DVDFab HD Decrypter is freeware. DVDFab Platinum is not. Additionally, DVDFab HD Decrypter can copy a movie at DVD-5 quality - the option is a toggle near the bottom of the window.

And no mention of good old DVD Decrypter, with incredibly useful stream processing and all sorts of splitting options? C'mon, Lifehacker, this article is WEAK.

InspectorxGadget

A while back I used Fair Use Wizard to rip all my DVDs to roughly 1GB divx files. Most are about 700MB.
TV show sets like "Firefly" to smaller files of course.

While they take a hit in resolution, the resulting files are very manageable on portable devices.
I can carry Firefly with room to spare on an 8GB card, and you don't see the diff on a 320x240 screen.

Heck, they're absolutely watchable anywhere.

strider_mt2k

@thefastest: Point of order: he said "OS drive". I use a separate drive for music (and soon, movies) as it is, but that's just because I want to leave plenty of room for those as well as documents, etc. Thusly, that's what pomophobe was referring to, not that having the videos on the drive will slow down your OS.

drjayphd

Cheers to that....what a fool

QAdam

@pomophobe: "bog down their OS with video". Having video stored on your hard drive has nothing to do with the OS being bogged down fool. You are supposed to leave a certain percentage of your hard drive free of paging and whatnot, but don't be an idiot and say something like "oh having video bogs down your OS" trying to discredit a well written article when you actually have no clue what the eff you are talking about. tool.

thefastest

@daftrok: Nerd.

jonthomasdesigns

I bought a 160 gb portable hard drive so I rip DVDs to it and then play them from the VLC portable version right of the hard drive....so watching movies on only computer is simple without any extra setup!

superbryant88

I like ripping them to ISO and then playing them back on my TV's through XBMC. You can always also mount the ISO on a computer. The old Xbox can be found cheap enough that I put on on every TV in my house. I'm slowly moving my entire collection to digital before my kids have a chance to destroy them!

bradray

So if you actually bought the DVD this is completely legal. Renting movies and ripping them onto your HDD is not. Learn the difference.

daftrok

Everyone should bog down their OS drive with video... let's all do it together.

pomophobe

Been doing this for years now.

ghnvt

@jonthomasdesigns: Why is he a "nerd"? Because he's pointing out that ripping DVDs you don't own is illegal?

When are people going to learn that the latter in daftrok's point is stealing (ripping rented movies)? When they get caught?

jtimberman

I convert my dvd's to divx after ripping them. Does anyone know any free software that rips and converts in the one package?

markaduffy

Great article! Been converting to all digital files for a while and very happy with convenience of getting away from DVDs and ease of access. Extending wirelessly to my 360 to play on main system. Using full version of DVDFab gives a lot more options for file compression and eliminates need for other softwares. File size for acceptable viewing in divx on a 47 LCD ends up around 1.5 -2 GB (sometimes less).

Shortarms

DVD Shrink compresses by default, but it doesn't have to. There's an option on the main screen to unlock the compression slider, which you can then drag up to 100% quality (no compression) or down to however compressed you want it. With that option you have to set it manually every time, but there's another setting you can change if you never want to compress. The auto-compression is based on a target size for the finished rip, which is the size of a single-layer DVD-R by default. If you go into DVD Shrink's options and set the target size to, say, 10 GB, the auto-compression will set itself to 100% quality every time since an uncompressed DVD will fit in 10 GB.

starbuck1011

I use DVDFab HD Decypter to copy dvds to an external hard drive at full quality (it is a backup so i want to easily replace the dvd). Then I can play the dvds back in Vista MC. If you use Vista MC dvd library, put the cover image of the dvd in the root folder of the dvd and name it folder.jpg, and the cover will show up in your library.

I also rip the dvd with Handbrake for use with my iPod.

bbobjoe

@bradray: I'm pretty sure XBMC will play back the folders resulting from these rips, too.

@InspectorxGadget: The "freeware" version of DVDFab is filled with options that, when clicked, tell you to buy the platinum version to use them. I don't know what you call it, but that's a demo version of a shareware program in my book. Luckily for our purposes, all we need is the demo functionality.

Also, like I said above, these are my favorite ways. I'm aware that other people have their own methods, which is why we have a comments section.

Adam Pash

You mentioned that "You could go one step further and encode them to popular compressed formats like DivX" but didn't explain how to do this. I would like to convert my movies so I can stream them directly to my Xbox 360.

Any suggestions?

CommenterKeen

I have been using DVD43 ([www.dvd43.com]) to disable the encryption on the DVD then use LCISO Creator ([www.lucersoft.com]) to rip my DVD as .ISO files. This has been working great for me and I have never run into any problems.

MattZem

The nice thing about VLC is that it will play a DVD from an iso file-there's no need to mount it to a virtual drive.

mrestko

I use DVD43 ([www.dvd43.com]) and rip the dvd as an .ISO using LCISOCreator ([www.lucersoft.com]) it works great have been using it for a while now and have no problems. I use VLC Media Player to play my .ISO files.

MattZem

In Vista, I have to run this app as Administrator for it to work. It also had a problem creating the directories the first time. Now for some reason, it is working.

iverevi

@markaduffy: The prviously-mentioned Fair Use Wizard will rip from a DVD (or a DVD-ISO) straight to a variety of compressed video formats - the free version limits you to a maximum of 700MB files, as I recall, but the full version adds extra flexibility.

Digitalwanderer

@markaduffy: Check out strider_mt2k's post. I haven't used it yet, but I plan on trying it out now.

y0shidono

You can actually make exact, full quality copies of your DVDs with DVD Shrink too. Just select the root level of the DVD within DVD Shrink, then change the compression to full/uncompressed. It will give you a warning saying thats gonna be big etc, but just ignore that. Then when you burn, use a dual layer DVD+R DL. Shazam! An exact, full quality copy. The only way to fly :-)

OmBass

For me, one of the most important features in using trying new software is it's portability (as in portableapps.com), since I typically revert (via Norton Ghost) to a fresh install of windows every few months. Getting used to running programs portably makes this transition as simple as possible (since you don't have to keep updating your OS image every time you adopt a new program). This is one reason why I love DVD Decrypter and VCL. Even though DVD Decrypter isn't billed as a portable app, after "installation" its directory can be copied to a thumb drive and run on any computer. I haven't tried IMGBurn, so I don't know if it has that functionality, but I'm excited to see if it does.
It would be useful to know if the other programs listed in this article have the same "portability" as DVD Decrypter.

nateyg

I use DVD Shrink to back up DVDs without any compression. Under Preferences, choose "custom size" and pick a size that exceeds a DVD (I use 15GB). DVD shrink will create an iso with no compression. Once that is done I add the ISO to my xbmc library.

thetap

DVD Shrink is more than what is portrayed here. You can reauthor DVD's saving the main feature only full-strength with no loss in quality and then writing to an iso image. For me, this works particularly well since I rarely look at the special features more than once anyway and I can often burn the resulting image onto a regular DVD with no loss in quality. Also, I encourage the use of slysoft. Makes this process even easier.

crabbity

When I read this article I was like "I'm SO doing this tonight!"

Then I realized I would need 2TB of storage for my entire movie collection at 4GB for each image.

Guess I'll have to rip the movie only way, and see if I can get the size down to a manageable level.

jglessner

Why I like this: Allows the DVD owner to remove the annoying FBI and Interpol Warning screens, and bypass the annoying (sometimes non-FF'ble) previews.

Why I dislike it: I am lazy. I don't have time to do it all over again. Doesn't make fiscal sense. And I no longer buy DVDs, I rent them and the Blurays via NetFlix.

But don't let me stop ya! I love that little devil icon when its ready to be ripped! >;)

SigmundTheSeaMonster

Any advantage/Disadvantage of ripping to .iso or leaving it in the video TS folder ? Basically i just want to play back on my popcorn Hour(when it ever ships) , i was using xb360mc for awhile but i grew tired of changing them to MPG first using VOB2MPG .. I never had any issues with the Video TS folder , just wondering if going to ISO is better ?

jonthomasdesigns

...but you can't play DVD folders from a hard drive through a Media Center Extender (most notably the Xbox 360), alas.

Mecandes

PS3 please.

I'd love to back-up some of my more favored movies to a stable PS3 format for streaming or direct storage on either the internal or an external drive. I know that the PS3 can now handle Divx and even above 2GB in size, so...

Any good solutions to that in regards to all of this?

FreshJulius

I've been using DVD43 for quite a while now, but I've found that it occasionally chokes on Sony DVDs.

infmom

no mention of ripping to scene specs?

[NUKED]MagnumPI.S01.DvDrip[Eng].APASH

stever

@Chimaera: Thanks for the tip. I'm going to try it out as soon as I get home.

CommenterKeen

xbmc will play any video format I throw at it (including the oddball mkv format). It will also mount and play an iso very nicely. I prefer iso's since it allows me to keep menus, special features, deleted scenes, etc.... rather than just the base movie.

DVD shrink works well although this week I had a new release with protection that choked DVD shrink and two other rippers. I could not rip an iso. I could rip extra features to mp4 but it crashed on the movie itself. Hmmmm....

thetap

There are free plugins available for Media Center that offer much more features than the built in DVD Library such as MyMovies ([www.mymovies.dk]) and Sam's Video Browser ([www.samsaffron.com]).

salamich

@CommenterKeen: Once you've ripped the DVD to an ISO, you can use Handbrake to re-encode the DVD video. Output to h.264, Mpeg-4, etc. There's even a preset for the Xbox 360.

Chimaera

This came just in time. I just set up my xbox media center and I was wondering how to get my DVD collection into the xbox.

I love xbmc so much.

ghotli

I've been using the dvd43 and dvd shrink combo to actually directly export and burn to a blank dvd. There is an option to do that rather than copying onto the HD.

My toddler son frequently scratches up all his children's dvds and this method has been a real saver in that I don't have to go and re-buy his favs!

qrius

Would love to back up my dvd collection to my HD, but at over 1100 dvds (many of which being multiple discs set) even at the low price of storage space it would still cost me a pretty good chunk of change.

Deadman36g

@Mecandes: you can use VOB2MPG (free)or you can use Videoredo to change the vobs to MPGs ... they work great on xbox360 extender .. no menus though

jonthomasdesigns

A general comment to people who want to minimize the file size of their DVD backups without sacrificing resolution. I back up a lot of movies before I decide to burn them. Without the title menu, you wont be able to play in a regular (non computer) DVD player.

So be sure to always include the title menu in your rips if you think you will ever put them on a DVD backup. DVD Shrink should be left in Full Disc mode and you should replace all unneeded video segments with "still images" or "static image" (i think its called) in order to increase the main movie resolution.

g8trtim

@CommenterKeen: Save you some headache. I have tried multiple different presets and combinations of handbrake to share to my xbox 360. I wanted full resolution main features WITH digital 5.1 audio. The audio is the wrench in the plan. While xbox will handle the typical video types (mov and avi with xvid or h.264) it would not do so with AC-3 audio. So... the magic?!

Get the latest Handbrake, select PS3 preset and change to XVID and AVI video and select AC-3 audio. Save your file as an AVI. Click Encode! An hour or two later, it's done.

You can leave all settings the same and it will work. The diff b/w xbox and ps3 presets in handbrake are 2000 bps vs 2500 bps video compression and 2 pass encoding. I use 2000 unless the video has a lot of dark scenes, then i use 2500. I NEVER use 2-pass encoding cause it takes FOREVER! Oh also, leave the anamorphic PAR and it will scale better on your widescreen tv.

g8trtim

Great article, thanks for the tips. There's also the auto gordian knot [www.autogk.me.uk]

nicklausdeyring

Another similar way to copy a DVD if you have one DVD drive:
Download:
- DVD Shrink
- DVD Decryptor
(type in google and you'll find copies)

Follow directions here:
[www.instructables.com]

This lifehacker post would have been great a week ago before I spent 2 hours poking around the net trying to figure this out. Anyway, this is a much more comprehensive list of instructions, so thanks, Adam!

SwatLax

If you've found some newer disks that you're having trouble ripping correctly, read about Ripit4Me here:
[www.videohelp.com]

Also, I thought I saw a post here (which seems to be gone now) that said you have to have the menus in order to play in a "standalone" or "set-top" DVD player. This is NOT true. I've burned many disks without menus which just play on my standalone DVD players with no problems. Perhaps other older players choke on this, but my players do not. Also, if you're looking to buy a standalone/set-top DVD player, I'd recommend looking at Philips beacuse they're known as the player that "plays it all" (i.e. plays DivX, mp4, vob, etc.). So far, I've found my Philips player to handle everything I've thrown at it.

I actually prefer this method because there's no waiting for all the crap to get to the real content. You may prefer menus. You also may enjoy pounding nails into your legs, but that my friend, is YOUR problem.

jonathan19

How can I convert the resulting VIDEO_TS stuff to an ISO?

iverevi

nice!

Lazarus

Nice article!

Lazarus

@iverevi: imgburn its free

jonthomasdesigns

I'm a big fan of DVDFab. It saves you a lot of steps and is, in my opinion, worth the money.

PillowFight

What about us Mac users? I understand we have Handbrake but is it really necessary to encode the whole thing to watch it on a computer?

jacob.s

I use DVD Shrink religiously, and, like mentioned in some comments, is much more feature-rich than indicated. For instance, I usually re-author the movie and get rid of all the menus, extras, and even audio languages that I'll never use. This allows me to save on the compression, resulting in much better quality.

Another thing that's very important to mention is that if you do have to compress the DVD in DVD Shrink, if you let DVD Shrink perform a deep analysis before it starts encoding, the end result will be much, much, much better. Unfortunately, this will mean that the process will take roughly twice as long (mine usually take around an hour total), but it's totally worth it!

Also, I find it somewhat more convenient to get DVD Shrink to rip the movies into ISO format. These can still have every bit of functionality as a true DVD that's in your CD drive, and it means that it's already in an image format if/when you decide to burn it to another disc.

To be able to play a movie that is on your hard drive in ISO format, you need to add an optical drive, but it's really easy. I recommend using a program called VCdControl (google for it), and then when you open up your DVD playback software, select the letter of that drive as where your DVD is (this program starts at Z, but it'll tell you what it is when you mount it).

Great guide, otherwise!

wakeboarderal05

@daftrok & jtimberman:

"So if you actually bought the DVD this is completely legal."

actually, not really. Purchase of commercial DVDs does not grant the user to freely make copies for personal use (though it is allowed for commercial music, including giving to your friends, since the price includes a royalty to the artist to do specifically that). I think the FBI warning on all movies says that somewhere, but who read that crap.

At least that is how the laws are currently written in Canada (for now).

Though I haven't let that stop me from ripping my DVDs (I convert to 700MB avi files to save space)

Fierock

Thank goodness! Finally something in English. I've never backed up my DVD's before because I couldn't find a guide that was simple enough to understand. I'll follow this and see how it goes.

magnoliasouth

handbrake FTW?

falter

I dont understand why anyone would use dvd shrink when it hasnt been updated in years but dvdfab is updated about once a week or so .. dvd fab HD is free .. yeas platinum and gold are money but you get 30 day trials , Thats just me

jonthomasdesigns

DVD Shrink is a great tool. Unfortunately it was not able to decrypt some of my DVDs, so I eventually got myself a little gadget named "AnyDVD". AnyDVD so far has broken every encryption, allows me to use any ripping software (even file system level copy) and it includes free updates when new encryption techniques are developed.

Together with DVD Shring for re-authoring (I just hate the commercials!) this is my favorite for back-ups, and I hardly every play the originals, since the re-authored starts playing what I want right away :-)

kian01

Does anyone know a good tool(chain) that can rip a DVD incl. all languages, subtitle (and if possible the menu) to MPEG4?

AutoGK seems to be a good choice. Handbreak looks very "beta" on Windows.

Is there any tool that can also rip/convert DVD menus?
Matroska ([en.wikipedia.org]) seems to be able to store such content, but I've not yet found a tool that can convert a DVD menu to matroska.

streawkceur

On a Mac, MacTheRipper + Handbrake + Toast = movie goodness. I wish there was a solution that would put all 3 together, but until then, this is the best combo I've found.

If you don't feel like paying for Toast, there's always Burn ([burn-osx.sourceforge.net]). Re-encoding isn't as fast as Toast in my experience, but it's free.

mexman

I use DVDShrink to make DVD copies, mostly for kids movies, for playing in the car where they take a lot of abuse. The original version stays in the house, safely in its case. The other thing I do is re-author with only the main movie, so I don't have to figure out how to navigate the DVD menu for my toddler when we are on the road. Just put the disc in and it starts playing the movie right away.

chrishad95

@pomophobe: Bog down an OS... with video? I'm not sure you know how an OS works bud. I'm not quite sure you're in the correct decade, as this is old information anyway. Most everyone I know has their entire libraries on hard drive. Discs can't be instant, and aren't easily watched throughout a network, where having it on a home server makes it accessable instantly throughout the home.

Try hopping in to the 21st century. If a movie bogs down your "OS" you need a new PC.

bigtexatx

All i am saying is you are using 2 programs(DVD Shrink,AnyDVD)to do the same as dvdfab does by itself .. As for quality , i mostly just do full rips or rip main movie so i hope i am getting every little bit of info .. I wasnt attacking Dvd shrink as i used it as soon as Dvd Xcopy went out of buiness , remember DVDxcopy , that was sweet .. i wish they would come back and update it thats all

jonthomasdesigns

@jonthomasdesigns

"I dont understand why anyone would use dvd shrink when it hasnt been updated in years but dvdfab is updated about once a week or so."

Well if you think about it the DVD format hasn't changed in years either, other than the encryption. The "Deep Analysis" function in DVD Shrink is still better than what anyone else has come up with as far as I can tell. IMO the resulting image quality is better than when I use another program. With AnyDVD providing the decryption I find DVD Shrink to still be a quality solution.

Lantesh

DVDecrypter + StaxRip

Bobly

Backing up DVD's is soo 2007. If you already bought the dvd, don't worry about coastering it. Why not? You can LEGALLY download the dvd from a torrent or usenet whenever you want, since you bought the DVD!
Ok, this probably becomes a little dodgy when you're downloading a Special Edition of a dvd you once bought as a normal edition, but eh, I'll risk an FBI-huntdown over that niggle.

Protector one

So to further this topic...what's the best app to copy DVD's and transfer it onto your iPod?

NYCgoalie

I'm surprised there has been virtually no mention of AnyDVD HD [www.slysoft.com] . It is updated very frequently and it allows copying of DVDs (such as new ones from Sony) that can cause the other programs to choke. In addition, it will perform on-the-fly re-authoring, so you can have either the menu or the main movie play instead of FBI warnings and unwanted trailers while leaving all content intact. Plus, it allows you to backup Blu-Ray disc that use BD+ encryption; I know of no other program that does this. Backing up DVDs is nice, but backing-up high-definition is better.

XBMC on an old Xbox is great -- as long as you are viewing standard def video. It chokes on even low-bitrate HD video.

To set the record straight, the DVD Library feature of Windows Media Center is disabled by default on both MCE 2005 and Vista. The difference is that MCE2005 calls this My DVDs and Vista call it DVD Library. This primary purpose of this feature is to control external DVD changers. The advantage of MCE2005 is that it allows you to play ripped movies through both the My Videos menu and the DVD Library/My DVDs interface; Vista does not. You can enable the My DVDs feature on MCE2005 using the Tweak MCE application [www.microsoft.com] .

Backup to ISO vs. backup to video_ts files: There is no difference in quality, it's just a matter of having the DVD files wrapped in an ISO container or having them stored in a folder visible to the operating system. The video files are identical in both cases and you can omit or include menus in both. I use the video_ts folder because it is compatible with more movie playback software and no ISO-mounting is required.

CarltonBale

Windows: RipIt4Me has never failed me on any disk, even the Disney and Sony disks with the bad sectors and other copy protection. It's a nice combo of DVDDecoder, DVDShrink, and another program.

Linux: The most usable ripper I've found is is k9copy since it's pretty easy to select exactly which chapters and even scenes you want. Combine with k3b for burning, if desired.

My mode of operation is simple: buy a disk, rip only the movie, put the rip in the case and the original on the spindle. The kids will tear up the rip eventually and I'll do another. The advantage is that I don't get the warnings, ads, or anything else -- I put in the movie and walk away and it plays, which especially nice in the car. If there's something I really like, I might pull out the original for the extras, but that's happened maybe once or twice.

nerdbert

OR...
just put the DVD's back in the case when you're done - that costs...nothing. Taking care of your media is not hard. I have 35 year old records that look almost as new as the day I bought them with no scratches. Yes, it requires more work...but it's cheap and your stuff is playable for decades.

henryweinhardale

I use DVD Shrink along with DVD43Free for all of my backups. That said, when helping newbies(my mum for eg!) set up I usually recommend 1Click DVD Copy(still with DVD43) which does exactly what its name suggests. It can output to hard drive or copy direct to a blank disc. It costs a few dollars but for simplicity for new users it's a great program & the output quality is pretty good too.

FairDinkumMate

This is a decent read. I have used almost all of these products except for the DVD Play. After looking at it, it seems like a crappy product. I am a programmer and created a better Media program in Visual Basic(my 1st year) that kept track of my movies in a database(given it was MS Access "I know not a database") and it allowed me to play the movie through the program. I am currently redoing it to automatically scrape the info off the internet and make it a little more appealing(in C#). I hate letting people borrow my DVDs and then getting them back all scratched where I cant used them...perfect for me.

RooNi3

Is there such a solution for Linux users ?

Puleen

i've used dvd fab hd decryptor and 1clickdvdcopy to put several hundred movies on an external hard drive then watch them with vlc media player. those 500 gig hard drives are hard to fill up, i have a second one with music. it's barely made a dent in it even when i download several hundred mp3s from jamendo.

rand0mCreep

@jonthomasdesigns

"All i am saying is you are using 2 programs(DVD Shrink,AnyDVD)to do the same as dvdfab does by itself"

Well AnyDVD runs in the background, so actually I'm only using just the one program. That being said DVDFab is also a good program.

@CarltonBale

"I'm surprised there has been virtually no mention of AnyDVD HD"

I'd venture to guess because backing up HiDef requires significantly more hard drive space. Also I don't believe many have invested in a BD burner quite yet. I don't even have a BD player yet. I'm waiting for the 2.0 spec players to hit the market.

Lantesh

I have used Anydvd HD on a few newer BD movies , it works and then if you use IMG burn you can mount it to play on Powerdvd using DAEMON Tools.. alot of steps but worth it if you dont want to buy expensive Bluray blanks and just want to watch it .. it always helps i have a 5 TB HP media smart server

jonthomasdesigns

DVD Shrink keeps giving me CRC errors with or without running DVD43

cheeser83

I filled up a 500GB drive pretty quickly by using DVD Shrink just ripping my DVD collection to ISOs, but just converted to a raid0 terrabyte+ system running mythbuntu. I'm experimenting with AcidRip to convert the ISOs to xvid avi's and DVD9to5 to pull in the ISOs so I have a clean copy until I can figure out the perfect xvid settings. Anyone have any tips on the best settings to convert to avi?

Also, if you're like me and 500Gb isn't enough space and would rather not deal with trying to format raid partitions, terabyte drives are getting cheaper. Here's one for about $250 - [www.ebyte.com]

oceanmajk

There's a bit of a bug in the code. I almost never install apps to Program Files; instead installing them on a 2nd partition specifically for my applications. With both DVD Rip and DVD Play, the apps are not found and while there is an option to locate them; the selected directory is ignored. However, I was able to edit the INI file and get it working.

Additionally, it would be nice if DVD Play could distinguish subfolders. I tend to organize my rips into genres. Of course on the upside, since cover art can be associated, it's fairly easy to do a visual scan.

Thanks for your work Adam!

wolfsong

@Adam Pash: Actually editing the INI file doesn't resolve the issue either. Everytime I try to use DVD Play it gives an error where it's looking for VLC in the Program Files directory.

wolfsong

I always use dvd decrypter, and convert my videos to either divx or xvid using autogk or dr divx. From there, I put it on xbmc and it works great!

rdn98

Oh and it bypasses encryption.

dmtofree

For this article how many programs do you use? 2,3,4? What if you could control size, quality, codecs, resolution, and play and rip them? Also what if its free and most of you have it and it can be a portable version. You can and guess what it is mentioned in this article and many others on lifehacker.com. It is VLC Media Player and it does all this email me at techhacker16@gmail.com for a guide.

dmtofree

One more time... RipIt4Me is the answer for the folks having trouble with encryption - Has served me flawlessly for a long time. And, since it uses DVD Decrypter and Shrink, you've got an entire suite of tools at your fingertips.

Knight_Owl

@streawkceur: VLC Media player email me for details at techhacker16@gmail.com

dmtofree

OK so I just used DVD Shrink, and now I have this VIDEO_TS folder. I tried to use DVD Play to play back the movie but I must not be doing something right. And do I have to convert the files into a different format to burn them to a disk?
-newb

schmere

Just a word of caution to software testers out there. DVDFab HD Decrypter screwed up my existing installation of AnyDVD and DVD Shrink. DVDFab HD Decrypter installed just fine and worked just fine, but the GUI wasn't customizable enough for my liking (you can't resize the window? Really?), so I uninstalled it. As soon as I uninstalled, DVD Shrink would no longer work correctly. Rips would be filled with green tinted video. Luckily, I was able to roll XP back to an earlier state, which fixed the problem.

So, again, if you're planning on trying some of these programs alongside one another, make sure you create a system restore point before you install. Or use virtualization software like VMware or my personal software testing favorite tool, Altiris SVS.

msisaac

I'm currently using HandBrake - special features are generally a load of rubbish.

I did a little bit of research, and a good rule of thumb is to allocate 2GB of storage per hour of footage if encoding in MPEG2.

I've done my rips in 2-pass H.264 though, which on my spangly new laptop happens in around about 90-110% real time. This encoding is supposedly twice as compact as MPEG-2 for the same quality, so I'm only allowing 1 gig per hour.

My rips look pretty damn decent to me :-)

Heh, with a 1TB drive, that's over 5 weeks of DVDs, all in one place.

bearslikejam

I am by no means a programmer or even a half decent scripter, however, I did manage to put together a set of commands that make ripping DVDs for the sake of burning the resulting rip onto another DVD pretty painless for me. Maybe this will help someone else?

This script assumes a lot of things ... for example: that you're happy with the default settings of DVD Shrink, etc.

One thing that bugs me is that DVD Decrypter will not automatically close when using the /close parameter. This isn't that big of a deal because it gives you the opportunity to replace your DVD with a blank anyway.

On to the script:

==============

@echo off

echo You are about to delete C:\Movies\NewMovie

pause

rd /s /q C:\Movies\NewMovie
mkdir c:\Movies\NewMovie

REM --------------------[ STARTING DVDFAB HD DECRYPTER
"C:\Program Files\DVDFab HD Decrypter 4\DVDFabHDDecrypter.exe" /SRC
"D:\" /DEST "C:\Movies\NewMovie" /START /CLOSE

REM --------------------[ STARTING FIXVTS
setlocal ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
CD C:\Movies\NewMovie\
set string="C:\Program Files\FixVTS1.603\FixVTS.exe" -u -s -f -p
for /F "tokens=*" %%i in ('DIR VIDEO_TS /s /b') do cd %%i
if exist VIDEO_TS.VOB goto FOUND1
if exist VTS_01_1.VOB goto FOUND2
:FOUND1
echo found1
dir VIDEO_TS.VOB /s /b > findFile.txt
goto FINISHED
:FOUND2
echo found2
dir VTS_01_1.VOB /s /b > findFile.txt
goto FINISHED
:FINISHED
for /f "tokens=1 delims=" %%a in (findFile.txt) do call set string=!string!"%%a"
echo %string% >> findFile.bat
REM call findFile.bat
call findFile.bat

REM --------------------[ CREATE ISO
setlocal ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
CD C:\Movies\NewMovie\
set Input="C:\Tools\Backup Movies\cmddvdshrink100\cmddvdshrink100.exe"
set Output=C:\Movies\Movie.iso
DIR "FixVTSBackup" /s /b > findFile.txt
for /f "tokens=1 delims=" %%a in (findFile.txt) do call set
string=!Input! "%%a" !Output!
echo %string% > findFile.bat
call findFile.bat
endlocal

exit
quit

burn321

Great article, I'm going to make copies of all my sons videos with just the main movie so I don't have to start them for him.

I tried DVDFab and it only took 20min and a little more than 5 gigs.

Questions:
I have two (Video TS) files one is 600kb one is 70kb they are listed as (AVS DVD player files) and both will play the full movie when opened with "AVS DVD player" but don't work with "VLC" or "Win. Media Player".

I have 6 files labeled consectively as (VTS o1 1), (VTS o1 2), etc. They will play with "AVS" and "VLC" but only the corresponding chapter. If I open any of the (VTS 01) files with "Windows Media Player" I get the whole movie but no audio.

How do I get the Movie to play in "Windows Media Player"?
and show up in the "Windows Media Player" library, so my four year old can just click on the picture and watch the movie?

Can I just drag and drop the main folder to copy to DVD?

Thanks

efil-reckah

This is how I do it. Though, I add FixVTS to the mix.

DVDFab
FixVTS > Full Disk.

then DVD Shrink.

There's a neat guide at um, that one dvd rip site, lol. I cant remmeber it now, type in DVDFab Decrypt, FixVTS, Shrink, ImgBurn in google and you'll find it :P

err...nm it's AfterDawn :)

ahoier