows 10 itself. Specifically, the updates. I get the updates. They are needed to protect your PC from invasion. How come Microsoft doesn’t care that, twice in the last 12 months, its update has wiped out the sound on my PC.
320 million people in the country, and I’m the only one this happened to, right?
3) All the other builds on the inside are Ryzen, Ryzen, and more Ryzen.
See #1 above.
4) This machine was a
2015 gaming build. It cost just south of 3K. Except for a misdiagnosis by my computer guru nephew (we bought a new mobo; it was the monitor), I have had no issues other than the Microsoft update- induced ones. That monitor was five or six years old, so no complaints there, and under $200. Not sure why you review monitors that cost as much as my entire system. I don’t know anyone with a $ 2,999 monitor. Or even a $1,299 monitor. Not all your subscribers are PC experts, you know. I’ve had machines since the C64/Atari 800XL days, and I still know nuthin’. I like how many of your articles/ fixes end with “that should resolve the problem.” “That will resolve the problem” would be more reassuring.
I’ll occasionally check at book stores for how long
MaxPC is Ryzen infected. If there is some sort of return to at least 50/ 50, maybe I’ll be back. –Burton Labelle EXECUTIVE EDITOR, ALAN DEXTER, RESPONDS:
Sticking with what you know is fine, but when markets change, and better options are available, you can miss out on better performance and deals if you do so. Obviously, it helps that the components you’ve known and loved have served you well, but plenty of readers will have similar experiences with different brands. To be honest, at this point in the tech industry’s life, if a manufacturer made flaky hardware, it would go out of business pretty quickly. We’re not saying that everyone left is perfect, but there’s no obvious reason to discount a company like AMD just because you’ve always bought Nvidia and Intel. AMD has the lead at the moment, and it’d be remiss of us to not recommend it. The same goes for your preference of hard drive.
The Gift of Gaming
I’d like to echo Ms. Nelius’s suggestion: I recently
replaced my Maingear Rush with a Maingear F131. I couldn’t bear to leave my faithful steed at a recycle center, so it’s now on the desk of a friend from work’s daughter, whose PC died. She’s also a gamer and should get years of use from it. – Dave Szatkowski
EXECUTIVE EDITOR, ALAN
DEXTER, RESPONDS: We applaud your altruism, and hope others follow suit, but can we just take a moment to drool over your new rig? While we get plenty of systems through our hands, that’s a very nice upgrade. But back on message: Yes, we should all gift our old machines, rather than throwing them into landfill.
Video Editor
I am a long-time subscriber since the magazine was called boot. I’ve built my own PC for years, and lately have gone with barebones models built for me to my specs. That said, I’m a little behind the curve on building the latest rigs, as I haven’t had a great need to. Until now….
I need a more powerful rig for editing videos in DaVinci Resolve for my drone photography/ cinematography business. I wondered if you could run an article on creating builds for video editing using Resolve. Three levels—budget, and so on—according to price and power, would be great.
– Christian Nommesen
EXECUTIVE EDITOR, ALAN
DEXTER, RESPONDS: We’ve got something planned along these lines in a few issues’ time. Watch this space. Having a budget, mid- range and high- end build is a neat idea, though.
Conversion Therapy
In the Jan 2020 issue, on the Letters pages, Murray McCullough laments that a build priced at $ 590 costs $785 in Canada. He states, “A premium must be paid for a much smaller market. So sad!”
At the current exchange rate of 1.33 Canadian dollars for each US Dollar (as of February 2020), it seems Murray is paying the same relative cost as US shoppers, independent of market size. You could name almost any item price in US dollars and the price in Canadian dollars will be higher.
The Australian exchange rate is 1.50 Australian dollars per US dollar, so before shipping costs, that same $ 590 US build is $ 885 Australian dollars. Again, not based on market size, but exchange rate.
–Erik Goldoff
EXECUTIVE EDITOR, ALAN DEXTER, RESPONDS:
Exchange rates obviously play a part, but Murray didn’t quote the Canadian pricing—he’d converted the prices back to US dollars after pricing it up in Canadian dollars. There are definite price differences around the world (in the UK, for example, components often have a one-to- one exchange rate, despite the GBP being worth $1.33).
As far as the Australian market is concerned, while some prices do adhere to a straight exchange rate conversion, have a look at something like the Asus ROG Strix RTX 2080Ti, and you’ll see it doesn’t quite add up—we found it for AU$2,278 from www.techbuy.com. au, as opposed to the $1,199 you’d expect to pay in the US. A tad more than the exchange rate would infer.
Streaming Futures
The old system was diskettes, followed by CD-ROMs, then downloads from Steam or GOG. The consoles followed suit. The new way, it seems, is going to be streaming. Which is where I see problems for the gaming industry.
We still have the GOG and Steam games, but my son likes the Xbox, where he can bounce around while playing. I like the PC. So, streaming is coming, I’m sure fraught with its own issues, but $120 a year is cheaper than two discs, especially with DLC.
Here’s the problem: I can take those discs and trade them in toward the cost of another game. I can trade games with a friend, or buy a few used games at GameStop. I can wait for the price to come down before I buy a game. I have not seen this addressed in any article online or in print. –David Loewy
STAFF WRITER, CHRISTIAN
GUYTON, RESPONDS: I agree that it’s a concern. Online storefronts such as Steam have made the jump to digital games easier for many PC gamers, so a decline in second- hand game sales was inevitable before streaming even entered the picture. Console digital stores have also made much progress.
I’m not overly worried, though. People find a way to move with the times; when Netflix came along, people started sharing accounts with friends, rather than paying for multiple ones. Small acts of technological rebellion like this will almost certainly exist on gamestreaming platforms.
Plus, game trade- ins aren’t great value. Online sales (particularly the Steam Summer Sales) are frequently fantastic; if I can download a game on sale for five bucks, why would I choose that over buying a hard copy for 40? Particularly when I can only trade it in for 20.
Streaming isn’t going to replace online storefronts, at least, not for a long time. Second-hand game sales are declining, but that’s been happening for longer than platforms like Stadia and GeForce Now have been around. It’s up to the consumer to find the bestvalue solution for them.