[mythtv-users] Lossless remux ISO to MKV for .22 video storage groups

[Matt S.]

On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 1:17 PM, Robert McNamara
<robert.mcnamara at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:11 AM, Richard Shaw <hobbes1069 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> For those of us who are not familiar with 0.22 storage groups, could
>> someone briefly explain the benefits of taking an ISO and turning it
>> into an MKV file? If I understand correctly, you're not reencoding
>> anyting, just taking the MPEG2 video/AC3 audio/subtitles and putting
>> them into a MKV container file.
>
> The ability to stream and play them from MythVideo Storage Groups.
> (allowing one to set up a frontend with zero configuration, no NFS/SMB
> mounts, expand it on demand, host across multiple backends, etc.)
>
> Robert

I looked about 6 months or so ago (when it was announced in commits
that iso would not work with storage groups) about converting ISO into
MKV.  What I found is that MKV is very promising, but you currently
can't keep the DVD menu structure.  Originally, I started to rip all
my DVDs several years ago with mythdvd's import functions and only
ripping the main title.  But I had a change of heart and just starting
utilizing the full ISOs for a multitude of reasons - but a large
reason was to experience the full DVD - including the menus.  MKV
specs indicate that it's capable of implementing menus, but the
support isn't really in place yet, and I don't believe they are
capable of fully replicating an existing/authored DVD menu.

If you're ok living without menus and the "DVD structure" (i.e., a
main title on a disk) - then MKV seems like an acceptable solution.
However, I guess my question is "why" .ISO is incompatible with
storage groups.  From what I recall, I haven't been able to find out
the "why", just that it's not currently supported and that it may be
supported in the future.  What is the cause of the limitation, and how
difficult will it be for the developers to eventually come up with a
solution (trivial or extreme)?

I do not want to transcode or spend any additional time trying to
re-encode my existing library into a new format just for a lack of a
very popular container within storage groups. So, I'm likely in a
position where I'll have to skip out on storage groups for mythvideo
for now.  It's kind of disappointing, but I'm holding out hoping that
a solution for ISO support won't be that far behind the .22 release.

I know that for TV series DVDs, the current recommendation is to rip
each episode separately.  But I also like keeping these particular
DVDs in tact.  For example, the Arrested Development DVD menu's show
really funny highlights.  Hope that these kind of scenarios can be
kept in mind as mythvideo/artwork evolves.

Thanks!
Matt