About a month ago MakeMKV released version 1.4.10 which finally brought HD audio into the mix. For those who don’t know, MakeMKV is a great little program that will decrypt your DVD (no additional software such as AnyDVD is required), allow you to pick and choose what parts of the DVD you want to keep, and put into an mkv. It has been freeware, with the expectation that at some point it would move to a paid model. Yesterday, version 1.4.12 was released, and one key new feature that was added was the ability of MakeMKV to detect and save forced subs. The best way to describe forced subs is when you are watching a movie that is primarily in one language, but there are a few scenes where a different language is spoken. For these scenes subtitles will appear which are considered forced subtitles. To add to the confusion, some movies have these forced subs burned in (so the forced subs are actually part of the video file itself), where other movies don’t. If the forced subs are not burned in, you need to grab the forced subs while ripping the disc, otherwise you will be left scratching your head when watching the movie.
This actually happened to me with District 9. The primary language is English, however there are scenes where the Aliens speak and subs are required to understand what they are saying. I had used MakeMKV version 1.4.10 to rip the Blu Ray disc to mkv and turned on my PCH C-200 to watch. Although I was enjoying the movie about half way through I was getting a little frustrated since I couldn’t understand what the Aliens were saying, I just assumed they were speaking with a heavy South African accent! It turned out District 9 has forced subs and they are not burned in. I ended up having to use a few different tools to get the forced subs, which although not difficult added more steps to the process. With the inclusion of forced subtitle support with MakeMKV, you can now do everything right from MakeMKV.
I decided to test out District 9 again using the latest MakeMKV release. As you can see from the screenshot below forced subtitles are detected which is great. The downside is that it is not clear which forced subtitle should be grabbed, so you need to do a little trial and error to figure out. I suggested on the MakeMKV forum that the track # should at least be listed next to each subtitle track. If you search around the web you can usually find information on which track # contains the correct subtitles which saves the hassle of having to do trial and error.
You can see from the MediaInfo screenshot below under Text #1 the forced subtitle I selected was added to the mkv created by MakeMKV. Now whether or not the PGS subtitles can be played back properly and on what players/software is for another discussion 
Let’s be honest though, as nice as having forced subtitles is, the main reason why you are reading this is because of a few words in the title, namely “Pay Model On The Way”. When I installed version 1.4.12 and ran MakeMKV, I noticed a popup stating that I had 30 days to evaluate MakeMKV. After the 30 days were up I would need to purchase an activation key.
I dug around the MakeMKV site and couldn’t find out any information on how much the Activation Key would cost. I went over to the MakeMKV forum next and there was a post from a user stating that the Key would cost a one time fee of USD 50.00. Since the developer of MakeMKV responded to the user on the forum and did not dispute the USD 50.00 fee, I will assume it is in fact valid. So now the big question, is it worth it? I do really like MakeMKV, and in particular for the ease in which I can rip tv show box sets. However, I have already paid for an AnyDVD license, so that combined with various free software currently available (Clown_BD, MKVMerge, “Another eac3to GUI” of which I will be writing about very shortly, etc…) gets me the same result as with MakeMKV. So what do you guys think, are you still interested in MakeMKV? Is the one time fee too much (it is not clear if non USD consumers will have to pay based on an exchange rate)?
Article by Damian
Hi, my name is Damian, and I'm tech gadget addict! Although I always had some interest in technology, it wasn't until I got my EX470 and more importantly found Mediasmartserver.net, that my interest became an addiction. My goal, aside from world domination and to see the Mets/Broncos win another championship, is to set up the perfect digital home where all my media is available at the click of a button. When I am not writing for Mediasmartserver.net you can find me over at my blog at http://dbone1026.blogspot.com.
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
$50 is likely a bit much considering it’s software that’s come late to the game and most people interested in doing what it does likely already have other software that they’ve paid for (like AnyDVD) that allows them to do the same thing with a few extra steps thrown in or maybe in conjunction with other software. Don’t be surprised if that price gets lowered after a short period.
@ Seth,
Thanks for the comments, that is what I am thinking as well. Also, AnyDVD is still required if you want to do any sort of encoding or use some of the other programs out there. Some of the popular encoding programs out there like Handbrake and Ripbot264 require the dvd/blu ray to be unencrypted, which is where AnyDVD comes into play
Damian,
As a fellow AnyDVD registered user, I would recommend using HandBrake to rip to MKV (H.264). HandBrake’s most recent release not only supports forced subtitles, but allows you to record the full subtitle track with the option to turn them on or off during playback – like with a regular DVD. This is important as I have a hearing impaired child. HandBrake has both built-in profiles for different devices/uses as well as the ability to create custom profiles. The resulting file quality, IMHO, is excellent. Therefore, my recommendation is to NOT pay another $50 for MakeMKV.
For others reading this post that do not want to pay for AnyDVD plus the Blu-Ray decryption add-on and only need to decrypt and transcode STANDARD (Not Blu-Ray) DVDs, please consider the free versions of DVD43 (http://www.dvd43.com/) or DVDfab (http://www.dvdfab.com/free.htm).
I tried the MKV format, and although it is nice, I have come to the conclusion that it is NOT the ideal format for an initial rip of a movie. MKV is becoming popular, but still unsupported in many ways. With MKV it is hard to figure out what you portions you need, subtitles are supported in some softwere and unsupported in other, you can regret your initial choices, etc.
My suggestion is to use a tool like DVDSmith, which is free, and which makes a copy of the full DVD onto your hard drive without the copy protection, in it’s original format. It may take a few GB extra, but with drives as cheap as they are these days it really doesn’t make that much difference. The resulting TS_VIDEO folder will play with all the menus operational, subtitles are not a problem, etc. You can use the new hard drive copy to make further ‘custom’ backups as needed, such as AVI or MKV. That way you can store the original DVD that you bought and paid for someplace safe, and watch the movie much more conveniently over your network or on your portable device.
Aside from that, $50 for MakeMKV is far too much, considering that it is not foolproof in understanding security schemes, and may require a DVD driver shim of some sort (DVD43) for some data before MakeMKV comes into play if a backup is to be made.
I would have to agree. I like Make MKV for DVD rips, and for the simplicty of BD rips, but $50 is a bit high. I’d consider paying as much as $30 I suppose. But AnyDVD was super expensive in my opinon, but since I bought it already, I don’t want to blow another $50.
Furthermore, I have found that I am having problems with Make MKV when the Movie is using PCM audio. Not sure what the problem is, but Make MKV is never able to rip it in a way my PC can decode the audio. When I use Clown BD however, no problems.
Hopefully if it is a $50 price model, they can do promotional discounts (like Slysoft)… that might make others consider to jump on board, rather than jump ship.
I think the biggest issue I have run into with mkvs is subtitle support, as it is still hit or miss what softwares support subtitles in mkvs. Otherwise, mkvs have bene rock solid for me on all the players I use (I don’t use portable players like the Ipod, etc… that may not support mkv). I think more important for me are Blu Rays. Even with HDDs getting much cheaper a full Blu Ray rip can take up to 40GB+ per movie. Depending on the movie using a program like MakeMKV or others can drop that down to anywhere from 15-50% the original size (especially for movies that have a lot of extras or two editions on the same disc).
I agree about your concerns with security schemes. AnyDVD has frequent updates to their software as new security enhancements come out. Given that MakeMKV is currently free I don’t have a problem if new dvds are not supported right away, but once I pay for it I would expect it to work the moment I purchase a disc.
$50 is simply too much given the freeware that’s already out there, and AnyDVD that such a large number of people already run. There’s some decent functionality here, but easily replaceable for free (assuming a paid AnyDVD license).
@ Craig,
I prefer not to encode my Blu Rays anymore which is why I don’t use handbrake. I instead use AnyDVD + either Clown_BD or Another eac3to GUI.
However, for my tv show recordings or boxsets I am a big fan of handbrake. I use it all the time (I am using the latest SVN) and it works great
@ mgannon,
My guess the developers behind MakeMKV are looking at how much AnyDVD costs and figure that $50 is much cheaper then an AnyDVD license. In that regard they are correct. However, I would argue that many people who use MakeMKV currently already have an AnyDVD license, so paying an extra $50 for something you could easily do without MakeMKV doesn’t make a lot of sense. A big benefit of AnyDVD is that it can run in the background and encrypt, so you have a lot more flexability in what programs you can use to author your DVD/Blu Rays. With MakeMKV it is simply MakeMKV or nothing.
Also, keep in mind that there has been no official announcement of the cost, only a mention by a forum member that was never disputed. It could very easily be up for change based on community reaction, and for all I know maybe the forum member was put up to mentioning the cost to get feedback???
I don’t have an issue with paying a fee to use software. What I have an issue is when you purchase software and it doesn’t work or when a software publisher doesn’t properly support their product. Now I simply love MAKEMKV its fast I have successfully ripped about 200 DVD’s since I recently started using it. There are 10 DVD’s that it could not rip causing the software to crash. I think the price of $50 is fair so long as it doesn’t expire which bothers me to no extent. If they release a new version an charge a fee for upgrade then fine but if the version I have is still working well for me then I see no reason to upgrade and I am happy.
What I would like to mention is there is a cost to software development, its not free to devolope and support so I have no objection for paying the fee to use a fine piece of sofware that has served me well.
If the people that develope makemkv announced they were going to discontinue developing their software I think people would come out and offer to pay a fee to keep it going. This happened to me when I was developing a hard drive multiplexer software integration for the old CNet128 BBS Software and I was close to getting it to work then I looked around the room at all the computers it took to run that BBS and said theres got to be a better way and so I scrapped to project, upgraded the software to run on an old Amiga 2000HD and had one computer answering 4 phone lines rather then 4 computers answering 4 phone lines. It was not long before my phone began to ring off the hook with people begging me to finish my work and offering to pay for my efforts. I simply said better to upgrade your computer and just simplify the task. Another story not really relivent here but you get the idea.
@ Comp1962,
Thanks for the comments. I agree with you, and actually have no issue whatsoever in someone charging for software. I think many of us get spoiled by all the free software out there and forget that a lot of time and effort is put into it. Especially in the case of MakeMKV, where it has been clear all along t hat it would eventually move to a paid model.
I think the challenge and what many of us are debating (at least I know I am) is that I have already paid for an AnyDVD license, so right now I can do everything that MakeMKV can do with AnyDVD + Free software. I haven’t decided yet which way I am leaning towards
Hi Damian,
a little off topic or i missed it following most of your reviews and topics, but what would a guy use to moniter bitrate and confirm audio formats ect.
@ Welchwerks,
MediaInfo – http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en/Download
I am new to this. Just got an A-110 and A-200 Popcornhour and have been using MakeMKV exclusively. I have tried other freeware stuff to convert to a format compatabile for PS3 and Xbox, but gave up on the excessive time required to rip or convert. On my new Sony I7 laptop, I ripped a 2 hour movie from MakeMKV in 14 minutes. I will gladly pay the $50!
@ Rhino,
Just keep in mind that if you are looking to bitstream hd audio from the A-110, it needs to be in m2ts format. Obviously the A-200 cannot bitstream from standalone m2ts/mkv, but hopefully that will be fixed soon.
From the perspective of a mac user with no other options to rip my Blu-Rays with I would gladly pay the $50.
Well I have around 500 movies to rip and store on my server. I am now closing in on the 400 mark. So far there have been only 13 movies that I have not been able to rip with this program. So far all the movies that I have fully tested with this program have played extremely well on my client computers, on the TV using a WDTV Live, online via ORB (Well sometimes the movies have issues but thats just internet connectivity and the server when it gets busy doing its thing)
Point being is this software works extremely well. I have yet to upgrade the software to the latest version I am still on v1.4.11 and when it stops working I will install the latest version but right now I am just hoping to finish ripping my movie collection so I can concentrate on other things.
What ever they charge this software is worth its weight in gold! It just works and hey my 13 discs that actually caused MakeMKV crash well by the time I am finished Ripping my collection I will upgrade the software and see if maybe the newer version will work and if not then I will drop them a nice note listing the movies that their software would not work on and maybe who knows it might just ripp them one day and all my movies will be MKV the format I have come to love so much although my wallet is in pain over the hard drives I have had to purchase but I have no regrets and now I have a 400 Disc DVD Player and a 400 Disc CD Player Collecting Dust and I have to blame Damian for showing me this program and motivating me to getting my movies on my server. So now I have to put a label on those 2 400 Disc Units saying “RETIRED BY ACT OF DAMIAN”
@ Mitch,
Excellent point regarding MAC users. The same also applies to Linux users I believe. It is definitely a great program and even though I have other programs I can use I will most like purchase a license for MakeMKV as well.
@ Comp1962 – glad I could retire your dvd collection
@ Damian ~ No not the Collection but a Sony 400 Disc DVD Player also have a Sony 400 Disk CD Player which make real nice room ornimants these days.
@ Damian ~ of the 500 discs in my collection I have 27 that MakeMKV had issues with over the 3 beta versions I have installed and tried. After getting my collection done with exception to the 27 I installed the latest version and once again attempted to address the remaining 27 but got the same results. Failure (Sigh) I have nothing to really complain about but I certainly would like to have those 27 in MKV format so that all my movies and documentaries will be MKV. Actually I should say 26 because one did rip but the audio tracks are not right its the movie PASSION of CHRIST and I do not like the English Narritive over the Aramiac (Spelling) Language it normally plays in.
Some of the movies are Gettsburg, Stigmata, Three Kings, Click, Bedazzled and Mystic Pizza just to name a few. Since these proved to be problematic for me with MakeMKV do you have a suggestion of another program to use that might work? That I can try. I will pay for MakeMKV no problem I like that program very much. I like software which I can try with fully enabled function to evaluate before I buy as I am not adverse to purchasing my software but I do want to use something I can try first.
Just 27 more discs left to tackle then its on to Blue Ray Movies and if I get hooked on HD Audio I will be broke by years end fortunately I am tone death so for me just being able to still hear something makes me happy but then again I ripped all my movies with the subtitles removed. Hmmm better to learn to read lips soon huh……..
@ Comp1962,
I have a handful of DVDs that don’t work with MakeMKV as well, so I just ripped as Video_TS using DVDFab and kept as is. You could try the same thing. I am not sure there is any other mkv program out there that will handle SD DVDs without encoding (possibly mkvmerge?).
It is addicting, right!!!
I already have some of them ripped as Video_TS from when I was first trying to determine which format to use. I really like MKV and I have also done some ISO conversions. The simplicity of having just one file to figure out makes life easier for those with little experience in playing movies but I have used the TS format in past but feel its too complicated for my future wife and I need my setup to be extremely wife friendly or she will yell at me in Chinese and I will only replay LOOK MADE IN CHINA WHAT MORE YOU WANT FROM ME.
Yes its addicting but my wallet is now takes advil for pain relief. I got a house full of computers and closets full of older components. People come to me with their computer issues and think I am some sort of God because I manage to salvage their computers using old components. I tell ya I put much more in here and I will need a sign on my door that says SANFORD and SON east coast division