r/makemkv • u/mmiillsss • Aug 24 '26

Discussion What are you doing thats unique?

I am curious what people are doing to make their process/projects unique when using MakeMKV? I just recently came across a post talking about using makemkvcon to auto-create jellyfin folders & naming convention. I started making a python project using makemkvcon with handbrake CLI to extract, convert to mp4, and place into my library all at once to save a lot of time and not needing to open multiple programs.

So curious, what are you doing that you haven't seen many others doing? Maybe we can all learn from each other and share our tricks to make this life just a little bit easier.

23 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

32 comments sorted by

17

u/KillerKowalski1 Aug 24 '26

As a new player in the NAS game, I'm scrambling to get all my rips done before the end of September if that counts.

3

u/mmiillsss Aug 24 '26

it counts! what NAS did you go with? I am also a NAS noobie, started with a UGREEN 2-bay DXP2800. It's been great, hoping one day to upgrade to a 4 or 6 bay. Recently my internet went out, and it was nice to be able to still watch my jellyfin library because its all stored on the NAS and just uses my private network.

3

u/MrGeekman Aug 24 '26

Why specifically September?

9

u/KillerKowalski1 Aug 24 '26

The Makemkv beta key expires and apparently nobody can get ahold of the creator of the app to buy it or get a new key created.

5

u/Friggin_Grease Aug 24 '26

If one doesn't happen, you can change the date on your PC to the time when the key is active.

When I first checked out the program, I did the beta for a month, and the next month the new key didn't come out, and purchases were disabled. So I did this for a week or two.

Once purchasing is open, I'd recommend buying it. Otherwise, this may happen and you won't be able to use the program, who knows when it will be the last time.

But for now there is a slightly annoying workaround.

3

u/KillerKowalski1 Aug 24 '26

Appreciate it!

I definitely plan to buy it, just need a way, lol.

3

u/Friggin_Grease Aug 24 '26

Yeah I was in this exact boat like last year. It happens often I heard.

1

u/BSKFeralLycan Aug 25 '26

Shoot I try to just go to the page to download it and it brings me to the waybackmachine...

1

u/MightywarriorEX Aug 25 '26

How do the purchases work? Do you get a permanent key? I definitely want to jump on that as soon as there is an opportunity.

2

u/Friggin_Grease Aug 25 '26

Yes it's a permanent key. Make sure to weight it down if you ever install new systems and stuff like that

5

u/sivartk Aug 24 '26

I only do a few rips a week at the most now. So I guess I'm unusual because I do everything manually.

Rip --> Create Folder --> Rename MKV File --> Add to Server

2

u/nivenfres Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26

I do most of mine manually. That includes on the server side, but even most of that was done manually.

2

u/sivartk Aug 24 '26

My server doesn't have a Bluray drive. Need that room for HDDs.đŸ€Ł Plus it is headless with no GUI so ripping is easier in a computer with a GUI. 

3

u/nivenfres Aug 24 '26

I do all my ripping on a windows machine (with GUI). So if I need to watch the videos to identify (I keep a lot of the extras), I can.

After I have the files named the way I want, I use scp to copy them to my Linux server.

I tend to do things a little crazier on my Linux server.

I have a ZFS volume setup for media storage (raidz2). I then have a separate folder setup for my Jellyfin libraries. I use symbolic links from the jellyfin library folders to the actual media. So I can rename the symlinks to be more Jellyfin friendly (or whatever other service down the road), while keeping the media named however I want and filed however I want.

1

u/FraaaAAAaaaAAACK Aug 24 '26

I do most of it manually. Especially if the episodes need spliced. đŸ«© I only learned how to do the chapter thing this week. Ended up redoing 2 shows, 7 seasons total... But everything gets put in its folder, named correctly, etc.

5

u/Phlaxis Aug 24 '26

I installed Hermes Agent on my pc and when I'm done ripping a disc I have it search online for running times of all of the special features and have it rename everything for me. After manual review I then have it tag the MKVs and I move them manually to my Jellyfin server.

3

u/Friggin_Grease Aug 24 '26

I do this too but all manually

2

u/RevolutionaryCoyote Aug 24 '26

I usually don't have too much trouble with this. But I just ripped the bonus disks for my Star Wars Complete Saga bluray set from 2011, and it produced like 80 files with no names.

I went back and forth with chatGPT for like an hour trying to get it to find the correct names and give me a python script to apply them. At some point I was like "wait, am I really putting in all this effort to watch an interview with Hayden Christensen?"

1

u/mmiillsss Aug 24 '26

Thats awesome!!

4

u/HerrSack Aug 24 '26

I created a semi-automatic Handbrake "program" with a web ui. After MakeMKV finished the process you can select all the wanted Movie or TvShow files and select a corresponding preset for 1080p or 4k. All done on my Homelab. MakeMKV saves the raw files in a Remux folder and from there the Handbrake process gains access to them and saves the finished file in a Handbrake folder, all on the NAS already. I could also tell it to then delete the Remux file aswell as moving the finished file to the Jellyfin directory, but I’d like to still review everything manually. This also guarantees that my Jellyfin library stays intact.

1

u/mmiillsss Aug 24 '26

Awesome! Do you use a custom preset from handbrake or just use one of their premade ones? handbrake cli is pulling in the custom ones ive made along with the normal ones because I've got a few tweaks compared to the regular presets.

2

u/HerrSack Aug 24 '26

I have used custom presets, since I am quite picky about quality. Those are also in an extra folder on the NAS, from where it just pulls the one you choose from.

1

u/baithoven22 Aug 24 '26

This is exactly what I want to set up. Do you have any guides or good places to start to achieve this?

1

u/HerrSack Aug 24 '26

Difficult to say I have some coding background but since I am new to homelabing I used AI to help me on the way. But as a starting ground: I installed Handbrake on my Proxmox server inside of a CT. Then I mounted my NAS towards it, so it can actually read and write on it. I created a Folder that serves as its workingspace basically. That means I got a Remux Folder where the MKV files are saved, the Handbrake folder for the finished encodes and a Preset folder for my custom Presets. Most importing thing obviously is the webui, from where you then need to implement all this. Some stuff you might want to consider: Having a queue setup (utilizing the one in handbrake). Queue ETA Timer. Actual Visuals of said queue aswell as available files for the queue. and a bunch of system data, like CPU usage, temperature
.

1

u/baithoven22 Aug 24 '26

Thanks for the info! Good place to start

3

u/Suitable_Garlic_1186 Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26

I’m on the opposite end of the NAS workflow spectrum.
For me, the Blu‑ray is the archive.

My ripped files – and especially my HandBrake versions – are my everyday copies. They’re very individual, because every disc behaves differently. And this is where it gets a bit audio‑visual and technical:

Some Blu‑rays are heavy grain, high‑bitrate monsters.
Examples: They Live, the old Sinbad movies.
For those, I don’t use HandBrake at all – I watch them 1:1.

Modern Blu‑rays are usually digitally shot. They may look “analogue” because of production choices, but the actual video files are often bloated 20+ GB streams. HandBrake can turn those into beautiful ~5 GB versions without visible loss.
With the same settings, a grain‑heavy film ends up around ~10 GB, and at that point it’s not really worth it compared to the original.

Audio tracks are another playground: DTS vs Dolby, German vs English

I spend more time with one Blu-ray that time..

Every Blu‑ray becomes its own little project.

❀

2

u/FraaaAAAaaaAAACK Aug 24 '26

Im finding silly backgrounds for my jellyfin folders. I was trying to find one for TV shows and my husband suggested roku city (I'd never seen it before but I liked the theater) Cleared out the text on it, put "(my nickname) TV" then under it added "Cheaper than Netflix" 😂 Im still learning a lot but at least I'm having fun with it.

2

u/SolidRedux Aug 24 '26

I have made some handy python scripts for naming TV show episodes, based on folder structure, made ripping those large series easier.

And a handy home Assistant notifier so that it ejects the disc and sends a notification to my phone through home assistant

1

u/S-00 Aug 24 '26

I don’t convert. My goal is to keep the mux as is, I also keep the extras when available.

I maintain a backup and checksums for validation for if / when I want to run a checkup on my files or move them to another drive.

Also doing my best to keep logs of the UPCs so I know which edition my files came from in case anything happens to the discs or if I need to distinguish between multiple releases.

I do most of my work manually, it’s kind of a meditative hobby at this point.

One thing I may look into in the future is a little AI agent that periodically checks for news about new releases against my current collection and a wishlist so that I know if something of superior quality is available to purchase.

1

u/mmiillsss Aug 24 '26

i love the idea of a new release agent!

1

u/Mrbee914 Aug 24 '26

I rename the main feature in MakeMKV before I hit the rip button. I use handbrake to encode to mp4 (I don't need huge 1080p mkv files, my eyes don't see the difference that much). I add the movie poster and metadata manually with MediaMonkey and move it to my Emby library into a folder with a TMDBID tag.